April 05, 2005

TV: American Idol -- musicals night

It's show tunes night at American Idol, and everyone's performing pretty much to form; the folks you'd expect to shine do, and Nikko and Scott are still awful.

The rundown:

Scott, "The Impossible Dream" -- there are a lot of long, exposed notes in this song, and almost none of them were in tune; most of them went through three or four different pitches from start to finish of each note. It got a bit better at the end, but not much.

Constantine, "My Funny Valentine" -- the arrangement was awful, and it played up Constantine's tendency to be a bit smarmy and sleazy. But if you must do the song this way, it was reasonably well sung.

Carrie, "Hello Young Lovers" -- Paula called it "elegant," which it was. Very solidly controlled without being rigid or metronomic. Lovely.

Vonzell, "People" -- a few minor pitch problems early, but nicely done for the most part, and the big note at the end was impressive.

Anthony, "Climb Every Mountain" -- very bad song choice. The low notes at the beginning are breathy and lacking in power; the high note at the end is too high and isn't pretty at all. The arrangement is too pop; this is just not pleasant.

Nikko, "One Hand, One Heart" -- not everything is R&B. And you shouldn't sing a song that consists almost entirely of long phrases if you're going to have to gasp for breath in the middle of each one.

Anwar, "If Ever I Would Leave You" -- this was just boring, and overly filigreed with little runs and trills. Remember when we all thought Anwar was going to win this thing? Ah, those were the days...

Bo, "Corner of the Sky" -- again, Bo screws up the words. Aside from that, not bad, and about as well suited to his style as a song from a musical is likely to be.

Nadia, "As Long As He Needs Me" -- she clearly has no idea of the context of this song -- that it's sung by a woman in an abusive relationship -- but the lyrics are vague enough that you can get away with it as an unironic statement of devotion, and Nadia's back in fine form tonight.

For the night: Carrie, Nadia, Vonzell, Bo, Constantine, Anwar, Anthony, Nikko, Scott.

Still most deserving of the trip home: Scott and Nikko, and I don't much care which one goes first.

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