Lights, Camera, Action! (Top 7)

Tonight is songs from the movies, starring guest judge and Idol superfan Quentin Tarantino. He has been a fun guest judge before, and if I recall correctly, one of the only Season 3 guest judges with relevant things to say.

Ryan informs us that because of their yappity yapping last week and running over time, they are only having 2 judges per performance. Can we just have Paula and Simon? while they are sometimes immature, they have more relevant things to say than the other end of the table.

01. Allison Iraheta		“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith – This was a good song choice but the arrangement was all over the place, she was skipping around lines of the song, and therefore is sounded like the song never peaked. The beginning was soft and weak. I think this was her weakest performance of the competition thus far. So imagine my surprise when she is now getting a good judges’ pimping! I was ready for Simon to call it a mess, which it was. But Allison seems to have, overnight, become TCO. I am thrilled, but this week, unfortunately, the pimping was undeserved.
02. Anoop Desai	Rating:	“Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams – Fantastic, all the way through. There was great phrasing, great emotion, everything was in tune. I was intrigued and interested through the whole thing. Anoop has been rocking, and even though he appears to be coming up in the pecking order, I don’t think he deserves to go after this great performance.
03. Adam Lambert	+1/2	“Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf – It was good, and definitely original. I agree with Simon that I didn’t like it as much as last week’s Mad World. This is the first time, however, that he has been all Screamy McScreamerson, and it hasn’t annoyed the hell out of me. Does that mean I have become an Adam convert? Maybe I am starting to get it. But the performance is always top-notch and he gives 100% on stage–he is definitely exciting to watch.
04. Matt Giraud		“Really Loved A Woman” by Bryan Adams – I was completely intrigued from note one. The beginning was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately it derailed with some bum notes at the bridge – he was trying to sing the hell out of it, and it got away from him. I am still loving it, but it could have been a “smiley with teeth” performance if not for the last third of the song.
05. Danny Gokey		“Endless Love” by Lionel Ritchie – I don’t know what to say about this one. Good vocal, although he still struggles with the notes in his lower register. But I echo Simon’s sentiment that I am disappointed that he hasn’t done much along the lines of changing up arrangements. All of his songs are straight shots. I say this every week, but I know he can do better. He is this season’s Carly Smithson – always falling slightly short of his full potential.
06. Kris Allen	Rating:	“Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard – The song never peaked–not sure if it was the arrangement, or the song itself. He was definitely emotionally connected to the song, and may have had “a moment” as Kara was saying, but not sure he made the impact he needed to. He could be in the bottom tomorrow.
07. Lil Rounds		“The Rose” by Bette Midler – With Lil doing the gospel-twinged middle, I think Lil was dipping her toe in the water of original arrangements. Obviously she is slowly taking the judges advice, which is good. Simon is still disappointed with her efforts, with is a sentiment felt by many, but I also understand her frustration and passion in saying she is making an effort to take their advice. I give her an A for effort, but her days are definitely numbered, which is something she can’t really do anything about at this point.

Oooh, tough week. This group of seven is strong at every level – there is no obvious weak link. Allison will definitely be in the bottom, and will be the first time she actually deserves it. I could also see Kris in the bottom, and perhaps Anoop or Lil.

There wasn’t a blow-me-away performance tonight, though Adam got close. I loved Matt’s first half, and the last half was not nearly as good. Anoop should also get more credit than he does, because he was great, too.

What mare your thoughts?

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Laura | 10 Comments

01. Allison Iraheta		“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith – This was a good song choice but the arrangement was all over the place, she was skipping around lines of the song, and therefore is sounded like the song never peaked. The beginning was soft and weak. I think this was her weakest performance of the competition thus far. So imagine my surprise when she is now getting a good judges’ pimping! I was ready for Simon to call it a mess, which it was. But Allison seems to have, overnight, become TCO. I am thrilled, but this week, unfortunately, the pimping was undeserved.
02. Anoop Desai	Rating:	“Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams – Fantastic, all the way through. There was great phrasing, great emotion, everything was in tune. I was intrigued and interested through the whole thing. Anoop has been rocking, and even though he appears to be coming up in the pecking order, I don’t think he deserves to go after this great performance.
03. Adam Lambert	+1/2	“Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf – It was good, and definitely original. I agree with Simon that I didn’t like it as much as last week’s Mad World. This is the first time, however, that he has been all Screamy McScreamerson, and it hasn’t annoyed the hell out of me. Does that mean I have become an Adam convert? Maybe I am starting to get it. But the performance is always top-notch and he gives 100% on stage–he is definitely exciting to watch.
04. Matt Giraud		“Really Loved A Woman” by Bryan Adams – I was completely intrigued from note one. The beginning was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately it derailed with some bum notes at the bridge – he was trying to sing the hell out of it, and it got away from him. I am still loving it, but it could have been a “smiley with teeth” performance if not for the last third of the song.
05. Danny Gokey		“Endless Love” by Lionel Ritchie – I don’t know what to say about this one. Good vocal, although he still struggles with the notes in his lower register. But I echo Simon’s sentiment that I am disappointed that he hasn’t done much along the lines of changing up arrangements. All of his songs are straight shots. I say this every week, but I know he can do better. He is this season’s Carly Smithson – always falling slightly short of his full potential.
06. Kris Allen	Rating:	“Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard – The song never peaked–not sure if it was the arrangement, or the song itself. He was definitely emotionally connected to the song, and may have had “a moment” as Kara was saying, but not sure he made the impact he needed to. He could be in the bottom tomorrow.
07. Lil Rounds		“The Rose” by Bette Midler – With Lil doing the gospel-twinged middle, I think Lil was dipping her toe in the water of original arrangements. Obviously she is slowly taking the judges advice, which is good. Simon is still disappointed with her efforts, with is a sentiment felt by many, but I also understand her frustration and passion in saying she is making an effort to take their advice. I give her an A for effort, but her days are definitely numbered, which is something she can’t really do anything about at this point.

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Gretchen

I disagree with you somewhat. My bottom three picks are Matt, Danny and Lil (although I think Danny’s fans will carry him through). Matt disappointed me – I thought he sounded nervous through the whole song and his keyboard accompaniment sounded like a “dueling pianos” rendition. Not a fan. Lil has failed to impress me all along and tonight was no exception. I think she sings under pitch. And Danny was just so-so. He’s not stepping it up like I want him to.
Allison was subpar, but I still love her. I thought Anoop was awesome tonight – loved it. And, unlike you, I enjoyed Kris. And I bet all the teenage girls did too!
And Adam (Screamy McScreamerson – love it), what an entertainer. I would not buy a CD, but I would go see him on stage. He is something else.
http://americanidolsuckedmein.blogspot.com Ian

I agree with you on Allison. It was OK, but clearly her weakest performance yet. I hope going first doesn’t hurt her.
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http://highlorddave.blogspot.com Dave

I was bored to tears tonight. I think there should be a “no ballad” night because they were 6 of 7 tonight.

If you had to pick from all the songs from all the movies, why would you pick schlock like the kids did tonight?
ryanflip

i pretty much agree with everything you commented on this one, tho, i think Matt was a little bit worse than you think he was. Otherwise, spot on.
Miljan

My goodness… yeah, the biggest movie songs ARE ballads, but could they have chosen more boring stuff?
Again, Adam was in his own league. And I agree with the comment above – he’s not exciting to be heard in a studio recording, but live on stage. And though all his performances are done by the same recipe – sing a bit the normal tune, go higher, step it up higer, go for the high note, go down, slide up and down and hit the high note at the end again and maybe slide a bit more – it’s always exciting.
Matt, Kris, Allison, Danny, all boring. Good vocals, but overall boring.
Anoop was great.
And Lil was great too.
And there’s the thing I don’t get with the judges. It kinda gets more and more obvious that they’re kinda biased towards some of the contestants. Even the ever-speaking-only-his-mind Simon. First, as well as him, I didn’t get what Paula wanted to say to Lil. Paula does that a lot and it starts annoying me.
And then Simon critisizes Lil for doing what he asked previously Danny to do? I mean – the girl sings great, she did a great job with the changing up the song (though I don’t know why the judges insist that much on “changing up the songs”), she did everything they said she (and other people) should do and they still criticize her? And way to go for her to talk back. You could really see she too was frustrated because they’re so contradictive.
Anyhow, for tomorrow, I can see Matt, Alison and Kris in the btm 3.
And why the heck would they invite another Screechy to the show? Miley Cyrus? Come on! :rolleyes:
Miljan

Oh yeah – another thing – the way Ryan kept pronouncing and shortening “Quentin” was horrible. The first time he pronounced it was eeeeks. And the last time it just sounded like “Quit Tarantino”. Argh.
Megg

Anyone else feel like Adam is the new Axl Rose? I feel like he NEEDS to sing “Paradise City.” Go listen to it..and tell me that’s not Adam singing it. (And I’m not on the Adam ban-wagon so that’s saying a lot!)

Anyhoo–I see Lil, Danny and Matt in the bottom 3. Lil is going home and the judges won’t even entertain the thought of saving her.