March 29, 2005

TV: American Idol -- 90s night

Very uneven night of performances tonight. My take:

Bo, "Remedy" -- oy, that hat! This is a dull song, and Bo's performance, though competent, isn't particularly interesting.

Jessica, "After All" -- another dull song, and it gives her absolutely no chance to show what she's capable of doing. It's an OK performance, though.

Anwar, "I Believe I Can Fly" -- Randy nails it: he's got a lot of nasty pitch problems in his lower register, and he keeps winning the audience back with his big finish. I didn't think that even the big finish was up to his usual standard, though, and he looks very uncomfortable singing all that melismatic garbage.

Nadia, "I'm the Only One" -- interesting choice, and nice to see that she can pull off something with a harder edge. Best of the night so far.

Constantine, "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- the best pure singing he's done yet, but he doesn't seem to get the point of the song, and there's very little personality coming through.

Nikko, (I have no idea what this song is) -- there's too much vibrato in his voice. His pitch is a lot better than usual tonight, but when it is off, it's way off.

Anthony, "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" -- he's done the best job in the last few weeks of figuring out what songs work for him; this is a very good choice for his voice, and is quite nicely done.

Carrie, "Independence Day" -- there are a couple of notes at the very beginning that are too low for her, but otherwise, this is a fabulous performance, very exciting, and ideal for her style.

Scott, "One Last Cry" -- even by Scott's low standards, this is horrible, bad enough that I find myself longing for the dulcet tones of Mikalah. The pitch is off throughout, the falsetto is unattractive; this is the single worst performance of the year.

Vonzell, "I Have Nothing" -- solid performance, good showcase for impressive vocalizing.

For the night, I'd rank them: Carrie, Anthony, Nadia, Vonzell, Constantine, Jessica, Anwar, Bo, Nikko, Scott.

Overall: Nadia, Vonzell, Carrie, Jessica, Bo, Anthony, Anwar, Constantine, Scott, Nikko.

Most deserving of the ticket home: Nikko overall, but as bad as he was tonight, Scott would not be undeserving.

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