Tuesday, May 01, 2007
American Idol: Top 6, take two (Bon Jovi Night
Thoughts on the awesomeness of Melinda, the comeback of LaKisha, the stunning lousiness of Jordin and more from Bon Jovi Night, are up at NJ.com, but you can comment here.
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12 comments:
" I'd like to see a Melinda/LaKisha/Blake/Jordin final four. I feel confident that three of those four will be around, but I don't know if LaKisha can overcome her recent stumbles"
I agree that LaKisha is still on thin ice, and I wasnt as impressed with her this week as you or Simon, but which of the two guys you left out would you presume would stick around? Chris has been so much more consistently bland than Phil in the past month that I can't believe he was such a strong contestant in the early weeks of voting. Phil, at least, has had moments of decency throughout and was particularly "on" tonight. I thought Jordin could make a run at the finals, or at least the bronze, but after tonight she's pretty much out of the running for the top spot. I really dont see anyone but Melinda and Blake in the finals at this point, do you?
Blake was so awesome tonight that I wanted to run to Wal-Mart buy a posterboard, come up with a lame rhyming phrase, fly out to Hollywood and let my Blake flag fly.
Then Melinda brought out a new level of rock that she had never brought before.
This week, it's a 2 person contest.
Lakisha can sing-but she was trying too hard to have a personality. She lost me several weeks ago. There is nothing she could do to bring me back to her side. Too much ego. Not enough talent.
I like Jordin. She sucked tonight. But I like her.
Phil was good. I was out of the room and enjoyed the song.
Chris. Yawn.
I want to see Kiki and Chris go home. They've stayed too long at the fair.
I think LaKisha did well, but frankly a few weeks ago I decided once and for all that I just don't like her. She can sing, but not as well as Melinda (at the same types of song), and Melinda's got a better personality and is more fun to watch. On Idol you don't keep two like performers, so at some point LaKisha has to go.
Blake is awesome.
Chris is TERRIBLE. I am mystified by his praise. He is a nasal poseur with no conception of the emotions behind what he's singing. He needs to go away.
Thank God rock music doesn't usually sound like LaKisha and Melinda.
(to be fair, thank God it doesn't sound like that rendition of Living On A Prayer, or like Blake's beatboxing or Chris' whatever the hell he's still doing there, while I'm taking a nap.)
LaKisha was bland. I thought the song was too low for her to really shine. Not sure what the judges heard/saw, becasue I didn't hear it/see it.
This is the first time ever that I really liked Blake. And that is saying a LOT. I think he is much more comfortable doing his beatbox thing, and it showed. More emotion. No more 'dead eyes.' And I think his version was a brilliant, fresh take on the original, which has been overplayed and has become stale (sorry Bon Jovi).
I really liked Phil this week. I thought he picked a great song and delivered a great performance. I just think, for some reason, the audience doesn't like him and never will. He seems to get the emotions right when he isn't doing a love song of any kind.
Chris was all right. Not horrible, not great, just in the middle for me.
Jordin was horrible. I felt so badly for her! But the good news is that she knew it was bad and owned up to it. She didn't get defensive. I think that will save her. I'm not sure why she didn't choose a more ballad-y type song.
Melinda rocked. Very much like a young Tina Turner. Incredible. Each and every week.
I think it will be two of these three who go: Chris, Phil, or LaKisha (because she seemed to be appearing in the bottom lately).
I'm MUCH in love with Blake. Wonderful stuff there -- lovin' it.
And LaKisha reminded me what I loved about her way-back-when -- she could release that song today and have a hit with it.
Melinda was good (as usual), but I was just happy for her to have Jon Bon Jovi as a mentor. I think she learned a LOT from him this week.
As for the rest? Eh...
Question: when Randy and Simon (and I) were making the Tina Turner comparisons for Melinda, my wife turned to me and said, "Well, of course they're going to compare her to Tina. What other famous black female rock singers are there?"
I tried to counter her argument but drew a big ol' blank. Anybody want to tell me which obvious name I'm forgetting?
I'm still mystified by how cool and entertaining Blake was. White-boy beatboxing is almost a cliche of played-out. How is it he makes it fresh?
Like what you said about his producing impulses, Alan. He built this arrangement brick-by-brick. The pantomime opening (cool stylus noise!), the solo duel with the percussionist. It was entertaining... I want to see it again.
Plus, of course, big-time extra credit for risk-taking... The biggest risk since Bo Bice told the whole band to lay out.
I dig Melinda, though I've never been over-the-moon about her (and still ain't)... but the Tina Turner comparisons are a bit much. Just because Melinda does that little Tina-esque crouching posture, like a big cat ready to pounce, don't mean she's in Tina's league. Check out some Tina in concert... check her out going toe-to-toe with Mick Jagger... Tina could burn down a stage. Watch that, then watch Melinda, and you'll probably settle in on appreciating Melinda as a top-drawer cabaret performer.
Nice to see LaKisha reach down deep and pull out her best. Watching her last night made me appreciate anew the sport of "American Idol."
Hope Jordin doesn't go out like that. That would be a shame.
Alan wrote: " '... What other famous black female rock singers are there?' I tried to counter her argument but drew a big ol' blank. Anybody want to tell me which obvious name I'm forgetting?"
She's not famous enough, but the second-best black female rock singer of all times is Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy, lead singer of Mother's Finest. She especially burns on the band's live albums... killer renditions of "Somebody to Love" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."
I thought Jordin was better than everyone else thought she was last night, and Lakisha was worse. Am I just high on Aquanet?
>> What other famous black female rock singers are there?
This Popmatters article addresses that nicely. For whatever reason, the lines that get drawn when a woman of color takes the stage tend to put her outside of "Rock." I'm waiting for someone to declare The Noisettes a funk band, just because their lead singer is black.
I know she falls under girl group pop, but I always thought Darlene Love rocked it. Phil Spector was behind Turner, too, so...
And Blake was fun and different within the confines of Idol, but if he did this anywhere else I'd punch him in the face. All I could think was that Fred Durst was sitting somewhere, pumping his fist in the air. His singing is still bad. The choruses were weak. The one thing he did successfully was Not Be Boring.
Joan Armatrading, Mechelle Ndegeocello, Mary Cutrufello are three I think of, using "rock" to mean "not R&B, funk, disco, pop"...
but its not just the women, how many black rock male singers are there? More than women, but the same constraints mentioned for women hold for the men too.
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