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American Idol Season 8 Top 13 – March 10, 2009
By PopSavant | March 10, 2009 | 
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Hello everyone, and welcome to the live blog of the American Idol top 13 show from Season 8. The show opens with the judges making a dramatic entrance out from center stage… I’ve seen KISS come out that same way, only with less makeup than Kara is wearing. Still, it’s fun to see them ham it up a bit. Simon clearly enjoys it, to Ryan’s delight.
Paula, meanwhile, has a weird spray of white feathers cascading down her neck, making her look like she’s been moonlighting as the target for the chicken cannon from Mythbusters.
Ryan asks the judges for some advice before the season begins. Randy suggests the contestants “bring it hard.” Kara says that she’s likely to be tougher on the contestants now, since “One or two or three… will end up on the radio” and she feels a responsibility to make sure they’re the best. (If you’re in the mood for a chuckle after that sentence, go read Kara’s discography and judge her standards of “the best” for yourself.) Paula warns the Idols to now let “the stage consume you.”
The Idols are introduced, and other than Megan, Adam, and Alexis it’s striking how little eye candy there is for us this season.
Tonight is Michael Jackson night… not sure what to say about it. Michael was bad-ass back in the day, but he’s obviously turned into a creepy parody of himself. Hopefully the contestants will channel a bit of the earlier version rather than the burqa-wearing Mike.
First up is Lil Rounds, a mother of three coming to the show from Memphis. Her family was displaced by a storm and they’ve been living in an extended stay hotel, so she’s got some hopes riding on the competition. She gives us The Way You Make Me Feel… her vocals are adequate, but the arrangement drags, and I don’t get an honest feel out of it. This is a calculated, rather than inspired, performance. Randy disagrees: “This is the way we kick off season 8! …. You made the song new again!” Kara says Lil just scared the other contestants, and calls her “great.” Paula complements Lil’s clothes, and says “you’re the force to be reckoned with… it’s like angels singing.” Simon thought it was good, but “a lazy song choice…. and I hate what you’re wearing.”
Scott MacIntyre goes next, and we get a bit of history of the visual impairment which helped fuel his interest in music. That interest will be displayed for America in the form of Keep The Faith, with Scott playing the piano as well as singing. Odd song choice, with Mike’s extensive catalog to choose from, but whatever. Scott does all right, but basically ends up sounding like a run-of-the-mill Christian Contemporary artist. Kara liked his “hopeful message” and that he was “true to himself” although he wasn’t “dynamic.” Paula calls it a “lovely performance.” Simon “hated the song…. because nobody knows it.” Simon then acknowledges the elephant in the Idol room: “it’s all right to be artistic, just not on this show.”
Danny Gokey follows with P. Y. T., and all of a sudden it’s like Taylor is back on the show: good voice and terrible dancing. But it actually works pretty well. Paula tells him she thinks “you’re on the way to the final.” Simon “thought the vocals were brilliant… you remind me of Michael Mcdonald, you’re a white guy with soul.” Randy “loved it all.”
Michael Sarver is next, visiting his old oil rig coworkers and giving us an “aw, shucks” kind of interview… which I actually don’t buy. Not to alienate America, but I’m getting a dark side vibe off of him… I hope I’m wrong. He’ll sing You Are Not Alone. There’s nothing remarkable about the performance at all. Michael goes for a much bigger vocal than he’s ready for, and the performance feels like he’s forcing it through a straw. I didn’t like it one bit. Simon says “You’re not the best singer in the competition… but you made up for it with passion and heart.” I disagree, he didn’t make up for the bad singing at all, and the other stuff is an act. Randy really disagrees with me “you’re doing what you were born to do right here.” Kara thought “you proved you can sing.” Paula thought he “sounded really lovely tonight.” Sorry, the judges are all wrong on this one, he wasn’t good.
A commercial, and then we see Jasmine Murray’s interview segment, which contains very little of interest… hopefully her performance of I’ll Be There will be better. Turns out it’s okay… but kind of forgettable, which may be partially due to the song… it’s the kind of number that makes you feel like you’re coming out of a fever. Jasmine better watch the low notes, though, those clearly aren’t her thing. Randy takes an aside to plug his relationship with Mariah Carey, and calls Jasmin’s performance “not that bad,” which is faint praise indeed. Kara wishes she’d done it “a half-key down,” but thinks Jasmine has “great stage presence.” Paula thinks it was a mixed performance, while Simon thought “you made a good attempt, big notes are always going to trouble you, and a little bit robotic at times.”
Kris Allen, perhaps the least well-known person on the show this season, is our next contestant, playing the guitar and singing Remember The Time. Not much to say here… he really tries to work it the best he can, but it’s just not happening for Kris. Kara says “the girls love you” and compliments Kris for taking time during the week to help the other contestants. Paula calls him “adorable-sexy,” whatever that means. Simon thought “I wouldn’t have brought the wife out so early,” which is both funny and good advice. Randy thought it was “Jason Mraz-ie.”
Allison Iraheta sings Give In To Me. Her interview segment was really terrible, showing her singing to a crowd of about 30 in some kind of warehouse store, but her performance tonight is quite good, although her voice gurgles a bit on the extremes. Still, it’s a very solid performance, giving us perhaps the first decent rock-chick vocal in all of Idol history. Well done. Paula calls it “mind boggling… stay authentic.” Simon “thought it was a good performance” but wishes she’d lighten up a bit, to which Allison replies “I’m not, like, cutting myself” which probably makes the network people do a collective facepalm. Randy and Kara liked it as well.
Anoop Desai gives us a bit of Thriller-dance going into commercial. He unfortunately doesn’t follow through with that, but he does bring out a big Michael Jackson gun with Beat It. He makes the mistake a couple of times of starting to do some dance moves, but quickly talks some sense into himself and pulls back. It’s a bad song choice for Anoop; he should have gone for something more emotional, because the funky street thing isn’t working for him. Vocals weren’t great, either. Too bad, I like Anoop, but… Paula says that she doesn’t think anyone buy Mike can do the song, while Simon thought it was “horrible… there was no aggression. It actually looked a bit stupid.” Randy says “it was just the wrong choice… you’ve got a bit more than that.” Kara says the biggest problem was that “we didn’t get to see any variation… for the first time we felt disconnected from you as a performer.”
Jorge Nunez will sing Never Can Say Goodbye. We all ended up loving him coming out of the last rounds, I hope he holds up. The camera loves him, and again his voice is good, but it’s an awful, awful song choice… lounge act type material. Jorge didn’t do himself any favors with this one, unfortunately. Randy says “I got mad love for you… but this isn’t the song I would have chosen for you” thinking it made it seem old-fashioned. Kara “didn’t feel” the emotional connection. Paula also has “mad love” for Jorge, but doesn’t feel “like you were yourself” Jorge says “I wasn’t going to sing Bad” to which Simon says “you sort of did.” Simon “couldn’t wait for it to end” and thought the arrangement was awful (and it was.)
Megan Corkrey somehow decides on Rockin’ Robin for her song, which is one strike against her as far as I’m concerned. What an awful song. She’s got a good sound, I think she’s hot, aand I’m predisposed to like her tattooed-self so it’s hard for me to say anything negative, but I didn’t like anything about this performance. Kara liked it, Paula “felt disconnected,” by which she means she’s out of original things to say and felt the need to parrot Kara’s comments from earlier. Simon: “what a stupid song. The whole performance was just clumsy and awkward.” Gordon Ramsey also has an opinion, but he doesn’t have a microphone and we have no idea what it is.
Adam Lambert is up next, and if anyone can save the show tonight it’s him. Let’s see what he can do with Black or White. The Idol folks clearly want him to do well, since they give him a rather better graphic and effect package than the other contestants got. The performance is sort of youth-center-up-with-people quality until the bridge, and then it gets rather better when Adam basically stops worrying about control so much. Best of the night – by far. Simon says it “was in a totally different league” than anything tonight. Randy says “you’re the most current… you could make a record right now. If you’ve got it, you’ve got it… and baby, you’ve got it.” Kara “hopes Michael Jackson is watching tonight.” I’d be willing to bed he is… what else can he get away with doing these days?
Matt Giraud is in the unenviable position of following Adam. He’ll do so by playing Human Nature on the piano. He does a passable job in parts, but gets a bit self-indulgent with the runs, and if this was the first time you’d heard the song you’d forget it. He also doesn’t go for a big finish, which is a mistake. Randy compares him to Justin Timberlake, while Kara calls him “a talented guy.” For her part, Paula is “blown away,” and Simon thought it was a solid, “meat and potatoes” kind of performance.
Alexis Grace closes the show with Dirty Diana, and as soon as they announce the song choice I’m thinking it’s going to kill. Alexis certainly looks awesome tonight, working the platinum hair and the short black dress. Her vocals are lost in the bigness of the song and her moves consist of stalking around the stage and occasionally bobbing into a squat, but it doesn’t really matter because it holds up as a performance, and this one was all about throwing heat, not the finer points of singing. Kara says “you’re a naughty girl and I liked it” while Paula says to “watch your oversinging.” Simon says “not as good as you thought it was.” Not as good as Adam and Allison, but good enough for tonight.
So there you have it:
Best of the night: Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta, by a large margin.
Worst of the night: Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver. Jorge didn’t do himself any favors, either.
Results tomorrow night, along with performances by Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson. If the fates are kind, Kanye will be rapping and not singing. Cross your fingers. See you then.
Topics: American Idol, Music | 1 Comment »
June 11th, 2009 at 5:53 am
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