Isn’t it great when everything comes together perfectly?
I COULD be talking about Motown night on “American Idol”, but I’m not. Except for the performances by Michael Sarver and Scott McIntyre — which make for excellent snack breaks, by the way — I was pleasantly surprised by the contestants’ take on Motown classics. Of course, I’d mentally prepared myself to hear a bunch of solid-yet-unspectacular carbon copies (which is kinda what we got from the likes of Danny Gokey and Lil Rounds) and not much else — except for maybe Simon throwing around his “old-fashioned” critique more frequently than usual.
But when I say that everything came together perfectly, I’m actually talking about Adam Lambert.
If I had to sum up his performance in one word, it would be “DAMN”. (See, I can actually count, unlike Kara DioGuardi in her unfortunate comment that the six words to describe Adam’s take on “The Tracks of My Tears” were “One of the best performances of the night.” Oof.)
Anyway, back to Adam. There’s never been any doubt that he’s a phenomenally gifted singer. The problems I’ve had with him come from his tendency to go miles over the top with EVERYTHING he does and from his tendency to make every performance about him, as opposed to putting the focus on and serving the song he’s singing. Simon would tell you that this conceitedness is a good thing, but I find it off-putting.
That’s why it was such a delight to see him ditch the sitars and put the focus on mentor Smokey Robinson’s beautiful song. In turn, we got to focus on his fantastic falsetto, instead of squirming uncomfortably as he leered at the camera. On a more personal level, I was happy to see him ditch the sometimes-distracting and anachronistic Hot Topic duds for one week in favor of a sleek, Joaquin Phoenix-as-Johnny Cash look (NOT Joaquin Phoenix as a rapper) that ironically came the week AFTER he sang Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
The look, the voice, the song choice — everything came together for what was one of my 10 favorite performances in the show’s run.
Fortunately, a lot of Adam’s competitors were no slouches themselves.
I was happy to see Allison Iraheta grab the coveted final performance slot and knock “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” out of the park (especially with that hella fierce final note). Last week I wondered if she could do anything other than “rocker grrl.” This week, I’m wondering if that even matters. Then again, maybe it does since she landed in the bottom 3 last week along with Michael and the unjustly-axed Alexis Grace (boo!)
The only thing I didn’t like about her segment was that the judges were forced to rush through their critiques for her (and Danny) because, presumably, the show was running late. As I said after top 13 week, why don’t we ditch the stupid judges’ intro (and maybe they can stop playing with crayons) so a great performance like Allison’s can get its due? Also, what the hell was Simon talking about when he said she had a “terrible week last week.” (She made it sound like the fact that she was in the bottom 3 was her fault.)
I also didn’t agree with Simon that Kris Allen needed to act more conceited. As my girlfriend Erica pointed out (as soon as she stopped swooning) Kris’ humble demeanor works for him and makes him more attractive. His take on “How Sweet It Is” was (as always) very interesting and surprisingly well sung. Mostly though, this guy is just dreamy. (I feel perfectly comfortable saying that because he just is.)
Other than those two minor differences of opinion with Simon, I felt like the judges were mostly on their game last night. Simon was right in saying that Anoop Desai’s “Ooo Baby Baby” was good, but a little sleepy. Personally, I felt his chorus on that song was the weakest part (Erica was a little creeped out by the way Anoop said the “baby”s), but I REALLY appreciated the way he worked the verses. Most of the singers in this competition treat verses as a necessary nuisance until they get to REALLY bust out in the chorus.
Matt Giraud opened the show with “Let’s Get It On” and (against major odds since the Marvin Gaye original is SO good) pulled it off. It’s his best work since his Hollywood Week take of “Georgia on my mind.” I don’t agree with Kara that he needs more riffs (that’s like telling Adam he needs more guyliner), but I thought he distinguished himself enough from the original without radically changing the (fantastic) song.
As I mentioned before, Danny and Lil were good, but not great last night. Danny gave off a distinct whiff of “going through the motions” in his performance of “Get Ready.” Also, why would he ignore Smokey Robinson’s advice about singing the end of the verses himself? (After admitting that Smokey has about 40 more years of experience in the music industry). Fortunately, Danny sounded really good, and I particularly enjoyed his little move with the backup dancers. Still, I couldn’t disagree with Simon that his sprints from one side of the stage to the other made him look “clumsy.”
Lil on the other hand was CLEARLY touched by the group’s visit to Motown and wanted to pay tribute. Unfortunately, her performance of “Heatwave” was yet another good copycat (not even as good as her Mary J. Blige impersonation). The performance was also a bit hectic and the song was monotonous to the point that it sounded like she was singing an extended chorus the entire time (why bother with boring verses?) At what point does Lil’s good standing with the judges run out (not last night since Simon — blech — went out of his way to remind us she was one of the best singers in the competition) and she makes a trip to the bottom 3?
I don’t think it’s going to be this week either, since the bottom 3 should clearly be Michael, Scott and Megan Joy (Not Corkrey).
I actually didn’t hate Megan’s slightly uncomfortable performance at all (certainly not as much as the judges), but I agreed that faster tempo songs don’t suit her unique, riff-riffic style of singing.
For his part, Scott finally, FINALLY picked an interesting song. Of course, “interesting” is code for up-tempo. He sang “You Can’t Hurry Love” decently, but he’s just not in the league as most of the singers in this competition. So for the second week in a row, the best part of his segment came after the song was over when he joked about not knowing he was wearing pink pants. (Kudos to Seacrest for not missing a beat by asking “how do you know they’re pink?”)
On the other hand, everything about Michael Sarver’s segment was wrong. Wearing flip-flops to meet Smokey Robinson is WRONG! (This coming from a Floridian who wears flip flops and jeans to the movies, grocery store and pretty much everywhere else where there’s NOT a music legend). As far as the singing, Michael either ignored Smokey’s advice to really attack “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” or he’s just not a good enough singer to knock that song out of the park like it needs to be. (I think it’s the latter.) Simon may have seemed cruel in saying that he has absolutely no chance to win, but he’s also absolutely right. Erica, on the other hand, summed up Michael’s plight perfectly:
“His main problem is that he’s not as good as everybody else.” Um, yeah.
So what’d you think of this episode? Was Smokey Robinson too nice/boring for your taste? Where does Adam’s performance rank among the best in “Idol” history? (If you think it belongs up there at all.) Finally, who do you think is going home? (I’ve got Michael, Megan and Matt in the bottom three with Michael going home — I just think Scott still has a lot of support.)
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