Here we go, semifinal round two.
I know what to expect from the guys tonight. Potentially three or four excellent performances.
The gals? No idea. Remember, three of the six — Jasmine, Mishavonna and Allison — are teenagers. A fourth, has very little experience on a stage like American Idol.
First up, Jasmine Murray. She’ll be singing “Love Song.” She started shaky, with a few too sharp notes, but she seemed to warm up to the song as she went along. Still, a little disappointing from the gal I expected the most from this week. Last week, it would have measured up nicely to the other gals, except Alexis. This week? Will it be good enough? Grade: B-
Next up: Mr. Dueling Piano Player, Matt Giraud, another performer who comes in with high expectations. He’s performing without a keyboard. A bit of a surprise there. He’s doing Coldplay, but some of those high notes are out of his reach. Not bad, not great. Simon is accusing him of performing like a wannabe pop star. And he’s getting very lukewarm reviews. I didn’t think he was nearly as “horrible” as Simon, but he didn’t live up to his Hollywood Week promise. Grade C.
Okay, so I finally know something about Jeanine Vailes. She’s a bartender. She’s also gotten the least Idol time of any of the 36 semifinalists. And Ms. Mystery performs next. Hold it. Wasn’t last year’s Idol, David Cook, a bartender before trying out for Idol? An omen? This Idol stage is eating up and spitting out contestants. Jeanine looks the part. She’s acting the part. But the vocal just isn’t there. Yeap, it’ll be one song and out for Jeanine. Grade: D.
But, hey, Jeanine, way to give it to Idol … or at least gently hint at one of this year’s big problems. She says she’s been so under the radar she felt she had to be a little over the top with her performance. You’re right, gal. There’s been nothing fair about the pre-semifinal Idol shows this year. Too much Danny Gokey. Too much Tatiana. Way too much Bikini Girl. Not nearly enough time for the more talented female singers.
Here comes Nick Mitchell, or Normund Gentle. Great, we’ll get Normund. OK, Idol. Hasn’t this gone far enough? For crying out loud. He’s about five lines into the song. Here’s the Grade: F. Well, put a comedian on a singing show and that’s what you get, Idol. This guy has no chance of being the next Idol. Let’s get on with the singing, please. What a waste of time.
Guess what? Next up we get Allison and Kris, two people who want to be singers rather than comedians. Horray!
By the way, I bet Idol’s iTunes sales are tanking under this new format. We’re about a show and a half into the Idol’s iTunes season, and there’s been one performance (Alexis Grace last week) worth downloading.
Allison Iraheta takes on Heart’s “Alone.” Hardly original. The song has been performed countless times on Idol. Nice intro and then … wow, is that Carly Smithson oversinging on stage. Nope, the hair color is all wrong. But the oversinging reminds me of Carly. Randy’s giving her good reviews. So is Kara. OK, I didn’t think it was nearly as good as the Idol judges. Grade: C
Kris Allen up next, singing “Man in the Mirror.” OK, here’s another contestant who’s gotten no exposure to this point and needs a knockout performance. Don’t know if it was a knockout performance, but it was the best male vocal of the night so far. So why is Simon bringing up Danny? Get over Danny already. By the way, where are the instruments tonight? Were they prohibited somewhere along the line? This guy plays a great guitar and, according to his MySpace page, is adept with a ukelele, too. Grade: B
Next, Megan Corkrey, the show’s sentimental favorite from my viewpoint. Go, Megan. Singing “Put Your Records On.” Looks great. Vocal shows lots of potential, but it wasn’t great. To echo something we hear from the judges so often, I’m not sure she picked the right song. But the competition from the gals hasn’t been overwhelming tonight, so she just might slip through. And since I expected more from Jasmine, Megan wins any tie between the two. Grade: B-
Matt Breitzke, the welder, will be singing “If You Could Only See.” OK, Matt had my attention from the first note. Now that was the best male vocal of the night. Far better than the performance that got sing-off mate Michael Sarver into the finals last week. Very good. Grade: B+.
Jessica Langseth, sister of a Grammy winner, comes next with “Bette Davis Eyes.” That’s the song our rocker chose? Hey, Jesse, you would have been better off singing a rock song. Oops, that’s right. Simon’s over there, and he doesn’t like rock songs. They thought Matt’s performance was boring. That was more boring. Grade: C-.
Anyone else out there think these two-hour shows seem endless? Anyone else out there wish we could see more singing and hear less chatter?
Kai Kalama sings “What’s Become of the Broken Hearted.” Big ending saves a fairly boring performance. Decent vocal, but pretty forgettable. He’s one of the guys I had extremely high hopes for, so that left me a little disappointed. Grade: B-.
Mishavonna Henson performs next. So for the second straight week, the folks at Idol have saved one of their hand-picked favorites, Adam Lambert, for the show-closing performance. Hmm. Mishavonna sings “Drops of Jupiter.” She’s getting very lukewarm reviews. Frankly, I think it was better than the reviews she’s getting. I was pleasantly surprised by Mishavonna. Hey, it sounded on key from start to finish, which is something that hasn’t happened too often tonight. Grade: B.
Which brings us to the final contestant of the night: Adam Lambert. He’s singing “Satisfaction.” Finally. Wow. A standout performance. I see a potential American Idol. The song has been done before on Idol, but he’s giving it a fresh spin. Great job. Best performance of the night by a mile. Grade: A
Leave a reply