Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Rock Star: That's all there is?

"Rock Star" elimination spoilers after the jump...

Like I said last night, Zayra needed to go. She had no business fronting this band, and after a few weeks where the guys were keeping her around as a freakshow for their own amusement, demonstration of her actual talent seemed to jar them into recognizing that, whatever career she's going to have, it's better off away from them. Patrice isn't going to win, and unless she miraculously avoids bottom three next week there's no way she doesn't go home, but at least she sings, plays and writes a similar style of music to what the guys want to do.

And speaking of which, before we get back to the elimination stuff, am I the only one who was, um, massively underwhelmed by the debut performance of Supernova, featuring blatant frontrunner Dilana? Not a terrible song, and maybe something I might start singing along to if I heard it on the radio 57 times (which, if I still listened to NY/NJ's abysmal terrestrial radio stations in the car, I might), but nothing I'm going to rush to download to the iPod or share with friends. And is it too late to have Gilby replaced by the House Band lead guitarist?

To me, the highlight of the night was watching Storm psyching herself up for the bottom three performance she believed was inevitable, only to be crushed when Magni wound up there instead. (As with "Idol," we may have reached the stage in the contest where it's better to be bad than mediocre; outraged Storm fans were no doubt power-voting, while Iceland assumed Magni was fine.) It was funny to see how excited both Storm and Magni were by the possibility of the bottom three showcase; done right, it can almost be better than getting the encore (different song, not one off a list, etc.). It illustrated not only their personalities, but their obviously secure place in the competition (compare their faces to Toby, who looked like he'd just been offered a supporting role in Crocodile Dundee 5).

I'm getting a little frustrated at the amount of in-season repetition of songs. I understand Magni auditioned with "Creep" and feels strongly about it, but Lukas only sang the freakin' thing last week, and better, at that. (Though Magni approaching Patrice and Zayra as he sang "I don't belong here" was hella funny.) And while I applaud Patrice for getting all the words to "Celebrity Skin" right after Lukas' mangling, can't we please have some more originality on the second night?

What did everybody else think? And what would Dilana have to do between now and the finale to not win this?

17 comments:

Jason said...

I think Dilana can still lose it. If the band watches back her performance, and more importantly, listens to it, they might find that she's not all the way there. And let's not forget that she totally blew the lyrics competition.

Magni, Lukas, and even Storm have potential to take it from Dilana. Those guys will make an awesome final four, if that's how it breaks.

Thanks for writing about "Rock Star," Alan. Sometimes I think that nobody listens to me when I explain how good it is...

bill said...

I agree about the song. Almost immediately I started humming "Bang a Gong" by T Rex. This band probably won't be as bad as Asia, but the comparison to the earlier overhyped super group will be apt.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Speaking of song repetition, I went over to the website to vote in that whole "pick the song your favorite contestant will sing in an upcoming episode," and guess what? For each singer, there were four choices: three songs they had already sung, and one song that somebody else had. Sigh...

Tosy And Cosh said...

You get the feeling that they licensed a discrete set of songs at the beginning of the season and that's all they're playing with? I wouldn't be surprised at all if the "sing what you want" elimination songs were being picked out of a pool as well.

Alan Sepinwall said...

If that was the case, I doubt we would have heard Zayra do two very obscure songs by obscure bands, or Patrice do "My Iron Lung," or that guy from week one bust out Duran Duran. Basically, on elimination night, you can sing anything, so long as it clears.

I also liked Magni's semi-subtle dig at "Satisfaction," which he had to sing to great boredom in week one, while explaining why he loves "Creep."

tabloidbaby said...

Patrice looks more and more like a mom playing rock star. There's no way she'd front for those guys.

Ryan Star reminds us too much of David Blaine.

But Storm should be knocked off next. She's very annoying, pulling faces and acting shocked and hurt every time someone is eliminated. She's very much the poser and doesn't belong in this world.

Dilana seemed to be the top until we saw her standing in the recording studio with the rest and it was revealed she's about four feet tall (Check out her website. Her image before the competition was less Ozzy and more Melissa Etheridge).

Our money is on Lukas, little Sal Mineo.

Anonymous said...

Interesting thing about Magni's Icelandic support: although the country is supposedly really into this, the four hour voting period occurs in the middle of the night for Icelanders. The show is shown "live" at midnight Tuesday night when most people are asleep and then most people actually watch it when it's reshown the next night. When it's too late to vote. Plus, there are only 300,000 Icelanders total. So, unfortunately, Magni's hometown support voting-wise is probably a little underwhelming.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Supernova, for finally getting Zayra off my TV. Now if you would only get rid of Ryan and Lukas next (Patrice is not right for the band, but she doesn't annoy me the way those two idiots do).

I thought the SN song was kinda catchy in that "if I heard it on the radio 57 times," too. I won't go out of my way to hear it, though.

My friend, Judi, & I thought Magni singing "Creep" and Patrice doing "Celebrity Skin" were slaps at Lukas because we thought they both did better jobs with those songs than he did. And while Patrice did get most of the words to CS right, she didn't necessarily get them in the right order...ugh...don't these people freaking rehearse more than once??? They don't necessarily have to rehearse a bunch of times with the House Band, but for God's sake, at least sing to yourself at the mansion and learn the damn song!

Dilana could lose if she gets cocky, which it seemed was starting to happen last night. Ruh-roh.

Philip said...

Ok, I got my recap up. I'll read yours and make comments here.

Anonymous said...

I agree, too, that Patrice will not fron tis band-- nor do I think she really even wants to-- but she is a hell of a lot better (and more talented) than Ryan the Poser and Mic Dundee. Those guys should go next.

Am I the only one who is hooked on this show, but has no intention of ever really listening to Supernova once the show is over? Their 'debut' song sucked.

bill said...

I'm curious about Patrice's background. Realized last night that she's rarely in any of the house scenes. She doesn't seem to be disliked by the other players, so is she just quiet?

Anonymous said...

I never had any intention of listening to Supernova once the show's over, either, Anon. This is just summer entertainment for me. Plus I really like Dave Navarro.

Anonymous said...

Tabloidbaby wrote:
Dilana seemed to be the top until we saw her standing in the recording studio with the rest and it was revealed she's about four feet tall

If height is your criteria for Dilana not being right for Supernova, how is Midget Glam Hobbit (MGH) Lukas a better fit? MGH is about the same height as Dilana?

Anonymous said...

Bill, Patrice used to front her own band (all guys) in Austin and on tour at least ten years ago and has been a solo artist for even longer. A google search will get you lots of background info. Her band was Sister 7.

I find it funny that so many people find her smiling while performing annoying - I've seen her live and she's all about having fun while playing/singing some seriously impressive music.

I'd hate to see her win because I don't think Supernova is well suited for her - but I do hope she gets a bigger careerer than she's had to date out of it.

Beth - bethmauldin.com

Tami P said...

Oh I just had to post. I've been reading the blog here for quite some time and really enjoy it. I do have to say, just for the record, that I did like the Supernova debut. I will be looking for them once the show is over, too.

Personally, I think the finalists will be Dilanna, Ryan, and Magni ... at least as it stands at the moment.

bill said...

Beth, thanks for the tip on Patrice. Turns out she has a bunch of stuff on iTunes and I downloaded her live album. Good music.

Anonymous said...

I think some people have a problem with Patrice smiling all the time because some of the songs are very serious and/or sad, so her smiling through them is seen as inappropriate at best, insensitve at worst. For example, "Celebrity Skin" is an angry song and smiling through it is kind of...weird. I had a problem with Lukas winking after singing "Creep," too.