Wednesday, April 7

Don't Let The Fame Go Down On My

If I feel like it each week, I’ll post my post-Tuesday impressions of the performances on American Idol. Here’s what I thought about last night’s show, based entirely on next-morning recollection:

Fantasia: Another very solid performance. She’s gonna win AI this year. It’ll come down to between her and George, and she has more Celebrity Personality Potential ™ than George. While it was an excellent performance, she does need to be careful of not relying too much on ‘tricks’ each week, such as ending each song with a “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAHHHH”.

JPL: Why is he on the show? I’d say “because America thinks he’s cute”, but I cannot believe they think he’s that cute that they’d put up with his unbearably bland singing and foolish stage presence. His eyes still too often give off that “I’m a psychotic killer” look. Can’t wait for him to go.

Hawaiin Girl: Simply, her voice isn’t strong enough. Can’t remember the song she sang (which says something there), but remember not enjoying it at all. She’ll make it through to another chance next week, though, because there were far worse performances than hers.

Crooner John: And I thought he couldn’t get worse than last week’s god-awful showing. He’s just not ready for the competition. While I think he does a good job with crooner songs, he just can’t translate himself into anything close to a pop singer. God, if you exist and are listening, please get him off the show tonight. I’d even take another week of JPL over this lump of sadsack nerves.

Ethnic Girl: Two weeks in a row, now, she’s sung songs that are too low for her range. Which indicates to me that she doesn’t have much of a vocal range. And why does she give me the impression that she’d steal hubcaps? She just looks like someone who’d get into legal trouble.

George: Another super showing from George. Gotta stop the bend-ercise though. The guy just oozes personality and charm and vocal talent. He’s getting more and more confident each week, however when he’s not singing and the spotlight is on him, he still looks like a little boy, with the blinking eyes and candy-eating grin. It’s this aspect of his personality that, I think, will keep him from ultimately winning the competition over Fantasia. Her presence says ‘Look at me, I’m a star’. George’s presences says “Look! Stars!”

LaToya: She came close to the power and wow of her fantastic semi-final performance, but there was still something lacking from her performance last night. She was one of the top four performers last night, but was the least memorable of them.

Princess: Simply awful. She doesn’t belong in the competition. Simon's lack of anything to say said it all.

Jennifer: Jennifer let me down last night, by nailing her song. I don’t like Jennifer, mostly because her eyes convey the anger that’s obviously inside her. Those wide, scary eyes didn’t show last night, which disappointed me. Whereas Ethnich Girl looks like she’d steal hubcaps, Jennifer looks like she’d love to get into a good ole scrappin’ fistfight.



Bottom Three: JPL, Crooner John and Princess, with John Peter being sent back to the Sofas of Safety ™. Despite the unbelievable break he got last week by not even being in the bottom three, Crooner John’s luck surely has run out this week, and he’ll be the one to go, leaving Princess safe for another week.



8 comments:

Nils Ling said...

Rob, I agree with almost every assessment. While I wasn't a huge Amy fan, I was stunned that Crooner John made it for one more week and she didn't. But it reaffirmed something that might shake your Celebrity Personality Potential ™ theory a bit: if it ever comes down to Fantasia versus George, it all becomes about likeability and cuteness. And - witness the continued mystifying existence of JPL in this competition - cuteness trumps common sense in the AI world every time.

Rob MacD said...

You may be right. If so, I think that the Ruben/Clay situation from last year may re-occur. Ruben won, but Clay (obviously the more marketable of the two) is reaping all (most) of the attention. (perhaps I should add: 'all the attention in the white-dominated entertainment industry'. I don't know what Ruben's popularity/success is like in the African American demographic)
If George beats out Fantasia (assuming that it does come down to those two - never assume anything when the mob votes) and is the American Idol, I suspect that Fantasia, ala Clay, will have an easier time reaching the mainstream audience.

Nils Ling said...

OK, yeah. Or .. um ... yeah-yeah-yeah YEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHH ...

frankie said...

I don't like Jennifer. Did you notice how happy she was last night when George was picked for her group? She was jumping up and down for Gad's sake.
I don't like Fantasia either. Her demeanor says, "I've got this thing in the bag". I don't like that confident attitude. She needs to be taken down a peg or two. Besides, America already has a Macy Gray.
John cannot sing. Even when crooning. Why am I the only one who can see this? Why is he even in this competition?
I want LaToya to win. But you're right; George will likely get it, most unfortunately. Sigh.

Nils Ling said...

I dunno that it's unfortunate, Frankie - I mean, the young man does have chops - he belongs up there. One of, say, three or four who do - and I would include LaToya in that group.
By the way, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to punch the crap out of Seacrest. His latest lame efforts to endow himself with some sort of catchphrase ("Seacrest, out!") is just cringeworthy. I'm always thinking "That's what he used to hear when he hung around the locker room just a few minutes longer than he technically needed to be there".

Nils Ling said...

On re-reading, I want to make clear it's George who belongs up there, not Crooner John. At this point, John is consistently embarrassing himself. If this was a fight, the ref would have stopped it long ago. The poor boy's expression is so shell-shocked and miserable and he looks for all the world like he completely agrees with all three judges when they tear him a new one after every song he does. I'm wondering if people are voting for him because they hate him so much, they want to inflict more of this excruciating charade on him.
I read a suggestion the other day that to fix the show's problems, all the producers need to do is reverse the voting so you vote AGAINST the singer you need to never hear again. I think this makes sense.

frankie said...

I do think George deserves to be there, but after last season's Ruben/Clay combo, I think it would be a nice change to see a female take the top prize again. Enter LaToya.

dave m said...

i'm with frankie on this, Latoya is the dark horse here. Each performance I like her better, whereas with George and Fantasia, though they blew me away three or four performances, now I just see more flaws. But I guess I'm the only one who misses Matt, who I thought would make it to the final five at least... never underestimate the power of 12 year old girls.