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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: American Idol

  • American Idol Season 8 – Who Is Headed Home Sweet Home?

    Why is Jason Castro sitting next to Alexis Grace in the audience? I didn’t think I’d have to see those dread locks again until the end of this season.

    Why is Lady GaGa on this show tonight? I know she’s hot on the charts, but I don’t know anyone who has the album.

    Why hasn’t Kara DioGuardi returned my phone calls yet?

    Ok, just kidding on that last question. (She returned them.) But the first two are real questions. Someone please answer them for me.

    The top 9 are singing Don’t Stop Believing. Scott is rockin’ out on the keyboard and if you didn’t know this was pre-taped and then lip synced, you know now. Scott was singing but was nowhere near the microphone. Someone should’ve held it for him. It was actually a pretty good version of the song.

    Megan is wearing a dress that resembles red overalls. I don’t think it’s made by Osh Kosh B’Gosh.

    For five minutes, Ryno had some of the contestants do impersonations of each other. None of them were all that good, but at least they were having a good time. Ryno also mentioned that this group of Idol contestants get along better than any others in history. You mean Ruben and Clay weren’t really brothers from another mother? Really?

    Ryno tells Megan, Matt, and Kris to stand up and makes them walk toward the left side of the stage.

    He tells Adam, Allison, and Lil Rounds to walk toward the center of the stage.

    And the final three have to walk toward the right side of the stage. It looks like one of the three groups is the bottom three.

    David Cook is on stage performing Come Back To Me. I’ve added the actual video to the song below.

    They also presented him with his platinum album.

    Ryno just told Kris to sit down.

    Matt was told to sit down, but thought he was in the bottom three. He April Fools’d himself.

    Megan is in the bottom three and for some reason squawked like a bird and flapped her arms.

    Lil Rounds is safe.

    Allison is in the bottom three as well. She doesn’t deserve to be there. But Megan does.

    Adam is safe and they showed a shot of his friends. One guy had a wickedly bad mohawk.

    Danny is safe.

    It’s down to Scott and Anoop.

    Randall says judging on last night, Anoop deserves to be in the bottom three. Anoop agrees for some reason. Anoop predicted correctly. He’s in the bottom three.

    Lady GaGa is performing Poker Face. Nope, I don’t get her just yet. Here’s her actual video to this song.

    Allison was sent back with the rest of the group. She’s safe. So it’s either Anoop Doggy Dogg or Megan who will go home.

    It’s hasta la bye bye to Megan. Simon says they won’t even bother watching her sing before telling her they won’t save her. For some reason, she’s actually loose while performing. Still goofy, but at least she’s looser. I’m not sure she can necessarily feel the rhythm. But it’s ok. She’s going to be cute for at least another 15 years. She can live off that.

    She tells her son that she’s coming home. Carrie Underwood sings her home sweet home.

    Goodbye Megan Joy!

  • Taylor Hicks’ “The Distance”: True To No One But Himself

    taylor

    Taylor Hicks by far received the most derision of any “American Idol” winner in the show’s existence. He wasn’t “young”, he wasn’t “cute”, he wasn’t “pop”, and there was the whole screaming “Soul Patrol!” thing that rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way. But I’ll put my musical reputation on the line and say that Taylor was the most musically sound “American Idol” winner in the show’s history. With years of singing in smoky bars and clubs behind him, Hicks personified a musician’s musician. Which also explains why he butted heads with the major-label suits who didn’t know what to do with him and wound up releasing the worst-selling debut album by an “American Idol” winner in history (although with a not-too-shabby shiny Platinum record, we shouldn’t cry for Taylor too much).

    Despite the relative lack of success of Taylor’s debut, it was still the first album by any “Idol” contestant that I ever bought with my own money, and I enjoyed it a good bit. Hicks would have been right at home on the charts with Steve Winwood, James Ingram and (the singer he most resembles) Michael McDonald, on the charts back in 1986, and since that’s an era of music I’m particularly fond of, his music sounded just fine for me. However-it didn’t sound just fine for his label, and Taylor and the folks at 19 Management and RCA Records agreed to part ways.

    So now Taylor Hicks is an indie artist, which is probably right where he wants to be, making the album he wants to make. That album, “The Distance”, shouldn’t be much of a surprise to those who’ve been following the grey-haired crooner since his “Idol” days. The music is straight-ahead pop/rock, with no trendy bells and whistles. The production, helmed by British pop legend Simon Climie, is solid if a little too clean (and completely recorded on “live” instruments! Barely a synthesizer to be found!), and then there’s Taylor’s husky voice. While he’ll never be the soul singer he fancies himself, it’s fairly obvious that this man has the right set of influences and has listened to his share of Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles.

    So, here’s the thing about Taylor, right? You know the guy’s going for the obvious, hokey cliché, but you go there with him anyway because he obviously believes what he’s singing. Take the track “Nineteen”, one of several songs on “The Distance” with a bit of a country flavor to it. You’ve heard songs like this a million times before-kid witnesses 9/11 and decides to enlist to serve his country. Despite the obviousness of the song concept (and here’s a spoiler-the kid doesn’t die), Taylor infuses the song with such a personal investment in the lyrics that you can’t be mad at him.

    Ultimately, that’s “The Distance”’s saving grace. Taylor takes boilerplate lyrics about topics like racism (the well-intentioned but kinda cheesy title track) and the media’s celebrity obsession (the cheeky rave-up “Keeping it Real”) and, by virtue of his delivery (which nevertheless skates around Michael Bolton aneurysm territory a couple of times) makes them listenable. However, don’t let another soul singer get within sniffing distance. Fellow Season 5 finalist Elliott Yamin shows up for a cover of 2009 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer Bobby Womack’s classic “Woman’s Gotta Have It”, and his warm, Stevie-inflected delivery leaves no doubt as to who should have really won “Idol” that year.

    In a time when we have previous “Idol”s tucking their tails between their legs and kissing corporate butt for a hit (hi, Kelly Clarkson. I’m talking to you), I’m backing Taylor Hicks just on principle. The kid (and I can afford to say “kid” because he’s younger than me) came in with a plan to get himself heard, accomplished it and then went back to doing what he loved best, only with a bit more fame to carry his name. Something tells me he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • American Idol Season 8 – Motown Showdown

    Smokey in concert
    Smokey in concert

    Ok, so I have to say that last night’s show was one of the more fun Idol shows that I can remember. Many of the performances were better than good and there were only a few that were hard to sit through. Plus, we had Smoke Dog Robinson. What more could you ask for?

    Well, tonight we not only get Smoke Dog performing (with Joss Stone for some reason), but we also get Ruben Studdard and Stevie Wonder. If I were a mean person I’d wonder if the American Idol folks promised a buffet tonight. But I’m not mean.

    And though I wanted to see Steveland do more Burnin’ Up with the Jonas Brothers, it sounds like he’s going to do a Motown medley. That’s all good in my book. What’s Ruben going to do? I’m guessing he’s going to either celebrate someone home, or perform something from his new album which comes out very soon.

    Before I get to the show, did you know that Kara DioGuardi is 38 years old? I’m not usually into older women, but you know, she could probably change that.

    The 10 contestants are doing a Motown medley. Word came out today that these medleys are pre-taped and the contestants lip sync on stage. Really? Someone had to actually research this? Considering that these contestants get hammered for missing notes and being pitchy all the time, I figured they had to be pre-taped. They wouldn’t let them go live especially while trying to remember dance steps.

    Big Rube Studdard is on stage now and he hit one long note and is already sweaty. How did that happen? The song is nice, but it’s not going to be Big Rube’s comeback song.

    They show footage of the contestants flying from Los Angeles to Detroit in a jet. They show poor Scott yawning so they can make fun of him. How the heck was Scott supposed to know the camera was there? Someone on that show has a cruel sense of humor.

    Adam is up first and they’re getting him out of the way first. He’s safe. By the way, his hair-do is back to Adam normal, which is just not normal for anyone else who didn’t go to the Adam Ant or Culture Club school of fashion. I did buy his version of Tracks Of My Tears on iTunes and sadly, it’s a studio version rather than the live version. It’s still nice, but it’s missing the component of him actually hitting those notes live.

    Here’s a bad copy of Adam’s brilliant performance from last night. So far, this one hasn’t been taken down.

    Matt is next up and he either has a huge zit on his forehead or it’s a mole. Have I not noticed that before? Matty is in the bottom three. America, I’m shaking my head at you. But Kris is safe. Of course he is. The guitar is more loved than the piano.

    Lil Rounds is safe, but Michael is not. America, though I’m still shaking my head at you, you got that one right.

    Joss Stone is out singing and Megan just looked at everyone and said, “See, that’s what I’m trying to do. Don’t you get it now?” Actually, Joss is trying the R&B thing a little too hard. I didn’t like it that much. Well, that is until Smoke Dog entered the building. With Smoke Dog and Stevie on the same show, I wonder if they are going for that over 50 demographic a bit hard? Also, it’s kind of hard watching 20-something year old Joss and 60-something year old Smoke Dog sing, “You’re the one for me,” to each other without wondering if Smoke Dog was her long lost grandfather.

    Who is going to join Matty and Michael in the bottom three? Not Allison because she is safe. Anoop’s upside ya’ head is safe as well. Danny is safe and smiling.

    Scott and Megan are up together and Megan was looking so pretty until she made this face to pretend that she was surprised at the bad feedback she received from the judges. It’s kind of hard to explain, but she bugged out her eyes, sunk in her cheek bones, puffed out that cleft above the upper lip, and I think gave herself a double chin. It was a frightening two seconds, but then her face went back to normal and all was well in the world again.

    Scott is in the bottom three. Scott kind of looks like (believe it or not) “The Greatest American Hero”.

    America, at least you got two out of three right.

    Randall Jackson says Matt rocked the mike and doesn’t deserve to be there. Ryno sends Scott back to safety.

    Stevie Wonder is doing a medley that starts off with My Cherie Amour. He moves onto Superstition and right when I expected the Jonas Brothers to come in and screw up Stevie’s lyrics, they were nowhere to be found.

    Are we at the point where Steve just needs to cut off all his hair? Is there a reason for the dreadlocks if they cover only the latter half of his head? I love Steve more than maybe any entertainer on earth. I’m just trying to help.

    Paula and her smooshed together boobs were dancing to Overjoyed while Stevie was singing. It started off a little rough for Steve as he forgot where the mic was, but he started to sing his ass off. Stevie then finished off with a song I didn’t recognize and neither did the rest of the contestants. They were hootin’ and a hollerin’ for Superstition and had to do some pretending with this song.

    Matty is safe. Michael Sarver now has to sing for his American Idol career. He better not be too proud to beg. Because he has zero chance to overwhelm these judges and get saved. Carrie Underwood will send him back to Home Sweet Home.

    Michael actually did a better job tonight than he did yesterday. But Simon still sent him home.

    Photo by jcrawford3505 and shared through creative commons