Hiya!
I am about a week late and totally ignored the whole audition process of this American Idol 9. Yes, I'm afraid Season 8 spoiled me. Writing up a review of this season's performances should be interesting. I have no idea who these people are and how well they did in the previous rounds. This will be what Simon says, "If I'm living under a rock and this is the first time I heard that performance/song..." -- complete the sentence.
I'm quite active on Twitter and I follow a shitton of Idol fans. For the first performance night - the Girls - the response wasn't so good. [I did watch the Girls' night already; review to follow]. My mom caught a portion of it and walked away after that horror, I Want To Hold Your Hand. Then the Boys' night. My mom said it was better than the Girls' but the Twitteratti begged to differ.
So let's see, shall we?
It’s totally different here [live show] than at home… you hear every single flaw [at home]. So if we’re saying you don’t sound so good here, you sound worse at home.” -- Ellen Degeneres.
Todrick Hall, Since You've Been Gone
One word: PRETENTIOUS. Like Randy said, the song was unrecognizable. I love the original from Kelly Clarkson. So I was trying to sort of sing along with this and man, I kept of thinking, "Is this the same song?" Simon had a better word for it: murdered. It was. I dare you to tell me it was not. Did I like it? The chorus part was out of place with the whole song. But hey, at least he thought of changing it. Performance-wise, sure. He had presence.
Aaron Kelly, Here Comes Goodbye
A sixteen-year-old. Yipee. [I feel mighty old.] I love the quality of his voice. A bit nasal but his Angel performance sounded great. Aaron let his voice do the work for him, unlike the previous one who danced and jumped around. It was kind of boring if you're watching it but if you're just listening to it, it's pretty good. His reactions to critique reminds me of David Archuleta, only less annoying and less ass-kissing.
Jermaine Sellers, Get Here
I love this song. My unofficial title for it is "Railway", dating back to my Center For Pop Music days. Anyway, Jermaine started off sharp and lost me when he did the riffs -- not even ten seconds in the song. And it was downhill from there. Ouch. Just ouch. It's a simple enough song to be safe. But it's easy to mess it up as well. The riffs and the falsetto just wasn't doing it. When the judges begin the critique by praising the way you look, it's not good for your vocals. You know, that "throw the man under the bus" bit he did was better than the whole song.
Tim Urban, Apologize
Ah so he's the replacement for that guy who got disqualified, right? He's cute. But then again, "cute" stopped becoming a selling point for Idol in Season 6. For the record, when Kris Allen did this song live, I loved the performance but not so much the studio recording. Tim, what's the the falsetto? You do not have that, dude. Whoo-ouch. I wish he went with a Train (the band) song or at the very least, Owl City's "Fireflies". As per Simon, I agree. They made the right choice of cutting him the first time. Having said that, why is Tim #25 in the roster? Why is he the first in the waiting list? Like I've said, I have not watched the auditions so I have no bet as to who would be a better replacement. What do you think?
Joe Munoz, You and I Both
Okay, it's tough to sing Mraz. I like how fresh his vocals are, how easy it seems for him. He was in the moment and very confident. But if I don't already know the words to the song, I couldn't understand a word he was singing. It was good but it was SAFE. Now, I know that Joe was one of the 2 boys who were eliminated. Yet based on these first 5 so far... America, you got it wrong.
Tyler Grady, American Woman
Holy shit, you're 20?! Out of all the guys, he was the one who got the most buzz, the most hype. My twitter timeline saw a lot of him. I did see his first audition and he reminded me so much of Mika. The judges sort of liked him. The fangirls loved him. I didn't get him. So okay, he was sent to Hollywood. But did he deliver on the big stage? Or is he another one of those image first, talent second? This song is not really a "singer" song. it's a rock and roll, rock out song. Erm, what the hell was that? The image thing didn't work. Neither did the "vocals", which were next to non-existent. I hate to say this but he came across to me as a poseur. Simon mentioned: cliche, pretend, unnatural, gimmick... all of those. "Style over substance," as Randy said. At least Season 8's Nick Mitchell had a voice. [I know he was also eliminated. You redeemed yourself, America. Sorry fangirls.]
Lee Dewyze, Chasing Cars
Dude, you look like Danny Gokey. Just putting it out there. Ooh, his voice is interesting, raspy. Reminiscent of well... Snow Patrol (haha), Kings of Leon (edit: Randy, I typed this out before I watched you mention them) and erm... sort of like Gokey. The chorus got waaaay off key. Nerves maybe? Because that instant he went off, it went all the way through the song. But I do like his voice a lot. With the right song, he's going to be great. I hope he goes into the Top 12.
John Park, God Bless the Child
Very deep voice. Very unbecoming of his look. Eh... he started off the song flat. And kept at it. It's as if he could not hear himself. He kept searching for the right key but goes right back to that initial flat note he started with. The song is too low for him. And also, work on your diction, dude. It was just so boring. And it was just all over the place.
Michael Lynche, This Love
They call him "Big Mike". Big guy. Aw, he's a new daddy. Well, congratulations on that. And the song, wow I didn't expect that from him. I like it! Very fresh. The guitar-playing, dude, it's what I call the "Kris Allen Effect". You play the guitar but it's not heard at all. I think this is what the first performer was gunning for: making the song his own. Big Mike pulled it off. Todrick didn't. I love Mike's personality. But I'm afraid, he'll be fodder.
Alex Lambert, Wonderful World
I must admit, the first time I saw his name in the spoilers list, I snorted. Seriously, having a Lambert after Adam Lambert last year. Haha dude, I know it's not your fault but wow. Well, well... I didn't expect that voice coming from him. He's a bit uncomfortable to watch. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights (oh fudge you, cliche). Alex reminds me of Elliott Yamin voice-wise. Raw, natural talent... the tone of his voice is awesome. He just needs the polishing and performance.
Casey James, Heaven
Oh this is the hot guy everyone's in the Idolsphere is talking about. He looks like Max Hodges of TMZ. And yeah, you're right. He's good-looking. A bit distracting, yes. But anyway, I do like his voice too. It seems easy for him. And I actually heard his guitar while he was playing it! [Yes, it matters to me.] Oh man, he is distracting. [So for the second half of the song, I covered the screen and just listened.] He did an okay job on the song. I mean, with Heaven (Bryan Adams), you can only do so much with that song. It was a great song choice for Casey. He'll stick around for a long time, I'm sure.
Andrew Garcia, Sugar, We're Going Down
Ah the one who garnered the MOST hype. I have people on my Twitter going absolutely batshitcrazy over him, searching out his youtube videos and all that. I checked one or two videos, they were good but not exactly my cup of tea. But hey, Idol is different. I can hear his guitar so that's a plus. It was nice. At least, he somewhat justified the hype surrounding him (unlike Tyler). But that's it. Nothing more to say about this performance. A downer, really.
So that's it. American Idol Season 9 boys. Unlike last year - and the years before that - I have no surefire winner. Same with the girls. I don't know; maybe it's because Season 8 left me spoiled and jaded. Though, I am not alone. MTV news producer and American Idol superfan Jim Cantiello tweeted, "I hate to sound like a crazy fanboy, but wow. So far season 9 is making me miss...talent. #RIPIdol". For him to say that is huge. After sitting through this first round, I sort of agree. Try and you might, you cannot help but compare Season NINE with the previous seasons. I know it should be a clean slate every time a season starts but after last year, it's will take a gargantuan effort to top what Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, et al. did.
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