Not going to lie, ladies – I was disappointed. How does everyone else feel about last night’s episode?
As every single judge has reiterated at one point or another, American Idol isn’t just a singing competition – it’s about originality. So I was more than a little displeased to catch the top 12 girls sounding like there were having a really killer time at karaoke night.
Unfortunately, in Idol world, karaoke just doesn’t cut it.
Admittedly, I truly love some of the girls. I was waiting with bated breath to see what hippy mom Crystal Bowersox, white-haired chanteuse Lilly Scott and Connecticut teen Katie Stevens would do – but enjoyed all of their Hollywood week performances much, much more.
24-year-old Crystal let me down the most. ‘Mama Sox’ can literally sing the phone book – but chose to sing Alanis Morrisette’s Hand In My Pocket – one of the blandest songs of all time – for some unknown reason. Why Crystal, why? Simon Cowell was dead on when he said your performance reminded him of “every other coffeehouse performer” he had ever seen. Sad.
I had high hopes for 17-year-old Katie, too. Although she’s young, the girl’s got some fierce pipes. But she decided to go with Michael Buble’s ‘Feeling Good.’ Instead of feeling good, I fell asleep. On to the next one, as Jay-Z would say.
Lilly Scott, 20, actually showed a fair amount of originality with her rendition of The Beatles’ Fixing a Hole, and I enjoyed her the most. Still, to me, being the best of a bad lot sounds like a pretty half-assed compliment indeed.
As for the remaining nine female contestants – Paige Miles, Ashley Rodriguez, Janell Wheeler, Kateyln Apperly, Haeley Vaughn, Lacey Brown, Michelle Delamor, Didi Benami and Siobhan Magnus – ten of you are going to have a chance to step it up next week. But which ten?
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Alex
Posted at 10:59 PM on February 26, 2010
Well, Laura, to answer the question contained in the title of this article, I must say it is you.
Crystal did just fine, fine, fine. Alanis Morrisette’s Hand In My Pocket is NOT bland at all.
I think what your little article proves, however, is that there is no accounting for personal taste. The real test of whether a singer sang well is ultimately the voting, which is also a very good barometer of your own ability to critique such matters.