Once again, we were forced to listen to an evening of blah, with only 2 or 3 shining moments. 2 out of 8…that’s 25%. Pretty sad.
But at least we weren’t subjected to Antonella Barba tonight (that’s tomorrow), so that’s my positive spin for the evening.
Tonight was the “reveal” show, where the contestants told us something about themselves that America doesn’t know. (yawn)
Blake Lewis, the hot beat boxer was up first. We learned that he loves Halloween, and he treated us to one of his characters. But really, on with the singing. He hit us with a pop reggae song that none of the judges knew, in fact, Simon noted that he couldn’t even understand any of the words. Ryan revealed that it’s a song from the band 311 (”All Mixed Up”), and Blake did a double reveal by telling us that’s his favourite band. Good performance, but I also had no idea what the words were.
Paula’s hair was up next, oh wait, that was Sanjaya Malakar underneath that recently straightened hair. About the only thing straight. Yay, Sanjaya can hula because he lived in Hawaii for a while. OMG please make it stop. Not only was the song about war (”Waitin’ on the World to Change“), but it was crap. Simon called it ghastly, and Ryan skirted the quality by pointing out that either Sanjaya or Paula had extensions. It was a joy to see Ryan bust up laughing.
Sundance Head was next, and he revealed that he’s actually thin in real life, but wears a fat suit for American Idol so he won’t be recognized in public. Ha. Pearl Jam gave us Jeremy, then Sundance demolished it. It was awful. Cool hair, awful vocals. And as Idol 2007 correctly points out - he was coated in makeup tonight…why??? Simon said he was shouting the whole time - where the hell was this comment last season with Chris Daughtry the consumate shouter??
Pause for a little banter with Travis Tritt who was in the audience, plugging his new album that is being produced by the dawg, Randy Jackson.
Chris Richardson, mega hottie was up next, revealing that he used to be 40lbs heavier and played football. I tell you, he could make me love country music with a little bit of Keith Urban tonight (”Tonight I wanna cry”). Aside from a great performance, Ryan got a little dig in with Simon - “Let the old man judge, let the young man interview.”
Jared Cotter, the former college basketball player, was up next with some Stevie Wonder (”If you really love me“). Haven’t the contestants listened to Randy enough to know they should never attempt Stevie? Shockingly, Randy thought it was ok, but Paula wanted more inflection and risk in Jared’s stylization - she called it more colour in his voice. Simon pointed out the lack of wow factor. Personally, I thought it was crap.
Brandon Rogers was up next, showing off his skills as a classical piano player. I think he should stick to piano. “I just want to Celebrate” had a good beat, the vocals were ok, but something about the performance and Brandon bored me. He didn’t nail the ending, and then Simon called him Travis. No idea where that came from. Again, check out Idol 2007’s recap - he hit the nail on the head, some background singers should stay background singers.
Phil Stacey was up as the seventh performer tonight, with a reveal that he used to have hair. So? Bring on “I Need You” by LeAnn Rimes. Can I just say I was shocked. Phil was absolutely HORRIBLE. What was he thinking?? The low octave at the beginning was abysmal - he couldn’t find the key at all. David pointed out that he looked like Boy George with that ridiculous hat, and Simon thought his eyes were too big. If he’s back next week, he told Ryan he would change the eyes.
Wrapping the show was Chris Sligh, with a little “We all want to be loved“. He revealed that he used to have really short hair, but wanted to see what would happen if he grew it out. I think we all know what happened. Good groovy song, but he picked up the mic stand and I was immediately perturbed. I liked it, Paula didn’t. Once again, “song choice” was used quite a bit. It did end with a nice hug from Ryan though.
The most telling part of the night was Ryan’s question to the judges at the end - whether they thought there were 6 guys who deserved to make it to the next round. Across the board, they said only 4 should make it (or in Simon’s case, 3.5). Pretty telling. I’m thinking the 4 are: Blake, Sundance, Chris, Chris.
Let’s hope the girls are a lot more entertaining tomorrow night.
Dude, is this the worst selection of guys since Season 3 or what? I say let Blake and Chris Richardson keep going, and fill the rest of the positions with women (even if that means Leslie Hunt will be able to skat unchecked one more week). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worst performance than Phil singing LeAnn Rimes. And the guy looks HORRIBLE with his head shaved.
I wonder if his child is actually his. Maybe his wife drinks a lot.