Tuesday, April 28, 2009

American Idol - Season 8: Top 5

Tonight's American Idol is...Rat Pack Standards (aka Jazz Week...aka Big Band Week...aka Jamie Foxx? Really?)

Kris Allen "The Way You Look Tonight"
Great song choice. Great arrangement. Nice vocals. Simon's nuts for trying to sandbag him tonight.


Allison Iraheta "Someone to Watch Over Me"
Not as enthused about the song choice, but her vocals were good. Again, I'm not understanding why Simon would try to send the bus at her.


Matt Giraud "My Funny Valentine"
He was fine, but Melinda Doolittle's version of this song from two seasons back is untouchable. So points off for picking a song that someone already did it justice to.


Danny Gokey "Come Rain or Come Shine"
Awful song choice, good arrangement, decent vocals. By default the worst, but it was his best in a long time. That said, put the Go in Gokey please. Bleh.


Adam Lambert "Feeling Good"
I love this version by Muse, so I'm glad Adam went for it. His best "moment" of the season (better than "Mad World" I thought).


Rankings:
1. Adam
2. Kris
3. Allison
4. Matt
5. Danny


Bottom Three Predictions:
Allison, Kris and Matt. What Simon wants, he's going to get. So that means we'll see Allison and Matt again be in the bottom and Kris will finally join them. I suppose they could do "The Huff" this week by having someone be in the middle of two groups, but I doubt it. Kris will be safe (he seems to be getting more text votes than the other two), which will leave us with Allison and Matt.


Goodbye to...
Matt Giraud. I think Simon was nice to him, so his fans won't go crazy to vote for him. He wants him to leave on a high note, and that's what will happen. Better top 5 finish than top 7 (Matt deserves it over Lil and Anoop, but also over Danny, *sigh). There's a little part of me that's worried for Allison, since going second on top 5 night is the kiss of death (save for David Cook and Jordin Sparks, although that was a top 6 night, part deux and she was shiitttty that night with her lame attempt at rock with Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer"). Anyway, I doubt the last girl leaves this early, so she'll be #3. Goodbye Matt!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

American Idol - Season 8: Top 7...Redux!

Tonight's American Idol is...Disco Night (blergh)!

Lil Rounds "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
Unoriginal, trite and obvious. AWWWWFUL. Go home.


Kris Allen "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer
Wow. Killer arrangement and a tremendous vocal outing. Wonderful.


Danny Gokey "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire
Anwar called. He wants his song back. Biiiiiiitch pleeeeeeeeze!


Allison Iraheta "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer
Wrong song for her, but she was pretty good. I would fault her on her wardrobe choices, but she's 16. That's how they dress.


Adam Lambert "If I Can't Have You" by The Bee Gees
Wow, another stunner. It would have been my #1 had it not been for his patent screech.


Matt Giraud "Staying Alive" by The Bee Gees
I gotta agree with Simon. That was desperate and not good. What a waste of a save.


Anoop Desai "Dim the Lights" by Donna Summer
Not familiar with the song, but what he did with it, well, I didn't like it. Not as bad as Matt or Lil though.


Rankings:
1. Kris
2. Adam
3. Allison
4. Danny
5. Anoop
6. Matt
7. Lil


Bottom Three Predictions:
Danny, Lil and Matt. I'm not sure how they're going to do this, but I hope they do "The Huff." Have Gokey in the middle and then pick the top 3 and the bottom 3. I would love for it to be Matt, Lil and Anoop on one side and Allison, Adam and Kris on the other and then Ryan tell Gokey to switch with Anoop because they're the bottom three. But then he'll send him back to the couches.

Goodbye to...
Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud. I can guarantee Matt is leaving (what a waste of a save) but I'm not sure who will leave with him. I'm going to guess Lil, but really, I think Adam is the only safe one tonight.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

American Idol - Season 8: Top 7

Tonight's American Idol is...songs from movies!

Allison Iraheta "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith
This was horrible. I don't know if it was the crappiness of the song, the arrangements, or Allison's voice (she sounded kinda sick), but this was all sorts of wrong. This should have been a lot better. Boo.


Anoop Desai "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams
The song is super-cheese, but it's the guilty kind. That said, Anoop did a nice job with the vocal, although you can tell QT's instruction of growling it out was difficult for him.


Adam Lambert "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf
Not a surprising song choice, but it was a terrific vocal and performance. I laughed when Simon compared it to The Rocky Horror Picture Show because my brother said the exact same thing as Adam was performing.


Matt Giraud "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" by Bryan Adams
Of the two Oscar-nodded songs by Bryan Adams, this one is worse because it's way, way, way too cheesey that it goes from bad to good and back to bad. Matt tried to make it interesting, but I think he failed. He's been very inconsistent this season.


Danny Gokey "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
Sweet Jesus, really? His vocal was one of his better ones, but this was the third time, he ignored a mentor's suggestion. QT told him to avoid using his hands and what does he do? Use them. Eh.


Kris Allen "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
I looooove this song (so happy it won the Oscar two years back). I'm surprised that Kris knew it, but it shows that he was thinking about what song would best suit him. It was good, although I do think he was a little sharp at some places (def. not off pitch Randy), and I'm not sure if the arrangement was the best.


Lil Rounds "The Rose" by Bette Midler
This should have been amazing, but it seemed like Lil was trying to have her cake and eat it too. I'm glad Simon called her out again and while I'm glad she *finally* grew a pair to talk back to Simon, I hope this is the end of the road for her.


Rankings:
1. Adam
2. Kris
3. Anoop
4. Danny
5. Lil
6. Matt
7. Allison


Bottom Three Predictions:
Anoop, Kris and Matt. These were the three that Randy and Kara got to judge (and that whole thing was COMPLETE bullshit!), so I think TPTB are trying to tell us something. I think what will happen is (because it's top 7 night), these three will be on side of the stage and then Allison, Lil and Adam will be on the other side and Gokey will have to pick the highest vote getters. Bleh. I'm going to say Anoop gets sent to the couches, which will leave Kris and Matt.

Goodbye to...
Kris Allen. I think TPTB put the bus on full speed and aimed for Kris tonight. Even during the recap, they clearly played the dress rehearsal clip, where Kris didn't sound that well. Plus, even though I think it's pretty kick ass that "Falling Slowly" got to be done on the Idol stage, and even thought it won the Oscar, it is a pretty obscure song that Middle America doesn't recognize. What doesn't make sense is that Kris is the right kind of artist to market right now in a world dominated by Jason Mraz and John Mayer. Gokey does urban music, but he's white. Adam does powerrock shit, but he's gay. The girls won't win and the other guys won't win either. Idiots.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

American Idol - Season 8: Top 8

Tonight's American Idol is...songs from the year you were born!

Danny Gokey "Stand By Me" by Mickey Gilley
Do. Not. Like. I thought no one could eff up "Stand By Me" more than Archie did last year. I was wrong.


Kris Allen "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" by Don Henley
Bad song, but Kris tried his best to change it up. Didn't work.


Lil Rounds "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Tina Turner
Only one I predicted correctly. And it should have been awesome...but it wasn't. And I have sadly come to the conclusion...Lil is worse than Syesha "Vocal Rest" Mercado. *ducks


Anoop Desai "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper
Very nice. Agree with Simon, not the best, but a very good job.


Scott MacIntyre "The Search Is Over" by Survivor
LLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE!!


Allison Iraheta "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt
Love the song, but I'm not sure if it was right for Allison. Her vocals were fine, but I still prefer Kimberly Locke's version (what is it with her and doing old Idol songs?).


Matt Giraud "Part-Time Lover" by Stevie Wonder
All memories of Kevin Covais doing this one have been erased. Thank God.


Adam Lambert "Mad World" by Tears for Fears
Simon has NEVER stood up for anyone. Damn.


Rankings:
1. Adam
2. Matt
3. Allison
4. Anoop
5. Kris
6. Danny
7. Lil
8. Scott


Bottom Three Predictions:
Kris, Scott and Lil. I pray that Kris is safe (this was his first bad week), so that it's Scott vs Lil.


Goodbye to...
Scott MacIntyre. Not only will they finally ditch him, but it will also scare Lil's fans to wake-up (ditto Lil). But I also worry that somebody good might leave. 8th place has been where somebody bad finally leaves (Haley Scarnato, Bucky Covington, Jon Peter Lewis, Rickey Smith, A.J. Gill) or a semi-shock boot to an early favorite (Michael Johns, Nadia Turner). Please let it be the former and not the latter (which would mean Kris, Anoop or Matt are in trouble).