Whoa! Sorry about the technical difficulties the morning! The site was down for several hours, but now we’re back and cooking with gas.
And that’s good, because Lord knows there are some things to discuss about last night’s American Idol.
I’ll rock my reactions to each performer after the jump… and I want to know what you thought, too, since there were things going on last night that demanded a response.
The Theme
As Roommate Joe pointed out, it’s not necessarily great that iTunes is offering each contestant singing their chosen song over the original Motown instrumental tracks.
That said, many of the contestants mixed it up on the live show.
The Bottom Three
God help us. Megan Joy Corkery.Why has she lasted this long? Was there even one note in this disasterpiece that was both in tune and in control?
In comparison to Megan, Michael Sarver was brilliant, but in comparison to music that is good, he was really, really bland.
But I prefer his blandness to the tapioca stylings of Scott McIntyre. My friend Casey—who calls me from her office to discuss the show—makes the interesting argument that Scott’s songs all sound the same because he doesn’t have the vocal ability to make them sound like anything else. She may be right. I’ve been blaming it on his utter lack of taste, but if you don’t have the chops to sing with passion, you’re pretty much required to strip the spirit out your material like some millennial reincarnation of Pat Boone. I think Scott has skated by on sympathy and a strong national desire to keep seeing his hottie “brother,” but his time has got to be drawing nigh. After the wreckage of Megan Joy gets cleared from the freeway, I think Scott’s will be the next car to exit.
The Middle Three
I guess Anoop is in the middle, because I don’t remember disliking his performance, but honestly, I can’t remember what he… Oh, right. “Ooh Baby Baby,” except most of the high notes sounded really bad. Whatever. He was better than Scott, and he’s more interesting than Michael. Middle tier it is. (And that, ladies and gents, is the attitude that lets the boring people of this nation get promoted to management.)
Lil Rounds has missed the mark two weeks in a row, but even her average performances are fun, decently sung, and confident. When she responded to the judge’s typically schizophrenic critiques, she was so upbeat and politically savvy that she convinced me she can turn it around next week and give us the performance we need in order to start loving her again. She’s just too aware of the game not to play it.
Also aware of the game, but playing it less well? Danny “Look at Me Dance With the Back-Up Singers, Because I’m Zany!” Gokey. Whatever, Danny. I stand by what I said before.
The Top Three
As Jacob astutely notes at Television Without Pity, Matt Giraud forgot to make “Let’s Get It On” about sex. Like, did he know what the line “don’t beat around the bush” was really about? It’s kind of exhausting to see yet another contestant give a technically accomplished performance that totally misses the meaning of the song (like Brooke White smiling her way through “Jolene” last year), but it’s American Idol, so sounding good without performing well still pushes you to the top of the pack.
Same dealio with Kris Allen, who seems to have chosen “look at my total hotness” as his take on every song. Fortunately, his beauty blinds like the sun, so it distracts from the fact that he keeps giving the same peppy reading. Whatever, though. He sounds good, and after school today, he’s coming over to help me with my pre-cal homework. (Even though I’m totally getting an A in that class. Don’t tell him!)
Now Allison Iraheta I can support without asterisks. I thought she killed it on “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” The part where she talked? The amazing stage presence? The husky growl that totally suited a song about parental abandonment? Do it, diva. You’d be my best of the night, except…
The One Who Exists Outside The Others
… except, Allison, you aren’t Adam Lambert. But don’t sweat it. He’s one of the top three or four contestants the show has ever had.
Before I talk about his performance of “Tracks of My Tears,” let’s watch it again (while the video lasts):
After weirding me out for two weeks (in a good way for Michael Jackson week, in a bad way for country week), Adam gave a performance last night that not only excited me on its own, but also made me reevaluate his previous appearances. That’s because he proved that he doesn’t have to be to be a Vegas freakshow all the time… that he is capable of dialing it down, of singing simply and directly, of putting the focus on the song instead of the way he’s theatricalizing it. That lets me respect his outre work because now I know that he performs it that way on purpose. He has the skill to choose what he will communicate, which means we can trust that whatever he does has a purpose. Whether we like his choice or not, it’s refreshing to know we’re responding to an honest-to-god artist with honest-to-god control.
Personally, I’m much happier engaging with that kind of singer than with a raw talent. Truly exceptional art, even art that seems spontaneous, is always about craft.
And it’s Adam Lambert’s craft that makes me admire this performance so much. His vocal control is exquisite, and it allows him to shade his singing with subtle emotion instead of relying on a barn-busting belt. His technique also suggests he will be able to sing for many years to come, unlike, god love her, Kelly Clarkson, whom I love, but who sounds really jacked up live because she obviously has no technique. Again, professional singing requires the ability to seem messy and spontaneous without actually being that way. As he develops, I think Adam Lambert will seem more and more relaxed, and then he’ll be able to project ease from a place of technical mastery. (This is totally what Dolly Parton does.)
Now I want to know what you think!
16 responses so far ↓
1 Laura Mc. // Mar 26, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I don’t like AI for reasons that almost always have to do with craft, but your examination of Adam just might make me tune in the next time he is on. Definitely talented and with mad skillz to go with it. Perhaps even insightful?
Finally!!!
2 JennyM // Mar 26, 2009 at 4:26 pm
It was even better the second time than it was the first time I watched it. Usually, they lose something on repeat viewing, but not this one…
3 ferretrick // Mar 26, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Why, why, WHYYYYY do I always fall for the contestant who seems really talented in Hollywood and the semi finals, but is really just a one trick pony who crashes and burns once it gets to the top 12 and they have to do more than the one thing they do really well, leaving me sobbing in despair and bitter disappointment? This year its Scott. Previous seasons its been Brooke White, Nadia Turner, the list goes on.
But, for the record, I, at least, was not voting for Scott on sympathy. I really thought he had chops. I’ve been wrong before.
But, Megan should definitely get the boot tonight. In future, when people assemble lists of 10 Worst AI Performances, that will be on it.
And Adam Lambert’s “Tracks of My Tears” might be on the 10 Best.
4 Gonzalo // Mar 26, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Ok, I’ll admit, I really liked Adam’s performance tonight. But every now and again, it still seems over-rehearsed to me, like instead of feeling a song, he wants us to see him feel the song. I appreciate the over-the-top-ness, but he’s not playing for a crowded theatre… this is a show where the camera is right up in his face, and it sometimes seems a bit too forced. That said, he has been winning me over little by little every week. And he’d totally be my favorite right now, except…
Allison is a goddess. What can I say? That performance was incredible, and she’s been doing incredible things since the show started. Not “incredible for a 16-year-old”. Incredible, period. I’m also loving that she seems a bit confused and unrehearsed when being interviewed, like she’s really just 16. And the moment she starts singing, rainbows of awesome flood my TV. It really is ridiculous she was on the bottom 3 last week… let’s hope it doesn’t happen again this week.
5 joe // Mar 26, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Could not agree more, Gonzalo. Well, except for the “winning me over week by week” part. But everything else: YES.
6 Casey // Mar 26, 2009 at 8:08 pm
First of all, I’m very honored to be mentioned in this post.
Secondly, I honestly don’t understand the last two comments. I don’t understand how crafting a performance so that it’s as compelling as possible is boring. In my experience, the more work I put into something, the more emotionally invested I become, and it shows. There’s a popular idea (that I think is BS) that some people just have “natural talent”. That authenticity can only be seen when a these people simply open their mouths, take a gamble, and somehow succeed. Even if, through a combination of good genes and enthusiasm, these “naturals” succeed, there’s no staying power and no originality. Kelly Clarkson is a great example of what can happen when you fail to learn a technique to present your expression. I like her, her music is fun to listen to, but her voice is basically wrecked at this point.
When I watch Adam’s performance (which I’ve now done repeatedly), I see an artist, not just a vocalist. And when I watch Danny’s and Alison’s performances after his, there is no comparison. However natural and gifted they may be, you have to overlook awkward dance moves, out-of-tune singing, and a look of “oh God, what do I do now” panic in their eyes to enjoy the performances. I never have to do that with Adam, because he’s worked it out.
Sorry to rant, Gonzalo and joe, this particular debate gets me all riled up. I just hate to see hard work and thoughtful presentation put down.
7 Gonzalo // Mar 26, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Casey,
No need to apologize for your rant. At the end of the day, it’s likely we’ll continue to disagree about Adam (because it probably is a matter of personal taste), but at least maybe I could try explaining my point better.
I wasn’t trying to disqualify a performance that’s been worked on and thought about. In that, Adam has been leaps and bounds above all the other contestants this year. And my previous perception that Adam was sometimes over-singing evaporated completely this week. Every one of his songs has been unique and interesting and carefully planned, and whenever he riffs or strays from the melody, it’s clear he knows what he’s doing. And vocally, it absolutely shows.
My critique is more about how he connects to the songs, and the emotions that he conveys while singing them. That’s what sometimes seems forced to me. To put it bluntly (and exaggerating quite a bit), I never fully buy it. Every now and again there’s a staginess to it that takes me out of the performance. Emphasis on the *I*/*me* here… clearly the emotion/feeling he’s showing hits other people well enough, so this is solely how it affects me.
8 Lynne // Mar 26, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Adam is (near) genius as an artist and with Tracks of My Tears, almost like an actor as he prepared a simple, but elegant musical stage, complete with other gifted musicians seated next to him and not off in the background. It was so clean, soft and classy from beginning to end…sort of like they were there jamming with their vibe and we just happened to be listening in. (I’m learning so many new phrases and words like “dope vocals, bomb, hawt, after the jump, mad skills”, so I hope my “jammin’ with their vibe” fits in here). So classy how Adam shook the musicians’ hands and nodded to Smokey before turning to the judges, like should anyone really be judging that performance anyway? Kara, what were you thinking….”one of the best”?
Adam really drew me into the sweet story he told with his brilliant falsetto – understated and so tender this time. It’s enough that I was impassioned. I didn’t need to know whether he was ‘really’ feeling it rather than the fact that he might have worked really hard to make me ‘really feel’ it. I know those words don’t describe it exactly, but I think I’m kind of agreeing with what Casey is saying. This may sound really detached, but Adam knows how to perform excellently, astonishingly, he moves his audience to enjoy, to feel, to love, to freak out for heaven’s sake! He’s really smart that way and knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s really just doing his job, isn’t he? (IMHO, he does it better than about 90% of current pop culture) He’s engaging and entertaining us to the nth degree! And that’s why some people at AI are probably seeing mega-dollar signs dancing in their dreams at night.
Here’s what I want to know: if this is what he’s given us after a few short weeks on a national contest, what in this world are we in for when his career really takes shape? What an exciting prospect! He’d be great in movies too….I’m a sucker for Phantom of the Opera and this last one they made with Gerard Butler was ‘the bomb”, but I could really see a punked-out version with Adam as the phantom. Sa-weet!
This is turning out to be the best season of Idol I’ve ever watched and mainly because of Adam. I enjoy the other standouts like Matt (cannot even believe he was in the bottom three tonight), Danny, Lil and Allison but because of Adam’s presence in this season, they sometimes seem amateurish and one dimensional. And that’s no surprise because this is an amateur contest for the most part, right!
Mark that was interesting what you pointed out about Kelly Clarkson. Some reviews were giving her major raves about that performance of “My Life Would Suck Without You’ on AI recently, but I thought she sounded strained and very tired…maybe like she hasn’t been taking good care of herself or something like that. I haven’t really kept up with her career so I was pretty shocked with how she sounded.
Thanks for the great lowdown on Motown, Mark! You’re the bomb! (I think that’s a compliment
Maybe you should interview Danny or something cuz you just got some bad mojo for that dude 
Ooh, listen to me…I am one kewl dudette – well, I was up until just then.
9 joe // Mar 27, 2009 at 8:02 am
There’s nothing wrong with putting effort into a performance, of course, but you still want to appear as if you’re not straining at every turn. There’s also nothing wrong with a performer/performance being affected or manufactured — I kind of dig Adam’s artificiality sometimes — but I’m having a hard time reconciling that with all this “oh, he was really CONNECTING with the song this week!” stuff. Because he wasn’t.
10 Amanda // Mar 27, 2009 at 9:34 am
I’m not watching AI this season, but I DID want to say that I started hyperventilating when I couldn’t access the CC yesterday morning. That kind of stress is not good for my health.
11 Casey // Mar 27, 2009 at 11:36 am
Gonzalo and Joe – thanks for your intelligent responses. I guess it does come down to a matter of taste. For me, I don’t think it’s a performer’s job to feel something. I think it’s a performer’s job to make the audience feel something (even if it’s simply delight at watching someone do something well), and Adam does that for me every week. He can be up there thinking about Pop-Tarts for all I care – I find that his performances “read” and affect an emotional response in me and in others. Thanks for the debate – so fun!
12 Gonzalo // Mar 27, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Likewise on the debate – it makes sense our opinions are different, but it’s always fascinating trying to find out why that is. I really appreciate the effort you took into explaining where you’re coming from. It’s never easy to find that in comment threads.
I randomly stumbled into this site a few weeks ago, and it’s quickly become my first stop of every day, mostly because of posts and discussions like these.
13 Mark Blankenship // Mar 27, 2009 at 3:57 pm
You guys, this comment thread is rocking my face. Thank you so much for the thoughtful responses.
And Casey, you articulated something I was trying to get at in my original post: I don’t think it’s a performer’s job to feel something, either. It’s a performer’s job to make me feel something, and I almost always feel thrilled when I watch a performer who has exquisite control.
Well, that’s part of it. Celine Dion has remarkable control, but she rarely makes me feel things. That’s because for me, technically skilled singing also needs to be delivered with variety and surprise. Celine Dion sings everything beautifully, but mostly at the same level of go-for-broke bombast. Sometimes, this is perfect. I love “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” and because the song is so operatic in scope to begin with, Celine’s wails are the perfect fit. But on a song like “Water from the Moon,” which is on her second album, she pummels a sensitive lyric with her voice. Her unvaried approach steams the creases out of delicate material until all I can hear is the flat, bland surface.
So far, Adam Lambert has shown me both vocal control and the ability to shift the mood of his performance to fit the song he’s performing. The fact that he’s using his own unusual arrangements to create this mood only makes me respect him more.
When Adam chose to turn “Tracks of My Tears” into something quiet and serene, he adapted his technical mastery to suit the environment he was creating. He displayed skill not only as a singer of notes, but also as an interpreter of material. Few performers can do that.
Let me clarify, too, that I’m only talking about what excites me in singers whom I admire for their singing. I love a lot of Madonna’s music, but not because of her vocals, and I love this indie band called the Mountain Goats, even though John Darnielle has about two things he can do with his voice. These artists reach me in different ways than Adam Lambert or Patty Griffin or Jennifer Nettles.
But on American Idol, as Kyle pointed out in his “Oh Brawling Love” post, singing is what we’re asked to focus on. So that’s where my mind goes.
14 coffee // Mar 28, 2009 at 2:49 am
i really wish the other judges (all the ones besides Simon) would think up some new generic observations before the next show
15 Amanda // Mar 28, 2009 at 11:18 am
How much control do you think the performers have over their presentation of the song? I always kind of assume that a producer (a music producer, not a producer of the show) directs their interpretation.
16 Mark Blankenship // Mar 28, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Good question, Amanda. I tend to attribute things to artists, though I guess there’s no way of knowing the story for a studio recording. However, in the case of a live performance, I feel like we can give a lot of the credit to the artist.
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