April 17 – Somethin’ To Talk About
American Idol 6, April 17 – Somethin’ To Talk About by Betsy Wasser -- 04/18/2007 Considering that week after week, Sanjaya provides America with “Somethin’ To Talk About,” it seems only fitting that he’d choose that song for country music week. He performed well on Latin night – can he pull it off again? Ryan Seacrest begins the night with a different tone than usual, sending love and support to those affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. I went to school in Virginia, just a few hours away from Blacksburg, and it’s just unthinkable for something like that to happen in a place like that. I have lots of friends who went to Tech, so I send big hugs out to Hokies and their families everywhere. Ryan tells us that country music has been good to many of our previous Idols. Speaking of which, Bucky Covington has a new album out, if you’re so inclined. The mentor this week will be Martina McBride. She tells us that country music is about storytelling. She tells the Idols that they have to connect with the lyrics and tell the story. It doesn’t matter that it’s country – they’re still just songs. She says she knows Simon hasn’t been a country music fan, but maybe tonight will change his mind. Myself, I’m not so sure. It’s strange to have country week with no real country singer on the show, but I guess we’ll see what happens. Phil Stacy is up first with “When the Black Top Ends” by Keith Urban. He says it reminds him of his childhood in Kansas. Martina says that the first part sounded too stiff and precise, but that he turned it out in the end. Yep, that sounds like Phil. She tells him to carry that power through the rest of the song. Welcome to yet another joyless song from Phil. The lyrics are fun, all about playing outside in bare feet, but there is no joy in Phil’s face or voice, even when he works his way through the audience. This should be a really enjoyable, fun performance, but there’s just nothing to get excited about. Randy: He never would have thought Phil would sound so great singing country. “That was hot!” Paula: This seems like a comfortable genre for him. He sounded good from the beginning to the end. Simon: “It’s only taken 10 weeks, Phil.” It’s the only time in a long time he’s picked a good song with a suitable style of music. There was even some personality. Phil says he thinks he got good feedback because he had a good time. Simon says he’s not sure if it’s enough to save him, but it was a good song. “Thanks for the buzzkill, Simon,” admonishes Ryan. Huh, the judges and I didn’t see eye to eye on this one. Jordin’s song is “Broken Wing” by none other than Martina McBride. Martina realizes that is probably intimidating for Jordin. She’s right – Jordin says she was scared out of her mind. But Martina tells her it was awesome. She advises Jordin to plant her feet and just sing . Jordin says it was great advice and hopes to make Martina proud. Jordin sounds absolutely amazing. She follows Martina’s advice, simply standing still and singing the heck out of the song. It’s an incredibly strong performance. The only thing I can find to be critical of is the potato sack silhouette of her dress. The singing itself was flawless. Randy: It was a difficult song because the original was so strong, but “that was the bomb.” Paula: Paula loves her and thinks she did a fantastic job. She told the story and did a great job of building the song. Simon: Based on that performance, she could win American Idol.. The audience goes wild, and Jordin is blown away. Ryan says it must give her chills, prompting Jordin to shiver adorably. Ryan asks her when she gets nervous, and she admits she does after the song – like in that very minute. Constantine is in the audience. Hi, Constantine! Sanjaya’s got the first lame question this week. If he could make one of the judges sing, which judge and what song? Sanjaya would make Simon sing “Shiny Happy People” to show his true personality. Hee, that was funny. Ryan says that would make his day. I, of course, would have Paula Abdul reprise “Opposites Attract,” bringing M.C. Skat Cat out of retirement. Sanjaya is going to sing “Somethin’ to Talk About,” because that’s exactly what he provides every single week. That’s actually really cool. Martina says that he is singing more aggressively than he usually does, and she likes that. Sanjaya says his goal is to do Bonnie Raitt justice. The hair this week is curly, with a great big red bandana in it. The singing? Ugh. He’s flat and devoid of excitement. He sounds especially bad following Jordin, but even still, he was horrendous. Randy: After a promise to keep it real, Randy tells him it was karaoke, bland, and boring. “What are we doing up here,” Randy wonders. Paula: Paula laughs and says that Sanjaya thrives on adversity. But the vocals are not so great. Simon: “Utterly horrendous.” He says it was as bad as a bad audition. Ryan stops him and says Simon has never liked Sanjaya. “Who rattled your cage?” Simon demands. Simon says it’s been funny for a while, but since we are “supposed to be finding an American Idol,” it was ridiculous. Randy asks if Simon would admit it if he were good. “I liked him last week, big mouth,” retorts Simon. Randy says the singing was bad, but he liked Sanjaya’s bandana. LaKisha will sing “Jesus Take the Wheel” by past Idol Carrie Underwood. It’s always a gutsy choice taking on a former winner. LaKisha says that, as a single mom, she can relate to the lyrics. Martina thinks that makes it a great choice for LaKisha. Martina says she had an emotional reaction to LaKisha’s practice session. She tells LaKisha that she really loves her voice and that it’s believable. LaKisha takes the stage in a chocolate dress and gold boots. She sings, and sure enough she owns the song. LaKisha sings so powerfully that I find myself listening to every word of the lyrics. She really told the story well, and I enjoyed this performance very much. Randy: Randy can barely speak because the crowd is going crazy. There were some pitch problems in the beginning. The audience boos. He thinks she should have made it more gospel, less country. Paula: She hesitates, but agrees with Randy. The crowd keeps booing. She thinks LaKisha’s vocals were too shouty. Simon: “It’s like eating a hamburger for breakfast – it doesn’t go together.” He thinks she gave it the LaKisha treatment towards the end, but it didn’t work. The crowd boos again, but Simon answers, “I’m right!” He says she blew everyone away with the Jennifer Holliday song, and she needs to find more songs like that. Randy says, “Be you!” I guess the judges and I will have to agree to disagree again. Chris is going to sing the song “Mayberry” and says he’s very comfortable with country music. Martina says she wasn’t sure about the song choice until she heard him sing it. He could be a country singer if he wanted to go that route. Martina says he’s very versatile. Chris starts off pretty rough and it doesn’t get much better. The nasal quality of his voice is really pronounced in this song, and it’s hard to listen to. This was really bad. Not Sanjaya bad, but bad. Randy: He sang it okay, with some pitch problems. There was no connection with the lyrics. Paula: Paula and Simon don’t get what Randy was saying, so he tries to clarify. After Randy explains himself again, Paula seems to agree, saying that the joy and love he feels didn’t come through. Simon: He thinks the audience must hear different things than the judges, because Simon heard something nasal and tinny. It was “completely and utterly insignificant.” Ryan wonders if maybe Simon hears things differently because his head is so big. Chris says that “nasaly” is a legitimate way to sing. Simon wonders if it truly was intentional after all these weeks. Chris, a Virginia native, gives his love to people at Virginia Tech. Oh, awkward. Chris just gave a bad performance and got slammed by the judges. But then he mentioned the recent tragedy, and it could have really come across as pandering for votes. But I’m absolutely going to give Chris a pass on that one. He is from Virginia, and I’m sure it’s true that he has a lot of friends at Tech. I believe he was being completely sincere. Melinda has the other lame question this week. Has she run into any crazy fans yet? Melinda says that actually, she was the crazy one. Recently, a woman ran towards her in excitement. Melinda didn’t get what was happening and ran away. Heh, that’s funny. ”Trouble is a Woman” is Melinda’s song this week. Martina hadn’t heard it before, but Melinda absolutely got her attention. She says Melinda really sold it. Martina repeats what so many other mentors have said before - Melinda was shy until she started singing. First of all, Melinda should wear strapless tops more often, because she really looks good. I also like her hair longer and straighter. The performance is an absolute blast. She sounds great as always, but more importantly, she works it. She absolutely connects with the song, with every single facial expression and movement. Outstanding. Randy: “Another solid performance from our resident pro.” Paula: Great song, and she sang her heart out. Simon: “I’m about to compliment you, and I’m going to ask you to lose the surprise.” He says she was fantastic, and Melinda just smiles. Simon saw some Tina Turner attitude. Yep, I can see that. He tells her to stop it with the humility already. Word. Blake is going to sing “When the Stars Go Blue.” Martina says that Tim McGraw was hoping someone would sing his song. Blake says it’s a departure from what he usually listens to. Martina advises him to relax – he sounded nervous. She tells him to sing a bit higher and to focus on the lyrics. Blake’s performance is very pretty, in a quiet way. It’s good, but I’m not nearly as excited by it as I am by many of the other performers. I’m actually rather surprised that he got the last slot tonight. Randy: He loves Blake’s sweater, song choice, and arrangement. Blake knows himself very well. Paula: Blake has the whole package. Great song for him. Simon: Simon’s not jumping out of his chair – it was okay. He thinks it was wise not to do something that doesn’t suit him. Simon offers his best wishes to the families associated with the tragedy at Tech. Well, this week was better than I expected, given the lack of country singers in the mix. The judges and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but here’s how I’d rank everyone: Jordin -- amazing Melinda – a very close second LaKisha – very strong Blake – as much as I love him, he’s solidly in the middle this time around Phil – emotionless and bland Chris – off key and listless Sanjaya – completely and totally out of his league So, what’s going to happen on the results show? I think that Sanjaya will finally hit the bottom three. It might not be his week to go quite yet, but I think the ride is coming to an end. Phil will join him there, because like I said last week, he’s buying real estate in the center stage, he spends so much time there. As for the third, it’s a toss-up between Chris and LaKisha, and I think Chris will be the one there, given the weakness of his performance. Going home? Sanjaya. I think it’s finally the end of the road for this guy. Tune in to see if this is really just wishful thinking on my part.
American Idol 6, April 17 – Somethin’ To Talk About by Betsy Wasser -- 04/18/2007 Considering that week after week, Sanjaya provides America with “Somethin’ To Talk About,” it seems only fitting that he’d choose that song for country music week. He performed well on Latin night – can he pull it off again? Ryan Seacrest begins the night with a different tone than usual, sending love and support to those affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. I went to school in Virginia, just a few hours away from Blacksburg, and it’s just unthinkable for something like that to happen in a place like that. I have lots of friends who went to Tech, so I send big hugs out to Hokies and their families everywhere. Ryan tells us that country music has been good to many of our previous Idols. Speaking of which, Bucky Covington has a new album out, if you’re so inclined. The mentor this week will be Martina McBride. She tells us that country music is about storytelling. She tells the Idols that they have to connect with the lyrics and tell the story. It doesn’t matter that it’s country – they’re still just songs. She says she knows Simon hasn’t been a country music fan, but maybe tonight will change his mind. Myself, I’m not so sure. It’s strange to have country week with no real country singer on the show, but I guess we’ll see what happens. Phil Stacy is up first with “When the Black Top Ends” by Keith Urban. He says it reminds him of his childhood in Kansas. Martina says that the first part sounded too stiff and precise, but that he turned it out in the end. Yep, that sounds like Phil. She tells him to carry that power through the rest of the song. Welcome to yet another joyless song from Phil. The lyrics are fun, all about playing outside in bare feet, but there is no joy in Phil’s face or voice, even when he works his way through the audience. This should be a really enjoyable, fun performance, but there’s just nothing to get excited about. Randy: He never would have thought Phil would sound so great singing country. “That was hot!” Paula: This seems like a comfortable genre for him. He sounded good from the beginning to the end. Simon: “It’s only taken 10 weeks, Phil.” It’s the only time in a long time he’s picked a good song with a suitable style of music. There was even some personality. Phil says he thinks he got good feedback because he had a good time. Simon says he’s not sure if it’s enough to save him, but it was a good song. “Thanks for the buzzkill, Simon,” admonishes Ryan. Huh, the judges and I didn’t see eye to eye on this one. Jordin’s song is “Broken Wing” by none other than Martina McBride. Martina realizes that is probably intimidating for Jordin. She’s right – Jordin says she was scared out of her mind. But Martina tells her it was awesome. She advises Jordin to plant her feet and just sing . Jordin says it was great advice and hopes to make Martina proud. Jordin sounds absolutely amazing. She follows Martina’s advice, simply standing still and singing the heck out of the song. It’s an incredibly strong performance. The only thing I can find to be critical of is the potato sack silhouette of her dress. The singing itself was flawless. Randy: It was a difficult song because the original was so strong, but “that was the bomb.” Paula: Paula loves her and thinks she did a fantastic job. She told the story and did a great job of building the song. Simon: Based on that performance, she could win American Idol.. The audience goes wild, and Jordin is blown away. Ryan says it must give her chills, prompting Jordin to shiver adorably. Ryan asks her when she gets nervous, and she admits she does after the song – like in that very minute. Constantine is in the audience. Hi, Constantine! Sanjaya’s got the first lame question this week. If he could make one of the judges sing, which judge and what song? Sanjaya would make Simon sing “Shiny Happy People” to show his true personality. Hee, that was funny. Ryan says that would make his day. I, of course, would have Paula Abdul reprise “Opposites Attract,” bringing M.C. Skat Cat out of retirement. Sanjaya is going to sing “Somethin’ to Talk About,” because that’s exactly what he provides every single week. That’s actually really cool. Martina says that he is singing more aggressively than he usually does, and she likes that. Sanjaya says his goal is to do Bonnie Raitt justice. The hair this week is curly, with a great big red bandana in it. The singing? Ugh. He’s flat and devoid of excitement. He sounds especially bad following Jordin, but even still, he was horrendous. Randy: After a promise to keep it real, Randy tells him it was karaoke, bland, and boring. “What are we doing up here,” Randy wonders. Paula: Paula laughs and says that Sanjaya thrives on adversity. But the vocals are not so great. Simon: “Utterly horrendous.” He says it was as bad as a bad audition. Ryan stops him and says Simon has never liked Sanjaya. “Who rattled your cage?” Simon demands. Simon says it’s been funny for a while, but since we are “supposed to be finding an American Idol,” it was ridiculous. Randy asks if Simon would admit it if he were good. “I liked him last week, big mouth,” retorts Simon. Randy says the singing was bad, but he liked Sanjaya’s bandana. LaKisha will sing “Jesus Take the Wheel” by past Idol Carrie Underwood. It’s always a gutsy choice taking on a former winner. LaKisha says that, as a single mom, she can relate to the lyrics. Martina thinks that makes it a great choice for LaKisha. Martina says she had an emotional reaction to LaKisha’s practice session. She tells LaKisha that she really loves her voice and that it’s believable. LaKisha takes the stage in a chocolate dress and gold boots. She sings, and sure enough she owns the song. LaKisha sings so powerfully that I find myself listening to every word of the lyrics. She really told the story well, and I enjoyed this performance very much. Randy: Randy can barely speak because the crowd is going crazy. There were some pitch problems in the beginning. The audience boos. He thinks she should have made it more gospel, less country. Paula: She hesitates, but agrees with Randy. The crowd keeps booing. She thinks LaKisha’s vocals were too shouty. Simon: “It’s like eating a hamburger for breakfast – it doesn’t go together.” He thinks she gave it the LaKisha treatment towards the end, but it didn’t work. The crowd boos again, but Simon answers, “I’m right!” He says she blew everyone away with the Jennifer Holliday song, and she needs to find more songs like that. Randy says, “Be you!” I guess the judges and I will have to agree to disagree again. Chris is going to sing the song “Mayberry” and says he’s very comfortable with country music. Martina says she wasn’t sure about the song choice until she heard him sing it. He could be a country singer if he wanted to go that route. Martina says he’s very versatile. Chris starts off pretty rough and it doesn’t get much better. The nasal quality of his voice is really pronounced in this song, and it’s hard to listen to. This was really bad. Not Sanjaya bad, but bad. Randy: He sang it okay, with some pitch problems. There was no connection with the lyrics. Paula: Paula and Simon don’t get what Randy was saying, so he tries to clarify. After Randy explains himself again, Paula seems to agree, saying that the joy and love he feels didn’t come through. Simon: He thinks the audience must hear different things than the judges, because Simon heard something nasal and tinny. It was “completely and utterly insignificant.” Ryan wonders if maybe Simon hears things differently because his head is so big. Chris says that “nasaly” is a legitimate way to sing. Simon wonders if it truly was intentional after all these weeks. Chris, a Virginia native, gives his love to people at Virginia Tech. Oh, awkward. Chris just gave a bad performance and got slammed by the judges. But then he mentioned the recent tragedy, and it could have really come across as pandering for votes. But I’m absolutely going to give Chris a pass on that one. He is from Virginia, and I’m sure it’s true that he has a lot of friends at Tech. I believe he was being completely sincere. Melinda has the other lame question this week. Has she run into any crazy fans yet? Melinda says that actually, she was the crazy one. Recently, a woman ran towards her in excitement. Melinda didn’t get what was happening and ran away. Heh, that’s funny. ”Trouble is a Woman” is Melinda’s song this week. Martina hadn’t heard it before, but Melinda absolutely got her attention. She says Melinda really sold it. Martina repeats what so many other mentors have said before - Melinda was shy until she started singing. First of all, Melinda should wear strapless tops more often, because she really looks good. I also like her hair longer and straighter. The performance is an absolute blast. She sounds great as always, but more importantly, she works it. She absolutely connects with the song, with every single facial expression and movement. Outstanding. Randy: “Another solid performance from our resident pro.” Paula: Great song, and she sang her heart out. Simon: “I’m about to compliment you, and I’m going to ask you to lose the surprise.” He says she was fantastic, and Melinda just smiles. Simon saw some Tina Turner attitude. Yep, I can see that. He tells her to stop it with the humility already. Word. Blake is going to sing “When the Stars Go Blue.” Martina says that Tim McGraw was hoping someone would sing his song. Blake says it’s a departure from what he usually listens to. Martina advises him to relax – he sounded nervous. She tells him to sing a bit higher and to focus on the lyrics. Blake’s performance is very pretty, in a quiet way. It’s good, but I’m not nearly as excited by it as I am by many of the other performers. I’m actually rather surprised that he got the last slot tonight. Randy: He loves Blake’s sweater, song choice, and arrangement. Blake knows himself very well. Paula: Blake has the whole package. Great song for him. Simon: Simon’s not jumping out of his chair – it was okay. He thinks it was wise not to do something that doesn’t suit him. Simon offers his best wishes to the families associated with the tragedy at Tech. Well, this week was better than I expected, given the lack of country singers in the mix. The judges and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but here’s how I’d rank everyone: Jordin -- amazing Melinda – a very close second LaKisha – very strong Blake – as much as I love him, he’s solidly in the middle this time around Phil – emotionless and bland Chris – off key and listless Sanjaya – completely and totally out of his league So, what’s going to happen on the results show? I think that Sanjaya will finally hit the bottom three. It might not be his week to go quite yet, but I think the ride is coming to an end. Phil will join him there, because like I said last week, he’s buying real estate in the center stage, he spends so much time there. As for the third, it’s a toss-up between Chris and LaKisha, and I think Chris will be the one there, given the weakness of his performance. Going home? Sanjaya. I think it’s finally the end of the road for this guy. Tune in to see if this is really just wishful thinking on my part.