Elton John Week Song Choices ***SPOILER***
Skyrah
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Scotty McCreery: Country Comfort
Naima Adedapo: I'm Still Standing
Paul McDonald: Rocket Man
Pia Toscano: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me :yawn:
Stefano Langone: Tiny Dancer
Lauren Alaina: Candle in the Wind
James Durbin: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Thia Megia: Daniel
Casey Abrams: Your Song (along with hair cut & trimmed beard)
Jacob Lusk: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Haley Reinhart: Bennie and the Jets
Naima Adedapo: I'm Still Standing
Paul McDonald: Rocket Man
Pia Toscano: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me :yawn:
Stefano Langone: Tiny Dancer
Lauren Alaina: Candle in the Wind
James Durbin: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Thia Megia: Daniel
Casey Abrams: Your Song (along with hair cut & trimmed beard)
Jacob Lusk: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Haley Reinhart: Bennie and the Jets
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Comments
The best ones for me were Lauren, Casey and Haley, in that order. Haley closed out the show well.
Great to see Casey in form and he sounded good. And Lauren sounded gorgeous. And looked it too.
I saw the piano on the stage for Paul and thought he was going to play it, and also thought he would sing Tiny Dancer, so I was a little disappointed when he said he was singing Rocket Man. I liked parts of it, but think the studio recording will sound better, which was my first thought straight after he finished.
Naima reggae-fied I'm Still Standing too much with her Jamaican accent (:eek:) WTF?!?
Thia was boring, again. Jacob started well and I liked the first half but thought he went off it towards the end.
James was more about the flash and showman than the vocals, Only Elton should sing Saturday Night, anyone else singing just ends up shouty.
Pia, Scotty and Stefano were all OK. Pia and Scotty were my top ones until Lauren sang, and then Casey and Haley edged them out too. Was disappointed that Stefano got to sing Tiny Dancer instead of Paul, he did OK, but still a bit too loungey and cheesy for me.
My best to worst:
Lauren
Casey
Haley
Jacob
Scotty
Pia
James
Stefano
Paul
Naima
Thia
Have got to go through the rest of their performances, I'll be interesting to see how Haley does as I love that song.
Well Pia did move on the stage this week, walked from back of stage to the mic stand, then she stood there for the rest of the performance.
Judges once again praised her even though she did sing yet another ballad :yawn: but all three pointed out they would like to see her do more of an uptempo number for variety.
Pia promised if she gets through to next week she will sing ....
River Deep Mountain High.
As if her promises means anything, as she promised an uptempo number to the judges last week :rolleyes:
IMO, the ones who maybe in danger to go this week are ...
Stefano
Thia
Naima
Hoping for Haley in the mix too but the Judges in their wisdom said her's was the performance of the night
I've been umming and ahing for weeks about whether to cut my putative profit on Scotty, Pia, James and Casey and hedge Lauren to break-even.
So it was with some trepidation that I read that she sang Candle In The Wind and got good comments.
I watched it on Youtube and by the end felt very confident that not backing her was the right thing to do. It wasn't an outstanding performance, and in line with my historical wont for ascribing producers' motives to the songs they steer contestants into, and the (subconscious) impact of the lyrics on how viewers perceive the contestants, "goodbye Lauren Jean, you are just a kid" was what I took from it.
And then I was highly gratified to pop on to Dial Idol and discover that even in a week when she sang a money song and got great comments, Lauren has got the fourth lowest rating and is in danger of going home.
Woo hoo!
Dial Idol was bang-on last week in placing Casey at the bottom, and again this week I suspect it has got things quite accurate; the placings broadly reflect how I thought the performance went.
Looks like the bottom three may well be Thia, Paul and Stefano, with James, Lauren and Naima the outside bets.
I shall deeply miss Paul starting every performance with "How y'all doin'?" as if he's on night 100 of a 300 night residence at the Grand Ole Opry.
Despite the judges all praising her, I wasn't impressed by Lauren. So far everything about her seems cutesy and trivial, she's like a girl who gets up in a local bar to sing a few of her daddy's favourite numbers and nobody will tell her anything less than she's great. The only time she's impressed me was during the dramatic intro to last week's Motown song (but everything afterwards was forgettable). Countrifying Candle In The Wind just didn't work, and it felt like she was commercially vying for some of Carrie's market.
Casey did a lot better, pulling back on the power growl until the very end, and in the process revealing a better underlying tone to his voice, one he has greater control over. I would still like to see him use an instrument though, not entirely convinced this guy is a good enough singer in his own right, but add in some musicianship and he can entertain.
I'm usually a fan of Jacob's scream crackers but this song just didn't work out. The arrangement was odd. He cannot handle sadness. You get the impression that in church he wouldn't be able to sing gospel unless it was the most happy clappy type. Happy Jacob is electrifying, sad Jacob is too maudlin and starts to wah wah. He's far better when he is full of playful exuberance like last week, which for me was the stand out performance of the series. Not quite from hero to zero, but I'm disappointed. Keep it happy and keep it snappy. No_more_sad_songs.
Naima made me smile. It didn't really work because the original speed of the song is too fast to fit all the lyrics into a lazy reggae tempo. Very cheeky of her.
Thia sang a forgettable version of Daniel. I thought while watching that she's one of those singers you tend to think is more musical theatre than popular recording artist. You can't fault her, any more than you could Marie Osmond, but you couldn't eat a whole one.
James did very well, though his performance was helped along in the all important chorus by backing singers. That was revealed when they continued while he sang another part. He always gets into the groove of a song, and catches the melodies extremely well, and works the crowd.
Pia is really starting to bore me, and I began with her as my favourite. Another ballad, another dress. Every performance has been like a guest spot at the Oscars rather than her competing in Idol. Of course it's good, but so is a slice of cheesecake - and another, and another, and another. Eventually you get sick of cheesecake.
Stefano. It's a pity he isn't a hip hop artist, because with his short build, round face and haircut he looks the part. All that's missing is a singlet top and a neck chain and those daft hand gestures. As a conventional singer he's acceptable, but he's like the male version of Thia. Just imagine a duet!
Looks like Stefano may be halfway to the duet already, as this funny photo shows (love Casey's face!):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=197623513611478&set=a.197621713611658.45504.193900243983805
Scotty - let down only by the song, which isn't all that good apart from the line about a truck. Did alright, but not one of his better performances. He already seems 65 and now he's singing to his granny, who's probaby younger than him. Impressed with his guitar, none of the tuneless strumming delivered by the X Factor's winner.
Paul - knew this would be a disaster because his voice doesn't have the power to hit the higher parts. His voice isn't so much rocket man as lurve tunnel man.
Why do you have to bring x factor into this for.
Naima Adedapo:Thought I was enjoying it but then it kept going flat, she just looks so good though.
Paul McDonald: Sickly, sweet, honey voice that I really like in small doses and I liked this dose.
Pia Toscano: Started well then sounded like every other female diva, at least she ended with 'me' and not 'mayyyy' like most singers do these days.
Stefano Langone: I don't know this song
Lauren Alaina: She did a really lovely job with this, would liked it to have gone on a bit longer.
James Durbin: He's still no Adam. He sings a whole part at the same level, break, high screaming. Wish he would mix it more when he actually sings, it's like he announces 'and here is the high bit' anyone know what I mean?
Thia Megia:One of my all time favourite songs. Wilson Phillips' version is my favourite and i wish she had a bit more female backing to emulate that version but it was still good.
Casey Abrams: Much better this week, adorable performance.
Jacob Lusk: This guy can do little wrong for me, I see a little of Adam in him with the drama & camp. I just love him. He was better last week though.
Haley Reinhart: Apart from the mumbling at the beginning she really played about with this and I enjoyed it.
But he'll probably fall in ahead of Thia and Stefano.
The worst performance of the night was from Paul McDonald. He has taken whimpering, simpering and hoarse gimping to an entirely new level. His last note was proper car crash tv. He is like a dog with a broken leg which frankly just needs to be humanely put down.
I liked Pia, Casey, and, um, kind of Naima, even though she has no breath control at all.
yes Pia promised the judges she will do a uptempo track last week, but NOT once did she say she was going to do it this week...........
Casey - still weak vocals for me, missed quite a few notes, he's safe, but finding him a very uninspiring singer.
James - still average to my ears, had to minimise the screen and stop watching as he really started to make me laugh,for all the wrong reasons, the 'rock' styling and posturing is hilariously bad
Pia - yes you can sing, but goodness your boring me now, nice dress though, you looked lovely (sorry, possessed by the ghost of Paula past there
Thia - see Pia, but even more so
Stefano - too cheesy, really doesn't work for me, plus I'm starting to find something mildly creepy about his singing expressions
Paul - oh god, where to start, mumbly lyrics, horrible affected singing, and the ending, oh god the ending :eek: you and me are finished, but before we separate for good, two things (1) that suit is never, ever a good idea under any circumstances (2) for the love of god stop asking me how I'm doing, it's not endearing, it's irritating
Haley - Nice job, mumbly beginning but I really liked that, and really like the studio version, may get that for the first time this series
Jacob - hmmm, it was good, he's safe, but not really for me this week, more the song, which I find overblown tosh - good glory note at the end though
Scotty - haven't seen it yet, but I know what he's done and how he's done it.
Naima - ummm, the accent, yes, the accent, ummm, bit lost for words at that - especially as I think that could have worked without the accent - but I want her to stay, she's entertaining and has a bit of fun out there, the singing does need work, but I reckon there's a bit of potential there.