American Idol: the top 8 men perform songs from the 80’s
Without even knowing for sure what tonight’s theme would be on American Idol I had to guess it was going to be the 80’s. The first two weeks were the 60’s and the 70’s so I was hoping it would be the 80’s. I grew up and graduated from high school in the late 80’s so this music is near and dear to my heart. I think I was about half and half on the performances tonight – I liked about half of them, and did not like about half of them.
Here’s my take on tonight’s show, in the order in which they competed.
Luke Menard. From the beginning I had liked Luke, I think mainly because of where he is from. Believe it or not I actually know people from Crawfordsville, IN. Tonight I thought he was disappointing in his performance of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham. While he kind of sounded like George Michael overall I thought the performance was nothing special. Paula, as always, was kind in her comments to Luke, saying that while it was a surprising song choice she loved his interpretation of it. Simon said it was weak and a bit girly and in his words he “can’t win” this competition. A little harsh, but probably pretty accurate.
David Archuleta. David started out behind the piano in his performance of the Phil Collins song “Another Day in Paradise.” He started out behind the piano, and then in his big star type move got out from behind the piano and finished the song without playing the instrument. I hate this. You’re a kid trying to make it big and I don’t know that you’ve earned the right to pull a move like that. Simon commented that he should have stayed behind the piano, and said that he is picking some really dark and gloomy songs and that he needs to lighten up. Randy didn’t think the song showed off what he could do and said the piano move was like being at his concert. Paula said that the performance was not perfect and she loved that fact and it was wonderful because it wasn’t perfect. Huh?
Danny Noriega. He sang the song “Tainted Love” and I was surprised to hear this manly and masculine voice come from Christian Siriano’s double (a reference to another fave reality show Project Runway). Give him a faux-hawk and he is Christian. I liked the arrangement of the song but I found him as a performer distracting and that took away from it for me. Randy loved his arrangement of the song, while Paul said he had great vocals. Simon said the whole thing was horrible and useless, and that he hated both the arrangement and his performance. Ouch.
David Hernandez. At first I was distracted because I was trying to remember the song, and then I figured out it was the song “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” that was a hit for Celine Dion. I think that for anyone to pick a song that Celine has performed has to have some brass ones, because she is so amazing as a singer and a performer overall. I don’t think I ever heard David perform before tonight (the kids were probably crying or something in the other shows) but I was kind of impressed by him. I thought he had this amazing big voice that could handle the song. Jim Steinman is the songwriter and I think he’s written songs for Meatloaf, another singer with a really big voice. David kind of reminded me of Meatloaf tonight, and for me this is a good thing because I love Meatloaf the singer (not the food LOL). Randy and Paula liked the performance, while Simon said it was not as good as last week but good enough to get him into the finals.
Michael Johns. Michael was thrown a bit of a curve ball tonight, because he was pushed forward in the performance order because of guitar problems for David Cook. Michael did the Simple Minds song “Don’t You Forget About Me” and he did a great performance. It really seemed as if this song “fit” Michael and his vocal style. All three of the judges liked it. Randy and Paula really liked it, while Simon being Simon said he liked it but didn’t love it. Typical Simon I guess.
David Cook. You would think that there might be some nerves on David’s part after having his guitar problems but there was no sign of that at all when he performed the Lionel Ritchie song “Hello” and what a performance he gave. It was harder and more edgy than the original song . All three of the judges loved it. Randy and Paula said that his arrangement of the song and his performance of it could be a hit right now. Simon said it was a risky and brave move on his part but it paid off and he loved it.
Jason Castro. Let me first start by saying that Jason needs to get rid of the dredlocks. When he said that his most embarrassing moment was having a dred break off while on a date should be his first clue. They have got to go. That being said, I did not like his performance either tonight. It was a song that I did not recognize and that distracted me. I actually had to Google some of the lyrics and the name Jeff Buckley to find out that the song he performed was Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The judges loved his performance and Simon even called it brilliant. I just didn’t get it.
Chikezie. He had an interesting song choice, masculizing the song “All the Man that I Need” that was made famous in the 1990’s by Whitney Houston. It just distracted me. It seemed really kind of karaoke to me as well. Simon said it was a bad song choice and more cabaret.
At the end of the night my favorites were David Hernandez, David Cook and Michael Johns. I think that Chikezie and Luke Menard will be going home on Thursday. While I don’t like Danny Noriega he seems to be a fan fave so he’ll probably make it through, along with Jason Castro. The ladies seem to like Jason. I’m not sure why, but they do.
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March 5th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
That was some terrifying stuff. I caught the tail end, with Danny (who we initially thought was a lesbian) and then a clip of Jason (who again surprised us because by then we had realized it was Guy Night) and… yeah. Are they too young to understand the awesomeness of the 80s songs? They’re trying to make them into club music and folksongs and things.