American Idol - American Songbook Edition

"Sanjaya singing is like Carl Lewis playing basketball: he's fast, he can jump, he's in shape, but that's not basketball."

Sanjaya has a nice voice, but he can't sing. Vocal training could definitely help.

Melinda is really incredible. There was a moment in her song, when we paused the recording, just amazed at what she had done.

Jordin Sparks did a great job, as did Chris Richardson.

Blake was fine, if unmemorable.

Phil was pretty awful.

LaKisha was great. She can really sell a song, and that's essential in these songs.

Needs to go home: Haley Scarnato. It should be Sanjaya, but she was terrible and trashy. And not in a good way.

Of all the songs we heard tonight, I have "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" stuck in my head, but the Frank Sinatra version.

American Idol - The Night of Forgotten Words

First, an impression: the songs of Diana Ross do not generally lend themselves to knock-out vocals. She's a performer more than a virtuoso singer.

Second, a comment: the singers this season are top to bottom better than in previous seasons, but because the top two are so strong, the rest sound just awful in comparison.

The best:

Melinda Doolittle -- another spectacular performance. I am not certain that people who listen only to pop music on the radio understand what an extraordinary talent she possesses. (Plus, Paula crying and incoherent -- funny!)

LaKisha Jones -- she's a very strong singer. She has a sense of tempo. She held back and didn't oversing it, which was refreshing. Her voice is not spectacular, but she has great control. Our highest compliment: she should be singing for money right this minute. I am so impressed.

The good:

Chris Richardson -- he's a mall version of JT. I think he can hear really well, he just doesn't have a great instrument. The best guy tonight.

Jordin Sparks -- I just love her, though I don't know why. I love that she only sings songs from animated movies. I also love that she always crouches down to be shorter than Ryan.

The worst:

Chris Sligh -- "arranging" Endless Love by shifting the lyrics to a Coldplay song. That's called a mash-up, not an arrangement. Craaaaaaappy. His take on contemporary is to shift it back 4 or 5 years.

Hayley Scarnato -- for some reason, I typed her name as Nicole Tranquillo. Weird. Diana Ross said some interesting things: "recording studio voice" and "I recorded it after Marvin Gaye's death." Hayley clearly had no idea what she was singing, and that came across in her performance. The original is a classic and the emotion therein is palatable. It's actually heart-rending. Hayley was like a hallmark romance card.

The mediocre:

Brandon Rodgers -- very disappointing. He sounded better than he has in recent weeks, and he showed more promise. A thinks he should sing "You're Still a Young Man" by Tower of Power if the opportunity arises.

Sanjaya -- I really like his voice, but he can't sing. I thought this was a better performance than he's given lately. He reminds me of Tevin Campbell, for some reason. Except Tevin could sing. Sanjaya's lack of rhythm and ear are deadly. It's the same reason I hated Kimberly Locke years ago. A thinks it was terrible because he's not Marvin. Well, duh.

Gina Glocksen -- it was flat and screamy. She looks great, though. Never thought of "Love Child" as a "feel-good" song, Paula.

Phil Stacey -- yeesh. It was good for him, but he's really not that good. His vocals are not good. He oversings in that modern country style. Odd.

Blake Lewis -- his arrangement was interesting, but his vocals needed to be excellent, and they weren't. I was disappointed by his performance. Had he sung better, his arrangement would have been great. The judges were wrong in their critique because they didn't want to criticize his vocal.

Stephanie Edwards -- another Beyoncé performance. I don't get it. I think she has a decent voice, but she goes flat too often. The Beyoncé channelling is such an irritating style choice. She doesn't have as strong as the two leaders, so she picked the wrong song.

Chris Richardson -- he's a mall version of JT. I like that he's coachable, but his voice is just not that good. I think he can hear really well, he just doesn't have a great instrument.

Going home:

No idea. Maybe Hayley or Brandon?

American Idol - The Girls - As Usual, Wow.

Jordin Sparks is adorable with a nice voice.

Sabrina Sloan gets a little lost as the 5th best black singer, which is unfortunate because she's really good. She sang a great En Vogue song and I really liked her performance.

Antonella was not nearly as horrible as usual, but I think it's because the background singers were so much louder than normal. Since Corinne Bailey Rae is not a great singer in her own right, she holds up well in comparison. Simon's not wrong.

Hayley Scarnato was pagenty and cruise-shippy. Yuck.

Ryan keeps setting up the performers with those manipulative questions "what are her chances of making the top 12?" you must take that personally?"

Stephanie singing Chaka Khan/Mary J Blige was a mistake. It exploited her lack of range (A: "it's not wide enough'"). Her high range is great, but it was a bad song choice. I like her, but she had pitch problems. She was behind the beat, and not intentionally.

Lakisha. Wow. She sang Whitney better than we've ever heard anyone sing Whitney on this show. Ever. I've heard it back a few times already, and I am just amazed. It's a favorite song and she did a great job.

Gina, I am just not feeling the rocker grrrl thing. I guess she's good? I don't know, I am not a fan. She doesn't have as good a voice as like Amy Lee from Evanescence to sing that kind of music. Still, it was good.

Melinda is so very good. She's a real musician and it shows. Best comment of the night: "you little tiger."

A says they should take all of the girls and four guys. I am afraid at least one of the black women will not make it through and they all deserve to.

A few mp3s for your enjoyment:

Whitney Houston, I Have Nothing.

Chaka Khan and Mary J. Blige, Sweet Thing (live duet from VH1 Divas).

American Idol - The Guys - Another Bad Night

Blake Lewis is a clever, canny performer. I did not recognize the song or the band. 311? A recognized them as a mid-90s band, but I have no idea who they are. I wonder if they are like that Crazytown group someone sent me, amazed I had never heard them. Yeah, I don't listen to the radio. Ever. Unless someone recommends a group or I read a killer review, I have no idea what's out there.

I actually really like the John Mayer song Sanjaya sang. I bought it as a single on iTunes before Continuum was released. (Yeah, shut the hell up, I know it's corny and I don't care. Someday he'll fulfill his potential.) Sanjaya on the other hand, should go home. He has a nice voice, but he's not a good or developed singer.

Sundance -- oh, this makes me so mad. Seriously, he's going to sing freaking Jeremy?! Really?! He can't sing. I hate his personality, and then he's going to sing Jeremy. Hate. Hate. Hate. It's an appallingly bad performance, aping the original. His pitch was totally off and he sang it like the original, but worse. A just reminded me that there's something about him personally that we just don't like. Eh, it happens.

Chris Richardson singing Keith Urban. A: "Who's Keith Urban?" Me: "That Australian country singer married to Nicole Kidman." He seems like a nice kid. He's not a great singer, but he's likeable and his performances are more entertaining. Simon's comments were right on,

Jared. I have this theory about singers: R&B singers were often successful athletes. (Rappers, almost never.) I actually dialed the phone for him and Brandon because they are so obviously the two -- undeservedly -- going home. I think Jared's good, but Paula and Simon were actually right.

Brandon. Singing Rare Earth's I Just Want to Celebrate. (Yes, I googled it.) He has a decent voice, good vocal, control. He's a great backup singer. He just didn't step up, though it was fun. I voted for him, just because I think he and Jared are in trouble. A said he sounds like Corey Glover from Living Colour.

Phil. Rough, rough, rough start. He's really just not good . . . all sorts of flat and then sharp and then flat again. He'll make the final as cannon fodder because he had the baby during the audition. A: "He needs to go first. Before Sundance, before Sanjaya. He just needs to go."

Chris Sligh. Singing Christian music . . . he'll be around for a while, though I really don't like him. He's probably among the top 4 guys in singing. I agree with Randy that he was the best of the night, but that's a low bar.

If I had my choice, I would take Blake, Chris Sligh, Jared, and Brandon. Blake is the only one who has a real chance of staying for a long time in the final.

Television Without Pity has a great recap, as always.

American Idol - Melinda Doolittle, I Would Buy It Tonight

Melinda Doolittle's performance of My Funny Valentine, an all-time favorite song, was phenomenal.

I would buy that single tonight.

American Idol - Blake Lewis Covers Jamiroquai

Typically, I watch AI reasonably live, paying very little attention, and then again with A when he gets home.

Tonight has been a weird night with a dvr glitch, so I only watched between calls and then, not carefully.

What I did hear was Blake Lewis's cover of Virtual Insanity and, I think, Randy's remark that Americans would not be familiar with it.

Wrong, of course.

The song is familiar and it has a wickedly famous music video from 1997, back in the days when MTV used to play music videos.

Below is the original and the video.

Enjoy.




Jamiroquai, Virtual Insanity.

Buy Travelling Without Moving on Amazon or iTunes.

American Idol - The Ladies

Sabrina Sloan took on one of my favorite Aretha songs, and did a good job.

It's exciting to hear some great singers so far.

Nicole Tranquillo took on Chaka Khan (and Erykah Badu). She has a lovely voice, but she suffers from deafness, as A calls it, just the inability to hear.

Surprisingly, A said he's looking forward to hearing her recording so they could correct the sharp problems. (Sharp is always better than flat.)

Below is Erykah Badu's cover of the song, which you can buy on iTunes here.

Melinda Doolittle was fabulous.

And then LaKisha Jones ... wow! I mean really, wow!

American Idol - Stephanie Edwards Sings Prince

I thought Stephanie Edwards started the show very, very well.

A recognized the song immediately as How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, a Prince song, which we have covered by Alicia Keys.

On iTunes, you can hear and buy Prince's version here and Alicia Keys' here.

American Idol - The Butchering of Brian McKnight

I love watching AI with A.

He's angry, he actually knows about singing, and he hates rock and modern r&b.

He was also friends with Brian McKnight when they were in college (and Brian was recording his first album).

So, every year, some kid takes on a really crappy Brian McKnight song. And it just destroys the kid.

What people always misunderstand about Brian McKnight is that he's an actual musician. His arrangements are tricky and his voice is excellent.

A great example is Is The Feeling Gone, with his brother Claude and the rest of Take 6 singing background. It's one of our favorite songs.

You can hear it streaming below and buy the album Brian McKnight on iTunes and on Amazon.

American Idol - Blake Lewis Wins My Heart*

Yes, it's dorky, but I love Keane, and I don't care if you know it.

Blake Lewis did a lovely job singing a song from this decade.

Here is a live version of Somewhere Only We Know from BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge:

Mp3: Keane, Somewhere Only We Know (live lounge).mp3.

*Okay, not really, but I enjoyed hearing a decent performance of a song I love.

American Idol - A Reminder of Bad Work Days

I just watched a contestant sing a song he wrote, which was terrible, demonstrating his complete lack of singing ability.

I cringed watching it. Not for him, for me.

I have spent many hours listening to R&B singers trying to impress me. Some of them could sing well, but appeared to be difficult to work with (an absolute kiss of death). Some could sing really well, but had image issues. Some were hot and completely terrible. Some had nice voices, but no sense of rhythm.

For the most part, none could sing as well as they thought they could. Worse yet, most could not hear (at all!), so they had no idea they were as bad as they actually were.

Where AI is most accurate: with music, it's never just about singing. It's about performance. It's about image. It's about picking the right material. It's about being easy to work with.

Really, never underestimate being nice. If you want someone to invest in you and give you a shot, be nice.

Unless you are actually Mariah or Whitney, you are completely replaceable.

Pissing off the producers and the label and the publicists and the recording engineers means you will not work. (Plus, if you make us really, really, really mad, you will not work and you will not be released from your contract. )

It is easier if you are in a band. Good material and good perfomance can outweigh those "I am a golden god" moments, but only to a point. If you are a jerk, I will still pass because if you are a jerk to the people who you want to work for you, how will you be on tour or with press?

There are a lot of talented people in the world, so I prefer to put my energy, knowledge, and reputation on the line for people I would like to see succeed.

American Idol - Authenticity

I regularly read an interesting site called Dial "M" For Musicology, of which I understand maybe a third.

Today, he posted an article about "the rhetoric of authenticity", whereby a singer creates a performance that is not based on authentic feeling but the communication of an authenticity:

In my classes I often like to point out that the artistry of singers like Bob Dylan is largely directed at fashioning a rhetoric of authenticity. . . .What's particularly impressive about Dylan's sixties albums is how he was coming up with a whole new vocal-performative code for each album. It's a remarkable acheivement: between 1963 (Freewheelin' Bob Dylan) and 1967 (John Wesley Harding) he invented half a dozen ways of being authentic.

Fascinating stuff, as always.

American Idol - First Thoughts

I am fascinated by American Idol -- some people who have only performed in school or in church or at their local karaoke bar being suddenly thrust onto an enormous stage. The backstories are often complelling, as are the hows and whys of what they choose to sing and how they present themselves to the world.

Then, you have fans who really root for their favorite singers and I am always interested to know who they love and why.

It's excellent television.

That said, last night's show was extremely disappointing. I loved the self-described "crack baby" who sang "And I am telling you." But everything else was "meh" to "OMG, her parents/friends/therapist should have prevented her from doing this!"

The numbers of truly delusional people is astounding.

I meet delusional folks regularly. They really believe their script, their short film, their band are just one meeting away from fame, fortune, and adulation. (The non-delusional ones know that a meeting is the start of the journey, not the end.)

If you are in a band or you are making a movie, you have to convince other people that your project is worthy and your talent is there. If you are just showing up to an audition, you can be deluded in your own special way.

Seeing deluded people on television having their dreams crushed is not the way I enjoy spending a couple of hours. Even with the snow/ice day and the magic of the dvr, it was still painful to watch as the ratio of awful to good was so off-kilter.

We will keep monitoring it, but I do hope the editing improves the ratio a bit so we can hear better performances along with all of the sad, deluded.