Surprises around every corner...
Tonight may well have been one of the most surprising nights so far. Some exceeded my expectations, some didn't live up to them, and some met them exactly, but all in all, there were quite a few unexpected happenings in this week's Live Spectacular.
First, I have to start off by saying, I was wrong about Ayanda. I don't think she's going home tomorrow. She has redeemed herself in my eyes, and proven me rather wrong. But before I get into that, let's just do a run down of tonight's performances, good and bad.
For the first time since the Top 24 were chosen, I think I have to rate a performance "awful" tonight. I thoroughly did not enjoy Pume's performance of "It Must Have Been Love". Pume's biggest strength is the power of her voice; her biggest weakness is not knowing how to reign it in. She chose a very delicate song - one that I thoughted suited her range nicely - and turned it into a heavy-handed, overblown mess. I do believe we will be saying goodbye to Pume tomorrow night, which is quite a bit sooner than I originally thought. Her voice ranged from cloudy and thick to sharp and piercing, and overall it was just not an enjoyable experience, and the worst Idols performance since the Top 24 began.
Nicky did slightly better this week than last, but I don't think her vocal ability matches up to other contestants well enough. The judges seemed overall pleased, though, so maybe the difference lied in the difference between live and TV, but I have a feeling they were judging her more on her own standard than on an overall one. She's going to have to fight very hard to stay in this game much longer than a couple of weeks.
Kesha has been one of my favorites throughout the season, and I thought she did well tonight, but it was a rather unremarkable performance in my book. It was a good performance, melodic and well-controlled but it just didn't stand out enough for me. I think she has definitely secured her spot for next week, but she's got a lot of work to do to climb back up into the upper ranks.
V, as predicted, delivered a technically perfect cover of a song. Here's what I've figured out about my aversion to V: she has the same exact physical performance every single week. If I were to turn off the sound, I would have no idea whether she was singing a sad and regretful love song, as she was tonight, or an energetic and sassy Janet Jackson song as she did in her first week. She has a certain repertoire of moves and mannerisms, and uses them each week, and that just doesn't work. Her performance just doesn't reflect the message of the song. In the studio, on a recording, no one will care, but performance wise, she leaves so much to be desired that I think she will end up shutting herself out of this competition.
Nhlanhla handled his song nicely. I like the fact that he just completely eliminated the falsettos and kept it within his range, but I found his voice just slightly too reedy tonight. He has an excellent stage presence, as always, and has a killer sustain, but the tone of his voice was just too thin for me tonight. But he is definitely safe for another week.
Ayanda... Ayanda, what are you doing so far up my list? One of the bigger surprises of the evening (I think my jaw literally dropped), Ayanda pulled off the coup that I was talking about in my "Focus On..." So much so, that I believe she firmly secured herself a spot for this week, and if she keeps it up, for at least a couple more weeks to come. I thought she was a little bit too staccato in parts, and slightly sharp on the sustained notes, but all in all, she did rather well, and did far better than I expected her to. Very nicely done, my friend.
Martelize - Farther down on the list than I expected, but still a fabulous performance. She is sticking with her strength - angsty ballads - and she has great range. However, I found the performance slightly underwhelming, and there was a puzzling near-silence in the middle of the song that left me wondering whether she'd mistimed something, forgotten words, or lost her place... Or if that was just the way it was meant to be. She has an amazing voice, and gave me the only goosebumps for the evening, but the few shortcomings sank her spot in my ratings just a bit.
Karin - Another one who is lower in my rankings than I expected. Delivering one of the night's surprise performances, that girl pulled off some funkiness that I would never have suspected she had in her. This might quiet some of those doubters who thought she was a one-trick pony. However, for all her groove and jive, I thought her vocal performance suffered a bit, and felt weaker than in previous weeks. It was still a stellar job, and she's definitely safe for a while, but I expected much better. But damn, that girl can groove!
Deidre - Another surprise for the evening, I didn't think she'd pull this off so spectacularly. This is one of the songs I heard her practicing that night in the lounge, and I knew she had it in her, but her overall performance was just phenomenal, and she has definitely climbed back up in the rankings a bit. This was her best performance to date, and perfectly suited to her theatrical personality. Extremely well done.
Gift - My favorite of the evening. I thought he looked a bit scraggly in his insert but really liked the clean cut look that he sported this evening. And his performance was all around excellent. He sang the song absolutely perfectly, and I grinned like a fool the entire time. Spotless delivery tonight.
I watched the repeats of the last few live spectaculars again over the weekend and from what I can tell, the sound quality was vastly improved over the past two weeks. I think the problem previously was due to them trying to filter out the noise of the audience too much, and ended up affecting the sound altogether. This week, it was much more consistent, though, which is definitely a good thing.
All in all, a night full of surprises, both good and bad. Now we wait and see what the rest of the country thought...
First, I have to start off by saying, I was wrong about Ayanda. I don't think she's going home tomorrow. She has redeemed herself in my eyes, and proven me rather wrong. But before I get into that, let's just do a run down of tonight's performances, good and bad.
For the first time since the Top 24 were chosen, I think I have to rate a performance "awful" tonight. I thoroughly did not enjoy Pume's performance of "It Must Have Been Love". Pume's biggest strength is the power of her voice; her biggest weakness is not knowing how to reign it in. She chose a very delicate song - one that I thoughted suited her range nicely - and turned it into a heavy-handed, overblown mess. I do believe we will be saying goodbye to Pume tomorrow night, which is quite a bit sooner than I originally thought. Her voice ranged from cloudy and thick to sharp and piercing, and overall it was just not an enjoyable experience, and the worst Idols performance since the Top 24 began.
Nicky did slightly better this week than last, but I don't think her vocal ability matches up to other contestants well enough. The judges seemed overall pleased, though, so maybe the difference lied in the difference between live and TV, but I have a feeling they were judging her more on her own standard than on an overall one. She's going to have to fight very hard to stay in this game much longer than a couple of weeks.
Kesha has been one of my favorites throughout the season, and I thought she did well tonight, but it was a rather unremarkable performance in my book. It was a good performance, melodic and well-controlled but it just didn't stand out enough for me. I think she has definitely secured her spot for next week, but she's got a lot of work to do to climb back up into the upper ranks.
V, as predicted, delivered a technically perfect cover of a song. Here's what I've figured out about my aversion to V: she has the same exact physical performance every single week. If I were to turn off the sound, I would have no idea whether she was singing a sad and regretful love song, as she was tonight, or an energetic and sassy Janet Jackson song as she did in her first week. She has a certain repertoire of moves and mannerisms, and uses them each week, and that just doesn't work. Her performance just doesn't reflect the message of the song. In the studio, on a recording, no one will care, but performance wise, she leaves so much to be desired that I think she will end up shutting herself out of this competition.
Nhlanhla handled his song nicely. I like the fact that he just completely eliminated the falsettos and kept it within his range, but I found his voice just slightly too reedy tonight. He has an excellent stage presence, as always, and has a killer sustain, but the tone of his voice was just too thin for me tonight. But he is definitely safe for another week.
Ayanda... Ayanda, what are you doing so far up my list? One of the bigger surprises of the evening (I think my jaw literally dropped), Ayanda pulled off the coup that I was talking about in my "Focus On..." So much so, that I believe she firmly secured herself a spot for this week, and if she keeps it up, for at least a couple more weeks to come. I thought she was a little bit too staccato in parts, and slightly sharp on the sustained notes, but all in all, she did rather well, and did far better than I expected her to. Very nicely done, my friend.
Martelize - Farther down on the list than I expected, but still a fabulous performance. She is sticking with her strength - angsty ballads - and she has great range. However, I found the performance slightly underwhelming, and there was a puzzling near-silence in the middle of the song that left me wondering whether she'd mistimed something, forgotten words, or lost her place... Or if that was just the way it was meant to be. She has an amazing voice, and gave me the only goosebumps for the evening, but the few shortcomings sank her spot in my ratings just a bit.
Karin - Another one who is lower in my rankings than I expected. Delivering one of the night's surprise performances, that girl pulled off some funkiness that I would never have suspected she had in her. This might quiet some of those doubters who thought she was a one-trick pony. However, for all her groove and jive, I thought her vocal performance suffered a bit, and felt weaker than in previous weeks. It was still a stellar job, and she's definitely safe for a while, but I expected much better. But damn, that girl can groove!
Deidre - Another surprise for the evening, I didn't think she'd pull this off so spectacularly. This is one of the songs I heard her practicing that night in the lounge, and I knew she had it in her, but her overall performance was just phenomenal, and she has definitely climbed back up in the rankings a bit. This was her best performance to date, and perfectly suited to her theatrical personality. Extremely well done.
Gift - My favorite of the evening. I thought he looked a bit scraggly in his insert but really liked the clean cut look that he sported this evening. And his performance was all around excellent. He sang the song absolutely perfectly, and I grinned like a fool the entire time. Spotless delivery tonight.
I watched the repeats of the last few live spectaculars again over the weekend and from what I can tell, the sound quality was vastly improved over the past two weeks. I think the problem previously was due to them trying to filter out the noise of the audience too much, and ended up affecting the sound altogether. This week, it was much more consistent, though, which is definitely a good thing.
All in all, a night full of surprises, both good and bad. Now we wait and see what the rest of the country thought...
posted by Julie at
9:51 AM
