I have to admit, as I implied when I started this thread, I was approaching tonight with a little bit of trepidation; I was expecting a lot of really sappy songs and the performance level to be rather uneven. But I gotta say, I think EVERYONE pulled it off tonight.
To varying degrees, anyway:
MY RANKINGS:
1. Blake -- an excellent choice for him, tho a dangerous one, and he DELIVERED. Beautiful! He has this vocal quality sometimes that I can only described as "restrained emotionalism" (many great singers have this, including my all time #1 fave, Emmylou Harris); it's that emotion that lurks just under the surface that really affects me. I have been saying since early on I would LOVE to see him sing Erasure's "Blue Savannah" (a song that just makes me BAWL MY HEAD OFF every time I hear it because the vocal by Andy Bell is so beautiful) and after tonight I REALLY want to hear him do it; he is the only vocalist I've ever heard who could do it as well as Mr. Bell.
Now, in regards to Simon's comment regarding "it not going anywhere" -- um, the ORIGINAL hardly built its way up to a full-on gospel chorus and a cannon going off in the studio, where in the hell did Simon EXPECT it to go??:scratch:
2. Jordin -- OK, it's official, I am TOTALLY going to buy her CD now. I rather suspected from early on that she was going to be the one who snuck up on us, just getting better and better every week, much like Kimberly Locke did in Season 2. She had a couple of rather scratchy high notes, but who cares??
Note to Randy: ENOUGH WITH THE 17 YEARS OLD ALREADY!! JUST STOP IT!!
3. Chris --This was really quite surprisingly very good. My only problem with it is he's got one of those voices that should NOT drag their vowels out too long -- sometimes the i-i-i-i, e-e-e-e, a-a--a-a-a, went on just a BIT too long and it was almost to the point of Yeep! Stop it! The last run was especially a bit of a YOW!!, but beyond that -- his 2nd best performance so far, behind his excellent "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". I liked this a lot more than this critique would indicate.
4. Melinda -- OK. I'll agree it was a "master class". And coupled with the arrangement, it was kind of a problem. Now, granted, Melinda is uncapable of hitting either a sour note or a wrong one, BUT -- she was really kind of all over the place; she certainly got a chance to show ALL her range, and most of the time all in one lyric. It was kind of like "auditory vertigo" for me. Just a bit OVERDONE, IMHO. But I mostly blame the arrangement.
5. Phil --Overall, this wasn't bad, tho rather pitchy. Tho not in his usual places. Usually he's great with the high soaring notes and the stuff in between is sketchy; tonight it was the other way around; some of those high notes were pretty dicy.
6. LaKisha -- First of all, I really have to question her decision to keep singing hits from previous AI winners, but it wouldn't be the first decision she's made that I call into question. It's really NOT a good idea. Getting beyond that -- Now. First off, I have to say that I am a HUGE Fantasia fan and was from Day One of Season 3. I was not, however, a huge fan of that particular song. But Fantasia's version is better. In part because it's much more suited for HER voice. But I'm not putting her last because of my adoration of Fantasia; I just really didn't find her vocal or performance to be that great. I mean, there wasn't anything especially WRONG with it, it just didn't do much for me. I have to wonder, tho, will she gain a few extra votes because Simon told the audience to shut up when they were booing his critique of her??
This morning I said I expected Phil to go home. But honestly, between tonight and her being in the bottom 2 LAST week, I wouldn't be surprised if LaKisha does. Shocking, but I think possible.
