Tonight was another theme week— this time the 70s. Each performer also revealed something we didn’t know about them.
Starting off the night was Michael Johns, who seemed a lot less polished than last week. In fact, he seemed a bit nervous. He revealed that he’s somewhat of a jock— he plays a lot of tennis, in particular. Tonight he sang “Go Your Own Way”. As I said, I didn’t think it was as good as last week. I thought it was a poor song for him, and he looked uncomfortable on the stage. However, since tonight was one of those nights where, almost without exception, the judges loved everything I hated and vice versa, they liked this one, although Simon did say it was Michael John’s worst performance of the competition.
Jason Castro let us in on his secret, as well— he hates interviews. He sang “Just Want To Be Your Everything” and played the guitar again. I liked this performance, even though I don’t really like the song. But for some reason, the judges didn’t like it. Randy and Paula felt like he should perform without the guitar. Simon thought the song choice was horrible and didn’t have much nice to say about the performance, either.
We found out that Luke Menard sings with an acapella group called “Chapter Six”. We also learned he shouldn’t sing Queen songs. His performance of “Killer Queen” wasn’t horrific, but it wasn’t great. It was okay and forgettable. Randy and Paula really liked it— go figure. Simon didn’t think the song choice was good. His main complaint was that Luke Menard couldn’t live up to Freddie Mercury— duh.
Robbie Carrico likes to drag race. He’s still struggling with making the rocker title stick. He sang “Hot Blooded”, which was my favorite up to that point in the night. He does need to put a bit more rocker edge and enthusiasm into his performances. Sometimes he looks like he’s doing a walk through rehearsal, rather than an actual performance. Still, I liked it, for the most part. Randy and Paula were on the fence about this performance— not THEY’RE not sure he’s really a rocker. Simon, on the other hand, thought tonight’s performance was okay and didn’t have a real problem with it.
Up next was Danny Noriega with the shocker that he’d been in a punk band his freshman year in high school. Somehow, that didn’t really come as a surprise to me. Tonight he sang “Superstar”. I didn’t think it was a good song choice, and he sang it with practically no personality, which for Danny must require work to hold all his personality in. Randy and Paula also weren’t thrilled, but Simon thought it was better than last week. Of course, I liked last week’s performance MUCH better than tonight’s, so, there you have it.
David Hernandez was a gymnast growing up. Tonight he sang “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”. This song was sung a LOT on Dance Wars, so I had that version ringing in my head. He was a lot better than last week and the most energetic of the evening. The judges actually agreed with me and with each other and had basically positive things to say about the performance.
I’m not really enamoured of Jason Yeager. I wasn’t last week, and this week did nothing to change my mind on the subject. He plays several instruments but hasn’t played any, thus far in the competition. He may not get the opportunity, as I thought his performance of “Without Love” was the weakest performance of the night. Again, the judges agreed with me and with each other.
Chikezie explained the origin of his name (it’s Nigerian for “something well created by God”) and its correct pronunciation, which he says no one uses. He sang “I Believe to My Soul”. Even though the song got off to a bit of a slow start, I thought it was a good song choice and a good performance. The judges liked it, as well.
We found out that David Cook is a word nerd— he likes to work crosswords and do word puzzles. His performance of “All Right Now” was the best performance of the night for me. It was entertaining. He always looks like he’s having fun and seems very relaxed. All the judges liked it, for the most part, but Simon still insists that David Cook has no charisma. I disagree. He also said that the “word nerd” package only reinforced that. Again, I disagree. I found it endearing.
David Archulet’s surprise wasn’t really a surprise to me, since I have video of it here on this blog. He talked about meeting the finalists from a previos American Idol and singing for them. Now, I know a lot of people are going to disagree with what I’m going to say here, so let me preface it by saying I really like David, and I think he has a great voice. I think he did a great job singing “Imagine”, but I HATED the arrangement of the song. It was, to use one of Simon’s phrases, indulgent. It was also overly dramatic. The beauty of the original is its simplicity and for me this was a “milking it” version. So, liked the performance, hated the arrangement. The judges love it all and ate it up with a spoon.
So, those were tonight’s performances by the boys. Girls are up tomorrow, then another elimination.
Consider—maybe—that Lennon was not a dramatic person—calm, visionary, quiet and at peace in the soul. He wrote “Imagine” and sang it with his heart. It can’t be duplicated.
But I can believe that DA sang it with his heart—which is dramatic, loves embellishment, impatient, and let’s face it, probably has a short attention span … to me this is kind of what interpreting a song is about. DA could have sang Lennon’s exact notes, but his heart would not have been in it—he had to sing it as he did or it would have seemed fake. I don’t think he milked it—I think he believed it.
Or maybe he’s a melisma-addicted showoff. Could be either way.
Michael Johns was truly awful.
I see your point about the difference in interpretation of “Imagine”, and I don’t mean to imply that it was a “fake” version. I simply didn’t care for it. I’ve seen new interpretations of songs on American Idol that I liked— this just didn’t happen to be one of them. And I think singers sometimes have a bad habit of taking an emotion-filled song and overdoing it. I think that’s what happened in this case, probably out of youthful enthusiasm, more than anything else. I liked Blake singing Lennon’s version last year even though the judges definitely preferred last night’s version. Of course, I think it’s obvious that the judges have already put David Archuleta on the short list for winning the whole thing (not necessarily without cause).