Over the years, Top 3 night has given us some great gems of music. Our friends at What Not to Sing describe it as must-see-TV. However, given how things have turned out, our expectations were muted.
For at least the first half of the show, those low expectations proved right on track. They ranged between the mediocre to the bad. Kris Allen showed the limits of a song that “suited” him: it was so similar to his style, even a good vocal sounded like it was straight out of a karaoke bar. Kris couldn’t do anything to make it more interesting, because to do so would have taken him beyond his vocal ability. This song was something of a booby prize.
Adam Lambert also had a so-so outing with U2′s One. The start was, in our opinion, pretty good. When it started up though… no. It exposed his chief vocal limitation: at times, Adam can sound like he’s shouting the song, not singing it. On the plus side, Adam proved he could actually convey the emotions of a song without resorting to excessively slow ballads or over-the-top acting.
For all the mediocrity in both Adam and Kris’s performances, though, they were miles ahead of Danny. The performance aspects of it – moving about the stage, connecting with the audience, the interplay with the saxophonist – were pretty good. However, it couldn’t cover up the mediocre singing. This is the top three. My standards for a top three performance are pretty high, and this was nowhere near. No range, no power… this was an utter failure as a song.
Things looked up considerably in the second half of the show. Heartless was a remarkably gutsy call by Kris – and not the sign of someone lacking in their artistic abilities. This was the textbook example of making a song your own. His vocals were powerful when they needed to be, controlled when they needed be. This was the song of someone who had nothing left to lose and laid it all out live on the Idol stage. Brilliant.
There was a good song somewhere in Adam Lambert’s Cryin’. However, somewhere along the line it turned into something.. somewhat ordinary. It just didn’t have the overall quality of his past performances. The vocals were again a little too much screamy, the arrangement felt all over the place… it was good, yes, but not much further than that. This did not deserve all the praise it get in our opinion. Adam may have the ability to hit a high note and hold it, but there’s a lot more to music than that, Kara.
As for Danny… You Are So Beautiful was an enormous improvement over Dance Little Sister, but that doesn’t mean it was all that good either. Like his first song, Danny checked off everything needed for a top-notch Idol performance… except singing well. The slower song helped matters there a little, but I’d class it as no more than “decent”. And “decent” isn’t where contestants should be this late into the season.
Like the rest of the season, the Top 3 left us underwhelmed. One of Kris’s songs was brilliant, but the other was well-done copycat karaoke. Adam had an off night – perhaps the shift to multiple solo songs isn’t doing him any favors. Danny was disappointing; his performances were just not up to the standards of a top 3 show.
That’s what we meant: Just over the weekend, I wrote up Part 1 of our Season Post-Mortem and pretty much called out the judges and producers for thinking a little too highly of themselves this year.
Somewhere, the Idol gods must have nodded in agreement and decided to underscore our point by making fools of the judges this week. In a year full of low points for Randy, Kara, Paula, and Simon last night stands out for all the wrong reasons.
Maybe it’s just us, but it seems that the judges used up more time talking about each other than actually critiquing the songs. If the judges have issues backstage that are spilling over to the cameras, please, we really don’t want to hear about it.
Merit versus the bus: If it were just up to merit, this would be a ridiculously easy pick. Danny Gokey has been the very definition of underwhelming, and Kris was the best of the night by far.
However, the top three has been known to produce wacky results. (See: Melinda Doolittle.) Anyone could go home.
In all likelihood, though, it’s down to a Kris-versus-Danny fight. Simon defused the possibility of a surprise Adam boot with his plea for Adam fans to vote. It’s probably enough to keep him safe, although it’s quite likely he’ll be put in the bottom two.
Danny has a fanbase that is a lot stronger than it really deserves to be, based on the quality (or lack of) of his performances. Kris, on the other hand, shone the most last night. It should be a pretty even fight that’d be tough to call… in normal circumstances.
However, there is a catch. As medicore as Danny was, the judges – for the second week in a row – overpraised him. Paula’s song choice was vocally “very, very good”? Really now? And You Are So Beautiful was a “masterpiece”? What are the judges on, because I’d sure as heck like to find some.
With that in mind, it’s clear that Kris’s edge in performance won’t be as big in at least some minds as it ought to be. Danny will be perceived to have two good performances, whereas Kris will have only one.
In the end, when the producers really want a finale, they’ll probably get it. With that in mind…
The Idol Guy pick: Kris Allen to go home.
Tags: Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Performance night
Thank you for recognizing the judges being out of line this season. They have been ridiculous as a whole and need to step back, watch the show and critque themselves OFF-AIR!
I am sick of their favortism and praise of one particular contestant when these guys are all so talented and completely different. You can not honestly compare them to one another to say one is better, but recognize each of their strengths and leave it to America to vote. Randy seems to be the only one that does fairly state strengths and weaknesses without trying to solicate one person over the rest.
One thing I don’t get out of all you people that have been following the show for so long, is how people vote. So much of the voting is the support of the area they are from, i.e. southern contestants usually get more of a push from their communities and surrounding states. Go back and look at past seasons and see how many are from the south, i.e. Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia. In fact last year was the only year where a southern was not in the final two but let’s see where Cook was from, OH Missiouri…hmmmm a little closer to the South than Utah.
Also, mainstream America is generally more moderate and does not prefer any extreme style over a more subtle solid style. Which in this case Adam is an extreme edgey screaming rocker in performance and looks. Most people would prefer a more subtle tone over this.
Both of these points, prove not only why Kris Allen is where he is but also why he has an EXCELLENT chance of taking the title. He is not an underdog when you analyze the voting history of America.
It is time the judges come back to reality and get in tune with what main stream AMERICA really enjoys and will support.
Enjoy your reviews!