Top 7 - Movie Rant Edition

I am guessing that most of you who are reading this are fans (whether avid or casual) of the show and understand that some weeks are just utter stinkers. But, if there are some out there who are watching this season as their inaugural foray into the American Idol spectacle, I want to sincerely apologize for the dreck that we witnessed this week. I will grant that the general relative weakness of this season’s contestants was a factor, but last night’s display was as pitiful as they have shown. “Movie Song” Night becomes “Be as Boringly Schmaltzy as Possible” Night or (for awhile) “Bryan Adams” Night? We have been inexplicably running overtime every week, so let’s go to alternating judge teams (cutting out Simon – the only judge that sometimes has something useful to say – for half the show)? My friend Renee, I am sure, was not the only one outraged (a little strong wording by me for sure, but you get the sentiment) by this dumbness. And, then you still run overtime? This is the 8th season this director has been doing this show, right? Wow. Okay, enough of the rant. Thank you for allowing me to vent. There is probably a little more to come.

Anoop SHOULD Go
Matt WILL Go
American Idol’s Director MUST Go


7. Anoop Desai (Last week’s ranking: 6th), “Everything I Do (I Do for You)” by Bryan Adams – The simultaneous “Ugh” from my wife and I when it was told that Anoop would be doing this song must have been combined with the same “Ugh” from all right-thinking people in this nation to be heard all the way to Hollywood. Poor Anoop. Week-after-week, he is just completely incapable of finding the mid-point between foolish-looking hip-hop wanna-be and the devastatingly boring ballad singer. It’s frustrating because he IS a decent singer and a seemingly nice fella (sorry, broken record again). And, what is going on with his clothes?!? I think I would rather have his mother dress him than whatever is going on with him and/or these shameful AI stylists. He could be in trouble again this week, but he does have worse company this week.

6. Lil Rounds (7th), “The Rose” by Bette Midler – Last week, I implored Lil to forget the judges and do whatever she really wants to do. Whoops. “The Rose”?!? Really? Interesting (or not). Either she is confused about who she is (thanks again, Judges) or I am confused thinking she could be really good if she let herself go. I was also confused by Quentin Tarrantino’s lead-in as he got me excited for a “gospel” interpretation of this unusual choice of song and then was left wanting after only a hint of it. I think voters, however, are taking Lil’s side against these judges, and, as much I hate performer vs judges scuffles, Lil’s defense of herself last night might serve her well…for a week. Bottom line: strange choice of song, disappointing arrangement, but she sang relatively well enough to survive one more time.

5. Kris Allen (5th), “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – Why, oh why, am I not making use of Kris’s performances to take that bathroom break that I promised myself weeks ago? You know by now that I don’t get his appeal at all, so this is where my wife’s perspective has to step in: “Boring but cute” and “why are he and Danny wearing the same outfit?” If we are talking about your outfit more than your performance, that’s probably not good, is it? We’ll see if the Cutey-Patuty Express keeps him out of the bottom three again, but I don’t think it should.

4. Danny Gokey (4th), “Endless Love” by Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross – Boy, this is a tough one. You cannot get more cheesy than this song selection (well, my wife would say “Up Where You Belong”, one of my favourites, but that’s another story). Another high decibel “Ugh” could be heard from the nation when we were told the choice. But, it is really tough to get away from what this probably truly meant to Danny. And, just to be clear, I do not think he is playing us for sympathy votes (commenters are free to disagree, of course). He sang it fine and with usual Gokey passion, and I’ll leave it at that. One more thing: thank you, Danny, for leaving out the funky glasses gimmick this week.

3. Matt Giraud (1st), “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” by Bryan Adams – Uh oh. I put this guy in the number 1 slot last week, and then he pulls this “Justin Timberlake Does a Sorry Movie Song” thing? For the second week in a row, his vocals were all over the place, and this time it could not covered by a funky band and semi-dance moves. To get by week-to-week, Rule #1 - sing well; Rule #2 – don’t be boring. Matt broke both rules. We could have the true first test of the judge’s save this week on him (I don’t count last week because I think Simon was never going to waste it on Scott with Matt, Adam, and Allison still around).

2. Adam Lambert (3rd), “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf – What can you say? My wife says, “Retro Outrageous is back” (meaning he is not as original as everyone is trying to play him up to be). My friend Lorri has stated correctly before (and should say again) that this actor is playing a role every single week. After playing Haunting Controlled Singer Guy last week, he felt it was time to bring back Wild Crazy Shrieking Rock Star this week. From the totally indulgent (AI word of the season) re-arrangement of the song to the playing air-guitar with the band, he played into the “I’m different than everyone else…this is what a rock star is supposed to be doing” role very well. Really well actually. His performances are not really my taste, but he IS living up to his weekly hype. And, he is gaining national momentum (see this Sunday NY Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/fashion/12gayidol.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=adam%20lambert&st=cse). Could he win after all?

1. Allison Iraheta (2nd), “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith – And, then, there is my favourite. Love her, but I just could not get into the song. This song just took absolutely forever to build up to its crescendo, and, by the time Allison belted out the good part, I was already worried about her losing the audience. And, her being in the opening performance “death slot” is a major concern (if you are unfamiliar with my theory, if you perform first and do not crush it, people can forget you by the end of the show, and your vote total suffers). I have major fears that she (and I) could be sweating it out in the bottom three tonight and could be challenging the judges (let’s be real – just Simon) to use the save option. Yet, I still have her in the #1 position to win. Yep, I am deciding with my ears and heart.

Bottom Three Prediction: Kris, Matt, Allison. I hope I am wrong.

Can’t wait to see what you think

By the way, this is RAD even though it says, "Posted by Mrs. RAD" below. RAD is just having some technical difficulties.