April 28, 2009

Top 5: Performances

Rat Pack week! Jamie Foxx is the surprise mentor. Let's see what happens...

It turns out that this year, the top 5 are doing only one song apiece, not the two of years past. Given the issues they had getting done in time with only three judges last year, I suppose that makes sense.

(Am I ever going to write my Kara post? I'm not sure. The short version is that Paula and Simon both remain indispensible. The only judge she's in danger of making redundant is Randy... but if it came down to choosing one, I imagine they'd stick with the original. Especially as she has only a one-year contract.)

Anyway, this did make for a slow-paced show, especially considering that every single one of them choose to do a ballad.

This season has two problems:

  1. There's been a very, very clear frontrunner for weeks, and nobody else is in his league. This one's pretty much unprecedented. (Kelly had Tamyra; Ruben had Clay; Fantasia had LaToya and Diana; Carrie had Bo; Taylor had Kat and Daughtry; Jordin had Blake; Cook had Archuleta. Adam has nobody.)

  2. The rest of the pack is pretty tightly clustered together... nobody else is clearly better than the others, and nobody else is totally and entertainingly out of their league, either. Worse, they're all kinda boring, though Allison's had her moments. There's no Nikki McKibbin, no Sanjaya. All we have to sustain us are memories of Tatiana and Norman Gentle, both of whom I fully expect to see in the finale.
(As an aside, I kinda blame Tatiana for Jorge's rapid departure. Pity; he was more interesting than most of the pack.)

Anyway. I'd say Danny had the second-best performance this week, followed by Allison, followed by the other two, but there's not a wide gap between any of them. Let's see what happens.

Posted by Shmuel at April 28, 2009 9:20 PM