Thursday, February 21, 2008

Top 12 Women

Unlike the male contestants, I think we know all twelve of these women. Let's get down to business (as I'm starting the show after midnight). I'm really curious to see Amanda Overmyer's 60s' Music Night performance.

FYI, I really do write all my comments as the performances / clips go, and if the judges echo something I think, I'll credit them.

Kristy Lee Cook: Very camera-friendly. Not a ton of pizzazz in the performance, vocally or otherwise. Safe and serviceable. She's apparently sick, according to the judges. Yeah, everyone in Hollywood is sick (not just on this show... but how come this wasn't mentioned last night with the men? Did it not affect them?) I think KLC will be saved from her audition and Hollywood week performances.

Joanne Borgella: This girl fits an Idol type, the plus-size black woman. None of the other black girls in the Top 12 are big girls, so I think Joanne needs to screw up really bad to miss out on the Top 12. The lower parts of the song were too low for her right now. She can get those notes, but needs to work it out. Hahah, you could see Joanne's parents killing Simon with their stares.

Alaina Whitaker: Ryan interviews her backstage about her birthday wishes, and compliments her shoes. Fire hazard! I'm curious, though, if Alaina's birthday is "tomorrow" as in Thursday, 2/21, or "tomorrow" as in the day after the show was taped (which I believe was this past Sunday, 2/17). Good choice to take the song from slow to uptempo halfway through. This is the girl who says that she thinks Carrie Underwood looks like her, right?

Amanda Overmyer: She needs to stay in the competition, she's got talent, but this performance did not show other layers to her voice, unfortunately. Amazing stage presence. I agree with Randy... those jeans are awesome. We wants.

Amy Davis: Boooobs. Funny, thought. Her performance is flat. Bye bye, Amy.

Brooke White: Not the strongest singer, but I really like her. She has her own style and voice, but I don't see her making it to the Top 12. Not strong enough (her range... eh). Ending the song on the "ba ba bah" wasn't a good call (not a skatting song). Randy: Brooke White the Song Slayer. Simon: Blondes r happy, I h8 teh happi (sorry, I've been reading a bit of HOWSE!!1 M.D.)

Alexandréa Lushington: I don't remember much of her auditions, but I like the bluesy-jazz tone of her voice. A few pitch problems, and the first half was better, but overall a good job and her outfit was killer. So '60s/modern mix. I normally am more in tune with Simon, especially because he actually gives critique... but I think he's been out of his element with '60s Music Week. He doesn't know most of the songs, too.

Kady Malloy: This is the impressionist girl, right? Anyway, in her own voice... she has such AMAZING control. Which is part of the problem with the performance, Randy's right, it's restrained and doesn't build to anything. Anyway, the battle of the blonde bombshells goes to Alaina Whitaker tonight.

Asia'h Epperson: One of the great things about Asia'h's audition was that she connected so, so, so much to that song she sang. Not so much tonight. She was fun and giving sassy tonight. Not that she needs to bring tears to your eyes every song. And clearly she can perform. I don't think it was the best of the night so far, vocally.

Remiele Malubay: Tiny, tiny, tiny package. Girl cannot be close to five feet tall! I really enjoyed the airy, seductive whisper-sing she did. It actually takes more control to sing that way than a simple belt. That said, I wish the song built to something bigger. I don't understand her outfit, though. Randy noted that she stayed with the melody... good call. Lots of Idol contestants go on these runs that just destroy the melody of their songs... and don't even harmonize. Man, even in those shoes she's a fun head shorter than Ryan (saying something!) And, again, Ryan shows his manliness (...) with his comments about shoes.

Syesha Mercado: Does her head remind anyone else of Helena Bonham Carter? Just me? Very excited to hear her performance since she's not sick and doesn't have the laryngitis that plagued her during Hollywood. And she schools everyone that came before her, IMHO, with a song that was more about fun than about vocal wow.

Carly Smithson: Yay, Idol controversy... Carly was apparently a spectacular flop in Ireland on MCA Records. Like, 7 years ago. Whatever, people, get over it. Hey, look, they didn't show her eyes bugging out of her head when Simon told her that her audition in Season 5 was better (a first!) She gets a little shout-y in the middle of the song, but it is still expertly done. So many different inflections, tones, colors and temperatures in her voice. Simon is right about the "old fashioned" element. She didn't modernize the song or make it "fun" or whatever. But, hey, it's '60s Music Week...

Bottom Two: Hm, it's a bit tougher tonight because the audience knows all of these women. I'd say definitely Amy Davis, and any of Kristy Lee Cook, Joanne Borgella, and Kady Malloy. Again, I don't think Joanne is in much danger because she's the only one who fits her Top 12 type.

2 comments:

Sole Survivor said...

Overall I thought the entire night was forgettable. There might have been two or three good performances, but none of them stood out. Too many singers at this stage who were off pitch (the flu bug was supposedly going around) and seemed really nervous. Better get over those nerves - the stage only gets bigger from here.

I haven't watched the guys from Tuesday yet ... but none of them really stood out in the previous weeks.

Travis Yanan said...

Simon said it at the end. There are three guys who stood out (barely) on Tuesday, and three or four girls who stood out on Wednesday. Everything else was from bad (surprisingly few truly bad) to forgettable.

Weird, though. I disagree with starting out the performance aspect of this season with '60s Music Night. They should've done something more modern and contemporary because, clearly, Simon took issue with most of what he was hearing (and a lot of it was "too cabaret, I don't know the song, too old fashioned, not enough modern recording artist relevance"). Y'think!?