Wednesday, April 8, 2009

episode 8-28 (April 8): Top 8 results

Frankie Avalon surprises everyone (well, everyone's grandma) and doesn't sound bad, either. I'm willing to overlook his limp, because he has the air of a guy who's been doing this forever, and singing alone on stage on the top-rated show on television doesn't faze him one bit.

So Kylie Minogue from 2002 is now nostalgia music? "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" is, of course, a song with one brief catchy passage and lots of two-chord time-killing. Fortunately, it felt less cheesy than usual, because at least the singers were blocked in a way that let them interact-- you know, like people. Scott MacIntyre, as usual, is painful to watch, because he not only has no idea how he appears on stage, he likely can't see what everyone else is doing too; is nobody helping him out in this respect?

Another change: This actually sounds not lip-synched at all. How do we know? Because... it sounds kinda awful. Which means that either they had a really awful pre-recorded vocal track (not likely), or Idol (and Rickey Minor) is throwing criticism over the recent lip-sync controversy back in the viewing public's face. "See, public? It would suck if it weren't lip-synched!" But that's putting the cart before the horse: how about not putting these numbers on at all?

Most pointless Ford video yet. Sam, who works in television, points out that this video likely took hours to shoot-- to set up the empty theater, to do makeup and costumes, to move the cars in and out, and much more-- and this 30-second video was... pointless. Sound and fury on the set, without any sound or fury as a result.

(We're 17 minutes into the show, and we're deathly bored.)

Enough with the gushing over Adam's supposedly brilliant performance last night. It was... competent. And twee.

It's a little odd that Idol keeps showcasing guest artists who don't perform in any genre that's ever performed by the contestants. Flo Rida's "Right Round" is a high-energy R&B/dance hybrid, and was all-around fun to watch for what it was; Lady Gaga did a similar song (not identical, of course, but close enough) last week, and put on a hell of a show. So is this music chosen specifically for cross-promotional pay-for-play purposes, or because it reflects the overall ethic of the show? If Flo Rida were a contestant, would he have been able to perform that song and not scared the hell out of the judges?

Kelly Pickler is screeeeeeeeeeechy. It doesn't help that the song is poorly straddling the line between mid-'80s hair metal and mid-'80s fake blues-rock.

Ryan's fakeouts with the reveals are no longer suspenseful; is he just contractually obligated to make every day Opposite Day? It's just irritating.

Deep down I admit I'm sad to see Scott have to go, but he shouldn't by any rights win this competition. The judges are split? With Allison and Danny sitting there on the couch, staring back at them? Seriously? Thankfully, Simon lays down the law and calls it an end to Scott's roller-coaster. I'm sure Scott will not lack for work after this show is over, but probably not primarily as a live performer. If he does end up on stage again, he should take a cue from Andrea Bocelli, who doesn't try to fake an hyperactive stage presence; he stands there with dignity and emotes like hell, and it works.

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