pop culture, reviewed

Lennon/McCartney? Nooo……. so much potential for sacrilege and
blasphemy. Just listening to Paula talk about the songs hurt me a little.
Let’s discuss.

Syesha Merkado — “Got to Get You Into My Life.” Bad. BAD. She needs to
go home. (Jake says: “I’m going to count how many people need to go home
after butchering the songs tonight.”) I’m a little worried that this is the
first exposure that the baby is going to have to this song — to a lot of
these songs. I feel guilty. Does Simon have brain damage tonight? It was
AWFUL.

Chikezie — “She’s a Woman.” I always get worried when they talk about
putting “their own flavor” on a song by such songwriters as
Lennon/McCartney, but I give Chikezie huge props for picking a song that the
audience isn’t going to have such an emotional attachment to. If you can’t
sing one of the classics, don’t. WAY better than Syesha, and all in all,
the first time I have been remotely interested in anything that Chikezie has
sung. He was also super cute when he got really excited after hearing that
they all liked it.

Ramiele Mulabay — “In My Life.” Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m not excited to
hear Ramiele sing one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME FOREVER AND EVER AND
EVER. Jake left the room. Overall, I was right not to be excited. It
wasn’t quite as horrendous as Syesha, but it was dullsville all the way and
a totally pointless cover version that I would never listen to by choice.
Bad times.

Jason Castro — “If I Fell.” My initial reaction? Pretty good choice for
him and I’m glad to see that his guitar is back. I think it’s way smart for
them to choose some of the lesser-knowns — less pressure, less potential
for butchering. It wasn’t quite as good as I expected him to be, but all in
all, okay. Not mind-blowing, but nowhere near as bad as Syesha and Ramiele.
I like his song choices overall; I think he and Brooke White have done the
best job so far of picking good songs every week.

Carly Smithson — “Come Together.” I think it was smart of her to choose a
rocker, and it was pretty good. I’m not going to start listening to that
version over the original, of course, but she was probably the best Idol to
do that one and I didn’t mind it at all. So far, she and Chikezie are the
best of the night.

Jason Cook — “Eleanor Rigby.” You know how it was so cool and such a good
idea when he sang “Hello” and made it kind of new rocker? Yeah, NOT a good
idea with “Eleanor Rigby.” BOOOOOO. The way he’s jumping up and down makes
me think that he thinks it was good. NO. And Randy, you’re wrong! Paula,
you’re SO wrong! Simon said it was brilliant? That makes me so
disappointed in Simon. HORRID. HORRID.

Brooke White — “Let It Be.” I like Brooke a lot so I want her to do well,
so I was nervous. I loved that she is playing the piano herself. I think
it’s really appropriate that she usually eschews the band — she is not a
funk house band kind of singer, and that’s good, and it’s good that she
knows it. I really appreciate that she did a totally straightforward
version of the song. Her performance was respectful and convincing. Whew.
I still like her. Good job, Brooke. I also cried a little when she
started crying.

David Hernandez — “I Saw Her Standing There.” Embarrassing. This
performance really reflected poorly on all gay strippers who want to be your
American Idol. As I told Jake, “Tiffany’s version was better.” Jake
replied, “My version in the shower yesterday was also better.” I’m sure
that is also true. David Hernandez and Syesha need to leave the
competition. As far as I am concerned, their journey ends tonight.

Amanda Overmyer — “You Can’t Do That.” I’m kind of over Amanda. She
doesn’t look like she wants to be there a lot of the time, and it’s probably
just because she is nervous and shy. It might have been smart for her to
steer clear of one of the classics, although I think she could have done an
okay job on “Get Back.”

Michael Johns — “Across the Universe.” Okay, this is one of my favorite
Beatles songs ever, and it is one that lends itself to some good covers
(Rufus, Fiona Apple). This version was not as good as those, obviously, but
it was okay. It was a good song choice, and it’s the first time that I have
liked Michael Johns since the Hollywood round. However, Jake made an
excellent point — he had a little Eddie Vedder in his voice at some points,
which means that he probably should have done a wicked “You’ve Got to Hide
Your Love Away.”

Kristy Lee Cook — “Eight Days a Week.” Ouch. When I heard she was going
to “countrify” “Eight Days a Week,” I kept an open mind. I thought that had
potential. Well, it didn’t work. WAY TOO FAST. I mean, WAY WAY WAY TOO
FAST. No reason to speed the tempo up so much; she could have sung it at
its natural tempo and just made it twangy. BAD. I hope that they decide to
vote off some extra people this week.

David Archuleta — “We Can Work It Out.” Oh, my heart hurts. I had such
high hopes. No. It’s Lennon/McCartney week. There is PLENTY of time on
Idol to do PLENTY of Stevie Wonder songs. Not tonight. No. NO. I still
think he is one of the better singers and I like him a lot, but not this
week.

Who was the best: Brooke. Who should go home: Syesha, Ramiele, David
Hernandez, and Kristy. Yeah, all four of them. Let’s just go ahead and get
down to business.

While I am still somewhat dismayed and befuddled that no Idol contestant seems to share my long-held belief that a killer rendition of Sheriff’s “When I’m With You” would WIN THE COMPETITION, for the most part, I really enjoyed the men’s portion of 80’s Week last night.  Let’s review — 

There were only two interesting things that happened last night on American Idol:  James Van Der Beek was in the audience wearing a newsboy cap and careful stubble, and we all found out that Chris Daughtry has become such a rock star that he has fully embraced Man Makeup.  Other than that, boring, boring, boring, boring — the whole season has been totally underwhelming and a real disappointment.  Not even Paula Abdul’s broken nose made it interesting!  Boring! 

Is Blake Lewis deliberately taunting me?  Is he deliberately trying to hurt my feelings and make my skin crawl?  If not, why would he sing songs from my favorite people two weeks in a row?  I mean, last week it was a Ryan Adams song, and how could he top that (or hit rock bottom, whichever you prefer)?  Well, there was only one way, and he did it this week… John Lennon. It’s bad enough when they sing Whitney or Mariah or Christina or Celine, because they are never as good, but at least with those you can roll your eyes and just mute the TV.  When they butcher your personal favorites, it’s much harder to ignore. 

 At least it wasn’t Sanjaya.  I would have become apoplectic. 

A Ryan Adams song on Idol.

Because even if Tim McGraw’s version had a wider audience, Ryan Adams wrote that song.  Okay?  HE WROTE IT.