Last night's Top 9 performances showed that sometimes having a broad theme is not kind to finalists. Case in point: the "top downloads" theme was pretty much a wash, with songs by Billy Joel and even Celine Dion being acceptable. Since when are those songs considered to be "popular downloads"? Ryan's way of describing the theme itself was even discombobulated.
Before getting down to business Ryan was sure to ask Paula if she was hiding any props under the table, to which she answered in the negative. Simon was looking forward to Ryan and the artists being amazing, which was a nice thing for him to say.
Kicking off the night was Anoop, whose ill-advised foray into Usher territory was not the right way to begin things. His vocals on "Caught Up" were not all that bad, but the performance was all but a shadow of the real thing. When it came to the dancing portion of the performance, it was clear things were not going to recover. The judges' critiques were not anything to write home about, either. Look for Anoop to land in the bottom three tonight, especially after his snippy exchange with Kara.
When it came time for Megan to perform, things didn't go any smoother than usual considering she actually got to pick a song that she thought would showcase her talent well. Instead, she opted for "" by Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill, which may be a good song in its own right, but it sounded really out of place with her vocals on it. She sure looked the part, though, opting for a younger look this week. The fact that her major proponent, Kara, didn't even like it make things an uphill battle for Megan this week. Look for a definite bottom three appearance, with the high likelihood that she will be departing in ninth place.
Other disappointments last night include Lil's borefest on "I Surrender" and Scott's better-than-usual-but-still-not-good "I Love You Just the Way You Are." Simon's frustration with Lil is becoming more apparent each week, as he told her flat out "you've got to stop this" because she is a "much better" singer than the performance. Randy and Kara were all about name dropping when critiquing Lil, saying she should has picked a song by Keyshia Cole or Mariah Carey in order to sound more current.
As for Scott, Simon must have been using reverse psychology on him because he really was as good (or average) as usual. He just changed his look up a bit, which apparently can make him sound better than usual according to Simon. Paula should have held her own and stuck to her criticism of Scott relying on his baby grand as a crutch, because sooner or later he will need to switch it up.
Allison was not nearly as good as she was last week, but for the judges to pick her apart because of her Avril Lavigne-like wardrobe? That shows poor judgment. What is this, Project Runway? Allison may not be Gwen Stefani, but her rock edge shown through on her rendition of "Don't Speak." Regardless, she still has a strong possibility of landing in the bottom three tonight.
Someone that was pretty underrated last night was surely Matt Giraud, as his take on The Fray's "You Found Me" was not nearly as bad as the judges made it out to be. There were some off moments, but Matt showed that he could grab the attention of an audience and encapsulate them in his performance.
Whatever nonsense Randy and Kara were talking about with OneRepublic's "Apologize" should be disregarded by Matt, and he had a point when he told Kara he wanted to show that he's more than just an R&B artist when she basically gave him an ultimatum to either pick Pop/Rock or Pop/R&B as a genre to focus on. Apparently Kara does not believe artists should be well-versed in multiple genres of music.
And then there was Adam, who blew the roof off the house with his eccentric version of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music." It's not hard to do so when the song is a little on the wild side to begin with, but Adam managed to take the performance to a whole 'nother level, complete with screeching and shrieking. It definitely was not nearly as much of a credibility-builder as "The Tracks of My Tears," but it did what it was supposed to do for Adam. Paula's "shattering genius" comment was as far fetched as usual, while Simon kept it more real by saying at least it wasn't karaoke like many of the night's other performances.
Danny, on the other hand, was actually able to make people forget about last week's controversial performance with a heartwarming rendition of Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts the Most." While it wasn't perfect, the overall effect was powerful especially taking Danny's past into consideration. Paula and Kara gushed over the performance (what else is new?) while Simon validated the craziness by saying it was Danny's best effort yet. Maybe this exhibition will win over a lot of the naysayers? Probably not.
And Kris hands down had the best performance of the night, but he did not have a "moment." Moments only happen when they are unexpected and when the finalist states prior to the performance that he is trying to create a moment, things are just not as meaningful. Had Kris not said this in his pre-performance clip, though, he definitely would have had a moment.
Putting semantics aside, the vocals were a perfect fit for a perfect song choice, and the fact that he began the song unplugged added to the effect. Paula was absolutely correct about Kris taking a 30 some-odd-year-old song sound brand new, which demonstrates that Kris can certainly be taken as a relevant, current artist.
The tell tale sign of just what America thought of last night will not be who lands in the (alleged) bottom three, but who ultimately goes home. There is only one finalist that deserves to leave, if that person does not leave, there will be questions that will need answering.
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