You would think, given how massive of a hit American Idol is, that their songbook would be practically infinite. So, why in the hell is nearly every single contestant choosing crappy, tried-and-true material? Aerosmith? Two Bryan Adams songs? Traditional Lionel Richie? Is the songbook actually quite limited, or do the Idols just have craptacular taste in music? Either way, Movie Night provided an extremely underwhelming and lackluster showcase. This was the week where it was truly about song choice, and nearly everyone failed.
Moreover, the recent trend of running over its timeslot is getting very irksome. Even with limiting the judge's responses to two judges per performer, American Idol ran over. I now have Fringe at a perma-5-extra-minutes setting... and that's annoying. While I do, in fact, like Kara Dioguardi, the addition of a fourth judge is proving to be more of a detriment than an asset. AI needs to get it together, and fast.
Here's the breakdown:
1) Allison Iraheta, "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing": Allison had a rough start, but she made up for it with ultimately strong vocals and an interesting take on a wickedly overdone song. All that being said, I was disappointed. Armageddon? Really?
2) Anoop Desai, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You": While Anoop didn't follow Quentin Tarantino's advice and rough it up, he did own it. The performance was sexy, beautiful, and the changes that he made to the melody actually worked. I didn't hate it.
3) Adam Lambert, "Born To Be Wild": At this point in my mind, I have already crowned Adam the winner. He's the only honestly interesting contestant and no matter what he does, he makes it his own. And this performance was no different. Not on the level with last week's "Mad World", but insane, spastic, fun, and fabulous. It was so perfectly... Adam.
4) Matt Giraud, "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman": Matt is suddenly in the business of trying to do far too much with and to a song, and in the process, he creates a mess. I do like Matt and I do believe in him, but he's falling very, very short as of late. His rendition of yet another Bryan Adams song was pretty and soulful, but it was boring. A boring mess, as it were.
5) Danny Gokey, "Endless Love": By far, the cheesiest song choice of the night, but the passion and emotion with which Danny infused the song made this performance quite touching. The audience hasn't been reminded of Danny's late wife in a long time, but the memory is always there. Thankfully -- and rightfully -- Danny has never used the fact that he's a widower to garner any sympathy votes, but he doesn't need to. He's wonderfully talented and the love he feels and the sadness he carries for his wife were perfectly evident in his eyes. Beautiful and sweet. But I miss his glasses.
6) Kris Allen, "Falling Slowly": By far, the best song choice of the night! Kris' vocals were lovely and vulnerable, and to disagree with the judges, on pitch and on key, but none of that really matters. In my opinion, Kris wins the night for actually thinking outside of the box and not only choosing a much more current song, but one that comes from a beautiful little indie film. Hands down, the smartest move of the night.
7) Lil Rounds, "The Rose": I completely disagreed with the judges on Lil. I think she actually did take their advice and she took a well-known (yet not frequently performed) song and turned it on its ear a little bit. She peppered the simple and beautiful Bette Midler favorite with gospel flavor, and... it worked. She may have been a bit too conscious of people judging her, but otherwise, she did a very nice job. I think she may be finally beginning to figure out who she might be as an artist. Let's hope she gets the chance to continue that journey, though.
*The Journey Continues: Kris, Danny, and Adam are totally safe. All three are favorites, pretty, and make intelligent choices. No worries for these three.
*Pack Your Bags: We're now into that stage of the game where picking a Bottom 3 is really difficult, with most of the contestants on par with each other, but after last night? Anoop, Matt, and Lil. With Matt going home.
Thoughts?
Follow the yellow brick road...
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