The Top 4 finalists are singing songs in the theme California Dreamin along with a second song that they wish they had written themselves.
Phillip Phillips got the show off to a less than dreamy start with his dreary rendition of Have You Ever Seen The Rain that Credence Clearwater Revival took to #8 in 1971. John Fogerty has a strong and distinctive voice, but Phillip's vocals were completely weak and forgettable.
Journey climbed all the way up to #11 with Faithfully in 1983. Hollie Cavanagh performed this romantic power ballad with grace and confidence. Her vocals were just as outstanding as always belting out the big notes with complete purity.
You Raise Me Up delivers a climatic punch when originally performed in 2004 by Josh Groban. Even with a gospel choir backing him up, though, Joshua Ledet wasn't really able to get the song off the ground. His lead vocals were simply lacking the power and range that is necessary to really sock it to us.
The legendary blues/jazz/R&B singer Etta James was known for her honest and true interpretations of heartfelt lyrics on songs like Steal Away. Jessica Sanchez has the mature vocal range to effortless do justice to an Etta James classic.
Maroon 5 went to #5 in 2004 with This Love, but as a duet with Joshua and Phillip it felt forced and out of whack. Neither of them has the personality or vocal range to get close to the character found in the original. Then compare it to the artful vocal blending and harmonizing found when Jessica and Hollie take on the 1989 #1 smash Eternal Flame by the Bangles. They are both so talented and this song really highlighted their strengths and skills. It was beautiful. All four of the remaining finalists ended up sounding pretty good on the huge mega hit Waiting For A Girl Like You that spent 10 weeks at #2 in 1981. In a nut shell, the strength of the girls voices helped to cover up and compensate for the vocal shortcomings of the boys.
Volcano by Damien Rice is the kind of song and the kind of music that Phillip Phillips likes best. This explains a lot. It was boring and vocally flat. The musicians on stage with him and the girl singing background vocals with him were more interesting and entertaining than he was by leaps and bounds.
I Can't Make You Love Me is a #18 hit for Bonnie Raitt in 1992. Hollie Cavanagh shared a more vulnerable side of herself with this tender and expressive performance of the song. Her voice is so crystal clear and she wears her emotions all over her face for everyone to see.
It's a Man's Man's Man's World hit #8 in 1966 for the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Joshua Ledet provided a very straightforward and predictable version of the song. It was very true to what James Brown is famous for, but there was nothing exceptional added to it.
The Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist, Jennifer Hudson, went on to win an Oscar for her earth shattering performance of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from the film DreamGirls. Jessica Sanchez simply has the vocal gift necessary to do this song justice. She stood still center stage and yet was able to blow the roof off the place with her voice alone.
The duet tonight between Hollie and Jessica was a sample of how exciting and entertaining the finals of Season 11 could be. They are both very talented and likeable young women and hopefully will have impressive careers ahead of them. I am very hopeful that this final face off could become a reality, so the prediction this week for the bottom two has to be Phillip and Joshua. After weeks of lackluster performances, it's finally time for Phillip to leave the competition.
Showing posts with label Josh Groban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh Groban. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
We Are The World
The best selling single on i-tunes right now is the 25th Anniversary all-star recording of We Are The World. Back in 1985 this Grammy winning #1 smash was a charity single for hunger in Africa. This time around it is fund raising for earth quake relief in Haiti.
In addition to the legendary voices of Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, and Toni Braxton they are joined by Oscar winner and Season Three Miss American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson. This is just another example of Jennifer's impressive status as a talented artist in demand. If you look closely in the video you can also see that American Idol judge Randy Jackson contributed to the chorus as well as Season Five Miss American Idol 1st runner up Katherine McPhee and Season Six Miss American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.
Not quite in as much demand is Season Three Miss American Idol winner Fantasia who is struggling to manage her career and her family life on her reality show Fantasia For Real. She has been very public with her personal difficulty with education and reading and she is working with a tutor to earn her GED. At the same time she is trying to make sure her young daughter, Zion, keeps on learning and stays excited about school. For the most part, this is going well, but she feels bad being on the road so much and leaving most of the encouragement to Zion's teachers. This often means that Zion receives many gifts and toys in the mail while her mommy is gone.
The gifts that Fantasia showers on her brothers come in the form of helping them get a break in the music business. She spends so much time trying to help them that she seems to neglect her own career. Her new single was just released and unfortunately it isn't even on the i-tunes top 200 best sellers chart this week. Fantasia is indulging her older brothers idea to record an inspirational single and he wants her to be a part of it. Fantasia takes it a step further and decides to make it a family affair by inviting brother Teeny to be included as well. He shows off how completely undisciplined and unprofessional he is during the recording session. Her manager suggests that Fantasia invite Teeny to tour with her so he can gain experience. Not wanting to deal with all of his drama, Fantasia is initially against the idea, but she goes along with it anyway. Just as suspected, he doesn't listen to any directions and tries to take charge every chance he gets. But thankfully, Fantasia is pleasantly surprised that once up on stage with her he manages to do a pretty good job. For now....
In addition to the legendary voices of Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, and Toni Braxton they are joined by Oscar winner and Season Three Miss American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson. This is just another example of Jennifer's impressive status as a talented artist in demand. If you look closely in the video you can also see that American Idol judge Randy Jackson contributed to the chorus as well as Season Five Miss American Idol 1st runner up Katherine McPhee and Season Six Miss American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.
Not quite in as much demand is Season Three Miss American Idol winner Fantasia who is struggling to manage her career and her family life on her reality show Fantasia For Real. She has been very public with her personal difficulty with education and reading and she is working with a tutor to earn her GED. At the same time she is trying to make sure her young daughter, Zion, keeps on learning and stays excited about school. For the most part, this is going well, but she feels bad being on the road so much and leaving most of the encouragement to Zion's teachers. This often means that Zion receives many gifts and toys in the mail while her mommy is gone.
The gifts that Fantasia showers on her brothers come in the form of helping them get a break in the music business. She spends so much time trying to help them that she seems to neglect her own career. Her new single was just released and unfortunately it isn't even on the i-tunes top 200 best sellers chart this week. Fantasia is indulging her older brothers idea to record an inspirational single and he wants her to be a part of it. Fantasia takes it a step further and decides to make it a family affair by inviting brother Teeny to be included as well. He shows off how completely undisciplined and unprofessional he is during the recording session. Her manager suggests that Fantasia invite Teeny to tour with her so he can gain experience. Not wanting to deal with all of his drama, Fantasia is initially against the idea, but she goes along with it anyway. Just as suspected, he doesn't listen to any directions and tries to take charge every chance he gets. But thankfully, Fantasia is pleasantly surprised that once up on stage with her he manages to do a pretty good job. For now....
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