Fancast: Inside TV

By the way, going back to Carly’s husband. I wonder when, and if we’ll see him in the audience anytime soon. Under the easy assumption that Carly will be around for a while, I assume that he’ll have to come out and support her at some point. Is America ready for him? Will it hurt her votes to have someone who looks like he could pick you up and bite your ear off without missing a step? On the other hand, the way he held Carly in the audition footage (closely and very tenderly) speaks only of love. I hope we get to see him. It will shake things up a bit…in a good way.

As for her performance, wow, she sang “Crazy On You” and sounded like the recording. She easily proved why she had that record deal in the first place. Even though she seems like she’s yelling at certain points, who cares? It didn’t hurt Kelly Clarkson. Simon dubbed Carly the girl to beat, and I think most of the people in America watching said a collective “No $#!+ I did.

She’s far and away my pick for the finals, and that brings up a question in my mind that I alluded to yesterday. What are the producers, and the contestants ging do to make this more than just a two-horse race. It’s obvious that talent isn’t a question this year. AI was damned if they let another loveable (and I do genuinely like the guy) but laughable Sanjaya into the fray again. So that leaves me with the experience factor. Well…it seems as though they all have some professional experience, so no dice there. I guess the only thing that’s left is song choice. David Archuleta and Carly Smithson could sing the phonebook and it wouldn’t matter. So what’s another contestant to do?

If f I were in one of the other contestants, I’d try and snag the best songs from under them. It seems so Big Brother-ish and cut-throat, but welcome to the survival of the most strategic. Heck, that’s what it’s like in the real world.

My year we didn’t have such problems, we were all so different and there were enough songs and styles to go round that everything just fell into place for us. We sat around on Thursdays and listened to the cleared music that was provided to us, and we picked. There was no fighting, no ‘I wanted this’, or ‘I already called that’. I think the worst of it was decided over a coin flip.

Syesha Mercado-
The package for her was about her commercial acting. Why? Was it an attempt to blunt the criticism that she’s come under for recently being in a Ford commercial? If she worked for Ford Corp, I could see the argument for conflict of interest, but a girl’s gotta eat and a role in a commercial doesn’t mean she’s got a pass to the finals.

“Mr. Jones?” Once again, I have to say that singing a ballad in general, but especially on this show is like singing naked. You better be ready to bear it all. Syesha started rather rocky, but once she got going, her velvety tones and careful and for the most part tasteful runs were nice to listen to. I completely disagreed with the judges though. I don’t care for the belty part of her voice. It sounds a bit forced to me.

I hope that she doesn’t pick a super belty song next week, though I bet she will because then they’ll probably do an about face and tell her that it was forced…etc. Ah well, what can you do. I just hope that she picks a song that plays to the strong high notes she can deliver, and the luscious chest voice that she has. Anything above or below might spell disaster. She is ridiculously beautiful though, isn’t she?

Brooke White-
She does Carly Simon. No surprise. Great song , great arrangement, and a great start. The key was a little to low for her, and unfortunately it came on the chorus. She looks beautiful, whoever did her makeup is an artist because it looks like she barely wearing any. I think that a little attitude even if it was sweetly delivered, did just the trick. She was great with the guitar and was even gracious enough to thank the band. A really good performance all-round.

Remiele Malluby-
She sounds like a 30 year old in the best of ways. I think her voice reminds me of a young Denise Williams (“Lets Hear It For The Boys”), but then again it could be Fisher-Price talking. The song was a little blasé, mainly because (surprisingly) it lacked the oomph that it needed in the chorus. RM has been thus far known for that oomph, made all the more attractive and astounding because it comes out of that small frame. Last night’s performance was like watching what happens when you put regular unleaded in a high performance sports coupe. Sure it still goes, and looks great, but it lacks that extra punch that you’re used to when you mash the gas. No pun intended I think that the song was too big for her.

I experienced the same thing during the 70’s week. I chose Donnie Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” I was vocally tired and under a lot of stress from a poor performance the week before. The song was too big for me, and I had to scream to get to notes that under any other circumstance would have been simple. I was young and so was my voice. The song was done by a man, and I felt like a little boy trying to tackle it.

Something else that RM mentioned struck me. She said that she “heard” that people were gonna call her “Lullaby” instead of Mulluby. Where did she hear this? I can only assume from one damnable place. The Message Boards. I don’t hate things or people. It’s not in my nature, but if there is anything that takes a close vibration to that emotion it’s the American Idol Message Boards. Vile, mean-spirited, jealous, spiteful things are found there. The hurtful words that fester there are like weeds, leaving the few comments of worth and joy that grow there, starved for water and light. The soul who stirs their mouse in that bile is only poorer for the experience. The idol who reads them, as we all have at one point or another, is racked with doubt. No matter how many good comments there are, there’s one derogatory post that will stick like a splinter in your mind. I stopped reading that filth after the first week of being in the top 30, and I hope that the contestants follow suit.

Kristy Lee Cook-
Yes, I’m a sucker for blondes, and a girl that knows how to break a stud is tops in my book. (Insert sound of throat clearing after attempted humor.) Uh, what was I saying? (Fortunately or unfortunately, I think I have a crush on several of these contestants.) I totally respect her for being good with horses and an outdoorsy girl. She’s very pretty and was great on last week’s show. “You’re No Good” was a great song choice. Her physical performance was great and her movements were just enough attitude to get me, but something a lot of “singers” don’t take into account is what that movement does to their throats.

Try singing a note straight and clear when you’re hopping up and down and you’ll see what I mean. Staccato movements with your upper torso invariably affect your diaphragm…your diaphragm is where all your vocal support comes from (or should come from), so your voice ends up kind of sounding like someone’s pressing on your stomach while you sing. That’s cute and all if you’re 6, but not on American Idol. The solution I’ve found for that m by the way, is to have your abs engaged and to avoid moving your hips in the opposite direction of your ribcage as much as possible. It’s going to affect you no matter what, but you can lessen the lurches in your voice by maintaining that support.
Her voice was not as strong as the week before, but good. I could see the red tongue from the use of cherry flavored cough drops. She battled through, and I thought she was good enough to go through to next week.

Amanda Overmyer-
Now here’s an odd situation. I like this girl, but this was not my favorite performance. That’s two weeks in a row. I see and hear her trying to rock, but it seemed like she was trying to keep up with the song at first, and then on the verses, the truth was exposed. I know that her mother reads this blog, and hey, Amanda’s mom, I love your daughter’s spirit, originality, and her voice when she sings Janice (which she seems most comfortable with), but tonight was a performance, that among the others could see your daughter coming home.

I don’t say that with any joy, spite, or a negative vibration in my body. I really like Amanda, as does the rest of America, but the mixture of the hair, the outfit, and the performance that was not up to par with what made us fall in love with her in the first place could spell disaster. To be honest she looked scared, or looked like she was trying to fight off fear through most of the performance. To find the silver lining, I really liked her movement, it was surprising to see come out of someone who is so normally reserved. Her tell came when she looked towards the judges and waited for the axe to come down. She knew she didn’t do well, and I feel really bad for her. She has a place in this competition, but won’t solidify it with that performance.

Alaina Whittaker-
So young. A great talent though. She can certainly sing, all considering she’s 17. She looked great, but seemed to struggle with the highest of the notes in “Hopelessly Devoted”. She’s beautiful and cutesy. I think that she’ll make it through. Not too much to say about this one. Earlier I said that Miss Mullaby was the sleeper (I erased it after her performance, so how were you to know) because of last weeks performance..she was phenomenal. I have to agree with Simon on this one, I think that she is the dark horse, or sleeper, and if she can consistently pick good songs, she’ll make it far. To the finals, I’m not sure, but she’ll stay in the running.

Alandrea Lushingon-
Didn’t really like the song choice. Was there a slim selection of women’s songs or did some girls want to sing mens songs to be different? I didn’t think that the outfit went with the song. It looked like she should have been singing something up-tempo and by Salt ‘n Peppa. I laugh as I write that because it’s not meant as an insult, but if you look at the photo. it’s true. “Lets Talk About Sex” with a great arrangement and some hopping around the stage would have felt better than the vanilla arrangement of a vanilla song. I actually like the original, but I would have rather seen her do a Baby Face arrangement with an acoustic guitar and some anticipated/stacatto notes. You know how he does. I still don’t think it’s a great song choice and comes out forced. She knew it too. I think that she might fall under the axe for this one. She’s been so good and deserves another shot. I hope America votes her through.

Katie Malloy-
Ok is it me or does Katie Malloy look like Alaina Whittaker’s older sister or what? Look at a photo comparison. I think they could totally be related. What ever hapenend o nthe song I don’t know. The beginning was not my favorite. It was almost as though she didn’t know the melody (and to her credit it was really hard and in her lower register), but the chorus was there for her and she could show off her high notes. The song never really took off for me. She’s really gorgeous, I ‘m sorry I had to say it. Ok I’m past it. I hope that she makes it through, because I think that she’s got something to prove and can prove it.

Asia’h Epperson-
If she doesn’t make it in music she’s gonna make it in modeling. She looks stunning, and takes on one huge song. It set in a very low key for a reason, cause it’s a demandingly high song. She took it on and worked through her sickness. I, like Paula was sitting in my chair with balled fists praying that she made the high notes, she got through it, but like Simon said…barely. Asia’h has this interesting break in her voice that sometimes sounds like she’s hoarse…which she evidently was tonight. I think that she’ll make it through…

Which makes me wonder who the heck is going home tonight?

My guess:

Girls:
Amanda Overmeyer -I wish it wasn’t so but tonight was a really off night…remember what happened to Tamyra...a bad example because the two of them are like apples and oranges, but you get my point.

Alandrea Lushingon- I hope she doesn’t, because I really like her too, but everyone else put up a passable, if not solid performance.

Guys:
Danny Noriega- Personality vs. Talent. I think the personality wins out which may make him loose out on Idol.

Jason Yeager- The cruse line moves, coupled with a poor song choice could sink his chances.

homepage photo credit: Matt Beard