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I'm going to see a house tonight. *twirls* I drove past three last night (one of which was near the nastiest trailer park), and the third one really caught my eye. So this morning I caleld and set up a viewing time!
This house. The picture doesn't do it justice, oddly enough. .73 acres! There's a huge lawn with big, tall, OLD trees (but not too old).
***
American Idol - Songs of the 21st Century
Be warned, I was skewed differently than most folks for last night.
1. Lisa - The beginning with just the piano was good, but then it went big and she lost the song. She was flat most of the time and it was too big for her, just like Simon said.
2. Kellie - Okay, so I like Sara Evans, I like that song, and I get that song. I spent most of the performance in the kitchen cooking pasta, so I actually liked Kellie's singing on it. The thing I didn't like? Her performance. What I did see was wooden with dead eyes, NOT in keeping with an upbeat song.
3. Ace - It's a good song, but not a performance song. Plus he's a tiny bit nasal and the hair touching/scar showing schtick is just too much.
4. Taylor - Vocally I found that the best song of the night. He just got unlucky and did a slow song on a night that sucked for most everyone else.
5. Mandisa - Not her best performance by a long shot. I'm still trying to figure out how Gospel would play to the audience at large. On one hand, Carrie Underwood's song is Jesus Take The Wheel, so it may play well. On the other hand, it's not quite the same as siging country.
6. Chris - Dear lord. CREED? Ugh! And then of all songs, it was one that the audience isn't going to understand as far as vocals go. Sucked mightily.
7. Katharine - It felt too high for her in the beginning. And I'm weird, but C. Aguilera gets teh emotions of songs better than Katharine. (And what crack was Randy smoking with the "This the kind of music you'd make if you had an album out"? Um, "Voice Within" is one of two "sweet" songs on that album, which goes very dark or very skanky/fun otherwise. I cannot see Katharine doing C.A.)
8. Bucky - I have a very basic understanding of my reaction to Bucky and others reactions to Bucky: his style is going to work for part of the audience and not another part, but the part that do like him, LOVE him. It's a multi-leveled thing. For one, he has the ability to choose songs that are perfectly suited for him if it's in his comfort zone (and sometimes when out, see "Superstition"). His voice is the most limited in the competition, but the raspy edge and penchant for rock/country sometimes take his vocal problems out of the equation for those that prefer those styles over power ballads. And he has a very identifiable everyman quality that fits perfectly with his musical choices. Him singing his best isn't necessarily competitive with if Lisa sings her best, but when Lisa sings her worst, it makes Bucky's best look even better. (The judges also seem geniunely confused by Bucky, which is interesting. Simon has never really been able to understand upbeat country, which admittedly is a rough portion of country music anyway, but when you look at Kellie and Bucky, the upbeat country is their genre. Bucky is particularly confusing because there's almost an intangible that make fans like him more than Lisa, a person who *should* be competitive but isn't, and sometimes the intangible - in this case not a star-quality intangible, but still something extra - keeps them past people who you look back on thinking "but they were better". It's a difference that's less apparent during the competition than afterwards.) And the thing is, Bucky is doing his best. He could improve in massive ways, but I think a lack of musical education is really hindering him, and a lack of musical ear. He's not original, but he's enjoyable.
9. Paris - I loved the vocal and the performance, but...see, when Aloha Micheaux did this song, it was sexy and fun and boistrous and large. And they told her she was too Beyonce. Paris does nearly an identical performance and they DON'T call her a Beyonce clone, and somehow it was too much for a 17-year-old. By "too much" I mean too racy. Aloha kept it sexy and fun, but Paris somehow overemphasized something in there that took it too a borderline skanky level. And yet overall, the performance still pushed the envelope further than anyone else last night.
10. Elliott - First, I liked the arrangement (although the beat got wonky at times). I liked the subtle differences that worked to Elliott's style. He did exactly what the judges have been harping about and capped the evening wonderfully for me. His vocal wasn't perfect, but he did remember to make himself different from everyone else, and that ability to be self-aware and aware of your competition can help him.
Bottom Three (for me): Lisa, Kellie, Ace
Top Three: Paris, Taylor, Elliott
This house. The picture doesn't do it justice, oddly enough. .73 acres! There's a huge lawn with big, tall, OLD trees (but not too old).
***
American Idol - Songs of the 21st Century
Be warned, I was skewed differently than most folks for last night.
1. Lisa - The beginning with just the piano was good, but then it went big and she lost the song. She was flat most of the time and it was too big for her, just like Simon said.
2. Kellie - Okay, so I like Sara Evans, I like that song, and I get that song. I spent most of the performance in the kitchen cooking pasta, so I actually liked Kellie's singing on it. The thing I didn't like? Her performance. What I did see was wooden with dead eyes, NOT in keeping with an upbeat song.
3. Ace - It's a good song, but not a performance song. Plus he's a tiny bit nasal and the hair touching/scar showing schtick is just too much.
4. Taylor - Vocally I found that the best song of the night. He just got unlucky and did a slow song on a night that sucked for most everyone else.
5. Mandisa - Not her best performance by a long shot. I'm still trying to figure out how Gospel would play to the audience at large. On one hand, Carrie Underwood's song is Jesus Take The Wheel, so it may play well. On the other hand, it's not quite the same as siging country.
6. Chris - Dear lord. CREED? Ugh! And then of all songs, it was one that the audience isn't going to understand as far as vocals go. Sucked mightily.
7. Katharine - It felt too high for her in the beginning. And I'm weird, but C. Aguilera gets teh emotions of songs better than Katharine. (And what crack was Randy smoking with the "This the kind of music you'd make if you had an album out"? Um, "Voice Within" is one of two "sweet" songs on that album, which goes very dark or very skanky/fun otherwise. I cannot see Katharine doing C.A.)
8. Bucky - I have a very basic understanding of my reaction to Bucky and others reactions to Bucky: his style is going to work for part of the audience and not another part, but the part that do like him, LOVE him. It's a multi-leveled thing. For one, he has the ability to choose songs that are perfectly suited for him if it's in his comfort zone (and sometimes when out, see "Superstition"). His voice is the most limited in the competition, but the raspy edge and penchant for rock/country sometimes take his vocal problems out of the equation for those that prefer those styles over power ballads. And he has a very identifiable everyman quality that fits perfectly with his musical choices. Him singing his best isn't necessarily competitive with if Lisa sings her best, but when Lisa sings her worst, it makes Bucky's best look even better. (The judges also seem geniunely confused by Bucky, which is interesting. Simon has never really been able to understand upbeat country, which admittedly is a rough portion of country music anyway, but when you look at Kellie and Bucky, the upbeat country is their genre. Bucky is particularly confusing because there's almost an intangible that make fans like him more than Lisa, a person who *should* be competitive but isn't, and sometimes the intangible - in this case not a star-quality intangible, but still something extra - keeps them past people who you look back on thinking "but they were better". It's a difference that's less apparent during the competition than afterwards.) And the thing is, Bucky is doing his best. He could improve in massive ways, but I think a lack of musical education is really hindering him, and a lack of musical ear. He's not original, but he's enjoyable.
9. Paris - I loved the vocal and the performance, but...see, when Aloha Micheaux did this song, it was sexy and fun and boistrous and large. And they told her she was too Beyonce. Paris does nearly an identical performance and they DON'T call her a Beyonce clone, and somehow it was too much for a 17-year-old. By "too much" I mean too racy. Aloha kept it sexy and fun, but Paris somehow overemphasized something in there that took it too a borderline skanky level. And yet overall, the performance still pushed the envelope further than anyone else last night.
10. Elliott - First, I liked the arrangement (although the beat got wonky at times). I liked the subtle differences that worked to Elliott's style. He did exactly what the judges have been harping about and capped the evening wonderfully for me. His vocal wasn't perfect, but he did remember to make himself different from everyone else, and that ability to be self-aware and aware of your competition can help him.
Bottom Three (for me): Lisa, Kellie, Ace
Top Three: Paris, Taylor, Elliott
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