Tuesday, May 11, 2010

American Idol: 5.11.10

Duets!  Neat!

Oh, the propaganda of how wonderful Jamie Foxx thinks he is... and he brought "Artist" t-shirts for everything.

01) & 05) Lee Dewyze (Kiss From a Rose)  Jamie did that annoying thing where he got right up in Lee's face during rehearsals.  I love this song, but I wonder if Lee's voice is too tight for it.  It wasn't my favorite of his.  It seemed flat and kind of forced.  I think he seemed rushed.  Randy thought Lee did nothing with the song and it was just ok.  He thought he should have chosen a more rocking song.  Ellen understands where Randy is coming from, but still thought Lee was great.  Kara (straight from a board room?) thought that the arrangement lost him along the way, but thought that he was still great.  Simon told Lee that there are so many brilliant movies and songs, but thought this was verging on karaoke, and thought he was trying too hard to sound like the original.  I would agree with Randy and Simon.  I like Lee, but I don't think that he had his chance to shine on this song.

02) & 06) Michael Lynche (I Will Be There)  This started off too low for Michael.  What a boring song, and he threw in some Michael Jackson-isms, too.  Back-up gospel choir... I can't handle it.  I predict I will forget about this by the end of the show.  As always, he's good, but I just find him so bland.  Randy wished he had chosen an R&B song, and thought it started rough.  Agreed.  Ellen thinks you can't go wrong with the classic sound of a gospel choir.  I disagree.  Ellen thinks he always sounds good, but thought it was predictable.  Kara wished for the goosebumps she was having during a couple of his performances.  She thought he could do this in his sleep.  Simon didn't understand Free Willy, and thought that Michael kind of did a good job, even though he didn't understand the song choice.

Lee & Crystal (Falling Slowly)  YAY!  I love this song.  Awesome movie, and perfect song for them.  Kris Allen sang this song all by himself and it was one of my favorite performances of his.  Lee and Crystal sound great together.  It is blatantly obvious how much better her voice is than his, but they work well together. It was beautifully done.  They performed looking at each other and it was wonderful.  Randy thought this was a great song by two great singers, and thought it was amazing and could be a hit right now.  Ellen said they are like the new Captain and Tenille.  Kara said it was one of her favorite moments of the entire season, and loved the interactions between them, and thought they brought out the best in each other.  Simon said that he wasn't sure he would call it a good song - he would call it a fantastic song.  Agreed.


03) & 07) Casey James (Mrs. Robinson)  I wanted Lee to sing this song.  Is that a ukele?  He's sitting on the side platform in the audience, and his vibrato works for this song.  I love it, kind of.  This is such a wonderful song.  I wanted him to open his eyes, because the squinting was annoying.  The arrangement was really cool.  Nice job.  Randy wanted to know the meaning of the song for him, and thought maybe he was singing it for Kara.  Man, let it go.  He thought it was ok, but thought it was cool and ok.  Ellen was disappointed that they didn't give him a big boy guitar, and liked what he did to the song.  Kara thought he was fighting to stay in the competition.  Simon didn't think it had the substance required at this point in the competition, and thought it was a little bit lazy, and thought he could have made more of an impact, but thinks that there have been some very strange song choices tonight, and said that was one of them.  Well, I liked it.  But, is Casey freshly fake tanned?

04) & 08) Crystal Bowersox (I'm Alright) She has stripped the song down a lot in the beginning, and then opened it up with some fun percussion.  I really liked it.  She showed her range of style in the song, and I think she had fun.  Yay for Crystal!  Yo, yo, Randy loved that she tried to switch the song up some, even though it wasn't his favorite.  Ellen thought the performance was Crystal-ized, and thinks that she made the song better.  Kara agreed with Ellen, and declared her an artist.  Simon said that after that performance, Crystal is back in the game.

Casey & Michael (Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman)  Good song, with some room for guitar beauty.  Some of it sounded quite lovely, but some of it missed the mark a bit...  Randy thought the guitar work was awesome, and thought that it worked out well.  Ellen said "As a matter of fact, yes I have loved a woman."  Kara declared the duets incredible tonight, better than any solos.  Simon agreed.

Best of the night?  Crystal.  Hands down.  And then Lee gets an honorable mention for the duet.  I also enjoyed Mrs. Robinson.  I think the final three should be Crystal, Lee, and Casey.  Pretty much in that order.

What do you think?

4 comments:

JenFen said...

I agree with you BUT I think Casey will go home tomorrow because Michael had a better night. Lee redeemed himself with the duet and Crystal was awesome, as always. And I am okay with Casey going home before Michael because I think Casey's votes will go to Lee, ensuring the final two are Lee and Crystal, which is exactly what I would like to see with Crystal winning it all.

Jeanne said...

I was bored last night. They picked such slow songs! I'm still rooting for Lee and Crystal to be the last 2, and I like both so I don't care who wins.

So what did you think of the AR finale? Did you think the brothers cheated when moving to First Class on the plane? There's an article about it on CNN...

Astrid said...

On AR, I don't think it was right for the brothers to move up, nor to cut in line, BUT - I think they would have won anyhow.

JenFen said...

I agree with you about AR and I just love the comments the cowboys made at the end about it not being all about the money but the experience and how they can leave with their head held high that they ran the race with dignity. I really wanted the cowboys to win. I just loved them all season.