Sorry for the delay, but I was actually flying over these fair United States last night, and had to watch the Finale later due to my little brother graduating from High School.  (Good job Ty!)

(See some things still take precendence over Ameircan Idol in my life…)

Let’s get back to the real stuff…

David Cook kicked things off right with his AMAZING new song, dedicated to his brother.  I LOVED this song, and will definitely be getting it.  He showed why he won it all last year, and has really done a great job of molding a start to a career.

Then the Golden Idols begin, and we are all happy to see Normand Gentle back on the stage!  Although the sctick didn’t come together perfectly, it was a fun ending to a great addition to Season 8.

Queen Latifah and Lil Rounds was a beautiful and natural combination.  Why didn’t we see this beautiful, confident, peel-the-paint-off-the-walls version of Lil’ in the actual compeition?!?!

Jason Marantz was cool, with backup grooves by Anoop Dawg and Alexis Grace should have stayed in it MUCH longer than she did… sad.

Kris and Keith Urban was a perfect match.  I see Kris making this style of laid back, rock music.

Fergie and the Girls was nice, but Blackeye Pea with Fergie… well, the best part of this song was the costumes for the dancers.  Those things were trippy!  I’m not much for Blackeye Pea, anyway.  I’m glad they provided American Idol with their own “Janet Jackson” Live TV moment, where they had to cut away because they obviosuly weren’t told that there would be clothes being ripped off on stage.

Holla!

Ok… back to the Golden Idols.  No one doubted that Bikini Girl would be featured yet again on the show, so there was no surprise when she showed up nice and oiled up.  The moment got better when Seacrest said “I’d ask you what’s new… but…” 

As if the moment couldn’t get better than that, Bikini Girl gets up to sing and Kara came from behind to kick her snarky, self-centered butt.  Man, Kara can SING too!!  She’s been waiting a whole season to get that off her chest… and speaking of chest… she wasted no time in ripping her clothes off for charity… and America now discovered she has great abs!  I love how she is desperately trying to cover up afterward…

video

Now we see Iraheta singing with none other than the not-so-legendary Cindy Lauper… and it’s lovely.

Cut to gokey… love this song, and love his rendition of it, but even better is the appearance of Lionel Ritchie – this one is dedicated to Mr Braun!  We finally had a Lionel appearance on American Idol!!!  Perhaps this means next year we’ll have “Lionel” week?  I have oft teased Mr Braun for his love of Lionel, but I will just say that Lionel and Gokey really looked like they were having a great time on stage, much more that the other acts.  Loved it!

Adam Lambert now takes the stage in some kind of weird looking shoulder pads….and now Kiss descends fro the ceiling to play with him.   Why Kiss, you ask?  Obviously, because they are Adam’s tongue Idols…

They do their thing (this explains the weird costume Adam started with) and at the end of the song we realize that Yes, Adam can break a guitar with his bare voice!

Carlos Santana now takes the stage…

Man!  The song/artist choices tonight are off the hook!  Matt Giraud with Santana was an awesome choice!

Commercial break and we come back to… … … Steve Martin and his little hokey country quintet???  What the…?  Who ordered up this stinky, steamy platter of suck right in the middle of my Idol finale?!?!  Come on folks!  Give me a break.  Is this like Michael Jordan pretending to play golf?  Is Steve Martin that bored with comedy that he thinks he’s going to become a musician?  Weird.

And now, in a fit of who knows what, Rod Stewart shows up on a scissor lift, stumbles in a drunken stupor down the stairs, and scratches out the most hideous song I think I’ve ever heard.  A good stiff breeze will knock him over on the stage. This part I really had to skip.  I just couldn’t take any more of the old man’s bellering!

Final Golden Idol… was there any doubt that it would be… Tatiana… there was a perfect tribute to her, though… cutting away before she could really get any time in the limelight.  Will she ever get a clue?  No one wants to hear from her again…

Kris and Adam now sing together…. with Queen.  A little pretentious to be singing “We are the champions” right before someone actually gets crowned the champion… but oh well.  Maybe they just didn’t think through the whole thing once they found out Queen woudl com.

And the winner is…

KRIS ALLEN!

Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  I’m shocked.  Amazed.  Excited.  Thrilled.

Now for the analysis of the result:

This was clearly America choosing between the freak of nature and the likable, humble guy from Arkansas.  Adam was clearly the bigger, more naturally talented singer.  He was clearly more able, and favored by the judges, the media, and all the critics.  But I think Kris’ win shows that America values heart and personality more than just freakyness. Don’t get me wrong, Kris is WICKEDLY talented!  He plays the piano, guitar, and sings like he does.  He has a very current feel and sound, and almost everyone in American (especially outside of Hollywood) prefers normal people to freaky deaky left-coasters.  Adam is amazing, and he will do well, but I’m not going to say America got it wrong.  Kris is our American Idol.  And even though I picked Adam last night, my heart and my vote was with our man Kris Allen!

The judges certainly made no bones about who they were supporting all year.  Paula basically did everything but tattoo his name to her forehead. Kara painted her fingernails black – I wonder who she’s voting for…

Enough about them, though.  Let’s get to the Idols…

Round 1

Adam:First song was the right choice.  Was his best of the season.  Why?  Because it’s the only song he didn’t screech.  Coming out of the floor on a scissor lift in a huge “Matrix” style trench coat was a TAD pretentious… please!  The first time he sang it was better.

Kris: Knocked the first one out of the park!  He was raw, natural, amazing.  He connected with the song and really did a great job.

Round 2

Simon Fuller’s song choices were HIDEOUS!  Both were songs to support some political/social point of Fuller…

Adam sang “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke.  He totally ruined the song.  It was absolutely hideous.  This song was an anthem of the Civil Rights movement, and Adam being an openly gay man is clearly being paraded as some poster child for the gay marriage movement, even though he personally doesn’t make an issue of his sexuality.

Just to make my point if how AWFUL Adam’s version was compared to Sam’s… Here is Adam:

And here is Sam Cooke. (click the gray play button)

Kris’ song is also a totally politically loaded song, but thankfully he blurred over a lot of the lyrics for us.  I liked the groove of it, but also agree with Randy that it was probably way too small for that big ‘ole Kodak Theater.

The third round… don’t get me started… what was up with that AWFUL song Kara and her “cowriters” wrote?  Man… can’t they ever get a decent finale song?  And HELLO it was completely written for Adam Lambert.  It was in his key, his range, and his stylings.  Then Kris had to come out and sing it after him.  What a complete joke.  They shouldn’t have had them do the same song.  Blah.

Conclusion

I will be OK if Adam wins it.  He has worked his behind off to win it.  He has set the bar for the whole competition.  He was the one to beat all along.  I think Kris has a shot to beat him, but it will be a complete upset if he does.

My Prediction

Adam Lambert will be the American Idol, Season 8.

[gloat]

I CALLED IT!

Three weeks in a row.

[/gloat]

But I won’t remind everyone what a genius I am… I will just let the results speak for themselves….

It’s a Adam / Kris Showdown!!!

I wasn’t feeling it until after the results were announced last night, but now I’m TOTALLY revved up for this finale!

(P.S. Finale Party is on Tuesday this year, folks… I’m sending out the Facebook invite today!)

This is going to be a great finale, not only for the dynamic that I described yesterday (that Kris is the only one of the Top 5 different enough from Adam to really take it from him), but also for the fact that it is two of the best, most ready, singers on Idol… EVER!

It was appropriate that Jordin Sparks was on AI last night.  Not because she totally is being pimped-out and product-ized due to her lack of songwriting ability.  Anyone else notice how she is making a song with every hot artist out there, but has nothing really to call her own?   (Is that the definition of a music who…???)

Oh wait… forgot… I was talking about Kris.

It was appropriate that Jordin was on last night because Kris reminds me a lot of her – a really good singer that kept skating through early, doing well and not making waves,  but didn’t really get noticed until it was too late and they were already shooting to the top.  I’m not calling him a ‘dark horse’, nor have I already awarded the finale prize to Adam (like the Judges have over and over again).  I am really proud of Kris.

Just remember. A vote FOR Kris is a vote AGAINST Adam!

Adam will be a formidable opponent.  He will no doubt wag his tongue several times next Tuesday.  He will shout and give pretentious smiles, but Kris, with his unending charm, ease under pressure, and laid back demeanor, can still totally take this from Adam, the presumptive (BIG empasis on the presumptive part) winner.

Will he be able to contain his tongue for an entire hour? We'll see next week!

Hey… speaking of presumptive winners… this reminds me of someone else who was only recently the presumptive winner… and who totally got taken to school in the finale…

Sorry Mark... I had to do it...

Go Kris!

Round 1 – Judges Picks

Danny: Danny’s first song was pretty good.  I thought it was a very good song choice for him to just kind of do what the original was.  Didn’t see any major creative change to the song, which was OK for me.  He did his think and started the show off right – getting everyone dancing – albeit awkwardly. 

BEST QUOTE OF THE SEASON THEN OCCURS

Seacrest (referring to Simon and Paula’s interactions at the judges table.) “That’s either second base or harassment!” Nice one, Seacrest!!!

Kris: Well, I thought he did a reasonable job with it.  Was it a ‘top 3′ performance?  No.  Was it great?  No.  Was it better than Danny and Adam?  mmm… it was on par with them.

Adam: Ugh.  He slaughtered this song… in the bad way.  U2 should be ashamed.  Bono should never allow amateur hour with his songs again.  The first part was actually really cool, but when he tried to get all rock-n-roll and intense about it, it went off the rails.

I thought that they all messed up the Judges picks.  They were all good, but there was something wrong with all of them for me.

Round 2 – Contestant’s Picks

Danny: “A vocal masterclass” says Simon… and he’s right.  In the masterclass, someone demonstrates an incredible array of vocal techniques.  He did show all his colors and range.  I think he really left it all out on the table.  It was all Danny could do to get into the finals, I think.

Kris: This was the best of the night by a long shot!  It was intense and connected.  It was unique.  It was arranged well.  It was spot on, vocally.  It was comfortable and fun.  This one deserves a video:

Adam: Another pretentious performance.  I feel like he really let this one fly off the hook even more than usual.  Yes, he is 110% committed to the peformance, and I will give him MAJOR props for that… but he’s bridging on completely out of control!  He really needs to keep that tongue in his mouth.  He’s even needlessly brandishing it now.  And you all know how I feel about Adam’s tongue…

OK.. so who will go home?

In the back of my mind I’m hoping that Danny goes home.  I think Kris is different enough from Adam to really make a run at him.  I think when you put Danny and Adam together, Danny just doesn’t have a chance.

One thing is for sure, this is a HOT top 3.  They can all really really sing, which totally puts some of our previous finalists (Season 6 – HELLO!) to shame!

So good on you, American Idol, for keeping the game stepped up!

Foolishly, and without consulting the calendar (which is starting to become a curiously bad habit of ours), my wife signed us up to feed the missionaries last night.  When I put it on the calendar, I was shocked that she gave away our American Idol time.  What was worse is that our normal American Idol watching buddies, the Brauns, totally dogged on us for the second week in a row!  So I couldn’t just call the Elmers and say, “Sorry, but we have company that night.”  Because if they asked who I would have to say, “Simon, Paula, Kara, and Randy.”  (Of course, now that I think of it they probably woulnd’t have a clue who those people were.)

Anywho… what made matters worse is that they then AP commitment patterned me (AP commitment pattern is when you ask the wife to commit you before you commit the husband) to come out with them to their evening appointments later that night.  So if AI was gonna happen, it was going to happen at 10pm… WAYYYY past my bedtime.

Out of devotion to my religion (no, not American Idol… the other one), I decided to just go along with it.  The Lord would provide a way for me to see American Idol…

…And He did!

The second family we visited invited us in and said, “I hope you don’t mind that we are watching American Idol… we don’t have TiVO so we have to watch it live…”

YES!!!

So the poor missionaries (they aren’t supposed to watch TV) got to stare at the wall while we enjoyed American Idol, whilst getting to know this new family during the commercial breaks.  It might have been the most perfect missionary opportunity ever!!!

So here’s what I think of what I saw:

• Adam: Apparently he stole the night, and that’s just as it should be.  Who else can pull off the eyeliner, weird hair, and total loss of soul like he can?
• Allison: I missed hers, so I really need to go back and watch it to make any kind of comment.  I will say, though, that she looked totally hot in the black leather pants, and Janis Joplin was (I think) a softball choice.  She should have taken on something a little more  hardcore to take more a run at Adam.
• Kris: Did what he could.  Poor guy held up under the genre, but this clearly wasn’t his strong suit.  I think his fans will still support him, though.
• Danny: did a good job until the end.  What was all that screaming, and where did it come from?  Not sure that he even rehearsed that, cause it was really weird.
• What was up with Adam’s pants during his duet?  Super-weird pants, yo!  Stripes?  He looked like a circus performer.

Overall, I think Allison is in the most trouble tonight.  Allison or Kris will go, and my money is on Allison.

Humble
Pie

Glad I’m not the only one in America who realizes that he isn’t God’s sole gift to music…

Being the only contestant EVER who was smug enough to actually “pick” between two groups of contestants (without a second thought), made this moment even more PRICELESS….

(holy crap… we beat out the emo-eyeliner-boy and the tweener?  amazing!!)

]]> http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/i-have-two-words-for-adam-lambert/feed/ 5 http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/top-5-idols-reviewed/ http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/top-5-idols-reviewed/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:38:29 +0000 WhiteEyebrows http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/?p=2026 Sorry this is kind of late.  Hopefully you can enjoy it before the kick-off show tonight…

Kris

I liked it.  It was very charming and well executed.  The vocals were impeccable.  Every move was well thought-out, but felt very natural …

I think it’s kind of cheap that people get to toally remake the songs into a different style.  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a particular style every week?  I don’t know… I could go either way on this.

Lil’

Poor Lil… she just can’t get a leg up with these judges.  I thought her performance was fun and fresh.  It was the best we’ve seen her in WEEKS.  The problem is, that is what we needed to see about 6 weeks ago.  She is very lucky to have gotten this far, but I’m afraid (especially after seeing what everyone else had) that it’s the end of the line for her tonight!

Danny

Danny comes out and just does his thing.  You know exactly what to expect from Danny.  He doesn’t go too far off the script, and doesn’t really take much risk.  He has an amazing voice, but he’s slipping into 4th or 5th place due to his lack of really wow-ing us for several weeks.

Kris

Kris is the opposite.  Somehow Kris snuck his way into the top 36, top 12, and now top 7.  He came in as a complete underdog, and now I see him in the top 3 for sure, and perhaps in the finale as well.  He reminds me a lot of David Cook, just slowly upping his game week after week, hanging in there when he has to.  Just like David, we didn’t know how much we liked him until after we saw a good deal of him.

Personally, I think Kris has it in him to edge Adam out of the final.  More on that later.

Allison

First of all, I have to say, WHAT WAS SHE WEARING?  I swear she had to be sewn into those clothes!  And the jacket with the awkward tails in the back?  I was NOT digging it, although it was cool to see a slightly different hairdo.

Her song was awesome.  I thought the judges were dumb for panning the arrangement.  I thought she brought intensity and determination to it, for sure!  She knocked another one out of the park!

Adam

OK.  Yes, it was good.  It was great.  Adam = Vocal Nirvana.  He can do anything.  But here’s an example of him being cute again… it’s Disco week, so he’s going to go a completely different direction.  He just wants to be different, and he has been from the start.  It’s his strategy.  So far it’s served him well, but I’m getting a little tired of the cuteness of it all.

Matt

Well, I will say that this is one of his best efforts up until now, but I still don’t think it’s enough.  I thought he sold it hard, but I still wasn’t buying.

Anoop

I didn’t get it.  His hair, his costume, his song.  I didn’t get this one.  I think it was a dismal failure on the level of Lil.

I think it’s clear who is the bottom 3:  Anoop, Matt, and Lil.

My vote?  Anoop and Lil go home.

AI Endgame

We’re getting to the end now, and we have to be focused!  What is the AI endgame going to be this year?  What will be the surprises as America totally gets it wrong?

This is how I hope it will go down.

Top 3 will be Adam, Kris, and Allison.  America will be so concerned with getting their favorite (Allison or Kris) to go up against Adam that they’ll both edge him out in volume of votes.  Adam will be #3, and then Kris and Allison will duke it out for #1.  That would be a GOOD finale.  I’m afraid if it’s Adam vs anyone else, the whole thing will just turn into an Adam-love-fest, especially from Paula.

1. Adam
2. Everyone Else
3. Lil and Matt

Adam has come out week after week and done something to blow us away.  He’s taken risks and most of them have  paid off.  In the end, whether you like it or not, he has never under delivered or disappointed.

I still wonder, though, if he will win, as it’s been common in years past that the most qualified and the most talented don’t always win this show.  I think that the biggest mistake he might make would be to underestimate the likes of Allison and Kris, who have a real chance because of their age, personality, likability, and talent.

Lil and Matt both had train wrecks tonight.  I would just give them the benefit of the doubt, except they have been train wreckin’ for the last several weeks.  At this point, neither of them really have earned another week to redeem themselves.

Anoop kind of blew me away last night.  He, for the first time for me, really put his heart into the song and connected.  He has been so aloof from his songs and from the judges.  He has talent and pitch, but last night was the first night he really connected with me, as an audience member.

Allison was cool.  I was really impressed that she could tackle a tough, tough song – but I could hear little weaknesses here and there – cracks in her vocal foundation that may make me think that she’d be a good recording artist, but not always be able to deliver in a live concert.

Danny’s just barely staying alive.  The question is, how long will he be able to last?  And can he put up a fight against Adam and Allison?  His song wasn’t super impressive.

That’s pretty much all I got this week.

Danny

It was just OK for me.  Not great.  He was pulling a totally cheesy/fake smile at the end there.

Kris

Well, I’ll say that this week was not a step forward for Kris.  Maybe it wasn’t a step backward either, but it certainly wasn’t a ‘moment’ like he has had for the last few weeks.  Maybe he is more suited to those naughty ‘make love to the camera’ songs.

Randy got it right… we just totally lost him in the song and the arrangement.

Lil

First, with heels like that, you are smoking before you even open your mouth to sing.  But something is wrong with Lil.  She just hasn’t quite blossomed on the show, yet.  I’m scared for her.  She will probably leave in the next few weeks, when I hoped that she would leave closer to the top 4 or 3.

Anoop Dawg

Anoop’s true colors are green and white stripes, pale pink tie, with blue shirt?  I guess.  When they announced he was doing “true colors”, I wept like a child.  I hate, hate, hate Cindy Lauper.  Hate.  Surprisingly, I liked the arrangement a lot.  It was quite current, but I don’t think he did much with it.  I think/hope Anoop will go home next.  He’s outstayed his welcome for me.

Allison

Tamara called her dress the “equivalent of a mullet.” Which was the quote of the year for me!

I love Alison’s voice.  Love it.  Love it.  I REALLY hope she is in the finale.  16?  You have to be kidding me.  She is amazing..

Scott

What to say about Scott that I haven’t said before… hmm… nothing.  The song wasn’t special.  He hit the high notes, but it was the ones in between that sounded crappy.  He was just all over the map, vocally.  I know, I know, it’s amazing that a blind guy can stand there and pick up a guitar and play, just as it is amazing that he can do the same (brilliantly) with the piano – but it doesn’t change the fact that if a song like that came on the radio, I’d flip the station.

Matt

FINALLY!  There is the Matt we were all hoping to see for the past 4 weeks!  The question is, does he have the time to really keep this up and build up a following, enough to get him to the top echelon?  He really needs to come out now week after week and do exactly what he did last night, give us that bluesy R&B Matt!

Adam

Well, I have to eat what I’ve said about Adam a bit.  He is just amazing, and is a lock on the championship unless someone can take it from him.  As far as the weirdness goes, I think that is what happens to extra talented people like him.  They are way too influenceable, way too versatile for their own good.  If the guy can pull off the creepy, skin crawling thing he did in week 2, then turn around and do something like this?  He has wicked mad skillz.

This last song definitely would have warranted a video, except my recording cut off toward the end of his song.  It was one of the most awesome things I’ve heard on Idol… pretty much ever.  It’s right up there with Kathrine McPhee’s “Over the Rainbow” and Archuleta’s “Imagine.”  It was that good.

1. Big winner this week was Kris.  He is getting better and better every week.  The last few times he has sung he has really successfully created a “moment” onstage.  He is gunning for the top, and I think he almost deserves it.  If he keeps making these consistently right moves, he will be in the Top 2.
2. Adam has an amazing voice, and is so natural onstage.  He is a lock for the finale… maybe.  I am going to suggest now, though, that it’s possible that he might pull a Daughtry – would be in his best interest to get kicked off at #3 or #2.  With Kris and Lil and Danny with such great personalities, I can see them possibly giving him a run for his money in this popularity contest.
3. Danny just left it all out on stage tonight.  He really sang his heart out, and has a way of connecting to a song very well.  4 stars!
4. Lil needs to come out from under her rock!  What was up with the hairdo?  C’mon girl, spice it up and get us out of our chairs.  I imagine her huge vocals sound amazing when they’re pumping out of large arrays of 24″ speakers, but on TV it doesn’t translate quite as amazing.  It just looks like she has a big mouth.
5. Speaking of hairdos, Scott finally got one!!!  It’s a little reminscent of Twlight character Edward Cullen and Richard Marx.  Is 80′s hair really coming back?  I might have to run and hide.  I think this was Scott’s best week.  He sang the best he has sung yet, but still has some really annoying quirks to his voice.  For example, his vowel formation is totally wrong.  When he wants to sing big, he opens his mouth to a box, and the sound comes out as a blatty brick.  He needs to caress and finesse those vowels just a little bit more, rather than blatting them at us.  Still not Idol material, but stiil very talented and inspirational.
6. You know who isn’t talented or inspirational, though?  Megan Joy.  Barf.  We are really getting sick of her antics, and her not caring what the judges think.  She seems to think she has actual fans out there, and that caw-ing her way will make it work.  Nope.  I absolutely LOVED how Simon totally threw her down on the results show, and said, “No we’re not even going to pretend to consider using the judges save on you.  This is your swan song.  Good luck.”
7. Anoop… as I said before, I think we’ve seen all he has to offer.  He will be going home next week, for sure.  I’ve just completely run out of things to say about him.  That’s how boring he is as a contestant.  Better start brushing up your resume for TI or Microsoft.
8. Alison looked like an elf character from Cindy Lauper’s Weird Rocker Christmas Special or something.  What was she wearing?  This week was probably her worst yet, with the wardrobe and the song.  It just didn’t all fit together.  She is still my favorite girl in the competition this year, though.  Come on!  Don’t let me down next week, sweetums.
9. Speaking of let downs… Matt Giraud, King of Season 8 Second Chances.  He just keeps messing it up, week after week.  What was up with the weird playing-the-piano-in-the-middle-of-the-audience thing, too?  That’s the kind of stuff that drives production (stage and tv) people absolutely bonkers.  Here they build this beautiful huge stage, setting up camera angles, monitors, projections, lighting, etc – then here comes this stupid contestant who decides they want to stand in the middle of the audience to sing.  For no apparent reason.  I think I would just kill him.  We need to see more of the Matt that we saw in the video clip on the kickoff show, funny Matt.  Fun Matt.  Making fun of other contestants, having a good time, and doing a fun bluesy kind of gig.

A few other details:

1. Tamara has hereby called for the elimination of the words “riff” and “riffs” from the Idol judges vocabulary, and I second the motion.
2. I hereby call for the elmination of lip syncing to the contestants song.  It makes them look really dumb, especially Scott.

Can you believe this? WHITE EYEBROWS DIDN’T RECORD AND WATCH AMERICAN IDOL LAST NIGHT! What is this world coming to?

So I graciously agrees to substitute for W.E. Now, I know you aren’t excited about this, seeing how nearly no one replied to my last post, but it has to be done, and I think I am up to the challenge.

*knuckle cracking* Here we go!

First of all, I have to say, that there is becoming a major division in this competition this year. Most years, I say, yes, but they are all great singers. I guess that’s true of this year. They are all pretty good singers, but this year I have noticed that there are the PERFORMERS, the ones that seem like stars and then there are the rest of them. Then, there is Megan… AKAKAKAKKKK

1. Anoop – Anoop is one of those bottom rung-ers. He isn’t a horrible singer or anything. But he is boring. I am so sorry for that. He seems like the nicest of guys. But he can NEVER compete with the others for stage presence and showmanship. He just comes off as one of those sweet guys that you knew in college that you wanted to be friends with. Sorry Anoop. He should go very soon.

2. Megan – Talk about overstayed her welcome. Watching her is SO BORING. I truthfully don’t know what kept her in the competition this far. And WHO IS VOTING for her? She wasn’t even in the bottom 3 last week. I live only 10 miles from where Megan Joy is from, and there is NO hype for her here. No one is talking about her. No one I know vouches for her. It’s nothing like it was around here for David Archuleta. PLEASE PLEASE GO HOME TODAY. Your 10 note range is dried up.

3. Scott – Ok, so I admit that he’s not THE strongest singer. And I know that W.E. thinks he shouldn’t be in the competition. But as they are making clear this year, they are looking for someone interesting. Scott does it. He’s interesting. And this week was HIS week. He chose the right song, and sang it the right way. He was great. I thought his singing even sounded better than usual. I think he was great this week.

4. Alison – I didn’t like it. The judges gave her credit, but it was I thought, indulgent and copy cat. It was a dumb song choice in my opinion, and I didn’t like the outfit from the moment she walked on stage in the big group at the beginning of the night. The judges were hard on her outfit, which was sad because how much real control to the contestants have over what the stylist pick out for them? It was all dumb, and while I don’t see her as ready to go home, it was a bad week for her.

5. Danny – Danny has the life experience, the emotion and the personality to make any song believable, which I think is why he has been a front runner from the beginning. He also chooses songs that suit him and his voice which makes him great too. However, I am a little surprised, and I guess it’s admirable, that he hasn’t pulled the dead wife card yet. He hasn’t “dedicated” anything to her, or referred to his trial of losing his spouse at all. Maybe that’s a strategy for later, but I do believe that life experience makes him real and is a strength in his singing. He did great last night too.

6. Matt – Oh Matt, you want to be Alternative edgy man, while the judges see you as soulful, piano and blues man. It’s a problem. You aren’t living up to what the judges envision you. And while you’ve been declared by even picky-Simon to be a frontrunner, you are in the bottom 2 last week. I think there hasn’t been a moment when the audience drops their jaws for you, and to be honest, I don’t think a very alternative song is going to do it for you. As far as I understand, the AI audience is more a mainstream pop audience. Young girls will pick up the phone for Archie, but not for a late 20 something guy that sings the Fray. Though I think you’re good enough that the judges might sacrifice the ‘save’ on you.

7. Lil Rounds – Oh Lil. What happens to you when it’s song choice time? Where do you get your ideas? I figured that when this week came, if you picked a power song, if you picked a Celine song, you would have picked Power of Love or something you could make your own and blow everyone away. You might even be capable of Whitney. But again you chose a song, while good, that no one is blown away by.
It’s sad because this was the right year, in my opinion, for Lil to be in the top 10. She doesn’t have a Mandisa, nor a Melinda, nor a Jennifer Hudson to compete with. She is the only power female voice on the stage and she is memorable. So why the song choices? Oh heaven please help her, she is better than what she is doing. Oh yeah, and her daughter was so cute with Randy.

8. Adam – Sorry, but few, if ever, contestants in AI history can entertain like Adam. He is one of the few people that I have heard on AI that I can’t think of a missed note, ever. Also, he can sell anything. He could sell, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” if he had to. It doesn’t matter much what he does, he does it all the way, and sells us home. If he doesn’t win, it will be a shock, because he brings it that’s for sure. He was fabulous.

9. Kris – I love that song. I love it. But Kris made it his. He made it current. It was subtle changes, but it worked. It was emotive and believable. It was great. He’s in it too!

So here’s my break down.

Megan – BY FAR the worst singer on the stage
Anoop – sorry, while he can sing, he isn’t in the same league as everyone else. At All.

Middle Tier

Alison
Lil
Scott
Matt

Top tier

Danny
Kris
Adam

Let’s all hope the right people are in the bottom this week!

Or it is Catsup?  Or is it Ketchup?  I’ll never know…

OK.  I will say that I was, on the whole, disappointed with Motown Week.  There were so many great songs to choose from, and they all chose poopy pants songs.  And by poopy pants songs, I mean ones that make little WhiteEyebrows want to go up to his teacher with that look of someone who has just pooped his pants and who now has to admit that he had an accident.

I’m going to do a little ranking here…

Idol Material:  Adam, Allison, Danny, Matt

On the Fence: Kris, Anoop, Lil

Go Home:  Scott, Megan

And here is how my Idol Stock Market Values are doing:

Adam – Slight Gains this Week – He keeps his lead as the best singer by showing a different side of him, but I am now upset at the judges for not panning him for totally remaking himself.  Apparently it’s only bad to remake yourself week after week if you can’t pull it off when you do it.  Someone must have told him he was getting too weird for America, but pulling out the hair grease and Elvis hairdo was a little too far for me.

Allison – Huge Spike this Week – Her stock is rising, and she really hit it out of the park this week.  She is now one of my favorites to win.  She has all the edge of Adam (and the talent) but none of the weirdness.

Danny – Slight Dip this Week – Danny needs to show us a bit more, I think.  He can sing, but he isn’t really making a case for being THE American Idol.

Lil Rounds – Large losses in the last few weeks – Something has been going wrong with Lil… she needs to get out there and sing her heart out a bit more and choose better songs.  We have yet to hear any big ‘peel the paint off the walls’ from her in a LONG time.  That’s where her moneymaker is, and she’d better find it soon, or she’ll be seeing her way back home somewhere in the top 5.

Matt – Dropping Like a Rock in Spite of Solid Performance – He really needs to pull a hat trick to put himself in the running for the finals, and I dont’ know what that is.  The truth is that Matt has a brick wall of talented competition that he’ll have to somehow pole vault over.  I dont’ see it happening any time soon, either.

Kris – Stock is Rising Fast – On back to back good weeks, Kris is starting to gain a following, I think.  He can really compete for the 15-year-old vote, cause he has that cute boyishness, and a not-bad voice to go with it.  When he gets voted off somewhere in 7-5 range, he can always go on the Disney Channel and become an instant hit.

Anoop – Stock has flatlined – I think we’ve seen al that Anoop Dawg has for us to see.  The man has incredible pitch and a great voice, but hasn’t actually developed into any kind of artist yet.  He has no distictiveness.  Unless he really surprises us, he will probably be gone in the next 3 weeks or so.

Scott – Stock is sinking lower and lower with each week – Dear, Dear Scott.  Let’s have a come-to-Jesus moment together.  You want to be a singer-songwriter… but dude… I don’t know.  I think you might have more of a chance being a songwriter with your mad piano skillz.  You just don’t have the voice to be a singer.  Seriously, listen to any of his performances back and ask yourself, “Would I listen to this if it were on the radio.”  Answer will be NO.   100% Guaranteed.  I totally respect that he is an amazing individual, with his impairment, to be doing what he is doing, but he is no where near the level of most of these other contestants.

Megan – Going into Chapter 11 – Go home.  You suck.  Last week’s performance seriously looked like you had just wandered your way out of the cruise ship karaoke bar, totally sloshed out of your mind.  Your voice is ‘different’, but in this case, different is not always good.  I just can’t bear the thought of listening to you for a whole single, no less an entire album.  And what kind of boring melody will you choose next?  Those type of songs with super boring melodies are all you can sing, because you have no range and no dynamic.  It’s not even cute anymore, it’s just scary.

Michael Sarver – Went home.  And that was OK.  His problem?  Always substituting enthusiasm for actual skill in singing.

But unlike last time, W.E. isn’t even checking this time.  He’s on his honeymoon.  And not even W.E. is geeky enough to blog on his honeymoon.  I think….

W.E. made the FATAL mistake.  The mistake was not deleting me as a guest user after the first commandeering of whiteeyebrows.com during his October D.C. vacation.  But lets all face it, W.E. has been very distracted lately with his whole engagement and getting married thing, and you have to admit that his A.I. posts have been lackluster. 

So never fear!  I am here to solve all your problems and give my opinions to the evening of A.I.  I am so thoughtful and giving.  He didn’t even ask me to do this….

First I must say, with so many great songs to choose from, it must have been hard for the contestants to choose.  Some of the choices were good some of the choices were surprising.  Let’s get down to it….

1. Matt Giraud – Let’s Get It On.  What a choice!  A classic Motown song.  Matt is really great.  I think that he made a smart choice starting out at the piano then getting up.  I didn’t expect it, but he even had a couple of moves that were really surprising.  But it brought some intensity to the song which it kind of needs considering the material. 

2. Kris Allen – How Sweet It Is.  Kris has such a likeability.  He is one of those guys in high school that was just naturally cool.  I actually disagree with what Simon said, I think he stands there with such a confidence just being so cool with himself.  I think he mixed the song up enough as well.  OH yeah and did you notice that Paula is stepping up the intelligence of her comments.   TWO comments tonight where she tried to guess the highest note they hit, like she had perfect pitch or something.  BA HAHA HA  don’t knock yourself out laughing.

3.  Scott – You Can’t Hurry Love – I have always liked Scott.  I think that he is a person that reeks of hope.  I think that society can learn a lot from Scott.  You look at his composure and his (in)ability to stand there comfortably and you learn that the rest of us must spend a lot of time looking in the mirror training ourselves to look relaxed, cool and confident.  But I like his vulnerability.  I know that W.E. thinks his singing chops aren’t that great.  However I think his talent is LIGHT YEARS ahead of Megan.  Oh yeah and the coloring books were great.

4.  Megan.  PLEASE don’t vote for her.  Put her out of her misery.  I firmly believe that she is in it only because they needed more women, and they didn’t want a “boring” girl.  They wanted someone different.  But I think we have all had it with the 10 notes she can hit.  For heaven sakes, she “cawed”  after Rockin Robin.  She is um…. well, she needs to go home…. please.

5. Anoop – Oooo Baby Baby – They gave him way too much credit.  It wasn’t that good.  There were lots of notes that wavered off the pitch.  I am surprised he picked this song.  I am surprised the judges were so kind.  I was a little bored.  I won’t lie.

At this point, I have to say, I was really wondering, besides Matt, where was the magic of the top ten. 

6. Michael Sarver – Well, I don’t think it’s his turn to go home, but I don’t think he has that many weeks left.  Sure he’s interesting, and has a good backstory, but I think he’s running out of tricks in his bag o’ tricks!  Even though it was an upbeat song, I was bored.

7. Lil Rounds – The judges had this one right.  This was her MOMENT….. or rather it was supposed to be her moment.  Why wouldn’t she pick something with more soul with more… Cara said it right, more breathing room on the notes to show off to bring down the house.  She’s got the voice, just where is her moment? 

8.  Adam Lambert – Ok at this point.  I am not expecting anything special from anyone, cause if it didn’t come from Lil Rounds then who was going to bring it?  Um, little did I know, Adam had it all waiting for me.  HOLY COW.   I was mesmerized.  It was fabulous.  Can you truthfully believe that falsetto?  I think he was into soprano ranges.  I think W.E. would add a video of this one.

Crust, I can’t get it to work. And it’s almost midnight…. forget it go here if you want to see it.

Oh yeah, and I love the look.  He looked great.

9.  Danny Gokey – He is a huge front runner, so I figured they wouldn’t say anything bad.  Even though his performance was unimaginative boring and exactly copycat to the original.  Snoozer.

10.  Allison -  She surprised me.  She whipped it out.  She stayed with her personality and it was a fun performance.  I was a believer.  The judges say “you’re only 16″ to every young contestant, but I really can’t believe she’s 16.  She doesn’t seem that young, honestly. 

How’d ya like the mexi-stache on Paula.  Weird.  I think they are getting desperate to up ratings.

Ranks?

1. Adam

2. Allison

3.  Matt

4.  Kris

5.  Lil

6.  Danny

7.  Michael

8.  Scott

9.  Anoop

10.  Megan

The consensus? We love Randy Travis.  We love love love him.  If I drank beer, I’d have a beer with him any day.

And now to the contestants.

Michael Sarver

Well, he looked like he was having a good time, but sadly he didn’t rise to greatness like he thought he would do.  The song wasn’t great.

It’s sad when the ability of the harmonica player is upstaging the ability of the singer… and that’s what happened here.

Allison Iraheta

You just can’t take the rock edge out of this girl.

Also, she took a page from the WhiteEyebrows School of Stage Movement… it always enhances your performance if you make some kind of literal movement that conincides with a lyric.  (Sing about your heart, touch your heart.  Sing the number 2, hold up two fingers…)

Kris Allen

I’m really, really glad Kris had such a good night.  I really like him, and I really like his voice.  He has a great chance in the business, and can really kill the slow, tender ballads.  I really hope he gets into the top 5 this year.

In terms of creating a moment, he did the best tonight.

Lil Rounds

Ohhhhhh… I’m sad.  Lil just didn’t bring it tonight.  The verses were boring, and she botched the chorus.  It was pitchy all over the place.

Then she has the nerve to talk back to my Simon…

Adam Lambert

Randy Travis vs Adam Lambert… I take Randy Travis any day.  I totally love Randy Travis now.

He just keeps getting weirder and weirder.  Who sings Ring of Fire with sitars?  Hello?

Way over the top and way too much into himself.  Way too choreographed.  Way weird.

I have to say, though, this guy is amazing.  His voice is crazy.

“Indulgent rubbish…” – I agree.

Scott McIntyre

Well, as I continue to say… Scott doesn’t have the best voice… it’s even debatable whether it’s a good voice.  But you can’t help but watch him and say to yourself… holy crap, that guy is blind and watch him go.

“We can move it closer.” He says, regarding the piano…

Way to keep it real Randy… nice work Dawg.  The only one willing to tell this guy his voice is nothing to write home about.

Alexis Grace

Hmm… I’m not sure about this one.  I can totally hear Dolly singing that, but I can’t hear Alexis.

She kind of looks like Dolly, as well.

Danny Gokey

The soulfulness that those of us who sing for a living wish we had.
- Randy Travis

I like how Danny has a new pair of glasses for every week of the competition.  As a fellow glasses wearer, I know how hard that can be.

He really blew it out the box on the chorus, but the verse was totally lame!  He really did it, though.  I thought it was great.

I was ready for it to be totally bad… I mean, who can do it better than Carrie Underwood did?  But he really did a job of it.

Anoop Dawg

So, the finally got him to cut his hair, but we still need to do something about those eyebrows…

But dang… he can sing.  He sold the first part of that song… sold it good.  I think it’s enough to get him through another week!

Megan Joy

She is #1 hero at always picking songs that have the most boring, one-note melodies… because that’s all her voice can do.  She is a one-note Nancy, and I’m totally not digging it.

Randy totally gave her a pass.  Kara totally gave her a pass.  Paula gave her a pass.  Simon’s keeping it real.

Matt Giraud

Wow.  I thought it was awesome.  He had a great climax to the song, showed a lot of colors, and really sold himself as a star.  Nice work!  I’m a fan.

My Order:

1. Kris
2. Matt Giraud
3. Anoop
4. Danny
5. Allison
6. Adam
7. Scott
8. Alexis
9. Lil Rounds
10. Michael
11. Megan