Thanks, Toni. I'll give the question of mine you answered a 7 out of a 10--and that's a compliment
Still am curious about where *facts* such as "A lot of people voted just to get Fantasia off...and since LaToya's number was busy they all voted for Jazz and Diana..." come from. I don't mean to sound accusatory. We all know how *facts* get started on forums. I'm just genuinely perplexed. Are such things the consensus on some heavy duty Idol thread? Help!
Mike, I read a few reviews on a couple of other websites and they were very much different from your review. I guess I will wait and decide myself when I watch tonight.........42
Show, I'm very curious to know what the reviews you read that were very different from Mike's said. I've got a friend coming in from out of town tomorrow (dang these 25-year friendships; couldn't she have waited another day or two around my AI schedule?!) so my web surfing is limited to boogie boarding.
Oh, Twinnie, PLEASE watch if only to give us the quintessential Rgal analysis!
JMO. First of all, the choice of Clive Davis as guest judge/one song chooser was BRILLIANT! Davis said more with just his song choices than almost all the other guest judges combined this season, with only Quentin Tarentino coming close. But in every one of Davis's choices or comments was all those years of pop music experience at the highest levels--and I'm sure some tough learning experiences too. I saw "The E True Hollywood Story" about AI and I couldn't believe (thought of course I could) that Kim Locke was still complaining about how Simon never told her she had an incredible voice and how obviously he didn't want her to win. I was disappointed in hearing her whine that way. Kim got a great song for her first single "Eight Wonder," she does a great job with it, and she deserves the success she's getting. But if she things she isn't going to get her butt kicked in ways to make Simon's criticisms feel like love taps, well, she's got some learning experiences coming her way. It was also interesting to hear Nikki McKibbon's take on being AI-1's Jasmine Trias. She said the thing she kept foremost in her mind was that her daughter would be seeing her behavior on TV and that more than anything she wanted to set a good example in how she comported herself. So +1 for Nikki; -1 for Kim, at least in terms of behavior.
One thing that annoyed me was the way Seacrest talked about, or was scripted to talk about, LaToya being voted off. Earlier on Entertainment Tonight, one of the AI producers reinforced how the voting was perfectly fair, etc. Why they persist in this "If LaToya got voted off, you wanted it that way" line and "Maybe you thought, 'Oh she'll be safe'" crap when AI is being investigated by the FCC? Plus this, "Just keep trying, you'll get through." Yeah, once in two hours even with auto-redial. It just annoys me when the AI producers treat the public as if it doesn't know about the technology for block dialing and blocking calls. I can forgive the producers for not anticipating the extent of the gambling money involved and therefore the misuse of technology, but I think they should just shut up about it at this point. Encourage voting as usual, but to have Seacrest take this parental, "Well, if you wanted LaToya on the show, you should have tried harder to voted for ehr. How many times have I told you, so don't blame me. Tch, tch, tch."
Okay, kvetch over.
And what were Simon and Clive whispering about so intently at the end of the show?
Mike,
I loved your review! Quick, to the point, great insights.
Song 1:
Fantasia: "Chain of Fools." Referring to Mike's comment "although it did remind me a tad too much of her rendition of 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine,'" I think a lot of Motown songs from a certain era are similar in structure, like true blues, and are tough to make sound different--unless you're comparing Marvin Gaye's version with Creedence Clearwater Revival's of "Grapevine."
I agree that Fantasia was amazing and I hadn't realized how much I'd been missing great Motown music as sung by today's youth. Whatever the outcome, I just hope they don't try to turn Fantasia into another Janet, Brittany, Christina, L'il Kim, or another anybody. I know time is money, but let her find who she really is. Clive and Simon both emphasized the difference between copying someone and infusing a song with your own originality. Fantasia definitely got it on this one.
Jasmine: "I'm Saving All My Love for You." As I said before, Jasmine seems like a genuinely nice girl and has something, but tonight was literally painful for me to both hear and watch her. This was her best performance of the night, IMO, because I think it was the only one right smack in the middle of her range and also because it suited her personality.
Diana: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"...to keep Diana from shouting across the Himalayas.
Song 2:
Fantasia: "Fool in Love." Although it's a similar Motown song to "Chain of Fools," this actually is kind of a rap and really let Fantasia strut it and live it large. It's right in her sweet spot, not a stretch for her, but it was so great to see and hear her revel in it. It was like a giant musical bubble bath for me, but a genius of a bath. Plus, it did exactly what Simon wanted the song to do: Allow Fantasia to show off her personality, which is the only one of the group that's funny in a funky, ironic way. This also had my absolute favorite shot of the night. After Fantasia finished singing down in the audience, with everybody up on their feet, applauding and making a ruckus, they get a shot of Fantasia's daughter, who is sound asleep on her grandmother's shoulder.
That'll bring you back down to earth.
Jasmine: "Mr. Melody." I'd never heard this song before and I hope I never have to hear it again. It was in her range, which is slightly high, but there are so many other upbeat simply songs like that. I don't think Paula did Jasmine any favors. And the attempt at scattin' was, OMG...what were they thinking? But I agree with Mike that Jazz hit more notes in this song than any other tonight. In fact, more than she's hit in a loooooong time.
Diana: "Because You Loved Me." UGG. It was going to take a lot to be worse than "Mr. Melody," and I think I understand what Randy was hoping for, ie, a gentler, less one-man-band version of Diana, something that showed her emotions. During one line of "because you loved me" Diana pointed upwards, which is fine. But I think that you're going to have a better chance at this age of finding and conveying the emotion in a song if the love concerns a person--mother, grandparent, whomever. I just think it's tough to "keep it real" as Randy would say if the love one is singing about in a situation like this is religious, spiritual, or whatever you want to call it. As the song says, "It's called agapé love..." and that kind of love is very abstract and IMO, takes more maturity and experience in order to express it to others unless you're in a church or worship situation and everybody is there for the same reasons.
Song 3:
Fantasia: "The Greatest Love of All." Definitely one of the songs I hate the most. However, I am very glad she was challenged to sing it. This is not at all her style and during the first half of the song I thought, "Wow, she's really going to tank." But somewhere around halfway through, right after she hit the first really bad notes I've ever heard her sing, my guess is she got over her fear of messing up the song or something, because she completely turned it around. I can't say it any better than Mike, whichi is, "It really drew the fans in emotionally, once again showing Fantasia to be a down-to-earth, emotionally driven artist." ITA with that and ITA that if she wins, it will have been this song that put her over the top. However, Paula finally said something I completely agree with: I don't think Fantasia needs the contest anymore.
Diana: "Don't Cry Out Loud." Another great song choice by Clive Davis. Even though Diana was all over the place with the vocals, she refrained from shouting (except one spot near the end), which she resorts to a lot on songs like these. Oddly, she couldn't hit a note to save her life early on, which is not one of Diana's usual problems. But she brought it home in the second half, got the emotion into it, and got the equivalent of a "high five" from Davis. Diana is a good learner and if she got with the right vocal teacher (Twinnie, could you stand it?
), she could be really something. But if somebody doesn't teach her what *real* even is, she'll just be another girl born with a set of great pipes who only knows how to sing loud and hold notes long.
Jasmine: "All By Myself." Too bad Jasmine wasn't all by herself for this performance. I could hardly bear this. Besides the usual off-pitch notes, I think Clive Davis got to the center of it. There was nothing about loneliness in her performance. It's the classic mistakes of so many young singers, whether they be young in experience or age. They sing the notes, not the heart of the song. I also blame the voice coach, because that person should have arranged it better and TOLD Jasmine this is NOT the song to go for the rafters at the end.
I won't make any predictions, but I really don't care at this point. Fantasia will get a record deal, probably the best record deal, no matter who "wins" and then it's up to her and her producers to put those thoroughbred lips to great use. And up to the US music-buying public to open its ears and its wallets.
The worst thing about watching this was thinking about what could have, should have been, IMO. A Jennifer, LaToya, Fantasia final three. Oh, man. I wish I had the money to produce "AI-3 Final 3 II" with LaFannifer. Different songs of course. But really. I'm PO'd. When else do we ever have the opportunity to watch the three best singer/performers out of 70,000 auditioners, after about 10 or 12 weeks of intense training try to out sing each other. The other thing I've been watching a lot this week is where school integration is 60 years after Brown vs. Board of Education. We've got a very, very long way to go. Man, just think of what we might have heard tonight.:sheesh:
Rgirl
should have KNOWN this. And given the fact that Fantasia has pretty much proven that she can sing just about ANYTHING, Simon had HUNDREDS of songs to choose from for her to do, and he chose this one. I give Fantasia an 8.5, Simon a 1.
