Thursday, May 7, 2015

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The Top 4 Season 14 finalists all had the chance to make their trip back home and with parades and concerts and celebrations. This week they had to sing three songs to win you over and try and make it into next week's finale:

Clark is by far the front runner matching his good looks with outstanding musicianship and an incredibly impressive vocal range. He started out with a good version of Beautiful Day. Got better with his bluesy rendition of Sitting On The Dock of the Bay, but really was amazing with his take on the current Top 10 hit Earned It.

Nick is also very good, but tonight his best performance was his first one. He really rocked the house on Because The Night and his delivery of Back Home was very fun. But he finished the night with a pretty generic I'll Be.

Jax is a really nice girl from a great family. She's also pretty cute, but I'm really not very impressed with her voice. On both My Generation and Misery Business she was upstaged by the band and her vocals on My Immortal were simply boring. But the kids really like her and she ended Rayvon's winning streak. His voice and his performances were far superior to hers, but she got more votes and now there is no more Saving Rayvon.

Rayvon's performances of the current Top 10 hit Want To Want Me and the classics, As and You Are So Beautiful were absolutely flawless. His voice is smooth and pure and his smile is truly radiant.

My prediction is that Clark will be going up against Nick in the finals next week. I just don't want to hear Jax try to sing again.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

From the SOUL

Tonight the Season 14 finalists had to select a song the reveals who they really are from their soul.

Clark started the night out with a wonderful vocal performance of Living For the City, but his second song was truly an outstanding show stopper. He took Josh Turner's Your Man and he genuinely made it his own with light bluesy instrumentation and totally sexy falsetto vocals. It was nothing like the deep voice that Josh sings in and it didn't matter because it was such a beautiful and genuine expression from Clark.

Jax has gotten this far in the competition by putting her own stamp on every song that she does, but some have been more successful than others. Her take on Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys totally missed the mark. Her voice simply isn't good enough to make whatever she was doing worth listing to. She did slightly better with a sincere reading of Human, but her voice is simply too flawed for me to ever want to hear her sing.

Nick is not the best singer in the world, but he's a good looking guy and you can tell he really loves to perform. His heart is really in it when he performs Bright Lights and What Hurts The Most. He's got stage presence, a bright smile, and good vocals to tie it all together.

The bottom two vote getters this week were Tyanna and Rayvon, but the last minute Save from Twitter has come to an end. And once again Rayvon has made it through to the next round while Tyanna's Idol journey has come to an end. I thought she could have made it all the way to the finals, so it's sad that this extremely talented 16 year old is heading home. She perform Run The World to show off a taste of what her fans will get when they see her on tour this summer.

Rayvon's handsome face and silky smooth vocals were outstanding on his version of Need You Now. The depth of emotion he conveyed through these lyrics was so heartfelt and meaningful. It was enough to bring the listeners to tears as he conveyed the yearning so beautifully. And then he took us to an even deeper emotional place on his exceptional rendition of Believe. High marks all around for him this week.

My prediction for the next one to be eliminated is Jax. The kids seem to really like her, but the vocals simply aren't good enough. I don't want to hear her again.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

American Classics

The finalists each performed two songs that were deemed American Classics.

Tyanna was the first one to be assured a place coming back next week. She performed Why Do Fools Fall In Love and Proud Mary. Both of these selections allowed her to show off her impressive vocal range and also her diverse stage presence.

Clark was next and he continues to be the standout front runner because of his wonderful voice and impressive musicianship. He played guitar while rocking out to Superstition and then he switched gears at the piano giving a smooth and creamy version of Moon River.

Jax channeled her inner rock chick on both of her song choices: Piece of My Heart and Beat It. Her voice still isn't that great and these did nothing to take her to another level of artistry.

Nick, on the other hand, managed to make Tom Petty's American Girl entertaining and then he very skillfully re-arranged Only The Good Die Young into a powerful ballad.

Quentin started out strong with a high energy Are You Gonna Go My Way and finished off with a moody and sullen Sound of Silence.

Once again, the bottom two had to perform and wait for the fans to go on Twitter and frantically try and save them from elimination. Tonight it was either going to be #SaveJoey or #SaveRayvon.

Joey is vocally awful. She screeched out My Funny Valentine as best as she could but she simply doesn't have the range capable of handling it. It was dreadful. So was her noisy and clunky effort at Somebody To Love.

Rayvon easily delivered flawless vocals on Long Train Running and he even added some fun choreography to the mix elevate his performance ability. His rendition of Always On My Mind was so pitch perfect and lovely it set him up as the clear favorite for the save.

Happily, Rayvon survived for another week and Joey is finally gone!

With all of the talent less contestants out of the running, it has become much more difficult to predict who will be sent packing next. My bottom two are now Jax and Quentin. I think Jax has a very big fan base, so it looks like Quentin will be the one on his way out. Even though Rayvon has consistently been in the bottom two, he is way too talented to be eliminated.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Billboard HITS!!!

This week the Idol finalists had to perform any song that was a hit on the Billboard HOT 100. Returning to the Idol stage showing them how it's done was Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist and Oscar winner, Jennifer Hudson, who performed her current hit with Iggy Azeala, Trouble.

The first one to be called to safety was Jax who performed Poker Face. When she gets it right it can be amazing, but more often than not, she misses the mark and I just don't like what she did to the song.

Nick took Teenage Dream and perfectly illustrated why so many of his fans listen to those lyrics and think of him.

Trying to prove he is more than just a high fashion artist Quentin showed off his vocal range quite successfully on his rendition of Latch.

I have always thought that Wrecking Ball was a good song, but I never wanted to hear the horrible sound of Miley's voice attempting to sing. When someone actually has a nice voice, the song can be very powerful. Joey's voice is even more dreadfully worse than Miley's so there was no improvement here.

Clark is jumping ahead of the competition by leaps and bounds with outstanding performances like Make It Rain.

Tyanna did what Joey was not able to do. Her version of Stay was powerful, emotional and vocally better than what Rihanna does. Tyanna served up a very impressive improvement of the original.

Rayvon and Qaasim were the two lowest vote getters and once again this week the fans had to tweet either #SaveRayvon or #SaveQaasim to decide who was staying.

Rayvon gave us his usual smooth as silk vocals on Set Fire To The Rain and he stepped it up another notch higher with belting out some powerhouse notes at the end.

Qaasim jumped around the stage performing Hey Ya and put on a pretty good show, but his vocals remain pure torture on the ears.

I am happy to report that the fans have spoken and Rayvon is coming back next week while Qaasim is finally going home. Two down and one to go. We just need to get rid of Joey next week and this competition can really begin!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Kelly Clarkson Week!!!!!

The Season One Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, came back to mentor the finalists. In addition to giving them some guidance for tonight's performances she also graced the stage herself. She performed her current single, Heartbeat Song, from her recent #1 album, Piece by Piece. She also brought back At Last, the song she did at her very first audition.

The first finalist to be back for another week is Nick. He did a very nice job performing Catch My Breath.

Jax delivered her best vocal yet on Beautiful Disaster. But that's not really saying much because up til now, most of her performances have been vocal disasters.

Tyanna has consistently provided amazing vocals week after week and tonight's version of Mr. Know It All was yet another one.

Joey has been very consistent is serving up songs with a new twist on their arrangements as she did once again with Miss Independent. But as usual, her completely dreadful voice made it impossible to enjoy.

Quentin is a very stylish guy who is great to look at. While his vocals on Dark Side were only pretty good, they were still smooth enough to make it an overall good performance.

The judges saved him so now we have another week of witnessing how bad Qaasim's voice is. Tonight his lack of vocal talent was completely exposed with his acoustic version of Stronger. He is going from bad to worse...

Clark is still the shining star in this bunch as he proved tonight with his outstanding take on The Trouble With Love Is.

The bottom two this week were Rayvon and Daniel. They each performed and the audience had 5 minutes to tweet either #SaveRayvon or #SaveDaniel to decide which of the two was coming back next week. Daniel's weak and crackling voice absolutely butchered Breakaway while the silky smooth vocal styling of Rayvon elevated Since U Been Gone to a whole new level.

Thankfully the fans voted to #SaveRayvon so we are finally rid of little Daniel. One down and two to go. Joey and Qaasim will continue to be my prediction for the bottom two until they are gone.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Totally Awesome 80's Night

This week the finalists had to perform music from the 80's.

Daniel was the first to learn that he has survived for another week, but his disjointed and misguided performance of You Make My Dreams was terrible. It proved once again that he is super cute, but not super talented.

Quentin provided his own intense take on In The Air Tonight and it was right in line with the same high quality interpretation that he gives every week.

Joey put on a cute silver dress and bounced all over the stage during her take on Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but none of that could distract from the fact that her vocals are unbearably awful. Her gimmicks and shiny objects aren't enough to hide how bad she is.

Tyanna is a real singer with genuine talent and it shined through brightly as she delivered a wonderful performance of I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Jax is another contestant with limited talent and lots of gimmicks. She tried to make You Give Love A Bad Name her own, but she got overpowered by the electric guitar.

Nick is the real deal and his rendition of Man In The Mirror proved he is so much more than a pretty face. His ability to interpret and deliver lyrics with sincerity and conviction is outstanding.

Clark is the real deal and then some! He gave an exceptional vocal performance of Every Breath You Take while playing piano and he set himself even further ahead of the pack.

Qaasim was the lowest vote getter last week and we should have been rid of him for good. But the judges saved him so we had to suffer through his absolutely dreadful take on Addicted To Love. Bad just keeps getting worse.

Rayvon was the last finalist to perform and who will be coming back next week. He poured his smooth and silky voice all over Everybody Wants To Rule The World and it was delicious.

Because the judges used their save last week that means that two finalists were eliminated this week. It's tragic that Adanna and Maddie are gone now. They are both very talented, attractive young ladies with great voices and impressive stage presence.

Until they are finally voted off, Qaasim, Joey and Daniel will be my personal bottom three and my prediction every week to be the lowest vote getters. It's hard to decide which one is the worst from this group, but I think Daniel is the next one to be eliminated.  

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Movie Night

The finalists performed music from the movies tonight.

The first one to safely make it to next week is Adanna. She performed I Love You I Do from DreamGirls and looked and sounded like a movie star. Very well done.

Somehow little Daniel got enough votes last week to sing again this week. His weak little voice squeaked its way through Lost Stars and it was mostly unbearable.

Rayvon delivered a new twist on Stayin Alive and it was fun and excited to watch.

Nick very handsomely performed Danger Zone and he was charming every step of the way.

Once again Joey chose a song that is better than her voice is. Just about anybody could sing Mad World and sound more pleasing than her grating vocals.

Tyanna has a far superior voice and she used it to its fullest potential on the Circle of Life from the Lion King.

Quentin got all serious and served up a haunting version of You're The One That I Want that was actually quite good.

Maddie is just adorable and that's all there is to it. Her sweet voice went very well with Let's Hear It For The Boy.

Clark is the leader of the pack in every way. He looks great. He sounds great. He plays instruments very skillfully. He performed Sunday Morning flawlessly.

Jax gave us a very cutesy take on I Wanna Grow Old With You. She's just good and she peaked a few weeks ago.

The lowest vote getter of the week was Qaasim. He has a terrible voice and he proved it when he absolutely butchered Come Together. It was horrific, but somehow the judges decided to use their SAVE so now we will be tortured by his atrocious vocals once again next week. At least this time when he is the lowest vote getter again, the judges won't be able to save him.