When I heard talk on the radio this morning of how good last night’s Idol was, I could have been blown over with a feather. I had been bored almost to tears and unimpressed by pretty much everyone. Am I getting jaded, or is this season just that unexciting?
Casey James made me yawn with both of his performances. Kara DioGuardi hit the nail on the head with her criticism of Casey’s own song choice of “Okay, I’m Alright.” Singing a song that’s a first listen for many audience members doesn’t allow your impressive originality to shine through. Some people may be too busy concentrating on what they think of the song to concentrate on what the vocals sound like. (Just think of last year’s disastrous “No Boundaries.” Neither Kris Allen’s nor Adam Lambert’s version could garner any praise because everyone was too focused on the cheesy lyrics about soaring eagles and climbing mountains.) Kara and Randy thought they’d be doing Casey a favor by choosing John Mayer’s “Daughters” for his second song of the night. I’m not going to repeat how boring I found this song choice, too – you can read all about it here. I can understand the two judges’ reasoning, as Casey relies more on his guitar skills than his vocals, much like the fabulously talented Mayer, but this only had a “limp guitar solo” to fall back on. Casey’s inoffensive yet unexciting performances will have satisfed his die hard fans, but he’s unlikely to have gained many votes from swing voters who haven’t chosen their favorite Idol yet.
Crystal Bowersox, who I’ve been biased towards since we first saw her in Hollywood and I thought, “Where have they been hiding this girl?” didn’t wow me last night, either. Her first song, “Come to My Window,” lacked a “moment” and seemed empty somehow. Crystal would have been better off sharing the stage with a few other musicians for some visual variety. Later, she screamed though “Maybe I’m Amazed” and even proclaimed that she was a man several times. (If Aaron Kelly could change the lyrics “When we make love,” why couldn’t Crystal change “man” to “girl”? Maybe I’m being picky, but this minor detail proved incredibly distracting.) Simon thought she proved to have soul, but I figured that out weeks ago. Did we really need this performance to showcase that? No. In fact, I wish I knew where Crystal’s soul has disappeared to these past few weeks so I could give it back to her and not be forced to watch the sort of vapid, distracted displays that were seen last night.
Casey James made me yawn with both of his performances. Kara DioGuardi hit the nail on the head with her criticism of Casey’s own song choice of “Okay, I’m Alright.” Singing a song that’s a first listen for many audience members doesn’t allow your impressive originality to shine through. Some people may be too busy concentrating on what they think of the song to concentrate on what the vocals sound like. (Just think of last year’s disastrous “No Boundaries.” Neither Kris Allen’s nor Adam Lambert’s version could garner any praise because everyone was too focused on the cheesy lyrics about soaring eagles and climbing mountains.) Kara and Randy thought they’d be doing Casey a favor by choosing John Mayer’s “Daughters” for his second song of the night. I’m not going to repeat how boring I found this song choice, too – you can read all about it here. I can understand the two judges’ reasoning, as Casey relies more on his guitar skills than his vocals, much like the fabulously talented Mayer, but this only had a “limp guitar solo” to fall back on. Casey’s inoffensive yet unexciting performances will have satisfed his die hard fans, but he’s unlikely to have gained many votes from swing voters who haven’t chosen their favorite Idol yet.
Crystal Bowersox, who I’ve been biased towards since we first saw her in Hollywood and I thought, “Where have they been hiding this girl?” didn’t wow me last night, either. Her first song, “Come to My Window,” lacked a “moment” and seemed empty somehow. Crystal would have been better off sharing the stage with a few other musicians for some visual variety. Later, she screamed though “Maybe I’m Amazed” and even proclaimed that she was a man several times. (If Aaron Kelly could change the lyrics “When we make love,” why couldn’t Crystal change “man” to “girl”? Maybe I’m being picky, but this minor detail proved incredibly distracting.) Simon thought she proved to have soul, but I figured that out weeks ago. Did we really need this performance to showcase that? No. In fact, I wish I knew where Crystal’s soul has disappeared to these past few weeks so I could give it back to her and not be forced to watch the sort of vapid, distracted displays that were seen last night.
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Finally there was Lee Dewyze, who I can’t bring myself to be a fan of. I don’t like his voice, which can’t be helped on either of our parts. I still don’t believe that Lee has decided on what sort of artist he wants to be, and his two performances last night only added to my confusion. “Simple Man” was clearly the best performance of Round 1, and it took steps to confirm Lee’s rocker image. Then, “Hallelujah”suddenly brought out gospely backing vocals and big white lights, giving Lee a much more theatrical spin than we have yet to see. Now, Lee fans, I apologize for my rant last night about Simon’s song choice, though I still think it was a bit unfair. The truth is that I was so distracted by the previously mentioned extras that I couldn’t pay attention to the vocal. The whole production of the number didn’t seem in character for Lee, so I felt that maybe this – getting to sing last, having some added perks that neither of the other two performers got – was a set up to show us who the producers/judges want to win. Lee doesn’t even need that sort of push. It’s been obvious for weeks that he has loyal fans and that he had a good shot at winning this. The unfair advantage was infuriating to me.
In the end, none of it matters. Everyone who was shown last night, and certainly a few others who are already gone, will be getting a recording contracts, whoever wins might not sell the most albums, and we won’t know real results for a year or two when we see who’s still taken seriously as an artist. Maybe it’s this invalidation of contest that makes me so apathetic, or maybe it is that the talent really isn’t there, or maybe I’ve just had enough of the show but can’t tear myself away from the couch when it comes on. Whatever. Just don’t take my ripping apart of your favorite artists too personally. It’s just my biased opinion.
Finally there was Lee Dewyze, who I can’t bring myself to be a fan of. I don’t like his voice, which can’t be helped on either of our parts. I still don’t believe that Lee has decided on what sort of artist he wants to be, and his two performances last night only added to my confusion. “Simple Man” was clearly the best performance of Round 1, and it took steps to confirm Lee’s rocker image. Then, “Hallelujah”suddenly brought out gospely backing vocals and big white lights, giving Lee a much more theatrical spin than we have yet to see. Now, Lee fans, I apologize for my rant last night about Simon’s song choice, though I still think it was a bit unfair. The truth is that I was so distracted by the previously mentioned extras that I couldn’t pay attention to the vocal. The whole production of the number didn’t seem in character for Lee, so I felt that maybe this – getting to sing last, having some added perks that neither of the other two performers got – was a set up to show us who the producers/judges want to win. Lee doesn’t even need that sort of push. It’s been obvious for weeks that he has loyal fans and that he had a good shot at winning this. The unfair advantage was infuriating to me.
In the end, none of it matters. Everyone who was shown last night, and certainly a few others who are already gone, will be getting a recording contracts, whoever wins might not sell the most albums, and we won’t know real results for a year or two when we see who’s still taken seriously as an artist. Maybe it’s this invalidation of contest that makes me so apathetic, or maybe it is that the talent really isn’t there, or maybe I’ve just had enough of the show but can’t tear myself away from the couch when it comes on. Whatever. Just don’t take my ripping apart of your favorite artists too personally. It’s just my biased opinion.
