The Top 8 Perform - 4/7/09

[The4thJudge]

Tight Black T

Songs from the year of your birth week has always been my favorite week. It's the week where in Season 5, Taylor gave Idol the big fuck you and strutted his stuff to Play That Funky Music. *sigh* High hopes prevailed as I hit play on my DVR last night. Those high hopes were quickly dashed, as the Season 8 snoozefest continued.

The night started out with a collective "awwww," as we got to see pictures of the judges and Ryan from when they were kids. Randy was stylin', Kara looked unhappy (Ryan: Looks like you just did a poopy), Paula looked the same, Simon was born with that perpetually pissed off look, and Ryan was just damn cute.

The performances started with the oldest contestant, Danny, who sang Mickey Gilley's 1980 version of Stand by Me. I was around in 1980 and I don't remember this at all. From all of the songs he could have chosen, and there were some damn good ones that year, he chose this? It was an odd, awkward arrangement and as always his voice was weak early and soared in the power area. A lesser singer would be in jeopardy of being in the bottom three, but I think he's safe for another week. That said though, I do think he may be falling into the "well that wasn't anything new and different" trap that Scott's in.

We found out from Kris and his parents that he wanted to be a taxi driver. Quite ambitious there Kris. Kris' performance of 1985's All She Wants to Do Is Dance was confusing to me. He stood in a crowd of girls with his guitar and performed a horrible arrangement of the song. There was no drive to his performance and it dragged along.

Who are you Lil Rounds? We may never find out. Her poor imitation of Tina Turner's What's Love Got to Do With It, disappointed the judges and me. The judges want her to succeed and so do I, but it just ain't happening.

I read an article last week about how 1986 was a great year for Anoop. The writer said that year some of the top acts, Bobby Brown and Boys II Men were right in Anoop's comfort zone. The writer of the article listed a number of songs Anoop could sing, the last one, considered a "brave, brave choice" was Cyndi Lauper's True Colors. He must have read that damn article! He showed the beauty of his voice with that song. Was it too boring for the voting public? Who knows. I applaud him for taking the chance.

Awful awfulness is all I can say about Scott's performance of The Search is Over. He stepped away from the piano and picked up a guitar. Does he even know how to play that thing or is it like Chikezie learning to play the harmonica last year? At least Chikezie did a damn good job. I think it's time for Scott to pack up his piano and go home.

Allison continues to amaze me. Last night I turned to my viewing companion and said, "I think I want Allison to win, I love a dark horse." I was a little nervous when Ryan announced she would be singing Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me, one of my all-time favorite songs. But she nailed it.

My viewing companion and I sat stunned by Matt's horrible performance of Stevie Wonder's Part Time Lover. It was all over the place and extremely flat. The judges loved it, thought it was the best of the night. Was it our TV? Are we both going deaf? I had planned to go back and watch it online this morning but I didn't have a chance. I try to watch it later and maybe I'll have to amend my review.

Adam was given the prime spot to perform Mad World by Tears for Fears. It was another stripped down performance, and for most of it, Adam was bathed in a dark blue light and you could barely see his face. His rendition was haunting, his phrasing spot on. He won the night for sure. While his voice is not the tone I gravitate towards, I think he is an amazingly talented young man. Over the course of the season, he has been showing us his abilities as an all-around entertainer. Does he deserve to win, yes. Should he win, no. I think everyone who frequents this board knows exactly why. Back during Season 5, a well-known member of this board wrote a blog piece and made the bold statement that Taylor would be better off not winning. I agreed with her then and I hold this same sentiment where Adam is concerned. I was listening to the entertainment report on a top 40 station on my drive into work this morning and while they were recapping Idol, they spent a significant amount of time on Adam. The morning show's producer, who is also the station's music director, said point blank, "we would never play any of his songs on this station." Top 40 radio play doesn't matter to me, but it matters to TPTB. Just some food for thought.

Who's going home? It should be Scott.

Lil' Dawg

Danny Gokey: Not his best performance. Very weak on the non-power parts again, but I'm sure he'll move onto next week easily.

Kris Allen: I thought it was a pretty good vocal, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

Lil Rounds: I agree with the judges that she is a great vocalist but it's all very karaoke and we still have no idea who she is.

Anoop Desai: Yay Anooooop! Good, good, good. Hopefully it's enough to keep him out of the bottom this week.

Scott MacIntyre: Bad vocal, but I'm glad he stepped out of his little box and took out the guitar.

Allison Iraheta: I still can't get over the fact that she's 16. She is ridiculously talented and has so much confidence.

Matt Giraud: The last few notes were good; the rest I thought was crap. I guess I was hearing something completely different from the judges.

Adam Lambert: Obviously a good performance vocally, but the tone of his voice still isn't my cup of tea.

Lil' Dawg failed to tell us who is going home tonight. Such a flake!


Seacrest's Hair

So, an interesting Birth Year Week. We feel old, for starters. No more songs from the 70s in this week, more's the pity.

Like our colleagues, we had never heard Danny's yawner of an arrangement of "Stand By Me". It wasn't a bad vocal, pretty much Danny-standard, but we've had root canals that seemed to be over with faster.

Kris surprised us by singing a song we hate (we have an anti-Don Henley thing), "All She Wants To Do Is Dance", but we didn't hate his arrangement. Yes, it did get repetitive and dull after a while, and he should've changed up the last seven repeats of the chorus but overall we liked it better than anything he's done thus far.

We are giving up on Lil. Here's our theory on Lil: she got married and had kids too young, never had a chance to explore and learn who she is as an individual person, and therefore she cannot now express who she is to us, the audience, through song. So she tries to be other people, like Tina Turner, who we can safely say she is NOT. Damn, girl. You are wasting the talent God gave you. He's gonna be pissed.

Anoop sang "True Colors", a song we love, and a song we think was quite good for him. He's great with the girl songs. He's comfortable with the song, and in a good mood because the Heels won (so are many of our friends), and we think this contributed to a good energy and a performance that actually, for once, felt too short.

Scott finally got up from the piano and... Simon told him to get back behind it. He kind of played an electric guitar, which is incredibly weird to behold, and watching him "scan" the audience is also on the creepy side. His rendition of "The Search Is Over" was flat, flat, flat, although he seems to have more energy standing up. Just strange, and occasionally painful.

Allison, our love, did a pretty straightforward reading of "I Can't Make You Love Me", but with that delicious pack-a-day voice. Like Randy, we are weekly reminded of Kelly Clarkson, but Allison has grit and power that Kelly never had. The difficulty for Allison in her future career will be getting past the prodigy stage and being allowed to mature into a powerful woman.

Doing his Timberlake thing again, Matt sang a version of "Part Time Lover" that would've benefited from a rapper handling the verses. We have to be honest... we got up and went to get a snack while he sang. We just can't look at him.

And finally, our beloved Adam... looking absolutely ethereal, between the white/tan outfit and the smoky lighting. His voice was ethereal as well, and while we love dialed-back Adam, we also very much appreciated the surge of power when he stood up from the chair. His control is incredible. We'd also like to point out that we are a soprano, and his last note was pretty near to the top of our range. Delish.

Scott can go now, or Lil, either one is done. They're just frustrating us now.

[Stangy]

Well here's my two cents. I agree with those who didn't like Matt's performance at all and still don't get why the judges did...well..unless you believe they were pimping, which I do.

I know what the reviewer means about Adam being better off not winning. The idea of Clive Davis getting his claws into that incredible talent almost makes me sick on my stomach. I don't understand the radio station that has already decided not to play his music when he hasn't recorded it yet, so....they haven't heard it.

Kris is my second fave but there was too much going on with his performance I thought....too much "stuff" distracting from him.

I'm with Seacrest's Hair on two important points, too. First, I cannot watch Matt, either. I have to leave the room. He sounds better to me if I can't see him...and #2, notice how the audience cheered like crazy when Adam rose from his seat and gave us a note...just one. He left us wanting more of him. Brilliant. I'm hoping for more big notes next week. It's Songs From The Movies theme week.