Hello,
Some quick thoughts: again Jennifer Lopez looked absolutely gorgeous again last night. She's one of the most attractive women in entertainment. Pia Toscano isn't too far behind. Steven Tyler continues to be a doofus, someone needs to tell him he isn't as funny as he thinks he is. Where's Randy Jackson in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Oh that's right you need to be musically relevant to be inducted. Never mind. Again all the producers that was suppose to give such great help, their roles have been reduced. In this episode Jimmy Iovine's role was also reduced. I say we just get rid of Jimmy and the producers. It seems TPTB realized how bad of an idea that is. Will.i.am seemed to be the lead mentor. With the producers having a much more limited role, I noticed the arrangements were markedly better.
Tonight's theme was Songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in other words almost any song ever. It makes me wonder, why even have that as a theme? There's 9 people left, 6 guys and 3 girls. I wouldn't be surprised if the bottom 3 weren't all males. I expect a guy to go home this week, please let Jacob Lusk go home. If it was up to me the next 3 or 4 contestants going home would be guys.
Here we go:
9) Jacob Lusk (up 2 places, but still the bottom) sang Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror". He at first was going to sing "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye, one of the greatest sex songs ever. That didn't fit in with his moral framework, which I respect. Also "Man In The Mirror" is a great song, well at least when Michael Jackson sang it. The thing that bothered me the most about Lusk was this comment, "If I end up in the bottom three, it won’t be because I sang the song bad. It won’t be because I sang the song wrong. It’ll be because everybody in America wasn’t ready to look at themselves in the mirror.”
Jacob are you an idiot? Do I even need to answer that question? Whether someone votes for you or not doesn't have to do with any kind of self evaluation. Remember Jacob, this is allegedly a singing competition. I think the producers let that comment stand, because they are ready for him to go. Most comments that actually air are very bland and safe for TV.
On to his performance, it was mediocre at best. He started out the song okay, but once he got to the chorus his voice started sucking again. He's a terrible dancer, he's extremely ungainly and he's so lame. He also seems to think he's an amazing talent. How did he get so far? America please send him home. Grade C-.
8) Scotty McCreery (up 2, but he was second to last last week) sang Elvis' "That's Alright Mama". At least he wasn't totally boring this week. He's starting to think he's pretty cool. His over developed love of self and his freak flag was flying clearly last night. Also the producers having those girls rushing the stage was so obvious. There's very few unscripted or spontaneous moments on "American Idol". And that wasn't one of those. Scotty said he didn't mind the girls. Of course he didn't, but Jacob might have. Isn't their 15 minutes of fame about up? Grade: C
7) Stefano Langone (down 1) sang Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman". He completely ignored Will.i.am's advice about waiting on the song. He started out weak, but got better after that. Langone is the yo yo Idol, as his performances have peaks and valleys. This performance was near the bottom of the valley. Again I'm surprised by how little musical knowledge Langone has. He said something about him actually having heard this song. As with all the contestants the judges were mostly thumbs up. This judging panel has no backbone. Langone's Grade: C The judges grade as a whole for the season: C. They've been downright mediocre. Overall this season has been less than mediocre, there just aren't enough good singers.
6) James Durbin (up 1) sang the George Harrison written "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". One of the greatest songs by any member of the Beatles. Durbin put on the fake waterworks. Did anyone believe those tears? It's a beautiful song, but it's not the type of song you would cry over.
Here are the lyrics:
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh, oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
Here's the songwriter George Harrison singing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps":
Durbin was just trying to artificially create a moment. He talked about "advancing as an artist". Are you kidding me? He's just going to be a bad memory, at best, in a few months time. In his mediocre performance he closed with his wanna be Adam Lambert screech. Yes, this show has fallen so much that people are stealing from Adam Lambert. Again all the judges must have been watching a different performance than me as they were overwhelmingly positive. Again it makes me wonder why do we need judges again? Isn't there a cheaper and a better alternative? Grade: C-.
5) Casey Abrams (down 2) sang a very mellow version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Seen The Rain?" By the way Casey, the Police originally sang "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". Yes, I know that Sting sang for the Police, but I think proper credit should be given. He ended up singing the CCR song anyway. He was okay and I actually liked him playing the upright bass. Randy had another one of his incoherent critiques. He started off with "yo", "yo, yo", something about "justice" and then a bunch of unneeded mumbling. That's the amazing thing about Randy is he can make the same point 3 or 4 times in just a few seconds time. JLo said she'd be paying top dollar to be in the front row, that's because all tickets will be free. I'm getting tired of Casey Abrams, the save doesn't look so wise now. But who else would they have saved and you know they were going to use it for drama's sake. Grade: C.
4) Paul McDonald (up 4 spots) sang Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". This is the highest he has been in my rankings. That's because so many of these singers are mediocre and a good week can move one near the top. He has no chance of winning but I liked his performance of this song. Although he's nowhere near the Man in Black, I liked McDonald's enthusiasm. He was having fun singing it and that joy transferred to the audience. Durbin that's a legitimate "Idol" moment. Grade: B-.
Here's the man himself, Johnny Cash, singing the song:
3) Lauren Alaina sang Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman". I think she did a good job, but if you want to see this version performed with it's needed power, check out Kelly Clarkson's version:
I love the above version of this song. First of all Kelly Clarkson kills this song. She sings it like she has had some life experience. Then my next favorite part is the idiot requesting "security" when the dude went up and gave her a rose. TPTB performed the same trick last night with Scotty McCreery. Another artifical "Idol" moment.
Anyway back to Lauren: she's just not old enough to be singing this song. She's 16, no one should be making her feel like a natural woman. I also noticed she didn't grab that song by the throat enough. That could have been a much better showcase for her. Grade: B-
2) Haley Reinhart sang Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart". She easily gave the best performance of the night. What a great voice she has and what a great performance she gave. She better not be in this week's bottom 3, it should be an all male bottom 3. I also realized tonight that she could actually win this competition. I still think that Pia is mostly likely to win this competition and that's why she remains at #1. I'm pretty sure this is the first A grade I've rewarded this season. Grade: A+
1) Pia Toscano sang Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" and she did another solid job. This is one of those performances made better as it's so clear that the band is having fun too. Her voice is great and I love the grit in it. As always she looks amazing as she's showing her versatility. The only bad thing about that performance was those ugly clothes she wore. She has a nice figure but that outfit made her look fat. Grade: B-
themusicaddict
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