Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Top 5 sing the 60's

The Top 5 finalists performed music from the 60's and the British Invasion.

Sweet, lovely and talented Hollie Cavanagh got the night off to an outstanding start with a fun and fabulous performance of the Phil Spector standard, River Deep Mountain High. She looked fantastic as she completely broke out of her shell and worked the stage to perfection. Her vocals were just as pure and flawless as always. It was amazing then, that she was able to raise the bar even higher with her next song, the #1 hit by Leona Lewis from 2008, Bleeding Love. This rendition was so vulnerable and raw that every lyric went directly to each and every listener's heart on a genuine and personal level. Hollie stole the show even further when she sang Jackie Wilson's #6 hit from 1967, Higher and Higher, with Jessica and Skylar as her back-up singers.

Phillip Phillips was a complete mess for the entire night. First he completely sucked the life out of the 1967 #1 smash, The Letter by the Boxtops by forcing it into his safety zone of screaming with no melody. On a duet with Joshua, Phillip exposed that he has no vocal range at all when he destroyed You've Lost That Lovin Feeling that was a #1 hit for the Rightgeous Brothers in 1967. And just to prove that he is completely incapable of learning his lesson, he tried to hit high notes once again on a dreadful version of the Zombies #3 song from 1969, Time Of The Season. It was sad and embarrassing to see him sitting there painfully straining to hit notes that were so far and away out of his range.

Country girl Skylar Laine brought her big voice and big personality to the #14 hit from 1969, Fortunate Son, by Credence Clearwater Revival. She clearly loves to be on stage and has a great time giving her fans what they expect. She followed that up with Dusty Springfield's #4 it from 1966, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. It was really great at the beginning showcasing an impressive vocal range, but it got pretty sloppy and unfocused by the end.

The Temptations #13 song from 1966, Ain't Too Proud To Beg was the first selection to get the Joshua Ledet treatment. It was pretty close to the original and his vocals didn't really add anything exceptional to the mix. His second song choice was To Love Somebody, that the Bee Gees took to #17 in 1967. It was good once again, but it's hard to imagine what he can bring to new material.

Jessica Sanchez looked wonderful as she took the stage to sing Tina Turner's signature song that peaked at #4 in 1971, Proud Mary. While it lacked the over the top showmanship that Tina is famous for, Jessica delivered the vocals necessary to make it work. But that was just a taste of her exceptional vocals. When she sat center stage to interpret You Are So Beautiful (#5 in 1975 by Joe Cocker) it was exactly what this show is all about. She sounded simply beautiful hitting a full range of pure notes so effortlessly.

Making a prediction for the bottom three this week is very easy because the top two are so clearly far ahead of them. Hollie and Jessica are wonderful singers and performers who have so much potential to be releasing hit singles and be getting loads of radio airplay. That leaves Skylar, Joshua and Phillip to be in the bottom three. The one who should be going home this week is the one who has zero potential to release a hit single and get any radio airplay. Phillip should just get out of the competition now.  

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