Wednesday, March 18

Rob's American Idol Top 11 Review

Country night is always an "ugh" for me.  I like country music, but only the more-acoustic heartfealt singer-songwriter kind of country music.  The crap they play on the radio does very little for me.  Unfortunately, those are the kinds of songs these AI performers tend to choose.

Last night's performances almost entirely were 'ugh'.  Tough night to watch.  Here's how it went down.

Micheal Sarver went first and sang some kind of upbeat rockin' country song, the kind of country song I don't enjoy.  Kind of like Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" without any of the passion.  No, wait, that'd be Billy Joel's "I Didn't Start The Fire".  Last night's song was like an inferior countrified version of Billy Joel's song.  How did he do?  Well, when one of the positive comments from the judges is "wow, you remembered a lot of words", it doesn't bode well.  I thought it was a stumbly, kind of lazy performance, even though it was "high energy".  In general, he performed without confidence, and it showed.

Allison Iraheta sang some song and, like last week, made it sound like Heart.  I don't like Heart. I don't heart Heart. She sang well enough, but her personality is starting to bug me more every time I see her.  Last week, Kara told someone they could sing the phone book.  This week she told Allison she could sing the alphabet.  Next week, mark my words, she'll tell someone they can sing a song.  Whatever.

Kris Allen sang some kind of ballad.  He got rid of the guitar, which is a good thing, and just sat on a stool and belted it out.  A pretty good performance of an unremarkable song.

Lil Rounds sang a song I was aware of, Independence Day.  I don't like the song.  I didn't really care for Lil's rendition of it.  I don't care.  What I do care about is Simon refusing to believe that Lil's name could be short for Lilly, instead of short for Little, which is what he ignorantly calls her again and again.  Also, Lil, shut up and take your You Didn't Do As Well As You Should Have medicine from the judges. 

Adam Lambert sang Ring Of Fire.  I HATED it.  My wife said she hoped one of the judges would call it out for being self-indulgent and sure enough, our boy Simon said it was "absolute indulgent rubbish".  Perfect!  Yay Simon!!  Really, I don't like what Adam is all about.  Yes, he has a crazy-flexible voice, but he's such a product.  UGH.

Scott MacIntyre sang some song at the piano.  I was in the kitchen making toast and peanut butter, but what I heard sounded boring and dull.  I think Scott's problem is he's too in-his-head with his songs and has to find a way to get what's in-his-heart out.  I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.  I think Scott's blindness is wearing out it's charm.  He needs to kick it up a few notches next week.  Funny, two weeks ago, Paula and the rest of the judges said they couldn't wait to hear Scott sing when he got to accompany himself on the piano.  That's when his true talent would take off. This week, Paula says Scott's using the piano as a crutch.  Paula is stoopid.

Alexis Grace sang Dolly Parton's Jolene.  It was okay.  She seemed to get bored of it half way through.  I hate the way the judges pidgeon-hole Alexis as the dirty girl.  As much as she's good at those down and dirty kinds of songs, it made me sad to hear her plead that if she's still around next week, she'll make sure to be really dirty. 

Danny Gokey sang "Jesus Take the Wheel".  What a stupid song.  I hate treacly inspiration songs like this.  First of all, I hate the premise.  Jesus shouldn't take the wheel.  If anything, Jesus should give you the strength to be able to take the wheel yourself.  Danny's performance was okay.  Started out weak and got better when the song itself got more charged.  But what a rotten song.  ugh.

Anoop Desai sang "Always On My Mind".  According to the judges, he blew it out of the ballpark.  While it was definitely his best performance so far, and maybe the best so far of the night, it wasn't as good as they insisted it was.  They do that a lot, these judges (except Simon, who shows great restraint usually).  Good job, Anoop.  Saved yourself.  Jesus Take The Vocal Chords.  Just don't forget to have fun up there on that stage, buddy, okay?

Megan Joy sang "Walkin' After Midnight".  When they showed the clip of her practicing it in front of guest star Randy Travis, this song sounded great.  I was expecting it to be a super-quirky version.  The reality of it is, though, that it was another Nervous Megan performance.  Not nearly as good as the Travis clip showed it could be.  But still much better than recent performances.  She's got an unusual aura about her, this Megan.  I like her, but fear her quirkiness will be her downfall.  Dammit, the very thing that makes her great will be the thing that destroys her!

Matt Giraud sang some ballady type song at the piano.  My appreciation of Matt's talents have grown immeasurably over the past two weeks.  I thought he was the best of the bunch this week.  He's a rising star, Ed McMahon!

Best of the night:  Matt followed by Anoop.

In danger: Michael sang first and wasn't very good.  Never good. He's in danger.  Scott should be too, but his blindness may get him another week yet.  Megan, while doing a good job, will always be in danger, I fear.  But the judges reminding us, over and over and over that she is sick this week should get her enough pity votes to keep her around.






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