Wednesday, March 2, 2011

American Idol Season 10 - Week 1 (The Girls)

I've been looking forward to tonight, mainly because in my opinion the guys underperformed last night. Sure there were some good performances, but overall, not a big fan of the dudes who sang last night. Tonight I have a feeling will be different. Or, at the very least, maybe I'll find this year's Idol crush, following in the footsteps of you know who from last season.

First up is Ta-Tynisa Wilson. I don't remember her first name being Ta-Tynisa. I thought it was Tatynisa. Whatever her name is, she does an absolutely atrocious version of Rihanna's "The Only Girl In The World". I love Rihanna, but the same can't be said of TT (that's what I'm going to call her since I don't feel like typing out Ta-Tynisa every time!). She is all over the place with her pitch, and she doesn't look comfortable out there. It's painful listening to this. It had to sound better live, right? Maybe it was nerves, but I thought she was awful. Steven Tyler appears to not want to say anything bad to anyone this year (except Jordan last night). JLo liked it. Randy says it will probably happen a lot this season, but he disagrees with both Steven and JLo. Randy is right. In fact, he's not harsh enough. I think she deserves to go home after this performance. Ugh. And Ryan's clearly missing Simon because he uses one of his awful insults on Randy tonight. Stupid. Definitely non-WINNING.

Naima Adedapo (wow, these names are hard to type and pronounce!) is up next. I really liked her in Hollywood, and look forward to hearing what she is going to sing tonight. She takes on the old standard "Summertime". She's got some voice - I really like her performance. True, I've heard the song done better before on the show, but this song at least shows off the quality of her voice. And that last note is very well done. A very professional performance - great job Naima! The judges all liked her (again, Randy not AS much but much more than TT). I think this girl will go far in the competition.

Kendra Chantelle, who is wearing some nice leather pants (just sayin'...), sings Xtina's "Impossible". I don't know Xtina's version (yeah, I know...I'm sheltered...sue me). I think she did a good job - it probably doesn't compare to the original, but most versions on this show don't. Steven calls her hot. Did I mention she was wearing black leather pants? Anyway, they all liked it. I did too.

Next up is Rachel Zevita - she is the type of girl that if I was still in High School, I would probably have a crush on. I know this will come as a shock - a cute, short brunette from Idol ....hmmm....yeah, I like this girl. Unfortunately, I didn't care for her arrangement of Fiona Apple's "Criminal". I think the arrangement made it sound worse - but her voice wasn't even that great. In fact, it's borderline painful midway through when she walks past the judges. But based on cute factor, I'm going to give her a pass this week. Yeah, I know - that's not fair. Whatever - if you've followed me on this blog, you know I do that. From time to time. Steven didn't care for it. Said it was too Broadway. JLo didn't care for it either. And Randy didn't like it either. Poor Rachel - she looks like she needs a hug.

Karen Rodriguez tackles "Hero" by Mariah Carey. She sings parts of it in English and parts in Spanish. I just didn't care for the performance - yes, she has a good voice. I know she does because I've heard her in past episodes and she CAN really belt it out. I think the problem I had with this song was that, well, I just don't care for this song! So really no matter who is singing it, it doesn't do anything for me. There was something not quite right with her vocals tonight - I am probably in the minority in this, but I thought it sounded kind of flat a times. But I do like this girl - as I mentioned, she can sing, and I look forward to hearing what she does if she continues on. JLo, in typical JLo fashion, said it was amazing. Gave her goosebumps. Keeps repeating the word "Wow". Randy and Steven said it was great. I think it was just ok. But I like this girl, so again, she gets a pass (and again, I'm in the minority on this, so she may not need that pass!).

Cleaning woman Lauren Turner sings "Seven Day Fool", and I think she was amazing. Really wonderful performance - I knew this girl could sing in Hollywood, and she didn't disappoint tonight. So far, my fave performance of the night! Unlike Giovani, I think Lauren can safely say GOODBYE CLEANING JOB!! The judges all loved it (although JLo wanted more physicality - whatever...). She rocked it. Great job!!!

Ashthon Jones belts out Monica's "Love All Over Me", another song I had to look up. She did a solid job with it. I didn't care for it as much as Lauren's performance, but it certainly wasn't a let down. It's probably because I don't know the song (although I didn't know the "Seven Day Fool" song either, and I enjoyed that...). She did her thing (sorry Randy, had to borrow that from you for the first time this season), and seemed really comfortable and confident out there. I enjoyed the performance - good job Ashthon. By the way, I think Steven is on drugs tonight - he just seems like he's in la la land...like Paula used to act! He get the Charlie Sheen award for this evening. WINNING. JLo and Randy agree - she's solid.

My friend Sean's favorite performer is up next - Julie Zorrilla. She sings Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway", and while she looks great tonight, I am not wild about this performance. Not horrible, but again, I think the problem is that maybe the original is so ingrained in my mind. Or maybe it's just not that good. Sorry Sean - hey, my girl Rachel wasn't good either! Julie can do better. And I just realized that this year, they're only picking 5 guys and 5 girls based on votes, plus 3 wild cards. Is Julie one of the top 13? I don't know. We shall see. None of the judges really cared for her performance, either.

Haley Reinhart is the next contestant to take the stage, singing "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. She's makin' some crazy faces, and hitting some strange notes. Regardless of someone's comment that she looks like the Cowardly Lion, I think she looks pretty good. Did she sing well? I am really on the fence - part of it seemed a little over the top, but some notes were good. But generally I think she did just an ok job. Nothing super memorable, but listenable. Is it enough to be top 5? I don't think so. Again, heard much worse tonight but this didn't blow me away. Randy didn't care for it, but Steven and JLo really liked it.

Does Thia Megia know Julia Goolia? My friend Eludius wants to know. Thia, who I believe is the youngest in this competition, sings "Out Here On My Own", which Irene Cara sang in Fame (and someone else sang in the remake...but I digress). Whoa. Thia blew me away - had no idea that voice was going to come out of that girl. Excellent job. She didn't go over the top and get all Diva on us with unnecessary runs and what not. Just a nice, controlled, powerful version of the song. She really did a great job. Holy crap! She's 15!!! Yeah, she definitely rocked it out. I'm glad they kept her. She was the last girl to go through to the top 24. The judges all loved her performance. Randy even compares her to the late Michael Jackson! Vocal wise, not Chimp Loving wise.... Ryan wants proof that she's only 15. Is there a controversy here? No, it's not the Olympics! Great job Thia!

Speaking of young girls (wait, that didn't sound right), my favorite from day 1 is coming up next - 16 year old Lauren Alaina. I predicted when I first saw her that she would go very far in this competition, and so far, she has not disappointed me in any of the performances I've seen. She sings Reba McEntire's "Turn On The Radio". I didn't picture her singing country. But she rocks it out - it's not my favorite performance of the night, BUT it's definitely one of the top ones. If she doesn't make the top 5 girls by vote, I think she would be a lock for the wild card choices from the judges. Speaking of the judges, they lavish well deserved praise upon her. She's great, and nothing happened tonight to change my mind. This girl is, to quote Randy, "In it to win it!!" I am a big fan!!! Love this girl....

I had thought I had heard the best performance already tonight, but I had no idea what was to come next. The final performer, Pia Toscano, absolutely blows it up. She sings The Pretenders "I'll Stand By You". Not only do I love this song because, well, it's The Pretenders, but I know this is the kind of song that you can start off restrained and then build up to a big crescendo. And boy does she ever. Beautiful quality to her voice, and an overall amazing performance, one that I'll remember for a long time. Plus, she's easy on the eyes! (Not that it matters...) She looks like ex Idol host Kara, but hotter. :^) Great job Pia - I think my favorite of the evening. The judges all love her - they even give her a standing O. Again, if for some reason she doesn't make the top 5 via the public voting, she'd be a shoe in for one of the Wild Card choices based on that great performance.

So my top 5 tonight would be (in order of appearance):

Naima Adedapo
Lauren Turner
Thia Megia
Lauren Alaina
Pia Toscano

Those were actually easy choices. So we'll see what happens tomorrow night! Can't wait...



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