Don’t look now, but every episode of the “American Idol” semifinal round was better than the one before it.
Not that I’m expecting this trend to continue once the top 12 takes the big stage, but it has certainly given hope to people (like me) who thought the producers had overwhelmingly emphasized drama over talent this season.
I can count the number of bad performances last night in one hand, and the number of truly atrocious performances in one finger (ok, maybe two).
Just like the last two weeks, let’s take a look at the top contenders, who has a decent chance, and who’s totally done. (In case you’re wondering, I’ve gotten 2 out of 3 finalists right each of the last two weeks, and only one non-“Contender” — Michael Sarver — made it through.)
DONE
Nathaniel Marshall already had two strikes against him heading into Tuesday night (the fact that he’s known more for crying than singing and his hideous wardrobe), so he needed a home run of a performance to stay in the competition. Instead, he popped weakly out to the shortstop.
I actually think he didn’t go big enough in his snap-tastic performance of Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love.” It’s a huge, ridiculous song and I actually thought Nathaniel didn’t take enough chances. (I’m imagining how much Adam Lambert would’ve over sung that beast of a song.) Since it was his last time performing on the stage, Seacrest decided to use Nathaniel to revisit the whole “You’re gay. No Shaddup, YOU’RE gay!” thing with Simon. Blech.
Still, the worst performance of the night was from Arianna Afsar, who wanted to prove she more than just “cute as a button.” Curiously she decided to try to prove this by drearily and depressingly singing one of ABBA’s most emotional and rousing songs (Meryl Streep singing this was the only thing that woke me up in the second half of “Mamma Mia”). Only the very last note was good. The rest was horrible. Seacrest said this was the first time an ABBA song was performed on “Idol.” After that stink bomb, I’m kind of hoping it was the last.
I SHOULDN’T SAY THEY’RE DONE, BUT THEY ARE
There are a lot of talented girls in this category because Lil Rounds WILL win the female spot. But John, you may be asking, don’t you think one of the girls could grab that third non-gender specific spot? I’m glad you asked. My answer is no. The first two semifinal weeks have produced two men and one woman (if you count Adam Lambert as a man — ba dum bum!) finalist, so why should this week be any different?
It’s too bad because Kristin McNamara, Felicia Barton and Taylor Vaifanua are very good singers. I’m probably especially pulling for Kristen because the judges seem intent on tearing down her physical appearance every time they see her because she dares to look a little different. She sounded great on “Give Me One Reason” even if the arrangement seemed rushed and weird.
Meanwhile, Felicia and Taylor engaged in a battle to see who could do Alicia Keys justice. Felicia won. Her “No One” may have been over the top, but it was also energetic and impressive enough to overlook the few missed notes. Also, you can’t fault the girl, who’d been eliminated and brought back, for trying too hard. Taylor, on the other hand, did a VERY competent, but VERY similar version of “If I Ain’t Got You.” Sure, the judges were right in that it was forgettable and that it was unoriginal, but it would’ve been nice of them to mention how good she sounded on a tough song, instead of asking about her shopping habits.
I also want to thank Von Smith for dialing down the screaming and for acknowledging what I’ve been asking in these columns — “why is this guy yelling at us?” I thought he did a decent job in the first performance of the evening, but he still looks like he’s trying WAY too hard (with the jerkiness and crazy facial expressions). I guess I like it when people make singing look effortless instead of looking like they’re suffering a stroke.
I SHOULD SAY THEY’RE DONE, BUT THEY’RE NOT
Kendall Beard’s rendition of “This One’s for the Girls” was merely competent and oddly disconnected (it didn’t appear that she was paying any attention to what she was saying. But, as Simon pointed out, there is a significant amount of people who watch this show who are into country music, and for that reason, we can’t completely cut Kendall loose.
Meanwhile, Alex Wagner-Trugman IS as funny as Norman Gentle wishes he was. Everything about his performance — from the interview package detailing his workout regimen to the dorky dancing and accidental mic stand knocking-over — was absolutely delightful. Yes, I even liked the growling in “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues.” The country may have been tired of Norman Gentle, but maybe they’ll keep around a guy who’s genuinely funny.
THE CONTEDERS
And this is the part of the recap where I slam a blind guy and punch my ticket to hell.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Scott McIntyre (pictured, left) seems like a great, kind human being who really enjoys making music. However, as a singer in this competition, he’s just not good enough to advance. I hated almost everything about his performance. I thought the singing was off most of the time (though he did hit some nice patches) and I thought the song choice was horrible (what the hell is a “Mandolin Rain”?) Go find his performance online and listen to it with your eyes closed (or pretend you’re blind, if you will). Now tell me that it’s good enough to earn a spot in the finals.
Fortunately for him, the judges (unlike me) are not ready to slam a blind guy and treated him with kid gloves. He also received the Michael Sarver Unofficial Vote For This Guy endorsement, so he’ll advance to the next round.
That leaves Ju’Not Joyner (pictured, right) and Jorge Nuñez likely fighting for the wild card spot with wildly different, but equally worthy performances. Ju’not and his John Legend-esque vocals (“Legend-ary”?) stripped down “Hey There Delilah” and made it absolutely lovely and different enough from his Hollywood Week rendition to have the judges (Paula) forgive him for repeating himself. It was the one performance I could imagine listening to on the radio. Meanwhile, Jorge went the other way and delivered a surprisingly solid performance of the bombastic “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, an “Idol” favorite he more than did justice to. Given the great praise for Jorge and the mildly half-hearted praise for Ju’not (they stupidly criticized him for “holding back” and “being safe”), I’m guessing Jorge is going to grab that third spot.
Jorge and Scott should join Lil Rounds in the top 12. Despite the fact that the judges obviously made up their minds that Lil Rounds was going to be amazing before she even started singing, I can’t get too annoyed, because she clearly delivered the evening’s most energetic, stirring performance (check out how the crowd got on their feet). She’s still not quite as fantastic as the judges want us to think she is (the first verse was slightly rough and she kind of chickened out of the last note), but she proved she was actually worthy of the judges’ shameless pimping after over doing it a bit in Hollywood Week.
So what’d you think of this episode? Would you like to see Simon Cowell week? (At first I thought this was a bad idea because singers should express who they want to be through song choice, but then I realized that a lot of successful artists have songs dumped on them — also, it would shut the guy up about song choice for one week.) Finally, who do you seem making the top 12 from this group?
Not that I’m expecting this trend to continue once the top 12 takes the big stage, but it has certainly given hope to people (like me) who thought the producers had overwhelmingly emphasized drama over talent this season.
I can count the number of bad performances last night in one hand, and the number of truly atrocious performances in one finger (ok, maybe two).
Just like the last two weeks, let’s take a look at the top contenders, who has a decent chance, and who’s totally done. (In case you’re wondering, I’ve gotten 2 out of 3 finalists right each of the last two weeks, and only one non-“Contender” — Michael Sarver — made it through.)
DONE
Nathaniel Marshall already had two strikes against him heading into Tuesday night (the fact that he’s known more for crying than singing and his hideous wardrobe), so he needed a home run of a performance to stay in the competition. Instead, he popped weakly out to the shortstop.
I actually think he didn’t go big enough in his snap-tastic performance of Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love.” It’s a huge, ridiculous song and I actually thought Nathaniel didn’t take enough chances. (I’m imagining how much Adam Lambert would’ve over sung that beast of a song.) Since it was his last time performing on the stage, Seacrest decided to use Nathaniel to revisit the whole “You’re gay. No Shaddup, YOU’RE gay!” thing with Simon. Blech.
Still, the worst performance of the night was from Arianna Afsar, who wanted to prove she more than just “cute as a button.” Curiously she decided to try to prove this by drearily and depressingly singing one of ABBA’s most emotional and rousing songs (Meryl Streep singing this was the only thing that woke me up in the second half of “Mamma Mia”). Only the very last note was good. The rest was horrible. Seacrest said this was the first time an ABBA song was performed on “Idol.” After that stink bomb, I’m kind of hoping it was the last.
I SHOULDN’T SAY THEY’RE DONE, BUT THEY ARE
There are a lot of talented girls in this category because Lil Rounds WILL win the female spot. But John, you may be asking, don’t you think one of the girls could grab that third non-gender specific spot? I’m glad you asked. My answer is no. The first two semifinal weeks have produced two men and one woman (if you count Adam Lambert as a man — ba dum bum!) finalist, so why should this week be any different?
It’s too bad because Kristin McNamara, Felicia Barton and Taylor Vaifanua are very good singers. I’m probably especially pulling for Kristen because the judges seem intent on tearing down her physical appearance every time they see her because she dares to look a little different. She sounded great on “Give Me One Reason” even if the arrangement seemed rushed and weird.
Meanwhile, Felicia and Taylor engaged in a battle to see who could do Alicia Keys justice. Felicia won. Her “No One” may have been over the top, but it was also energetic and impressive enough to overlook the few missed notes. Also, you can’t fault the girl, who’d been eliminated and brought back, for trying too hard. Taylor, on the other hand, did a VERY competent, but VERY similar version of “If I Ain’t Got You.” Sure, the judges were right in that it was forgettable and that it was unoriginal, but it would’ve been nice of them to mention how good she sounded on a tough song, instead of asking about her shopping habits.
I also want to thank Von Smith for dialing down the screaming and for acknowledging what I’ve been asking in these columns — “why is this guy yelling at us?” I thought he did a decent job in the first performance of the evening, but he still looks like he’s trying WAY too hard (with the jerkiness and crazy facial expressions). I guess I like it when people make singing look effortless instead of looking like they’re suffering a stroke.
I SHOULD SAY THEY’RE DONE, BUT THEY’RE NOT
Kendall Beard’s rendition of “This One’s for the Girls” was merely competent and oddly disconnected (it didn’t appear that she was paying any attention to what she was saying. But, as Simon pointed out, there is a significant amount of people who watch this show who are into country music, and for that reason, we can’t completely cut Kendall loose.
Meanwhile, Alex Wagner-Trugman IS as funny as Norman Gentle wishes he was. Everything about his performance — from the interview package detailing his workout regimen to the dorky dancing and accidental mic stand knocking-over — was absolutely delightful. Yes, I even liked the growling in “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues.” The country may have been tired of Norman Gentle, but maybe they’ll keep around a guy who’s genuinely funny.
THE CONTEDERS
And this is the part of the recap where I slam a blind guy and punch my ticket to hell.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Scott McIntyre (pictured, left) seems like a great, kind human being who really enjoys making music. However, as a singer in this competition, he’s just not good enough to advance. I hated almost everything about his performance. I thought the singing was off most of the time (though he did hit some nice patches) and I thought the song choice was horrible (what the hell is a “Mandolin Rain”?) Go find his performance online and listen to it with your eyes closed (or pretend you’re blind, if you will). Now tell me that it’s good enough to earn a spot in the finals.
Fortunately for him, the judges (unlike me) are not ready to slam a blind guy and treated him with kid gloves. He also received the Michael Sarver Unofficial Vote For This Guy endorsement, so he’ll advance to the next round.
That leaves Ju’Not Joyner (pictured, right) and Jorge Nuñez likely fighting for the wild card spot with wildly different, but equally worthy performances. Ju’not and his John Legend-esque vocals (“Legend-ary”?) stripped down “Hey There Delilah” and made it absolutely lovely and different enough from his Hollywood Week rendition to have the judges (Paula) forgive him for repeating himself. It was the one performance I could imagine listening to on the radio. Meanwhile, Jorge went the other way and delivered a surprisingly solid performance of the bombastic “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, an “Idol” favorite he more than did justice to. Given the great praise for Jorge and the mildly half-hearted praise for Ju’not (they stupidly criticized him for “holding back” and “being safe”), I’m guessing Jorge is going to grab that third spot.
Jorge and Scott should join Lil Rounds in the top 12. Despite the fact that the judges obviously made up their minds that Lil Rounds was going to be amazing before she even started singing, I can’t get too annoyed, because she clearly delivered the evening’s most energetic, stirring performance (check out how the crowd got on their feet). She’s still not quite as fantastic as the judges want us to think she is (the first verse was slightly rough and she kind of chickened out of the last note), but she proved she was actually worthy of the judges’ shameless pimping after over doing it a bit in Hollywood Week.
So what’d you think of this episode? Would you like to see Simon Cowell week? (At first I thought this was a bad idea because singers should express who they want to be through song choice, but then I realized that a lot of successful artists have songs dumped on them — also, it would shut the guy up about song choice for one week.) Finally, who do you seem making the top 12 from this group?
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