AI - Who should win??

This will be a short post, as I need to head to work very soon, but I just want to comment that last night's Idol Top 2 show was BORING like WHOA.

Adam and Kris both gave solid performances on songs they already gave solid performances on this season, no surprise there. In round 2, they were given socially conscious songs from AI producer - and both did fine.

And then came round 3... where both Adam and Kris sang the same Piece of CRAP song co-written by Kara DioGuardi... holy hell, I didn't think it was possible to fit that many cliches into one song, but brava Miss Crazy Judge, you mananged to do it AND think that your song was good. (Here's a small hint - it was not a good song... maybe even the worst Winner's song EVER on Idol... yep, even worse than "This is My Now").

I was hoping for so much more in a Top 2 show, but hopefully tonight's results show will kick butt. I will be honest - I voted for Kris. I didn't get through as many times as I hoped, but I did vote for him and sincerely want him to win. It's not that I think Adam doesn't deserve to win, because he does, I just think Kris would benefit more from winning. Adam is going to be fine and will be a performer until they have to pry that black nailpolish and eye-liner off of his cute self.

It was a great Idol season... and I look forward to seeing the Top 10 on tour this summer :)

Happy Idoling :)

American Idol Top 3 - 3 contestants, but only 2 songs apiece...

I know this is a movie blog, but truth be told, folks, I haven't seen very many good movies lately. The last movie I saw in theaters was Wolverine and that was a big ol' POS. I have liked all of the prior X-Men films, but this one reeked of horrendousness. There was a lack of plot, and what plot we were given had ginormous holes in it. I wanted more of the Hobbit, but alas. And now they've green lighted (green lit?) a movie about Ryan Reynold's character? WTF? I shan't be seeing that... I am officially giving up on the X-Men franchise (sorry, Magneto, I won't be seeing your opus either).

I'm hoping to see Star Trek sometime in the next week to re-boot my interest in movies that are currently in theaters. But until then, there is AMERICAN IDOL!!!

So, remember last season when the Top 3 sang 3 songs apiece - I miss that. Hell, the Top 5 last year sang 2 songs apiece... seems like the economy has effected our music on television. Downsizing sadness!

On last night's show, the judges picked a song for each contestant, and then he got to pick a song of his own. Danny Gokey went first and sang the tune that Paula selected for him - "Dance Little Sister" by Terrence Trent D'Arby . This was the only song of the whole evening that I didn't know prior to being performed and because Danny pretty much Gokey-shouted the whole thing, I didn't really catch many of the lyrics (sorry Danny!). I am a big Danny Gokey fan, but I was not a huge fan of this performance, and I agreed with Simon - I would not have had that saxophone guy there at all! He was so big and his sax was so small (and it didn't sound very good to boot) that it was distracting from Danny's performance.

The rocket science team of Randy and Kara picked One Republic's "Apologize" for Kris... which was sang by David Archuleta and One Republic at last year's finale. Kris sat behind the piano and did a competent copy performance of the original. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't the kind of "moment" he needed right then. It was nice to see him behind a piano - he's certainly shown that he is, in fact, a musician and not just a singer. Again, I agreed with Simon when he called Kara's complaint about Kris's lack of original arrangement a "cop out". Yes, in weeks past, Kris has made some really great original arrangements of his songs and he didn't with that song last night, but it's not fair of Kara to judge his performance on his lack of originality. She helped pick the song, so she had no right to quash his performance because of his lack of originality of the song. He sang fine - it's a singing competition. Kara needs to shut her mouth and not come back to Idol next season. There already isn't enough time devoted to the contestants singing and she's the fourth judge - during auditions she brought something to the table but the past couple months her comments haven't really been super constructive for anyone. I wish we could vote her off the show.

Anyways, back to the contestants, because that's who the show is for. Adam sang Simon's choice, U2's "One". I am not a fan of U2 (yep, I just wrote that) and I thought Adam's performance was a bit self-indulgent (as most of his performances are), but he still did a solid job. Adam hasn't butchered any songs this season, and although he's been pitchy at times, his performances still out-rank everyone else's because of his stage presence and his ridiculous range. He is being pimped by everyone to win this season, so right now everyone else is just singing for second place. Adam even got his own cover of Entertainment Weekly... two weeks prior to the finale of AI. He hasn't even won yet and he's already a cover boy! That's gotta make everyone else feel a little salty, right?

I like when the contestants get to pick their own songs because they can sing any genre and pick whatever song they want (so long as it gets cleared - I know the legal side of it). Danny Gokey chose to sing Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and really made it work. For one, he didn't shout the entire song and instead gave a soft and very, very controlled vocal which was really tender and beautiful. He even looked like he was crying a bit towards the end of his own song. Either he or Kris is going home on tonight's results show and Gokey left his heart and song out there on the stage. He was worthy of being in the Top 3 and would make a good contender in the Top 2 as well. Gokey proved to be one of the most likable contestants on Idol and I thought he did a great job with this performance.

Kris surprised me with his acoustic take on Kanye West's "Heartless". Props to you, Kris Allen, your guitar-only rendition of "Heartless" completely kicked the crap out of Kanye's version (both the radio version and Kanye's weird performance of it on the show a few weeks ago). I totally dug it - so chill, on pitch, just brilliant. I bet Kara ji**ed in her pants during Kris's epic solo because of how "original" it was. Kris deserves to be in the Top 2 as well... hell, I think he actually deserves to win this season. I like Adam, but Kris came out of Idol obscurity to make it this far, I think he can go all the way. He wasn't shown really in any of the audition footage, then somehow made it into the Top 13 with an only okay performance of "Man in the Mirror", but has proved himself worthy of the title of American Idol. And I also like that he has been so humble the whole season... last week when it was announced first that he was saved, he genuinely looked shocked. Yeah Kris Allen. Whether you win or lose, you are an American Idol because you seem like you actually enjoy the music and are not in it for the fame and fortune.

Adam closed the night with Aerosmith's "Cryin'" and this was not his best performance, but I blame whoever that off-pitch backup singer was... Holy hell, was that irritating every time she completely landed on the wrong note... and then it seemed like her mic was up too high because he voice over-powered Adam's at times. (Blasphemous!) Adam worked the mic/stage like this was the grand finale to the Adam Show... and in a way it was. Everyone has been saying for weeks that he's going to win. That was nice of him to say that he felt lucky to be in competition with Danny and Kris, but on the inside, he is probably jumping for joy that he's been getting non-stop praise and attention. Who wouldn't? He's loved by millions and millions of people for his crazy awesome range, his bigger than life personality, and his commanding stage presence. I thought it was wise that Simon took everyone in the audience down a peg during the Adam love-fest and reminded people to actually vote for him.

Wouldn't that be a pisser/the biggest Idol shock EVER if Adam was not in the Top 2 this year? Danny's the only one who's never been in the Bottom 2 this season... I'm just throwing that out there. I think the Top 2 should be Kris and Adam, but an Adam/Danny or Danny/Kris finale would be fine by me too. Right now they are all winners regardless of who actually takes the title. It's not like if you win you will be more successful than other contestants. Just compare Daughtry and Taylor Hicks's record sales... I have both of their albums, so I contributed evenly to that comparison, but Hicks finished first and got dropped by his label, while Daughtry had one of the biggest selling records of 2007 and has a highly anticipated album coming out this summer. Winning isn't everything when it comes to Idol. So, yeah, Adam is projected to win this season, but how long is he going to last? Longevity is key. Good luck to Danny, Kris and Adam - it's going to be an interesting results show tonight, for sure.

American Idol Top 4 - Rock, Tight Pants, Screams...

A moment of silence for last week's voting off of my favorite contestant this season, Matt Giraud. 

*sigh*

But this week the theme was "Rock" for our Top 4 contestants... a very, very broad genre which resulted in an interesting, and at times horrifying, performance show.

Adam Lambert kicked off the show with his rendition of Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love". Now, I am not familiar with Led Zepplin music, so I had nothing to compare this version to, but I like Adam's performance. I liked that he had his "rock outfit" on - complete with loads of guyliner. He had his stank face on, really getting into it and interacting with the guitar player. I must admit, the man is comfortable on the stage and that ease only enhances his performance each week. I think this was the Adam I was hoping to see all season. Another solid vocal. Of course.

Allison followed up with her own strong performance of Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby", but there was no way she was going to get better judge's remarks than Adam. That's just not humanly possible at this point in the competition. Allison gave it her all, though I would have liked to her her version of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love". For only being 17, Allison is a strong competitor and a brave young woman for getting on that stage each week and proving that she does deserve to be there among her older male peers. Props to Allison for saying that she didn't want to sing "Piece of My Heart" because it's been done so many times on the show... the voice of reason!!!!

The next song was a duet of "Renegade" from Kris Allen and Danny Gokey. Not one of my favorite Styx songs, but I was so excited to see/hear duets from the Idols last night!!! I thought Kris and Danny complemented each other very well during the harmonies, but when they sang their little solos here and there, they felt lacking. If they would have selected a song that fit them better they would have been amazing. Too bad they got upstaged later by the Rock God/dess combination of Adam and Allison.

Kris and Danny's solo performances followed their duet and both guys sang songs that were sung last season of Idol. (Come on, guys, pick new material!)

Despite the judge's harsh comments about Kris, I actually really dug his take on the Beatles "Come Together". Carly Smithson sang a rockin' version last season but I enjoyed Kris's "man-with-guitar-who-also-sings-out-of-the-side-of-his-mouth" performance. Kris is not a rock guy the way Adam is a rock guy, so it was nice to see him not try to make himself into the type of artist he could never be. Kris stuck with what he knew, and I liked it. I still think he's the only one of the four left right now who is contemporary and unique enough to be on the radio right now. 

And then there was Danny Gokey... oh Lord, Danny Gokey. So, remember last season when Michael Johns sang "Dream On" from Aerosmith and then got the boot from the show? I have a feeling this year will be a repeat of that. Danny, like Kris, is not a rock singer. Gokey, unlike Kris, decided to take on one of the most well known rock songs from one of the biggest rock groups ever. And boy, did that risk not help his cause... You know how at the end of that song, there is that big, long scream? Well, Danny's entire performance was off pitch and then when he attempted to hit that final note, the strobe lights started flashing and the camera was at such an angle on Gokey that it looked like he was possessed, or being riddled with bullets (which is how my ears felt). And it pains me to write that, as I love Danny Gokey, but DAMN SON, that was one of the worst song choices ever made on American Idol.

To close the show, Adam and Allison did their duet of "Slow Ride" and rocked the stage, of course. There's no way to ignore the wardrobe changes - Adam was wearing the tightest pants I've seen seen on a man since high school (I believe we referred to those as "nut crunchers"). Vocally, though, Adam and Allison are a perfect match for each other and for once Randy/Kara/Paula were right - they should do duets on each other's albums because everything about their performance just worked. Unlike Danny and Kris's performance, where they just kind of stood next to each other and held their mic stands like they were trying to be badasses (which Danny Gokey should never, ever do again), Adam and Allison interacted with each other and played off of each other. 

Simon was probably right - Allison's duet with Adam might save her from being voted off this week. That leaves Danny or Kris to get kicked off tonight. As much as I hate to say it, but I think Danny should go home. His performance was just not good (though in his defense, he is not a rock person... but maybe he could have tried to make a rock song his own?) and I think Kris really didn't deserve the harsh comments he got last night.

Regardless who goes home, the Top 3 will be solid because everyone left in the competition is awesome and could easily have won prior seasons.

Happy Idoling!!!!