Wednesday, April 01, 2009

American Idol: Top 9

I ended up doing pretty well with last week's predictions (two out of the bottom three, and who went home). Let's check out the top 9...

Kris - Ain't No Sunshine - I love how multi-instrumental so many of the contestants are this year. The beginning of that song gave me CHILLS and he's such a cutie. The thing I think I like the most about Kris is that he is just himself - he doesn't need flashy clothes or guyliner. He wears a tee and jeans & makes it all about the music. Nice, solid performance.
Danny - Rascal Flatts - soft & sensitive. I could really feel the emotion coming through in his voice & he seemed so sincere. I love the "gravel-ly" tone of his voice, which I think sounds like Michael Bolton a little bit (even though I'm not a big MB fan or anything). Well done! (yeah, Simon!!!)
Adam - Wild Cherry - Rock it out, Adam! The things he does with his voice are just amazing & I like the changes that he made in the verses of the song. I love the young Elvis look that he's keeping. He's a total rock star! I love that he's humble & knows what works for him.
Scott - Billy Joel - Great song/voice match for Scott, but he's definitely not Billy...I like the new hair. Definitely his best performance from the recent weeks, with the most emotion, but I still think he's in danger. PS - Paula, again, what are you SAYING? I swear, she researches all of these musical terms to try to incorporate them into her critique, regardless of whether or not she knows how to use them appropriately.
Allison - No Doubt - Gwen Stefani is a good voice match with Allison, but I had to laugh when she said "I grew up listening to this song" like Don't Speak is such a classic or something (plus it made me feel old! LOL). Her outfit & hair are horrible, IMO (Amen, Randy!). I thought the song was OK, but I felt like there are so many songs that are both more musical & more lyrical than this one. I mean, her voice sounded good, but I think there are so many songs where should could have sounded GREAT.
Lil
- Celine Dion - I'm nervous about this one - you really have to have the pipes to sing Celine. Again, I feel like she's lagging behind the music a bit, almost like she's trying to get the musicians to slow down. This was definitely one of her better performances, although it was a bit pitchy throughout the middle (especially around the key changes). I felt like she was "sliding up" to too many of the notes (not really as effortless as Kara made it sound, IMO). I loved how her little girl hugged Randy, though :)
Matt - The Fray - The beginning was very pitchy for me (dawg). You can definitely tell this isn't the style of music for Matt, but I didn't think that it was terrible. I didn't like his set-up with him out in the middle of the mini stage, surrounded by "fans" - it made him seem like less of a big star & more of a club singer, which is NOT what he needs, especially after (wrongly) being in the bottom 3 last week. Definitely not one of his best performances.
Anoop - he did an Usher song, which I wasn't familiar with. I felt like I couldn't understand a lot of the words, and in general, it was just ok. PS - don't talk back to the judges. PSS - Paula, WTH are you saying? I am so confused.
Megan - Bob Marley/Lauryn Hill - I never heard this song either (which is odd since I do listen to popular music). She sounds like some popular singer, but I can't put my finger on who...Sara Bareilles maybe? I thought the song sounded good & was a good choice for her, but it was just one-dimensional to me...there wasn't much "meat" to it. PS - I love how Simon was making faces at Paula's vision of Megan sitting on a stool...nonetheless, I thought they were hard on her (but still not enough to make her safe this week)***EDITED TO ADD...I figured out who her voice reminds me of...Nelly Furtado!

Bottom 3: Megan, Scott & Anoop (regardless of the quality of their performance)
Going Home: Scott

1 comments:

Megan said...

I like your recaps! I think Kris is my fav right now b/c he's just himself, great vocals and he's charming without seeming cocky.
I like Adam's vocals but I don't like watching him perform. I don't think he's very humble - I think he's an accomplished performer and can act humble. For some reason I just feel like we see a different character each week that he is performing and not Adam. But vocally - yeah, he's great.