DANNY - judges' choice - WTF is with that song choice? I shouldn't be surprised, coming from Paula, but
that was as sabotaging a choice as Syesha's penguin song or any of Paula's other horrendous F3 choices. I've never heard the song. It's a
boring song. Danny was boring doing it. It wasn't a terrible vocal, albeit a bit shouty, but it was all kinds of "meh" for this point in the
competition. Danny's dancing was actually surprisingly better tonight than it has been. Still not good, but
definitely better…
KRIS - judges' choice - I don't like this song, either, but at least I've heard of it and so have the bulk of the people who watch this show, I would assume. I thought that Kris' version was more than competent, and his artistic liberties, albeit subtle ones, made me like the song more than I like the original. I also like him at a piano more than with a guitar. I mostly want to congratulate Kris on his lovely falsetto. On a season that has had far too much bad falsetto from Adam's shrieks to Matt's horror shows, Kris has one of the purest, best falsettos in the bunch (only Anoop challenges him here). And I appreciate that he used it sparingly but skillfully, too.
ADAM - judges' choice - If you count last week when his duet with Allison was performed last, Adam has had the "pimp spot" a whopping FIVE TIMES (out of a possible 11 eligible performance shows thus far, including his semifinal round). How is it that I seem to be the only one horrified by this fact? But I was willing to put that aside, and for the first 30 seconds or so of this performance, I was glad I did. I thought to myself "Wow! Adam is finally showing a different quality - restraint." It was absolutely fantastic and well on the way to being my favorite performance of the season. My joy was short-lived, though, as Adam proved yet again that he is completely incapable of showing sustained restraint. The next portion of the song was sheer torture - discordant, self-indulgent shrieking, accompanied by hideous faces. It was every bit as bad as the first part was good. Now, Danny and Kris were given pretty shitty songs to sing. If they fucked them up (Kris certainly didn't), I would think "Oh well. No great loss." Adam was given a GREAT song, though, and the fact that he fucked it up in the way he did makes me angry. Prior to this performance, I was fairly indifferent as to whom I wanted to see go home this week (between Adam and Danny - I knew I wanted Kris to stay). This tipped the scales definitively, and I pray to sweet Mandisa above that Adam gets booted HARD tomorrow!
DANNY - contestant's choice - From the beginning of this season, I have said that Danny's voice reminds me of Joe Cocker. In this song, he showed that I was right. However, having the voice and using it well are two entirely different things. At best and if I'm being extremely generous, Danny used his voice well in 50% of the song. The beginning, in particular, was weak. Way too slow and extremely "pitchy". Vocal master class? Simon? Say goodbye to your credibility.
KRIS - contestant's choice - My jaw dropped when I heard this was his song choice. I couldn't believe that Kris had actually chosen Kanye West, and I was sure he had been sabotaged and that all of his real choices "hadn't cleared". Damned if I wasn't wrong, though. It was a great choice. The performance wasn't perfect - I would have definitely recommended he finish the intro cleanly in the slow, impassioned style before picking up the tempo, for example - but he made up for it with sheer audacity. And heart. And individuality. And sincerity. Incidentally, his vocals were awfully good, too.
ADAM - contestant's choice - In the interest of full disclosure, I only half paid attention to this performance. I was too busy re-dialing my phone to vote for Kris (incidentally, I only got ONE vote through in 80 attempts). Adam's last performance burned a bridge for me and I don't really want to watch him anymore. From what I could gather from half paying attention, this was definitely better. Adam's vocal style certainly fits better with Steven Tyler than with Bono. On the other hand, the attitude behind the vocals was annoying to me. It was all about prancing and preening and had nothing to do with "crying". This was the Adam performance that REALLY reminded me of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"… It wasn't nearly as horrible as his first-round song, but very little could be. This was alright, and yet still annoying.
1. KRIS - Round 2
2. KRIS - Round 1
Gap the size of Simon's ego, Ryan's insecurity, Randy's lameness, Cara's irrelevance, and Paula's chemical impairedness combined.
3. DANNY - Round 2
4. ADAM - Round 2
5. DANNY - Round 1
6. ADAM - Round 1
It's sad that Kris is likely to go home when tonight (and, in fact, through much of the season), he was much better than the other two bozos. Fuck TPTB and their preordination. Kris, you are the best spoiler to challenge two chosen ones since Kelly Clarkson!
I want to thank the producers, though, for cutting the home visit video packages down to next-to-nothing. Every year, those videos either bore me to #%$@$ or make me want to vomit. I'd rather watch Carrie in a patronizing and vaguely racist film about malaria…
KRIS - judges' choice - I don't like this song, either, but at least I've heard of it and so have the bulk of the people who watch this show, I would assume. I thought that Kris' version was more than competent, and his artistic liberties, albeit subtle ones, made me like the song more than I like the original. I also like him at a piano more than with a guitar. I mostly want to congratulate Kris on his lovely falsetto. On a season that has had far too much bad falsetto from Adam's shrieks to Matt's horror shows, Kris has one of the purest, best falsettos in the bunch (only Anoop challenges him here). And I appreciate that he used it sparingly but skillfully, too.
ADAM - judges' choice - If you count last week when his duet with Allison was performed last, Adam has had the "pimp spot" a whopping FIVE TIMES (out of a possible 11 eligible performance shows thus far, including his semifinal round). How is it that I seem to be the only one horrified by this fact? But I was willing to put that aside, and for the first 30 seconds or so of this performance, I was glad I did. I thought to myself "Wow! Adam is finally showing a different quality - restraint." It was absolutely fantastic and well on the way to being my favorite performance of the season. My joy was short-lived, though, as Adam proved yet again that he is completely incapable of showing sustained restraint. The next portion of the song was sheer torture - discordant, self-indulgent shrieking, accompanied by hideous faces. It was every bit as bad as the first part was good. Now, Danny and Kris were given pretty shitty songs to sing. If they fucked them up (Kris certainly didn't), I would think "Oh well. No great loss." Adam was given a GREAT song, though, and the fact that he fucked it up in the way he did makes me angry. Prior to this performance, I was fairly indifferent as to whom I wanted to see go home this week (between Adam and Danny - I knew I wanted Kris to stay). This tipped the scales definitively, and I pray to sweet Mandisa above that Adam gets booted HARD tomorrow!
DANNY - contestant's choice - From the beginning of this season, I have said that Danny's voice reminds me of Joe Cocker. In this song, he showed that I was right. However, having the voice and using it well are two entirely different things. At best and if I'm being extremely generous, Danny used his voice well in 50% of the song. The beginning, in particular, was weak. Way too slow and extremely "pitchy". Vocal master class? Simon? Say goodbye to your credibility.
KRIS - contestant's choice - My jaw dropped when I heard this was his song choice. I couldn't believe that Kris had actually chosen Kanye West, and I was sure he had been sabotaged and that all of his real choices "hadn't cleared". Damned if I wasn't wrong, though. It was a great choice. The performance wasn't perfect - I would have definitely recommended he finish the intro cleanly in the slow, impassioned style before picking up the tempo, for example - but he made up for it with sheer audacity. And heart. And individuality. And sincerity. Incidentally, his vocals were awfully good, too.
ADAM - contestant's choice - In the interest of full disclosure, I only half paid attention to this performance. I was too busy re-dialing my phone to vote for Kris (incidentally, I only got ONE vote through in 80 attempts). Adam's last performance burned a bridge for me and I don't really want to watch him anymore. From what I could gather from half paying attention, this was definitely better. Adam's vocal style certainly fits better with Steven Tyler than with Bono. On the other hand, the attitude behind the vocals was annoying to me. It was all about prancing and preening and had nothing to do with "crying". This was the Adam performance that REALLY reminded me of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"… It wasn't nearly as horrible as his first-round song, but very little could be. This was alright, and yet still annoying.
1. KRIS - Round 2
2. KRIS - Round 1
Gap the size of Simon's ego, Ryan's insecurity, Randy's lameness, Cara's irrelevance, and Paula's chemical impairedness combined.
3. DANNY - Round 2
4. ADAM - Round 2
5. DANNY - Round 1
6. ADAM - Round 1
It's sad that Kris is likely to go home when tonight (and, in fact, through much of the season), he was much better than the other two bozos. Fuck TPTB and their preordination. Kris, you are the best spoiler to challenge two chosen ones since Kelly Clarkson!
I want to thank the producers, though, for cutting the home visit video packages down to next-to-nothing. Every year, those videos either bore me to #%$@$ or make me want to vomit. I'd rather watch Carrie in a patronizing and vaguely racist film about malaria…
Just for Kara I'mma leave it.
