Ok, so I'm a little...maybe a lot late on recaps for the past two weeks. My bad! School has been keeping me busy these days, but here goes nothing - two weeks in one blog. Hope it doesn't sound too bad.
American Idol - Group 3
Not so great. We have too much of a mixed bag here. Let's start with the girls, we have two singing Alicia Keys - Felicia Barton and Taylor Vaifanua. Taylor sings "If I Aint Got You" and has a few pitch issues, not bad, but not great either. She needs a little personality - a little spark for us to remember her by. I'm not really getting it. Felicia steps it up a notch with "No One" - again, some pitch issues, but pretty cool. She's got the voice for it, she just needs a little bit of help hitting the right notes. But, overall pretty cool. I have to say, aren't there more fish in the sea than Alicia Keys' songs, though? Every season somebody's got to do it! Why not break that hidden rule a little, eh? Then, we have Arianna Afsar singing ABBA "The Winner Takes It All"...beautiful song, but not so beautiful vocals. She seems like she really puts her heart out there, but lacks the pitch, key, etc. to really blow us away and "take it all" so-to-speak. Later, Kristin McNamara puts a spin on Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" ...and I have to wonder what reason we would have to buy an album of hers if she made it far enough in the competition. She's pretty, she's got talent, she's on key, but I feel so confused with her. One minute her st yl e is punky, the next it's mixed, and last it's almost little girl-ish. But, she sings differently,too - she goes from ballad to pop to jazz/soul and it's not working. She's flipped flopped back and forth since her audition and it's too much. If she wants to make it big, she has to get herself together and find out who she is as an artist. Last, we have two very smart contenders, who no doubt know who they are - Lil Rounds and Kendall Beard. Not only do they both know who they are as artists, but they don't sound half bad either. Kendall, who chose Martina McBride's "This One's For the Girls," had a few issues with her notes, but she pulled it together in the end and we saw some personality - yes! Then, Lil proved she had some mad chops and belted out a Mary J. Blige song! Unbelievable! Couldn't wait to hear more from this one!
Then we had the guys: Von Smith, Alex Wagner-Trugman, Ju'Not Joyner, Nate Marshall, Scott MacIntire, and Jorge Nunez. Von decides to sing Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need to Get By" - I LOVE that song, I'm officially excited...but a few seconds into the song I realize something. Von seems genuinly nice, but I cannot for the life of me sit still and enjoy his voice - he makes me cringe when he's trying so hard to hit the notes and sound right, that he makes all these expressions, that make it look as if he were in pain! Now, I know that has nothing to do with the competition, but besides that he seems a little loud. In my opinion, he'll make a great star on Broadway. Alex is a whole 'nother story. He wanted to put a Joe Co cker spin on Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues." Cool guy, good voice at times, but I felt like he was growling the whole way through his song - dude, Elton would not be cool with that. Ok, moving on - Ju'Not...I could not love his song choice and vocals more. This guy has got it! He took the Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah" and made it this beautiful romantic ballad. Stunning, simply stunning. So glad he's here! Then we have the last of the bunch: Nate, Scott, and Jorge...and I kind of have the same problem with all of them. They are all decent singers, but I just don't feel anything from their music. Yeah, sure Nate singing Meatloaf "I'd Do Anything For Love" was fun, he's a fun guy, but not a super singer. Scott is a sweetheart, but I felt like he was bit off and I was getting the Clay Aiken vibe (BORING) from Jorge. All three are great guys, but I just don't feel like they're great singers.
Long story short, the judges really didn't agree all that much with me and they put Scott, Jorge, and Lil through to the next round. I'm thrilled with Lil, but not so much the other two.
The Wild Card Round
The judges chose...
and Tatian Del Toro
Not bad, just weird in places. Jesse brought it on with "Tell Me Somethin' Good" and Megan wound up with "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree." Both really bright singers with amazing personality and definitly memorable performances. Meg was a little off, but quirky and cool, as usual. Jesse remains one of the best, in my opinion. Matt gave us a little more this time with Jackson 5 "Who's Loving You" and prompted me to think we'll be seeing him in the top and Anoop sang "My Perogative" which prompted me to rush to Itunes afterward and buy it for my own listening pleasure. Ricky and Von were about the same - Ricky's "Superstition" was fun, but his performance didn't stick enough with me. I had to look up what he sang in order to recap this for you. Von came across a little whiney with his rendition of "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word," but turns out it really wasn't the hardest, as the judges would be telling him goodbye later on in the show. Jasmine, forgetting the judge's advice to stick with pop singers like Rihanna, sang Christina Aguilera's "Reflection." This girl can definitely sing, but I feel like she is always pick a song that's way too big for her. Kind of like going to a shoe sale and buying the high heels two sizes too big and expecting people to vote you for most fashionable in High School - it doesn't work. Finally, Tatiana tried to prove her worth in the competition by singing "Saving All My Love For You" AGAIN and then pulled Jorge's original line and insisted she thought in Spanish when she got emotional. ENOUGH. PLEASE. THE ACTING HAS GOT TO END.
Final results:
Megan, Matt, Jasmine and Anoop make it through to the top 13! YES, you heard me! Top 13! The judges decided it would be a top 13 when they just couldn't choose between Matt and Anoop. My pick: Anoop, but hey! Matt's alright,too. I'm going to miss Jesse, but who knows maybe we'll be hearing more of her soon.
Well, I don't really have the time or space to recap Michael Jackson week, but I'll make time soon. You have my word! Feel free to re-watch the performances by clicking on the contestant's name in the recaps above! :) Courtesy of MJ's amazing blog!
Oh..and btw I apologize for the weird spaced words - it told me I couldn't use some of them, so I had to fix them since I knew I wasn't really saying anything inapropriatte.
Peace out.