American Idol – LA download recaps

Lots of things have happened so far in Idol land.

Some themes that I’ve missed writing about: – Rat Pack Standards (Jamie Foxx), – Disco (KC from KC & the Sunshine Band, etc), – Music from the Movies (Quentin Tarantino), – Songs from the year they were born.

- Former frontrunner Lil Rounds got the boot, as well as crowd favorite Anoop Desai, as a result of the dramatic use of the first-time-ever-used-on-the-show “Judges Save” on Matt Giraud. The Judges Save basically lets the judges opt to keep one strong competitor in, in case the voters get busy saving their other favorites, but kick out the weakest two in the next round.

- However, Matt G proved to be unpopular as he struggled with being bottom 3 week after week, despite getting mixed reviews from the four judges. Although he’s a good singer and artist, and sort of cute, he kept veering from R&B/blues to rock which changes his voice considerably. Sadly, even though the judges did save him, Simon Cowell was right in saying he didn’t think Matt can win AI. I liked him, but I didn’t think he could win either. Matt should be thankful for his awesome Ray Charles number back in Hollywood week which blew so many people away and possibly became the reason for his judges save. First impressions last after all!

Lil Rounds had a more or less similar critique of not being her own artist , of just being a good copycat. Maybe she shouldve picked some rock songs and made them soul-jazzish? That would perk up the listeners ears. It seems to me that being a great singer on AI is no longer enough to win. You really need to learn to reinvent songs. The ante just keeps getting higher season after season!

This past week, Top 4 show featured SLASH (from 80s rock band Guns N Roses) as the idol hopefuls’ rock guru. Of course, we all know who killed it, singing a very cool cover of Led Zepplin’s A Whole Lotta Love. Adam Lambert did a good jam with Allison Iraheta and matched her high female notes with his in-tune melodious shrieking. Danny Gokey also jammed with Kris Allen…which made Simon do the evil thing: compared the two, saying Danny was better. Danny’s solo rock performance leaves a lot to be desired, especially after he did his high shrieking final note, determined to steal the style from Adam. It was awful!

- Top 4 results show was so dramatic, with so many superstars gracing the show (No Doubt, SLASH, Daughtry, and Paula Abdul…huwatt??). They made sure the audience knew how crucial it was to stay long enough for the top3 show, because being in the top 3 meant a hometown visit and more likely a crazy reception from the townspeope. I love how they showed flashbacks of the past AI top3 shows…and I kept looking for elliott….they did only one long (but significant) clip of him on a motorcade parade, with his mom Claudette, crying beside him like she still couldn’t believe it was happening. Aww, RIP Claudette Yamin!
Its too bad hometown visits couldnt be held next month instead, when I’m going to be in Milwaukee! haha You just might see me at the parade, if thats the case!

This season, my bet only went as far as Top5. My personal remaining favorite would be Kris Allen , the dark horse of the competition, who can sound like local band/singer Bamboo or the Jonas brothers or Maroon5 in a blink. He’s humble too, unlike Danny & Adam; which makes me think Kris deliberately took a leaf out of Archuleta’s book: people LOVE that shit! I especially liked how he sang Falling Slowly, which is from a very touching non-Hollywood movie ONCE. The fact that he knew the song and actually sang it gave Kris a never-before seen depth. He’s quite malleable –no Jonas brother there!

However, I am uncertain about his winnability… Adam is just so good. Personally, I don’t like AEROSMITH or KISS and he takes those rock bands to a different level with his shrieking! It’s amazing …bordering annoying, to be honest. Danny, is… well, from the tone of his voice, I can only imagine him making records like Lifehouse (or is it Lighthouse?) which bores me to death! Danny is really popular, though, and he’s never been on the bottom 3… until the top 4 results show (the safe ones called out randomly, too). His singing style reminds me of Taylor Hicks, who has yet to come out with an awesome record like everybody else who graduated from AI.

So how would these boys fair? We’ll see how the ladies are voting & find out next tuesday, I suppose!