| Wednesday, March 22, 2006 |
| 50s Week |
Last night on American Idol, the final 11 contestants performed for the 50s week. I did not attempt to make any predictions since the 50s are not something I'm entirely familiar with (I know some but not a lot) although I did wish for someone to sing a Nat King Cole song (someone did) or Unchained Melody (no one did).
Here is my evaluation of the 11 performances.
1. Katherine McPhee
Along with Taylor, the two of them are my favorites to win this years's American Idol. McPhee-ver sang "Come Rain Or Come Shine" by Ella Fitzgerald. What an effortless performance! I can simply imagine her performing in intimate concerts already. I'd go and watch her. She has been trained by her voice-coach/mom and through college and it really does show. She just captivates her audience whenever she performs. Sometimes, it's so hard to imagine she has a voice like that because she's so different when she's not singing. I really hope she wins this. But for now, she's not going anywhere.
2. Taylor Hicks
As Randy Jackson would say, his rendition of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" was a performance song. Because it didn't show off much of his vocal range. But I don't care because Taylor still rocks! I still love him and, if not Katherine, I want him to win this. He's a great singer and musician. He's in the competition to show us what he's got while still having fun.
3. Paris Bennett
I grew tired of this girl simply because the same enthusiasm that I saw in her during the Hollywood auditions was absent from her performances as part of the Top 24. But omigoodness. Her version of Peggy Lee's "Fever" was just amazing. She took my breath away. She's not going anywhere unless she messes it up next week.
4. Mandisa
Mandisa is a great singer. Everybody knows that. Her version of Dinah Washington's "I Don't Hurt Anymore" will make sure that she'll definitely be in the competition until next week. But the truth is, I'm not sure if I want her to win American Idol because I'm not really feeling her, you know. She's great but she's not my favorite to win it all.
5. Chris Daughtry
The reason I like Chris is because I know that his every performance will always reflect who he is because he knows who he is. He knows his strengths and his weaknesses. He knows what he can bring to the table and what he can't. Although I didn't like his performance of Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line" wasn't all that great (his cover of Fuel's "Hemmorhage" is still his performance to beat for me), his maturity and security still shows in his performances.
6. Elliott Yamin
I love Elliott's voice. Every week, even if his song choices were not that great, he always makes the song work because he has an excellent singing voice, or as Simon Cowell said in his performance of Al Jarreau's "Teach Me Tonight", the singing voice "was fantastic". The only thing he has to work on, I think, is his ability to charm the audience.
7. Bucky Covington
I like Bucky. I do. Just not his version of Buddy Holly's "Oh Boy". I think the song sums up perfectly well my thoughts on his performance. Oh boy. I like you, Bucky, but you gotta do better than that.
8. Ace Young
After his performance of George Michael's "Father Figure", I liked this guy, not just because he seemed like this year's Constantine Maroulis but also because he can work the crowd (well, mostly the girls) without even trying. The judges said it was a good performance, sure to keep him out of the bottom three. But his performance of The Five Satins' "In The Still Of The Night" left me, not disappointed but not, totally satisfied either. But, yeah, Simon's right. He's not going to be in the bottom three this week.
9. Lisa Tucker
She was great during the Top 24 performances. So why is Lisa Tucker struggling this crucial time? I don't know but I know for sure that she's simply not bringing it. HEr performance of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers's "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" was just wrong. I don't think she woke up from Wake Up Call last week.
10. Kellie Pickler
Kellie Pickler is not cute anymore. She's just downright annoying. Her performance of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" was, in the words of Randy Jackson, "just alright for me". It wasn't bad but it was a bit forgettable. She better think of something to waken up her performances soon because the "country bumpkin attitude" is really wearing thin now.
11. Kevin Covais
When they announced it was gonna be 50s week this week, I wanted someone to sing a Nat King Cole song. I didn't expect that someone to be Kevin though. He sang "When I Fall In Love", which was slightly better than his performance of Stevie Wonder's "Part-time Lover", which, IMO, was totally inappropriate for him. I think the song really suited his voice, which veers on the Rat Pack scene. But I don't care because I still don't want him in the competition.
My bottom three picks: Kevin, Lisa and Bucky.
**************SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE RESULTS SHOW YET!***********
I was right. And the mistakenly-dubbed sex symbol has left the building (or the competition, in this case).
Kellie and Lisa are next.Labels: american idol, tv |
posted by Jax @ 9:39:00 PM   |
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