So yesterday I complained about how the remaining 8 women played it relatively safe with low-energy performances (after all, no one wants to look stupid on national TV).Well, Wednesday night we got an inferior remake starring the remaining 8 men and featuring a heavy dose of guitar/security blanket. (If you were keeping score at home – and I was – you saw that the first five guys strummed a guitar and made minimal use of the stage.)
Today, I’m actually going to eschew my usual classifications because when I sat down to do it, I had 5 of the 8 guys in the “I SHOULD SAY THEY’RE IN TROUBLE, BUT THEY’RE NOT” category. The fact that it feels like more than half these guys don’t belong here is borderline depressing.
I started off saying that I didn’t see any greatness in Michael Lynche, but I had to amend that last week to say that I saw “Pretty Goodness.” After his sensational turn on “This Woman’s Work”, I have to amend that once again to say that I see “Really, Really, Goodness.”
If I’d had my eyes closed when he was performing, I’d be inclined to say that there was Greatness there. Unfortunately, it appears as if Michael simply can’t help but, simultaneously, be cheesy AND a big ham. (Ooh, I’m hungry now.) I mean, when I start overworking a (karaoke) stage like that, it’s because I have to. Big Mike actually appears to have the vocal talent to suck is into his performances without resorting to shenanigans.
That being said, I’m not mad at Michael because he actually used more than five percent of the stage.
Lee Dewyze was up first and delivered an interesting yet (once again) seriously vocally flawed performance. This time it was Owl City’s “Fireflies.” The performance was quite boring for me, but Lee still has the judges on his side and he’ll be sailing into the top 12. Why is it that Ellen appears to be the only one to notice or care about this guy’s serious pitch problems?
That just shouldn’t be since Ellen lost quite a bit of credibility when she condescendingly hugged Tim Urban (pictured, right). (To me, that was even more inexplicable than Kara’s tears during Michael’s performance.) Why was it condescending? Because the hug basically said, “Congratulations on not being terrible for a change.” (I still think Ellen had it right when she suggested last week that Tim try acting.)
Sure, his cover of “Hallelujah” was, unquestionably, his best work. That basically makes Tim the male Lacey Brown of the semifinal round – awful, awful, decent! Hey, welcome to the top 12.
Between Lee and Tim, Alex Lambert made the latest stop in his “Aw Shucks” tour. “Trouble” was a good choice for him, and he performed it pretty well. However, he didn’t take ANY chances with the song, making it a bit of a snooze. And although he didn’t look nearly as uncomfortable as he did during week 1 of the semifinals, he once again showed a remarkable amount of stage absence during this performance. I understand this guy’s never going to work the stage like Garth Brooks, but he can at least look like he’s connecting with what he’s singing (or at least one person in the audience).
In keeping with the inferior remake theme of the evening, Andrew Garcia took the stage and, to me, blatantly attempted to recapture the magic of that Hollywood Week “Straight Up” performance everyone (yours truly included) keeps bringing up. Unfortunately, he chose the least challenging Christina Aguilera song of all time (“Genie in a Botle”), performed it sleepily and had the unfortunate side effect of asking America to “rub him the right way.” (Maybe, I’m a fool, but I STILL think he has enough goodwill to get in the top 12 – after that, he’s on his own!)
Casey James followed with a similarly paint-by-numbers rendition of Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me.” It was an improvement over last week, but I honestly was more struck by how much less he looks like a girl when he ties his hair back. Aaron Kelly took the stage next with a performance of Lonestar’s “I’m Already There” that was SO uninspired, I actually made myself do busy work in the kitchen so I wouldn’t have to sit in the living room and watch it. The problem with Aaron isn’t that he’s a bad singer. The problem is that he’s INCREDIBLY lame.
The same could be said for Todrick Hall, but at least Todrick is lame in a really interesting, crash-and-burn way.
I thought Todrick’s performance reeked of “Glee” before the judges brought it up. That first note was busted, as were other parts of his performance. However, there were parts that were pretty good (I’m telling you, this guy can sing!) and it was never, EVER boring.
On a night like last night (and a season like this season), that counts as a major victory.
So what’d you think of this episode? Is Tim the male Lacey Brown or is Lacey the female Tim Urban? Was Michael’s performance really the best out of all the live shows? (I still prefer Crystal’s “Give Me One Reason” – SO cool.) Finally, which two guys are going home? (I’ve got Todrick and Aaron hitting the road tonight.)
No comments:
Post a Comment