18 posts tagged “american idol”

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATES - WEEK 5TH MAY 2008

This week's theme is Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, and I'm not sure whether is it just me, or the songs chosen by the contestants just didn't really give you the Rock N Roll feel, except for David Cook. And it was particularly true for Archuleta's choice of songs, Stand By Me and Love Me Tender? Hmm, that reminded me more of Most-Popular-Karaoke-Oldies rather than Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, don't you think? Anyway, like it or not, Archuleta is definitely smart when it comes to song choice. If you notice, he has been choosing ballads and mellow tunes nearly every week, as to me that's the only genre that he can do well. And true enough, he gets to be everyone's favourite again this week, including the judges.

David Cook is still my choice for winning the competition. To me he has the most to offer in the music industry when he leaves the competition. How he did this week? To me at least he gave us some Rock N Roll feel with his songs Hungry Like A Wolf and Baba O'Riley, although I wasn't sure I like those songs particularly, especially for a competition. But he showed prowess on stage and consistency. But do you all notice one thing, he does have that cocky Hey-Look-At-Me-I-Am-Mr.Cool look nowdays? Hmm...

Syesha has come a long way in this competition. From being the constestant we thought would leave the competition in the earlier stages, being at the bottom few (although now she still is!), she has shown the most improvement so far, and she is still around. I am still not sure I like her high notes, although powerful high range of vocals is her strength, it can also be her weakness, as she can be a little inconsistent when she hits the big notes. She sang Proud Mary and A Change Is Gonna Come. The 2nd song was definitely much better, as I thought Proud Mary was just too big a song for her. But I applaud her showmanship on stage, rarely we get to see an American Idol dance and show a little more than just singing on stage. Everyone (including herself) was rather surprised when she stayed in the Top 3, but good for her, she earned it much more than Jason, especially with his very poor two performances this week.

Jason Castro was very weak this week, especially when he forgot the lyrics to his second song Mr Tambourine Man. You cannot afford that in a Top 4!!! His first song was not any better, he chose I Shot The Syeriff. Definitely the worst song choice for the night. He could not carry such a song at all, and it was disastrous. Although everyone thought he would stay on (with his huge female fan base), he got the boot this week. To me although I feel he has quite a unique quality that could do well when he leaves the competition, he earned every bit of his elimination this week. I have a feeling he will do quite well with his albums in the future, singing songs similar to Jack Johnson's. Genre like this is getting popular nowadays, and Jason's voice does sound quite nice in recorded tracks, much better than his live performances. Well good luck, Jason!

So we had one shocker this week, Syesha gets to stay until Top 3. Will she continue to give us another shocker by breaking the highly-predicted acticipation of the Final duo David vs David? We'll just have to wait and see!

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com

AMERICAN IDOL UPATES : WEEK 28 APRIL 2008

This week the contestants get to sing two songs from Neil Diamond each. Here are my verdict of the performances:-

David Cook : I'm Alive - Didn't quite like the low notes in the beginning, nothing great / All I Need Is You - I liked this performance, beautifully sung, good vocals, great arrangements

 

David Archuleta : Sweet Caroline - Boring, went out of tune a bit during the first chorus - / America - Uplifting, he actually slipped again during the 1st verse but hey, nobody cared right, it was good overall 

Syesha Mercado : Hello Again - Beautiful performance, she looked elegant, and sounded elegant / Thank The Lord For The Night Time - My favourite performance of the night, powerful and amazing! Syesha has grown so much in this competition, from being quite inconsistent vocally, everyone thought she was going out soon being the usual bottom 3 week and week, but she has proven to have improved & she's here to stay.

Jason Castro : Forever In Blue Jeans - I actually quite like this song, suited his style / September Morn - Not a good song choice for a competition, nothing to show off what he can do.

Brooke White : I'm A Believer - The song was a bit too big for her, having to play guitar at the same time, and have that rock N' roll attitude, which she didn't pull off / I Am I Said - Much better performance from her that night, but it wasn't as good as the judges said, she was still the weaker contestant for the night to me

I still feel it's going to be a David vs David at the finals, question now is, will Jason or Syesha get the Top 3 spot. Looking at popularity, Jason's definitely getting the stronger votes especially from the ladies.

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com

AMERICAN IDOL SPECIALS - FREE DOWNLOAD OF STUDIO VERSION TRACKS

Here are more studio version tracks from your idols:

David Cook Pack - Contains Always Be My Baby & Music Of The Night DOWNLOAD HERE

David Archuleta Pack - Contains When You Believe & Think Of Me DOWNLOAD HERE

Jason Castro Pack - Contains I Don't Wanna Cry & Memory DOWNLOAD HERE

Brooke White Pack - Contains Hero & You Must Love Me DOWNLOAD HERE

Syesha Mercado Pack - Contains Vanishing & One Rock N Roll Too Many DOWNLOAD HERE

Take note links for download are only available for 7 days from 25 April 2008

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATES : WEEK 21 APRIL 2008

This week the contestants get to sing songs composed by the highly successful British composer Andrew Llyod Webber. Definitely a challenging week, as his music is made for the musical theatre. My favourite two performances this week come from Syesha & Archuleta.

 

Syesha was full of confidence, charisma and attitude singing One Rock And Roll Too Many. It was her best performance in the competition so far. I was glad to see Archuleta doing something different this week. Previously when the other contestants were trying out different arrangements and showing off their creativity, Archuleta was pretty 'stagnant' going on with his mellow-ballad approach week after week. This week, when the contestants are not brave enough to change the music arrangements of Andrew Llyod Webber, Archuleta gave a pop-version of Think Of Me, and I was proud of his attempt. Believe it or not Simon did not like it, perhaps Simon wants to see the angelic Archuleta being the boy-next-door, just belting out predictable ballad after ballad, yawn...Simon.

 

David Cook took on the my favourite ballad from ALW, Music Of The Night. I agree with Simon, he made the best he could with that song, but it was not vocally astounding or anything.

Two performances which I didn't like were from Carly and Castro. As usual, Carly screamed her way through towards the 2nd half of Jesus Christ Superstar, and was to me screeching at many parts. This time Carly screamed her way out as she was announced as the bottom two together with Syesha, and later eliminated. No more of her screaming next week onwards LOL

 

 

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATES - WEEK 14 APRIL 2008

I was definitely curious this week, looking forward to see how the idols sing Mariah Carey's songs. One thing's for sure, the idols have gotten smarter as time passes, this time we see many renditions with different music arrangements. This is very clever indeed. Change the arrangements, avoid having to hit those scary notes in Mariah's songs, and end up sounding quite nice and refreshing. After all, how good can a guy sound belting out Mariah's songs?

 

And true enough, the guys did that and they out-performed the ladies hands down. David Cook was always trying out different things, and this time he took on Always Be My Baby, and made it his own. Really impressed with the new arrangements. Was it vocally impressive? Not really, but we have to give it to him for creativity, taking the risk, and giving a breath of fresh air to that song. Jason Castro was another, he did a very good rendition of I Don't Wanna Cry, with the help of Mariah herself in changing the arrangements. The judges loved Archuleta's When You Believe as well, and Simon kept reminding everyone that he's the one to beat. But to me, it wasn't that great or original, except that Archuleta could carry the notes well throughout the song. After seeing refreshing performances like Cook and Castro, to me it made Archuleta's looked rather pale.

As for the ladies, not so good performances came from Carly and Brooke. Carly sang Without You and the song was just to big for her, despite her attempt to scream it out again (as usual). Brooke in fact sang a few notes out of tune in her song Hero. Hero to me was the easiest song to sing compared to the rest of the very challenging songs the other contestants chose that night.

Syesha was again choosing really bold choices, and this time she took on Vanishing, one really, really challenging song, and happened to be one of Mariah's personal favourites. She did not too bad, like Randy said, 'considering all things'. As for Kristy, she sang Forever, did just an OK job, and caused her an elimination this week. Again I can't help but think about Michael Johns, leaving before contestants like Carly, Brooke & Kristy? Hmm...real sad.

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com

AMERICAN IDOL SPECIALS - FREE DOWNLOAD OF STUDIO VERSION TRACKS

Here are some studio version tracks the idols performed in recent weeks which you can download for free. Take note the links for download will only be available for 7 days from 16 April 2008

David Archuleta Pack - Contains Angels, Smoky Mountain Memories, The Long And Winding Road & You're The Voice

David Cook Pack - Contains Day Tripper, Eleanor Rigby, Innocent & Little Sparrow

Brooke White Pack - Contains Every Breath You Take, Here Comes The Sun, Jolene, Let It Be & You've Got A Friend

Jason Castro Pack - Contains Travellin' Trhough, Over The Rainbow & If I Fell

Kristy Lee Cook Pack - Contains Anyway & God Bless The USA

And last but not least, of course a must have:

Michael Johns Pack - Contains Across The Universe, Dream On & It's All Wrong, But It's All Right  

AMERICAN IDOL : TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JOHNS

Still not fully over his elimination, here are some stuff to share on Michael Johns

American Idol Extra - Michael Johns Exit Interview:

 

Get To Know The Idols - Interview With Michael Johns & Ramiele Malubay:

Studio Version Track! Michael Johns Sings Dream On:

FREE DOWNLOAD : Download three studio version tracks of Michael HERE (link will be available for only 7 days from 16 April 2008)

Watch the younger Michael Johns performing the song 'Q':

Interview with Michael Johns with his band before American Idol:

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATES : WEEK 7 APRIL 2008

Sigh, I needed to stay calm blogging this week's updates as my favourite contestant Michael Johns is booted out. We'll get to that later. This week the contestants are singing inspirational songs, in line with their Idol Gives Back project.

How did my top two favourite do? Well I am disappointed with David Cook this week. A bad song choice to start with, and for once he sounded terrible, especially the low notes. I would expect from his creative abilities in previous weeks, that he would be able to realize it when he actually sounded bad in certain notes. Unfortunately, he didn't. As for Michael, call me bias, but I honestly thought he did well, despite both Randy & Simon's disapproval that he took on Aerosmith's song Dream On, claiming it didn't suit him and came off as slightly mimicking.

Public's favourite David Archuleta continued to conquer everyone's hearts with the beautiful ballad Angel. I liked the performance. Kristy Lee Cook finally had her week, where her rendition of Anyways was to me her best performance so far. As for Jason Castro, he took on Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole's version of Over The Rainbow, and I liked it very much. To me that's Jason's genre, spot on. I could picture him coming out with an album of such genre, tracks with a lot of guitar-based arrangements, songs which takes you to the beaches, tunes which many romantic movies will use as soundtracks, similar to artists like Jack Johnson. Jason does sing out of tune in many of his live performances, but I believe he will sound quite pleasant in recordings.

Brooke White did not too bad singing You've Got A Friend, but it was nothing to shout about. Syesha Mercado has always chosen big songs and this week was no different, she tried Fantasia's powerful track I Believe. It is definitely hard to do the song justice, when it was already done so well by the original singer. True enough all the judges could not escape from comparing her to Fantasia, making Syesha look mediocre. Carly Smithson, to me she never sounded good whenever she hits her high notes, as she is screaming much more than singing. Her rendition of The Show Must Go On was not inspirational at all to me, and was only OK by standards.

Who would I have preferred to leave instead of Michael Johns? I suppose either Brooke White or Carly Smithson. Anyway, Micheal was in the bottom three together with Carly and Syesha. There were many boo's in the audience when Ryan Seacrest announced Michael's the next to go. I have to be honest, that I saw so much of Chris Daughtry in Michael right from the beginning. I had a bad feeling he may not win this competition, but he would still make it big outside like Daughtry without winning it. But falling out from Top 8? Hmm...that I wasn't prepared for, it was definitely too early.

Anyway, life goes on, I trust he will make it big outside the competition. Can't wait to get his debut album ;-)

More articles written about Michael's elimination : Article 1, Article 2

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATES : WEEK 31 MARCH 2008

 

This week was Dolly Parton Week, and I thought Kristy would shine since she fits the country music best among them. Unfortunately I thought she picked not an interesting song enough to make her out-shine the rest. Brooke White too chose a pretty mundane song, and I'm starting to get bored with her performances week after week, they're all pretty much the same!! Versatility is definitely not her strength.

Syesha was bold enough to try the big song I'll Always Love You, sounded OK, but I didn't quite like the arrangements. Carly Smithson, I've always never liked her screaming parts of her performances, and this week wasn't any different. She sounded alright until she screamed at the end. She got critisized by Simon for her dressing.

David Cook is really getting into my good books for his consistency week after week. His solemn song Black Sparrow was again good enough to put him sailing through to another week. Ramiele I would say deserves the boot this week, as her performance was really to me the weakest this time round.

My favourite pick this week, none other than Michael Johns ;-) What a performance, simply soulful and classy. I really hope this time the finals would be between the two male rockers, Michael Johns and David Cook.

 

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com

AMERICAN IDOL UPATES - WEEK 24 MARCH 2008

This week we bid goodbye to one talented singer in the competition. Chikezie has been showing consistency in his performances week after week, but chose unfortunately one boring song to perform yesterday, which costs him an elimination from becoming the next American Idol. The other two bottom three contestants were Jason & Syesha.

 

This week my favourite picks will be Michael Johns & David Cook. For Michael, I've always liked all his performances but unfortunately he has yet to get a 'splendid' compliment from the judges until last night, when he finally picked an all time favourite band, Queen's medley, which rocked the place and earned him great comments from all the judges (finally!).

 

I have to admit David Cook initially didn't catch my attention because I did not like his fashion sense. Looks like he has improved in his image (he looks much better lately), and has proven he is indeed talented, consistent and very creative with his songs arrangements, first with his rendition of Lionel Ritchie's Hello and yesterday Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, superb!

Contestants that failed to impress : Brooke (lousy rendition of Every Breath You Take), Archuleta (not too bad but getting boring if he does not prove that he can do more than just great ballads. Twice he attempted faster tempo numbers, twice he failed), Ramiele (chose a song that was too big for her, Heart's Alone, ended up shouting in a few parts).

Pics courtesy of www.americanidol.com