End Of The Season

[koganbot]

Thought that Adam was decisively better than Kris last night, but most voters probably had made their decision on whom to vote for long since, and dialidol has it too close to call. Neither performer came to grips with "No Boundaries," both did fine on their reprise songs ("Mad World" for Adam and "Ain't No Sunshine" for Kris), though Adam's performance was richer, and Adam actually - and surprisingly - nailed "A Change Is Gonna Come" while Kris was respectable but weak on "What's Going On." On "No Boundaries" I may have slightly preferred Kris, who muffed a few of the words and strained at the high notes but seemed steadier with his mood. But "A Change Is Gonna Come" floored me, Adam powerful but restrained most of the way, and then when he let loose with the schmaltz at the end it really was a release and a resolution - as well as by subtext helping to use a black empowerment song as a gay empowerment song. ("A Change Is Gonna Come" and "What's Going On" were picked by the producer, not the performers, but even if the men had chosen the songs themselves and there were no gay overtones with Adam, I have no trouble with the idea of white guys singing those songs in this context; it's not like they're doing it on behalf of the Republican National Committee. But for the other view, see Leonard.) I liked "Mad World" even more, but we'd heard it before.

In any event, Kris is a smart flexible singer with a light touch on MOR, and I'd certainly want to hear an album he made. With Adam you just don't know what he'll do or whether it'll work, but for that reason he matters more, there's no set path marked out for him, though I doubt that he actually has the originality to carve out a new socioemotional music space for himself. You never can tell. I think he probably saved American Idol's ass this year, though I don't have a TV and AI was uncooperative with freeloaders like me in what they would allow on YouTube, so I don't have a strong sense of the season. Allison was the true talent, though that doesn't mean her best beat Adam's best, just that that gorgeous and rough throat of hers added feeling to anything she sang. I hope she gets good settings and good advice from here on out. Megan was the other true talent, and I'm bitter about her being given the boot so soon, but she did lay some very strange and not always effective performances and arrangements on us.

Overall, I've a better feeling towards this year than I had a couple of months ago, when there were bad decisions by Allison and Megan, a sea of mediocre contestants, and only Adam's hamming things up to provide consistent relief. But Kris's virtues became apparent as I heard more, Adam turned out to have more to him, and Allison finished strong. As for the Kara experiment, this is where my lack of a TV makes me ignorant. My guess is that they brought her in to take the pressure off Paula, and from what people have said it seems as if it actually was a better year for Paula because of it, but four judges were one too many and Kara didn't add a distinct enough new character to the proceedings, and anyway she's got better stuff she should be doing. As for whether or why she wants to wash away her sanity, or if her greatest gift really is falling down and taking it, my guess is that if I'd watched every minute of every episode I'd still be no closer to knowing. But since I didn't...

The entertainment sites seem to be saying that at this point Simon thinks that no one can pay him enough to keep making all those transatlantic flights. We'll see.

Comments

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

As for whether or why she wants to wash away her sanity, or if her greatest gift really is falling down and taking it, my guess is that if I'd watched every minute of every episode I'd still be no closer to knowing.

I see what you did there. Anyway: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-kara-dioguardi17-2009may17,0,243904.story

I thought Kris was decisively better than Adam. "A Change is Gonna Come" was good, but I've been feeling increasingly Emperor's New Clothes about Adam over the past few weeks -- the theatrics and rearrangements became less surprising/delightful as the season went on, and as the crappier contestants fell away, it became more and more clear that he wasn't great, he was just better than people who sucked. Kris, on the other hand, has been growing over that same period of time, to the point where I feel about him now the way I felt about Adam in the beginning -- no matter what else happens, he's gonna be enjoyable.

Allison would have rocked "No Boundaries." Simon's said everyone will be back next year. Who knows?

[koganbot]

Ah, Kara is totally lovable in that interview. Ultimately, how do you think she did on the show this year, or haven't you sorted that out yet?

I want to say to Kara, "If they don't renew your contract, you'll have so much extra time to be writing songs for Allison Iraheta."

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I had written you a thoughtful response about how I think she basically broke even -- it's clear she suffers from some sort of pop-culture dyslexia, but really "Studio 57" and "early Aerosmith" were no dumber than anything any of the other judges ever said, but then again, even though she eventually quit it with the weird sexism, it turns out that the crushing self-doubt and desperate need to be loved that I found so appealing when she was singing angsty pop-rock songs are actually totally, totally unappealing when she on my TV every week -- and like, someone said on TWOP that it isn't that she's so bad, it's just that she would have to be really good to justify adding another judge, and she wasn't. She was only as good as the rest of them.

But then she got on stage on national television and took her damn clothes off, so I'm just gonna say good. She did good.

[koganbot]

It's interesting that Ashlee had described Kara, admiringly, as a "tough girl." Maybe that's what Ashlee needed her to be, which helped Kara to be it.

Being excellent at self-doubt myself, I find that the best way to put it in its place - and doubt has a legitimate place - is to focus on a task, which on AI would be how to help the performers and how to help the show. Kara's had plenty of experience with the former. The latter is probably hard to work out, since she is in effect a performer, and it wouldn't mean suppressing one's character, but what it might mean is having a strong sense of what the show needs but not focusing on whether she happens to look good from moment to moment in her producer's eyes, or about looking good at all, which may not be what the show needs. And what you're saying is that the show didn't need her to be insecure on camera.

My guess is what Simon is good at, and Adam and even Kris, for that matter, is making themselves an issue without feeling their psyches are at issue. Whereas last year Brooke White's psyche was at issue, and while this could be irritating and hard to watch at times, it ultimately was very appealing to me, because it really did feed into her art, though it got her voted down earlier than she deserved. But it's more appealing in a performer than in a judge, I think. Or at any rate, a judge would have to figure out how to make insecurity work, and what you're saying is that Kara didn't.

[koganbot]

the crushing self-doubt and desperate need to be loved

Counter to what I said up-top, I bet you that if I'd been watching it week by week - her self-doubt and her desperate need to be loved - I would have gained insight into why Kara wants the rain to fall down and wake her dreams and wash away her sanity etc. - if by "wash away my sanity" she means "wash away my normality" or "wash away my conventionality" or "wash away my inhibitions." But then, some of us would consider an excess of inhibitions to be a manifestation of insanity, an out-of-control, compulsive need to assert control. Like, anorexia and bulimia are generally considered mental illnesses, right? Spinning-around hyperactive little Ashlee at age 19 might have had a clearer vision of the issue here than Kara does ("It's safe outside to come alive in my identity," which I'll wager are Ashlee's own words, and which mean that for her, having an identity is a precondition to coming alive - she couldn't really do it before, and coming alive was a precondition for her to finally start (or admit to) loving her sister, which she also couldn't do before, and she had to go outside (the family) to do it, which is textbook teen psychology - whereas Kara dreams of a thunderclap that'll knock her out of her identity and bring her to life, by forcing her into a new one)(except, of course, I may well be giving undue importance to some song words that Kara wrote on assignment for Hilary, Kara figuring that a kiddie-pop version of the romantic sublime would sell well to the younger set, and anyway I don't know for sure that John had nothing to do with them; except I think they are Kara and that she identifies hard with them).

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

that he wasn't great, he was just better than people who sucked.

That's how I felt too. I don't disagree with people who thought he was the most talented contestant this season, but I disagree quite strongly with the people who think he's the most talented contestant ever. To me he's just a guy with an awesome voice who hasn't yet figured out the most effective way to deploy it.

For what it's worth, I like Kara, but I think she makes things very difficult for herself sometimes. She'd have to work hard to be anything like as useless as Randy, mind.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Overall I thought it was an OK season, and I agree with you insofar as Allison and Megan were my two favorites this season. Though Adam Lambert's "Tracks of My Tears" probably remains my favorite individual performance.

Personally, I think hiring on Kara was a mistake. She doesn't really add that much to the judging process (almost always mirrors Randy's comments), and it just adds even more unnecessary filler to the show.