American Idol: 3/20/2007
Last night illustrated perfectly why American Idol is such a successful show. It was great entertainment, if you love music.
This week was British Invasion week. The singers had to pick a song from the British Invasion of the 1960. And the mentors were two stars of that era. Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits and Lulu, singer/actress famous for “To Sir With Love”, who also sang the theme to “The Man With The Golden Gun”. Noone coached the male singers and Lulu coached the women. And I have to confess, I really love the music of that period. I was a little kid at the time, but I remember these songs and they had a big effect on me. It was wonderful to hear some of them again, handled well.
First up was Haley Scarnato, showing off her legs to great effect. She sang the tune “Tell Him” in a very flirty way that will probably guarantee she sticks around another week. (though Dial Idol has her dead last for some reason.) I think she did a great job of being personable, which goes a long way on this show. And her singing was not bad, either. After the break they cut to a little girl in the audience who was crying. Apparently, she was glad to be there and was overwhelmed. We will soon discover what that was all about.
Chris Richardson was next. His choice was a Gerry and the Pacemakers song “Don’t Let The Sun Catch you Crying”. Note to little girl, listen to Chris. Well, maybe not. he was accompanied by an acoustic guitarist on the stage. And once again he did a very good job. Singing it with a soulful, contemporary feel. And this time he avoided the jerky moves I find annoying in his performances. He really showed off his voice in that song. It was excellent.
Stephanie Edwards san “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield. She did a fine job. But I think she did it too literally. I liked it, but Simon and Randy thought it was too safe a performance. The audience seemed to really like it.
Blake Lewis chose one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite 60s bands: the Zombies. “Time of the Season”. He did an updated beat box version, using beat box to replace the intro cords of the song. It worked very well. Plus he’s a terrific singer and has real smooth moves. The audience was on their feet after his performance, screaming and yelling. The judges loved it also.
Lakisha Jones did one of my favorite James Bond themes, “Diamonds are Forever”. I was really excited to hear she was doing it, even though that’s really a 70s song. Diamonds came out in 1970. Lakisha did a very nice job, but not as good as Shirley Bassy, who phrased it better (and added a slight growl in her enunciation). The audience was screaming and cheering. The judges were kind of bored, however. Simon thought it was too old for her. I don’t know. I think Simon uses that statement when he doesn’t get something. Whatever.
Phil Stacy came out singing one of my favorite songs, “Tobacco Road” by the Nashville Teens. It was one of the nights most rocking performances. And Dial Idol has him at #2 this week. So I guess the viewing audience loved it. Simon didn’t care much for it. He thought Phil was in trouble. We’ll see.
Jordin Sparks did “I Who Have Nothing”. And it was one of the best performances in a night of amazing performances. The audience was blown away. Simon said it was gloomy. Well, it’s a sad song, but a powerful one. I have to say, Jordin looked really beautiful with straight hair. She’s a beautiful girl anyway, but she looked very elegant last night.The audience was on their feet again after it was over. Randy thought it was the best performance of the night up to that point.
Sanjaya Malakar did “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks. I think it was his best performance to day and so did the Judges. I still think he looks like a little kid up on the stage (and as Michael Jackson imitator, to boot). The song has very repetitive lyrics, even though I like it, it was wearing on me the way he performed it. But his target audience seemed to love it. That crying little girl was weeping controllably and the camera kept cutting to her. I kept thinking “leave her alone.” But this is the face of the voters keeping Sanjaya in the competition. He is so outclassed on this season, but like other teen singers of years past, he will probably ride it out for a few more weeks. He gave the little girl a big hug afterward which will probably score him more points with his fans.
Gina Glockson sang “Paint It Black”. I think she did a good job, but I’ve decided she her singing is limited. She had me going there in the beginning. It’s another song I love. But then she did this really low spoken bridge in the song, and the spell was broken. I think she’s in danger of leaving this week.
Chris Sligh picked another Zombies song. “She’s Not There” and he told us the British Invasion songs are some of his favorite. Right on, dude. I think he did a very solid job of it. His voice was never better. The audience and the judges mostly liked it. They weren’t blown away. But I think it was very well done. Chris gave a shout out to the Fro Patrol, which are his fans.
Finally, once again Melinda Doolittle got the “pimp spot” and she chose a song from Oliver. “As Long As He Needs Me”, a powerful torch song from one of my favorite musicals. Once again, Melinda showed how she was way ahead of the pack. She is so professional and polished, she’s like a star who’s been doing it for over a decade. What I love about her is she reminds me of the kind of classic singer we don’t see anymore. I just rewatched it while I am typing this and it sent chills through me. She freakin’ good. Of course, the judges we’re once again, amazed.
Anyway, there goes another episode of Idol and it was a great change from last week’s rather prosaic experience. I’m really curious who’s going tonight. Everyone was pretty good.
UPDATE: The two people I thought would be safe were in the bottom 2. Stehanie and Chris. Unbelievable. Who went? Stephanie Edwards, who is beautiful and extremely talented. I think it’s really unfair, but Idol can be that way. Especially this season.
I absolutely adore Melinda and Jordin.
Every time Sanjaya is on screen, I need to change to another channel. He needs to adopt some of Sid Vicious’ personality or something because right now he projects way too much Bizarro Stevie Wonder for my tastes.
Posted by on 03/21 at 11:25 AMTo me he is like a little kid dressing up and pretending to be an adult. I mean, Jordin is about the same age , but she is better than a lot of professional singers right now.
Posted by on 03/21 at 11:28 AMCome to think of it, your characterization of Sanjaya is spot on. It never occured to me ‘til you said it.
On a side note: Do you think the little weepy girl was a plant? I mean, aside from music, what else hearkens back to the British Invasion besides obssessed young women crying and fainting at the first glimpse of their Euro-Idols?
Posted by on 03/21 at 11:38 AMIt seemed like an obvious plant to me. She probably is related to someone who works on the show and is a big fan. I think her tears were real, but she was sitting right in front of Nigel Lythgow, a producer on the show. Near the front row.
Posted by on 03/21 at 12:45 PMI didn’t get the little girl crying thing… I mean… cry through the whole show for every performance? That’s a little excessive. Somehow I doubt that is realistic. We’ve seen a lot of other kids in the audience and I haven’t seen them doing that.
Sanjaya probably will not get the boot tonight. I’m going to guess that it will be Gina or Haley. Phil seems to have fixed his low notes I was happy to hear. Most of that song was high, but there were a few low notes and he nailed them. My fave voice on the guys is still Chris Sligh, but I worry that he is not as good a performer as some of the others. The choreography doesn’t seem totally comfortable for him yet.
Posted by Laurie on 03/21 at 02:22 PMThe story on that little girl is she was in the audience of another Fox show (Are you Smarter Than A 5th grader) and they invited her to an Idol taping. She is a huge Sanjaya fan. And got emotional during the rehearsals, so they made sure they had a good camera shot of her during the real show. They did pick her to be in the front for that reason.
Posted by on 03/21 at 09:38 PMThat’s not quite the same thing People Magazine posted. <shrug>
“Last night, the world got to meet one of Idol’s biggest fans up close: Ashley Ferl from Riverside, Calif, the teary-eyed 13-year-old who got major screen time when Malakar rocked out to “You Really Got Me.” And got her he did, which began a TV love affair with the blonde-haired California girl.
Ashley, who won tickets to the show on OCATV.com, seemed to have cried through every moment of her Idol experience: meeting the judges, getting a hug from Sanjaya, watching Melinda Doolittle’s performance and the big finale – greeting the contestants onstage. “It was unbelievable!” Ashley told PEOPLE about her experience. So we salute the teen, because long after we’ve forgotten some of the performances of the night, we’ll always have Ashley Cry Me a River from Riverside.”
Posted by on 03/22 at 04:18 AMOh yeah, I guess this means that Sanjaya is going on the tour. Gawd… there was never anyone less deserving.
Posted by on 03/22 at 04:54 AMDid not surprise me that Chris R. was in the bottom, but he’s not worse than Sanjaya. Stephanie was a total surprise. She is great. Sanjaya and Chris R. are the weakest of the men.
Posted by Laurie on 03/22 at 07:31 AMBannod,
I got my info from the local Fox affiliate, 11 o’clock news. The truth probably ius, she got tickets to see some Fox shows live, and when they noticed how she was reacting, they decided to focus on her. They do that in TV shows. They look for audience members who are letting their expressions reveal their feelings.
Posted by James Hudnall on 03/22 at 09:32 AMThe LA Times has interesting articles on AI, including the story on Ashley Ferl.
What you got from FOX was closer to the truth.
Posted by on 03/22 at 10:12 AM
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