Idol Idyll Continues

[koganbot]

An Idol fan enthuses: "I suppose that was viable!" "bearable, I guess!" "competent!" But never twice for the same performer.

Brooke White "I'm A Believer": OK. Pleasant. Nice song. Well, not even OK. Look, lady, you're not a rocker, and please shut up with the "whoos." Meh.

David Archuleta "Sweet Caroline": Wooden at the start; arranged as a power ballad, which it isn't; and he trots along inconsequentially in the chorus. Didn't find his way to the song at all.

David Cook "I'm Alive": Singing deep in his throat, the growl works, but the voice gets shredded when he presses; he doesn't kick this forward.

Jason Castro "Forever In Blue Jeans": He's comfortable and even strong in the verse, goes weak and sketchy in the upper register, a viable performance (unlike last week's).

Syesha Mercado "Hello Again": She hits her marks but there's nothing there, no one home.

Intermission. Obviously I didn't watch this in real time, but some "half-way" thoughts: I'm at the point where I'm no longer wondering "Will they do something I care about?" but more like "Will they get through it?" Brooke is talented but learns nothing from her mistakes (hmmm, everyone hated my being up-tempo on "Here Comes The Sun," so I'll do it again), Syesha just doesn't have it as a singer (though she seems the sanest of the bunch), David C. can occasionally knock something out of the park but I don't see where he's really anything but a pretty good growly rocker, Jason's hit or miss but that's at least in character and I actually think the judges are missing the point with him, and David A. is also hit or miss and behind his sweetness he keeps his own counsel so I don't get it.

Round one. Bad: David A., Syesha, Brooke. Not so bad: David C. Mediocre but halfway pleasant: Jason.

An editorial: Brooke I'm rooting for, so it can be difficult seeing her suffer from nerves all the time, but in the long run she'll likely do OK as a human being, and maybe even as a recording artist, because not only does she have actual talent, she's appealing in her failures. David Archuleta is a cypher though he undoubtedly suffers from nerves too. I also suffer from nerves, and so what. Paula Abdul, on the other hand, is a human being disintegrating, or so it seems. It's not funny, at this point it's not interesting to observe, we can sympathize with her, but that doesn't mean we should have to watch it.

Brooke White "I Am, I Said": Finally, a good song choice. She rushes the chorus, she oversings a bit, the strings get in the way, but she's warm and she's herself. Finally.

David Archuleta "America": He forgoes his usual attempts at sweetness, tries to be rousing instead, and to my surprise he kind of succeeds. I'm hardly in love with it, but it's professional and even a bit moving.

David Cook "All I Really Need Is You." David, why did you not sing "Solitary Man"? The song is made for you! In any event, this is roughly "sensitive" at the start in a tradition that goes back at least to Ray Charles, if not Wallace Beery. Goes strong in the power part. Competent, would like it more if this were the sort of thing I liked. (The judges' praise for this is ridiculous, however.)

Jason Castro "September Morn": Again, viable, nice in the lower register. I actually like this, though would like it more if I liked the song more. Randy calls this an "OK, whatever," performance, but that's who Jason is.

Syesha Mercado "Thank The Lord For The Night Time": I like the song a lot, Neil poised between garage rock and soul, and this is right for Syesha's style. Not that this performance doesn't suffer from her basic emotive nothingness, but I rocked along with it.

Round two. Not bad: Syesha. OK: David C. Pleasant: Jason. Pretty good: David A. Good, Mostly: Brooke.

On the bubble: Syesha, Jason, or Brooke could get voted off, though my guess is that Jason is safe because he's a babe.

Comments

[koganbot]

Note: DialIdol has Syesha safe, which means that Brooke's likely going down, though Jason's certainly at risk (and doesn't have Brooke's talent).

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Yet another bad week. I think you underrate Brooke's second performance. I think it was her best performance in weeks, maybe even since "Let It Be". She's back to giving real performances and not just standing up there and singing. That was the only performance this week I'd label as good though. Maybe "Forever in Blue Jeans".

And Brooke's first performance was awful. I think she may be intentionally trying to get voted off in order to avoid a nervous breakdown. I don't know what's happened on this show since Beatles Week Mark 1.

[koganbot]

I think that Brooke actually thinks that her performances of "Here Comes The Sun" and "I'm A Believer" are great fun. I've got her album from a couple of years back, and it's really mediocre, leading me to believe that she's not a good judge of her own strengths.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

But she's been pretty down on her performance of "Here Comes the Sun" in interviews -- it's her most embarrassing moment, she's so sorry for the "woo!," etc.

VFTW is backing Brooke now that Carly's gone, plus DialIdol's been all kinds of inaccurate this year, so she might not actually be in the bottom spot. Then again, Jason's fans probably panic-voted for him last night, and there's no way Archuleta's going home (although his DialIdol rankings have been dropping for a few weeks now).

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Word is, next week they have to sing two out of this list of 500 songs: http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs/. This might actually be interesting.

[koganbot]

Oh, I hope if Brooke is still around that she doesn't do "Dream On," a mediocre version of which she did on her album. I wonder how she'd do on "Crying in the Chapel"?

[koganbot]

And Jason Castro could do "Planet Rock" as a change of pace.

[brak55.livejournal.com]

I would be glad if David A. goes. I've decided that he represents everything I hate about mainstream pop music. For me, that version of America was calculated (most likely by his father) and totally soulless.

Brooke is going to do OK no matter what happens. Carly Simon has said she liked her version of You're So Vain even better than her own and seems to be a big supporter.

[koganbot]

I don't know why you think 17-year-olds can't be calculating themselves; but also, David's mom's an immigrant, so the song might well have a similar meaning for him that it had for Neil Diamond. Of course, I'm the guy who once gave Lee Greenwood a nondismissive review in the Voice.

[brak55.livejournal.com]

Oh, a 17-year-old can, but I've read a couple of stories on David A's father over the last month or so. Evidently David was on Star Search a number of years ago and his father was eventually banned from the building because of his actions and attitudes. I guess he's a real "stage mother."

I'm pretty sure, a few weeks ago, Simon was referring to this when he said that he didn't believe that David was the one that chose a song.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a dismal week - Brooke's second song was the best of a rotten bunch, for me.

What is happening with Paula? The bit where she started reviewing someone's second song before they'd done it, and her confusion when this was pointed out, was pretty horrifying.

That list of 500 songs that shaped rock is incomprehensible to me. If they mean rock specifically, why Dr Dre? It's rock with a bit of added tokenism. No room for Ike Turner at all, I see (there's an Ike & Tina, but he's not on that), even for Rocket 88.

I would like to hear Brooke do I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) or Many Rivers to Cross. Not a lot of actual country for her to choose from. I am guessing Syesha might do an entertaining Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean, assuming she survives.

Actually it's amusing imagining some of the songs being attempted on American Idol - Nuthin' But a "G" Thang, Rock 'n' Roll part 2, Wipeout...

[koganbot]

I think there are two different things related to that incident with Paula: (1) She's got problems; and (2) Lots of suspicion that things aren't on the up-and-up with American Idol, e.g., the judges sometimes watching the rehearsals (which I don't think is kosher, but apparently it's something they've admitted to doing occasionally) or the judges being fed lines in advance (something that's been denied), etc.