Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Are You American Idol-ing, Too?

Watching American Idol has become a fun family pasttime. Sometimes all the kids join us, and sometimes just M. Peevie. We try to catch all of the singers and most of the judge's commentary (even though Paula Abdul makes me crazy, and not in a good way).

Tonight, Asi'ah sang a Whitney Houston song, I Wanna Dance With Somebody. She did a great job, but as Simon pointed out, she's no Whitney Houston. Our family agreed that she should have given it a different spin, or used a different arrangement, in order to set herself apart from WH instead of trying to copy WH.

And then a little later, Brooke "Not Quite Successfully Passing for 24" White comes on and sings a Pat Benatar song, Love is a Battlefield. She did the opposite from what Asi'ah did: she sang it raw, with just guitar for back-up, sitting on the edge of the stage, with a completely different delivery than Benatar's. We think it worked.

M. Peevie inevitably contributed her seven-year-old-but-beyond-her-years wisdom: "Here's what I think," she said with conviction. "If you try to be like someone else, you'll fail. If you try to just be yourself, you'll do it right." Not following this wisdom could cost Asi'ah her place in the top 12, dawg.

Two other American Idol comments that I must make: One, What is the matter with Paula Abdul? She cannot formulate a coherent thought to save her own life. She said about someone's performance, "there are just not enough adjectives"--um, whuh? Not enough adjectives? Or not enough adjectives in her vocabulary? She makes vague, surreal comments that often repeat a theme from Randy's remarks, but she rarely contributes any original thoughts or constructive criticism. It rankles.

And Two, I think Amanda is fabulous. Vote her back, readers.

What do you think? Who are you voting for?

7 comments:

ladychgo said...

I'll admit it. I'm Idol-ing with you, except this week I popped in on the guys singing and didn't make it in for the ladies. Of the 8 guys, the last 5 blew me away.

Here, here on Paula! I think she made literally the exact same comment to each of the guy's this week. I can't decide if she simply needs more sleep in her life or if she needs to read a book.

Unknown said...

re Paula: More sleep, or fewer mind-altering substances, some have suggested.

I was sad to see Luke go, because he has great upper arms and he looks like Orlando Bloom.

KMR said...

And of course great upper arms and a resemblance to Orlando Bloom are essential traits for a singer!

--Boy George (who has only watched about an hour of the season opener of this year's Idol...)

Unknown said...

Hey, hey, hey. AI is not just about singing, as my boy Simon likes to point out. It's also about entertainment, and appearance, and personality. It certainly does not hurt an entertainer to have biceps and a cute face.

It seems to me that this year all of the contestants are really good looking, though. I don't remember that being the case in previous years--not that I've watched consistently.

KMR said...

Well, if it's also about being cute, then what's Orlando Bloom got to do with it? A visage such as Matthew Fox is more to my taste...

Unknown said...

Darling Boy, It's about the whole package, not just the cute face. Can Matthew Fox sing? Who is he, anyway--is he the guy from Lost? I get him and McDreamy mixed up.

I don't think there are any current contestants who look like M Fox, sorry to say.

KMR said...

I don't know if Matthew can sing, but just looking at him, does it matter? (And I look at him every Thursday on--you got it right--LOST.)

McDreamy??? How in the world did he get that name? There's no comparison at all.

Anyway, maybe it's time I tuned into IDOL again. By now the dreck has been winnowed out, it is to be hoped. Is belting still the preferred style of performing, or have they progressed yet into "real" singing?