Okay, I'm going to belatedly make the obvious observation: shows devoted to the songs of a single performer are a bad idea. With shows devoted to entire genres, like country or disco or '60s, performers have a decent chance of finding something that fits their abilities. Songs of a single performer work to the extent that that performer and a given contestant have the same vocal strengths... and considering that famous performers often become famous performers because they have distinctive or extraordinary vocal skills, that can be problematic.
Which brings us to tonight, where, rather than opting for "Latin night," they went with "Gloria Estefan songs" as the theme. Only two performers came close to pulling it off, I think. Two weren't good, but didn't have me clawing my ears off. And then there were the other two.
In order of performance, for a change:
Fantasia ("Get on Your Feet") was Fantasia, and this time not in a way I can grudgingly admire. Everything I dislike about her voice was right out there, and the performance was flat. This totally wasn't her style. (And is she trying to ride the backlash bandwagon with all the Jennifer shoutouts, or am I being way too cynical?)
George, "Live for Lovin' You." Oy. I wonder, wonder, wonder why we had to go through this. I can't say I blame him for getting stuck with this, but that was awful.
LaToya, "Rhythm is Gonna Get You." Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Very distracting lighting, though... if you're going to be building up somebody's dancing abilities, it might be nice if the viewers at home were able to see it.
John, "Music of My Heart." I'll give him this much; it was a better song choice than George's. That's about all I can give him, though.
Jasmine, "Here We Are." Good choice, so-so performance. Started out well, then got increasingly shaky, with a really bad patch in the middle.
Diana, "Turn the Beat Around." Surprisingly enough, best performance of the night. Granted, it's not the most terribly demanding song in any respect but rhythm, but, still, it was a good choice, she sang it solidly, and she seemed in the performance.
My vote would've gone to Diana. The rest of the rankings would be LaToya, Fantasia, Jasmine, George, John.
Who should go: John.
Who will go: Oh, who the hell knows. [wry smile]
Posted by Shmuel at April 28, 2004 3:47 PM