AI8 recap, Finalists x 7 (04/14/09) by Mike Rico

Hi folks

The Family Ura is on vacation as they tour San Diego and its local attractions. Hopefully, they remembered to bring their passports to LegoLand. If not, I hear it’s easy to break out of customs.



This week is Movie Week and who better to sit in this week than 90’s phenomenon, Quentin Tarantino. Back from a Season 3 appearance, QT is super geeky and difficult to watch talk sometimes, but I have to say, I went ape poop over Pulp Fiction when it first came out. I saw it seven times in the theater the first month. An all-time favorite of mine… I do think AI went overboard in his introduction by calling him a legend and saying he changed the course of cinema… I guess it’s true to a certain extent as crappy wanna-be Tarantino movies backfilled theaters for years after. Anyway, the wonderful 1-2 punch of Reservoir Dogs & Pulp Fiction was an amazing start to his career.



In this format, he didn’t really bring much to the table for the singers, at least from what I could tell in the intros… Another programming note: In the interest of time constraints, the producers decided to have only two judges comment on each singer. Heck of a good idea, time constraints or not, but they still ran over a bit. Luckily, we didn’t miss any performances like last week.



This week I went on to the AI web site to explore a bit. It was interesting to see the favorite/influences of our remaining contestants- including their favorite AI contestants from the past. Turns out nearly everyone’s fave is either Kelly or Fantasia. I’ve cut and pasted here…



1 Allison Iraheta - I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing/Armageddon

Favorite Male Artist: Michael Jackson

Favorite Female Artist: Pink

Favorite Idol thus far: Fantasia Barrino, Carly Smithson



Allison is my favorite of the singers we have left. She can sing a song like no other 16 year old and you know I like the chain-smoking, whiskey-gargling voices. Week in and week out, she turns in very good performances even though the judges seem to be more preoccupied with her hair and clothes. After her great performance last week, Simon was forced to acknowledge her presence in the competition. Tonight, she tries on Aerosmith…



Paula says Allison shares a quality as one of her favorites, Adam Lambert: she’s authentic. She called her remarkable and talented. Simon said she is the girls’ only hope. (He’s talking to you, Lil Rounds.) Says Allison is getting stronger and more confident in the competition.



Not my favorite performance from her, but I think it has more to do with the song. Outside “Sweet Emotion” Aerosmith is meh to me. I still chuckle when I’m reminded of the Saturday Night Live skit where it’s a commercial selling their greatest hits album including “Crazy”, “Amazing”, “Crazy Amazing”, “Crazy Amazing Crazy”, etc. – the point being their songs all sounded the same in the ‘90s…The judges point out how difficult it is to sing this song, especially for a 16 year old, and it’s good to see her receive some love from Simon.



2 Anoop Desai – Everything I Do/Robin Hood

Favorite Male Artist: Ne-Yo

Favorite Female Artist: Lauren Hill

Favorite Idol thus far: Kelly Clarkson



Jason pegged it early in that Anoop is enjoyable to watch when he slows it down to sing ballads, but has an issue with the up tempo songs. As it’s been said by the judges (not Randy, who was encouraging him), he’s not very believable singing those. I’m very glad Anoop is still around and he sings the first of two Bryan Adams songs we will hear on movie week- Bryan Adams was to movies in the 90s what Kenny Loggins was to movies in the 80s.



Randy remarked that the last couple of weeks he has found his zone. Thought he did a real good job. Kara said he’s found his niche: taking pop songs and adding his own soulful vibe. She felt connected to his performance tonight.



Anoop is one of the best balladeers that Idol has ever had. He does seem to be a one trick pony, but he’s very good and very smooth with the crooning. Now if they could stop dressing him like a cheesy high school kid…





3 Adam Lambert - Born To Be Wild/Easy Rider

Favorite Male Artist: Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie

Favorite Female Artist: Pink, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Goldfrapp, Madonna

Favorite Idol thus far: Fantasia Barrino



Not a fan of Adam, but have to admit that he is charismatic and delivers rock star performances- he gets the live audience in a tizzy every week. I’m not on board with his out-there performances, such as his Johnny Cash live from Marrakech performance, but very much liked his Elvis sings Smokey on Motown week. He sings a song from the only movie that I’ve seen from this list, Easy Rider…



Paula said the reason that he shakes up the competition is because he dares to dance in the path of greatness. (Who wrote that crap for you, Paula?) Simon said that vocally, Adam was incredible, but the downside of the performance compared to the Rocky Horror Picture Show in parts. He ended his critique by saying last week was better.



Adam does his thing again and lights the crowd afire. He’s too theatrical for my taste, but he’s got skills. Despite my feelings towards his arrangements, I like the way he carries himself and he is in another league as a performer.





4 Matt Giraud – Have You Really Loved a Woman, Don Juan DeMarco

Favorite Male Artist: Billy Joel

Favorite Female Artist: KT Kunstall

Favorite Idol thus far: Michael Johns



Bluesy Matt grew a little bit on me last week with his performance of “Part Time Lover”. That was a great match for him and I enjoyed a BM performance for the first time. That was only a start, however- I’ll wait for two good ones in a row from him before I officially change the universal meaning of BM to Bluesy Matt.



Randy said it was interesting tonight…Started off good, but it got rough in patches. He said he can’t do all the riffs that he usually does to a song with a simple melody like this. Kara basically expanded on Randy’s point that all his runs detracted from the melody of a beautiful song like this one.



Yes, the true meaning of BM still stands (or flushes)… Bluesy Matt can’t help himself and even Kara, an advocate of his, tells him his up and downs were too much. He’ll be there in the bottom 3 tonight…



5 Danny Gokey - Endless Love/The Blue Lagoon

Favorite Male Artist: Michael Jackson

Favorite Female Artist: Lauren Hill

Favorite Idol thus far: Kelly Clarkson is the most memorable. I'm not sure who my favorite is.



Like most everyone, I enjoy hearing Danny sing… I find comfort in his name; didn’t everyone go to junior high or play Little League with a Danny Gokey? Like Tarantino, Danny started off like gangbusters and his star has faded a little, but the reality is he’s performed well every week. I look forward to his performance this week as Danny sings without his trademark wood shop goggles.



Paula said she thought the key should have been lower in the beginning, but midway through, the song picked up and was it great to the end; a beautiful rendition. Simon said he can’t fault the way he sang the song, but was disappointed with the choice of harp and the traditional, straightforward delivery. He was bored. He compared it to the David Cook version of another Lionel Ritchie song, which David completely reworked.



Like Simon, I was expecting more, but such are expectations for Danny who has been great all season long. The song does works better as a duet as well…



6 Kris Allen - Falling Slowly, Once

Favorite Male Artist: Jamie Cullum

Favorite Female Artist: Kelly Clarkson

Favorite Idol thus far: Kelly Clarkson



I don’t like Kris and his lightweight pop style. I’m sure he’s cool with it as he is popular in the most important demographics in AI, young girls and young ladies. And maybe cougars and pumas, as well, and other jungle cats that are code for old and horny women. He’s got two jungle cats in the judge’s panel that are drinking his Kool-Aid from their commercially conspicuous Coke glasses. This sounds like I’m being a hater, so I’ll stop here…



Randy said I don’t know; it never quite caught on for him…It was pitchy from note one.

Kara said it’s difficult to pick an obscure song, but for her it was one of his best moments in the competition.



More of the same from Kris; that’s great for many and ugghh for the rest. I thought people got too excited about his performance of “Ain’t No Sunshine” from a couple of weeks back, when clearly Christina Christian sang the better rendition of this song back in season one. Okay, it’s official; I’m a hater. Let the haters hate!!!



7 Lil Rounds - The Rose/The Rose

Favorite Male Artist: Anthony Hamilton

Favorite Female Artist: Alicia Keys

Favorite Idol thus far: Fantasia Barrino



Oh, Lil Rounds, what has happened to you? Where did it go so terribly wrong? Lil is the type of singer that I usually get behind in AI. She seems like a sweet person who can sing well with the R&B/Soul flavor. That’s in my wheelhouse. Plus, she’s the type of girl that The Commodores were singing about in “Brickhouse”. Even in the intro, there was a connection between Tarantino and her that didn’t exist for him and the other contestants. I definitely think there was a rooting interest there… Until now, as it’s been said succinctly by Kara and Simon, Lil has come up empty in the artistry category, which is mostly what this show is about… Can the great QT reignite her star like he did for John Travolta? Please do…She picks a poem of a song in The Rose to sing tonight…



Paula said could not have picked a more beautiful lyric and compliments the songwriter, but doesn’t say anything about Lil’s performance. Uh-oh…Simon said he thought Lil is getting this all completely wrong. He says the song was too soft for her, too middle of the road. Says there was some nice moments, but Simon goes reverse Dennis Green by saying she’s not the artist who he thought she was. Lil wants to interject and then Simon lets her say her piece.



Lil complains that they wanted her to be an artist, so she took a Bette Midler song and gave it her treatment. (On a side note, this season’s contestants has been a mouthy one as a whole from Anoop, Megan & Scott and others pushing back during their crits.) What Lil says is true, but the problem was she didn’t deliver. I think if she had pulled it off it could have been a pivotal moment for her and one of those electrifying moments on AI that happen once every one or couple of seasons. It had a chance to be special, but she just didn’t execute well. Unfortunately, it’s not working out for Lil and it’s not for a lack of chances…



A middle of the road affair for Movie Week. We’re getting towards the end, so the cuts will soon start to be painful. But there’s still some fat to trim… Hmmm, that reminds me, I think I’ll have to break out the BBQ this weekend for the first time this year…



Deserved Bottom 3: Lil, Bluesy Matt, Kris

Actual Bottom 3: Lil, Bluesy Matt, Anoop

Person going home: Bluesy Matt



So long, have a great rest of the week!