Archives for February 2009

I’m going to attempt to watch tonight’s American Idol, but I’ll warn you in advance that it may be difficult for me to hear the contestants over the INCESSANT BARKING of the elderly labrador retriever who lives with us. I mean, I don’t know if there’s a pack of squirrels that are invisible to the human eye running circles around her right now or what, but trust me: she wouldn’t be this alarmed if she were suddenly confronted by a band of thieves at three in the morning.

In fact, if she were suddenly confronted by a band of thieves at three in the morning, she would probably just lick them and then go back to sleep.

But the invisible squirrels?

RAWR RAWR RAWR RAWR RAWR.

RAWR.

WHOO WHOO RAWR.

Here we go.

Jasmine Murray – “Love Song” – Maybe it’s appropriate that the dog won’t stop barking since Jasmine hails from Bulldog Country. I like this song a lot, and I also like the fact that it gave her the chance to show a little attitude and confidence on stage. It was weird at the beginning, but there was a fun little section about midway through that enabled her to show off some sassiness. So while I probably wouldn’t have picked this song for her, I thought it was a not-bad performance.

Matt Giraud – “Viva La Vida” – He’s my favorite contestant hands-down. And my word, he’s a brave one for taking on some Coldplay, but I think maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. There was a pretty rough patch about three quarters of the way through, and more than anything else it’s just difficult for an audience to get on board with that type of song unless Chris Martin is the one who’s singing it. I wish he’d picked an old Doobie Brothers song, some Stevie Wonder – something that was more soulful and played to his strengths.

Jeanine Vailes – “This Love” – This performance immediately felt like karaoke to me. I think Adam Levine’s voice is so distinctive that it felt strange to hear someone doing essentially the same arrangement he sings but with a vastly different voice. It was the wrong song for her, and I have no idea who she is as an artist after hearing her sing it.

Nick Mitchell – “And I Am Telling You” – No. Just no. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Allison Iraheta – “Alone” – SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL THE “IDOL” PEOPLE TO RETIRE THIS SONG. I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE. That being said, she has a big voice, even if I felt like she was screaming at me a little bit. Still, it was the best performance so far tonight.

Kris Allen – “Man In The Mirror” – When they ban the Heart songs, could they ban the Michael Jackson songs, too? I actually really liked the arrangement of this song – just a hit-o-funky – and he did a decent job with it. I was actually surprised by him and felt proud of him for overcoming that rough beginning. Yay Kris Allen.

Megan Joy Corkrey – “Put Your Records On” – First, we need to address the hip-shaking behind the microphone. It was odd. I think she has an interesting voice, and she was fun to listen to during the verses, but the chorus was a little bit of a train wreck both times. She’s cute and talented, though – I’d like to see more of her.

Matt Breitzke – “If You Could Only See” – This song is over ten years old, I still love it a bunch. As far as this performance, it wasn’t bad if I closed my eyes, but he seemed a little awkward on stage, like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the microphone and his hands and, well, himself. There just wasn’t a whole lot of energy on the stage, and for that reason the performance wasn’t terribly memorable.

Jesse Langseth – “Bette Davis Eyes” – I’m going to try to be unaffected by the fact that I despise this song. Didn’t even like it back in the day when I’d watch the Kim Carnes video on Night Tracks. That being said, this was a pretty interesting arrangement and performance, mainly because I felt like for the first time tonight someone put an original spin on a song. But I don’t understand why in the world someone would pick that song. I’d much rather hear her sing something bluesy and / or jazzy. Just my opinion.

Kai Kalama – “What Becomes Of A Broken Heart” – I need to get this out of the way: I adore his hair. There. I said it. As far as his performance, I thought it was pretty good, though he smoldered at the camera a lot. It was pretty karaoke-ish; tonight I’ve noticed that people have seemed perfectly content to sing these songs the way people have always sung them. And I think they need to take some chances. SURPRISE US PLEASE, THIS IS GETTING MONOTONOUS. Bottom line: this performance didn’t give me any sense of who Kai Kalama is as a singer. And I was a little bored.

Mishavonna Henson – “Drops of Jupiter” – Love this song a million times. And I liked this performance because I felt like she put her own little spin on an already-great song. What I didn’t think she did was captivate the audience – she wasn’t terribly engaging or dynamic on the stage. I’m sure that could develop over time (see: Carrie Underwood).

Adam Lambert – “Satisfaction” -Well at least it wasn’t theatrical. (Ahem.) I mean, don’t get me wrong: he can sing. But that was Sam Harris meets the Rolling Stones. And for that reason alone, it was a little weird for me. Again, he can definitely sing. Loudly. And good for him for having some charisma. But it was a little much for me.

All righty, people – feel free to chime in on the Linky. And please (PLEASE) leave the link to your post’s permalink and not the general URL. If you didn’t blog about Idol, then chime in via the comments – I’m curious to see if y’all were as ambivalent about tonight’s show as I was.

It was an amazing season.

And there were amazing girls.

And there were amazing connections.

It was all so incredibly amazing.

So. Now that we have “The Women Tell All” out of the way, it’s time to make some amazing Bachelor-related predictions.

(And yes, I’ve read all the rumors.)

(I just don’t know that I believe any of them, though I can’t figure out why we need a second “After The Final Rose” next Tuesday night, so I figure something VERY DRAMATIC AND AMAZING is going to happen.)

What do you think, internets?

Melissa or Molly?