Paula Steals The Show From Under The Girls’ Feet
Last night’s American Idol was something of a comedown after the Danny Noriega sass- and Jeff Buckley homage-filled episode on Tuesday; the eight remaining ladies in the competition turned in mostly OK work, with Kristy Lee Cook’s lozenged-up tongue and Paula Abdul’s antics providing the most spice during the evening. My rankings of the top 8 and picks for who’s going home after the jump.
(Note: No. 1 on last night’s ladies’ side = No. 4-ish on Tuesday night’s guys’ side.)
1. Carly Smithson. I know, I know. Carly again? But now that Alex Lushington is out there’s not much else for me to hang on to. I do wish that the Celine Dion covers of songs weren’t the go-to ones for the Idol performers–I would have much rather heard Carly reinterpret Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night,” which would at the very least have been much better matched with the tattoo-and-black-tank persona she’s cultivating–but she still had the best vocal of the night.
2. Brooke White. Her Unplugged version of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” was nothing to write home about, but it was one of the better performances of an overall lackluster evening. Also in the post-performance judging she had a complete deer-in-the-headlights look while Paula spoke, probably because the sheltered Brooke has never seen anyone that whacked-out before.
3. Amanda Overmyer. Took on Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself For Loving You,” which complemented her super-raspy voice well. But she was shaky at the beginning and kind of nervous throughout–while going live seemed to invigorate the top eight guys, the girls seemed to have the exact opposite reaction, clamming up en masse–and it took a toll on her performance, which wound up being at the “semi-competent bar band” level.
(Smallish gap here.)
4. Asia’h Epperson/Syesha Mercado. Two Whitney covers bookended the show, with Asia’h singing “I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me” and Syesha tackling “Saving All My Love For You.” Both versions were fine, although not lacking a “huh” element; Asia’h’s super-husky voice prevented me from really connecting with her performance, while Syesha seemed somewhat removed from the proceedings, almost like she was punching a clock in the 90 seconds that she was allotted. And obviously there’s the whole “don’t touch Whitney, she’s in the pantheon of divas, blah blah blah” position taken by some of the judges. I’m starting to come around to that, even though Whitney hasn’t been in the spotlight for years and years.
(Big gap here.)
6. Ramiele Malubay. How do you perform “Against All Odds” without doing the freakout at the end? I ask you.
7. Kristy Lee Cook. It’s probably bad that when I saw Jason Castro mouthing along with her take on “Faithfully” from the side of the stage, I thought to myself, “Man, I wish he was up there singing this.” And then I thought, “Well, at least her tongue makes her stick out.” But hey, she’s OK with not winning!
(The now-patented Freddie Mercury-range-sized gap.)
8. Kady Malloy. Why, why, why would you sing Queen’s “Who Wants To Live Forever”? It’s a somewhat dreary song and not one of Queen’s best, and its only saving grace is the voice–and vocal charisma–of Freddie Mercury. Whose range–and charisma–Kady does not have at all, and who should probably join the judges’ list of “singers whose voices you will never be able to replicate” that is currently populated by Whitney, Celine, and Mariah. I seriously got worried that Vote For The Worst was going to switch its alliance from Amanda to Kady after this performance.
WHO’S GOING HOME: Something tells me that Simon’s 100% true proclamation that Kristy Lee and Kady are both lacking in personality will get people mobilizing for them. So I’m going to hedge my bets: The pair of ladies going home will consist of either Kristy Lee or Kady AND either Syesha or Asia’h, with the highest probable pair being Kady and Asia’h.
PAULA ABDUL OUT-OF-IT SCALE: 9.5/10. Really if one person would have “won” last night on personality, it was Paula, who was even more off the charts than she was on Tuesday night. The proclamation that there aren’t enough adjectives in the world to fully describe Carly Smithson. The multiple references to dogs and her proclamation that she loved mutts. The leaning against Simon that looked like she had gone into an end-of-the-bar-night haze. I’m only giving her a 9.5 as insurance against greater craziness next week.
[Photo: rickey.org]
