AI8: The Born Identity (Week 5)

I think "Songs From The Year You Were Born" is always a fun theme... or at least was... if you caught my Twitter/FB status yesterday you saw that I was a bit wobbly over the fact that for Allison that meant (gasp!) 1992... and it really didn't get all that much better as it basically meant "80s Night" since the oldest contestant, Danny, slipped in with a birth year of 1980.  So a turning of the tide, as we've also reached the point where we'll never see another IDOL contestant born in the 70s. 

The show got off to a rough start and I feared it would turn into an all "Fail" night (I'll do it!) with even some of my knee-jerk "Pass" folks not impressing... but the show ended strong (I guess the powers-that-be do know what they are doing when coming up with the performance order).  Anyhow, I ended up with a Top 3 this week:

Adam ("Mad World") - Adam had the "pimp" spot (the last slot of the night), but this only works when the show doesn't run almost 10 minutes over!  (Thanks Mo for the heads-up!  It pays to have East Coast friends on Twitter & FB... hee hee!)   Todd was wondering how many people did not even get to see Adam last night thanks to their DVRs popping off at the scheduled time!  Too bad, because if it wasn't ... it it was pretty close to one of those IDOL "moments"... granted a very creepy one... Adam convinced me his was that picked-on kid in school that had the gun in his pocket and was heading to school.  this was fairly scream-free (my biggish pet peeve with Adam)... and I am still not a big fan of a falsetto (on anyone), but this one was a keeper.

Allison ("I Can't Make You Love Me") - Loved, loved, loved this.  Why was Allison in the Bottom 3 last week/ever?  Granted last week wasn't my least favorite from her, but c'mon... channeling Randy, she really does had "mad vocals."  But I love this song and I love the smokiness that Allison brings to it... and more amazing, her inability to not make it NOT seem inappropriate given her age. While her position in the competition does seem to be precarious, I disagree with the judges that she needs to lighten up or act her age -- I like her just fine sounding like a middle-aged women who has smoked too many cigarettes and drank too much whiskey!

Matt ("Part Time Lover") - I am not a big fan of this particular Stevie song... and this is normally not a type of performance that floats my boat... but it was certainly a lot better than most of what I saw last night.  Give Matt credit for mixing it up (aka making the song "his own") and performing it well... though Todd may have hit on the true reason for the "thumbs up"... Matt's hat covered up that distracting (I'm not looking, not looking... ugh, I can't stop looking at the) mole on his forehead.

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Anoop ("Time After Time") - I was this close (insert appropriate visual of pinched fingertips slightly apart) to putting Anoop in my "pass" category... while I thought his vocals were quite good (and a good distance from anyone below), I just sensed that Anoop was running back to "ballad" safety, what worked for him in previous weeks.  Makes sense... but I also sense that is not the "artist" Anoop wants to be, but he's doing his best to hang on.

Danny ("Stand By Me") - A first (I believe) non-passing grade for the Goke.  But he got me ticked off even before he started singing when Ryan said what song he was singing... I don't care about the movie, this is not a song from 1980 (that said, I would say Whitney's "I Will Always Love You" was a song from 90s since it was a major re-invention)... but anyhow, even beyond that quibble... HATED the arrangement.  I thought it just stayed in the middle way too much which zapped of a lot of its soulfulness.  That said, Danny's vocals were good enough to still have me put him ahead of 3 other folks! 

Kris ("All She Wants To Do Is Dance") - Another first (and shocking) "fail" for the object of my IDOL affection this year!   I think Kris was trying to change it up by going up-tempo, but what a horrible song choice (it even doesn't rank very high on my list of Don Henley songs with Don Henley singing it!)... and they just need to do-away with that whole mosh-pit/surround the contestant performance area. 

Lil ("What's Love Got To Do With It") - I'm not going to say anything different from the lambasting that Lil got from the judges last night... but will repeat that she lost me even before opening her mouth when she did that signature Tina stutter-step going into the song.  Copy-catting is always dangerous... bad copy-catting is lethal.  But being 50% of the females left in the competition, who knows... just as long Allison doesn't end up in the bottom again!

Scott ("The Search Is Over") - I really don't know what to say... given that Todd was shocked by some of the non-politically correct things that were coming out of my mouth last night, I probably should not say anything other than I thought it was awful.

Comments

[Joanna]

Ed,

Now I know why I love your blog besides all the obvious reasons like basset hounds and books that brought me here. I love your blog because you say things I am too wimpy to say on my blog - but said lst night while watching Idol. I can't stop looking at that thing on Matt's head either! I thought it was a wart! I told my daughter that he should always wear hats and she gave me grief for being so mean!

BTW - Allison is my absolute favorite - hands down. I picked her to win in my office pool (probably not gonna happen - but I love her.)

[Jeff]

Yup. Matt did relatively better than last week, but for some reason he's still not doing it for me. And yes, they really need to stop using the mosh platform off to the side. It doesn't help anyone, including Kris this week.

I had the same beef about "Stand by Me"! I'm sure there are tons of other 1980 songs to do; why fake out with a re-make that's less popular than the much older, beloved original. It got better at the end, but still.

One thing I will say for Lil is that at least she wasn't doing her usual glossy middle-aged diva schtick ... but worse, she was doing Tina Turner. Right when it started, I was like, there isn't much room for anyone to make this song their own without sounding like Tina (unless they dramatically changed the arrangement, tempo, etc.).

Scott needs to fall by the wayside. He just isn't at the same level, compared to some of the others.

[Bellacantare]

Dial Idol has your boy Kris going home with Anoop and Scott rounding out the bottom three. I seriously hope they have it wrong and Scott is on his way out!
Never noticed the mole thingy on Matt's forehead before...but I typically zone out and surf the internet while he's on the screen.

[Scot]

S I D E B A R C O M M E N T
Clearly Paul Rudd does 40 better than most guys. Either that or he's sold his soul for eternal hotness!