"This... is American-- Simon, stop talking." Cute.
Todrick Hall, "Since U Been Gone" (Kelly Clarkson)
Holy crap.
Great concept. The singing itself wasn't all that, especially in the non-rap bits, but... the concept was GREAT.
(I disagree with Randy. Changing the arrangement is fine; the key is to change it to something that uses your vocal abilities well. This one didn't work so well. Still, he did a better job of swinging for the fences than anybody last night.)
Aaron Kelly, "Here Comes Goodbye" (Rascal Flatts)
Eh. Not my preferred sort of voice, and generally forgettable.
Jermaine Sellers, "Get Here" (Oleta Adams)
Hmm. This was Justin Guarini's song. Is that a good sign or a bad one?
...okay, that was painful when he started going for the high notes. Sharp all over the place. They could put this in a multimedia dictionary to illustrate "pitchy."
I'd suggest that he not talk back to Simon, but honestly, I couldn't make out what he was saying enough to tell whether he did. But the rest of the banter... hmm. Y'know, we just might have this season's Sanjaya.
(And after last season, I wonder whether I'd actually welcome that.)
Tim Urban, "Apologize" (One Republic)
...I'm not actually saying he sounds like a lovelorn moose, but that wasn't good.
Joe Muñez, "You and I Both" (Jason Mraz)
Kinda shaky.
Tyler Grady, "American Woman" (The Guess Who)
Maybe my standards are eroding, but I didn't hate that. Well, until the end, anyway.
Lee Dewyze, "Chasing Cars" (Snow Patrol) [on guitar]
...we still have 55 minutes to go, huh?
Simon thought this was the best so far? Has he gone tone deaf? Or are the acoustics just really bad in person? Or... actually, I guess "the best so far" really isn't saying much tonight, especially if you hated the first song, as Simon did.
John Park, "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday)
Lisa Simpson's version is better. (Okay, it did improve a bit as it went along, but not nearly far enough.)
Michael Lynche, "This Love" (Maroon 5) [on guitar]
This doesn't suck! Which puts him well ahead of the pack tonight. Though... did he actually play that guitar or just use it as a prop?
Kara's right: if there were other good performances tonight, this wouldn't have gone over so well, but under the circumstances, we'll take what we can get.
(The correct answer to "do you want to answer Simon" is always no. Gah!)
Alex Lambert, "Wonderful World" (James Morrison)
I miss the other Lambert. I feel like I'm at a high school talent show.
Casey James, "Heaven" (Bryan Adams)
It took till the penultimate song of the night, but we've finally got a solid performance. About time!
But guys, this should not be about Kara. Geez.
Andrew Garcia, "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" (Fall Out Boy) [on guitar]
Eh. S'okay, but I was hoping for better.
I'm voting for Casey (night's best performance) and Todrick (most creative concept), and I'll probably throw a vote Andrew's way just for "Straight Up" in Hollywood Week. But both the girls and the boys had better start improving fast.
Posted by Shmuel at February 24, 2010 9:57 PM