The voices no longer matter.
Let’s be honest, on American Idol, after a while, the voices have never mattered. It’s a battle to the death between fanbases. The votes don’t go to the best voice, necessarily, but to the person who sold themselves to the most people (or at least, to the people with the most disposable time and income).
If you don’t believe me, look at the guest mentors they’ve had recently: Gwen Stefani, Peter Noone, even Tony Bennett—they’re not known for the strength of their voices but for the way they sell the songs and themselves.
This week’s guest mentor is no exception. Jennifer Lopez has never been known for having the best voice in the business, but the woman knows how to work what she’s got. The same can be said for the genre—latin music, at least as typified by this contest (and one should never look to American Idol for a musical education), is less about the big vocals and more about showmanship. The producers have been trying to hit the kids over the head with this message for weeks now, but only a few of them are getting it.
Unfortunately, it’s rarely the ones with the best voices who figure out the showmanship thing early enough to have it make any difference. That’s how you end up with a chasm between those who are singers—Melinda, LaKisha, Phil, and Jordin—and those who are performers—Blake, Haley, Chris R., and Sanjaya. It’s also how you end up with such a lackluster night as last night’s Latin Night proved to be.
Truth be told, I think a good portion of the problems with last night’s show are the producers fault. I’m not sure where they get the idea that selecting a genre that few of the contestants are comfortable with will lead to dynamic performances. No wonder three Gloria Estefan songs and two recent Santana songs were sung last night—that’s what these kids know of Latin music! They probably care less that it’s whitewashed and repetitive (read: dull) and more that they know it so they have to spend less of their barely adequate time learning a song they might screw up.
The theme nights have never been a good idea. Whoever wins American Idol is not going to release a record that touches on a variety of genres, and most of the audience doesn’t want them to. They’ll stick to their strengths and they’ll sell based on that. This is just jumping through hoops. The worst part is, you can tell they know it by now. They still have 6 weeks in front of them, if they’re lucky, and they’re already looking worn out. I wish they would go back to the first season model, have a Top 10 (not a top 12 or 16 or whatever they’re up to these days) and get through them quickly. As it is, they’re wearing on everyone’s patience—the contestants, the judges, and worst of all, ours.
The song list from last night is as follows:
Melinda: Sway. About halfway through this, I turned to my sister and said, “is she still singing? This feels like it’s going on forever.” Simon seemed to feel the same way. Passable but boring.
LaKisha: Conga. I thought this was a better song choice than everyone else seemed to, but I think LaKisha’s hitting the point where she’s going to start falling behind Melinda and Jordin in the big belters competition—she’s not quite as good as Melinda is technically and she’s not nearly as adorable or relatable as Jordin is.
Chris R: Smooth. I hate this guy. Worst vocal of the night, I thought, but something tells me he’s going to squeak by again.
Haley: Turn the Beat Around. Was anyone actually surprised by Simon’s accusation that Haley’s using her body to get herself further in the competition? I’m trying to imagine someone at home honestly thinking, “I thought her shorts were just getting shorter because of some freakish growth spurt” or something. Seriously, it’s just ridiculous that she’s still in the competition; she has no chance, she knows it, the judges know it (why they handle her with such kid gloves I’m not sure; you can see them glance at each other with dread when it comes time to give her criticism, which is just strange. They love to criticize!). Now it’s just time for America to let her go. I mean, seriously, did you listen to the opening notes? She was completely off from her backup singers, and she was struggling to be heard over the band.
Phil: Maria, Maria. I think that Phil honestly has the best voice of the guys remaining (which is damning with faint praise if I’ve ever heard it), but he’s lacking on every other front. He’s not that attractive and he’s not much of a performer. If he doesn’t go this week, he goes next week.
Jordin: The Rhythm is Gonna Get You. I do love Jordin, but her weird cutesy faces are starting to bug. At least she’s trying, and I appreciate her staying away from overly sexual songs—she is just 17, after all.
Blake: I Need to Know. Ahh. This guy. I understand the need for eye candy on a tv show, but really—all I see when I look at him is the guy that, once you sober up, you’re going to really regret having made out with at the bar after too many peach margaritas, and he paid the mariachis $5 so he could sing with them, and your friends just won’t let you forget it. I might be over projecting here.
Sanjaya: Besame Mucho. So he got a haircut (or a transplant, I guess, given the fuzz now clinging to his face). He sat down, stared the camera creepily in the eye, and gave it his all, managing to somehow pull off one of the best performances of the night. No, I don’t know how it happened either.
Top Three: Melinda, Sanjaya (I’m sorry!), Blake
My Personal Bottom Three: Phil, Haley, Chris R.
The Probable Bottom Three, because Americais crazy: Phil, Haley, and either LaKisha or Jordin.
Going home: Phil or Haley. They’ve been keeping up with the boy/girl ousters, so my money is on Phil.
My dream solution: Phil, Haley, and Chris are all sent packing, saving us all some time and energy.
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Comments: 22
Sorry. I had to. So Howard's still on the "vote Sanjaya through to the end" kick, eh? I was wondering if he would start backing off of that...
You must be a real young'n, Sarah. This guy is not even on the same planet as the rest of this crop. I saw him at Tanglewood last summer (at the age of 80) and he sang for 3 hours straight! And sounded just as good as he did 40 years ago. It's sad that people can actually lump him in with mere mortals. The guy is one of the all-time singing greats in the history of popular music. Up there with Ella for me. What I couldn't believe is that he actually gave his time to such a lame show.
However you made good points, tony bennett was a disaster the entire show bored me to death
they have to have themes where every one can be judged according to that style otherwise how do you rate a rock singer against a country singer against a r & B singer,
at least this way they all have to work outside their comfort zone and see how well they can do.
Sanjaya surprised me last night, I am not surprised haley left and yes I do believe Phil is gone next week.
I think Blake is very talented, no he is not the greatest singer but he has the most over all talent and I can see him performing and producing his own stuff and he will be a great success in the hip hop generation.
And Chris? He's SOOO cute, but is he that great a singer? I can't tell, I'm too busy melting over his EYES.
Sanjaya has my heart...I agree with sarah e, because MY kid is just turned 18, and she can't stand it if I LOOK the wrong way at her. So to have an entire COUNTRY (and shame on you Ryan Seacrest) harrassing and dissing you? That kid's got guts! And so he has been made a bit of a clown, but he's really not a bad singer. Kind of cheesy...but remember how he's ONLY 17!!??
Do you ever watch the stars when they are on and think...if they were on the show, I'd have voted them off?
Not so with Jennifer Lopez, but you see that her performance was NOT all about the voice, but also the smoke and the dancers and the outfit, and the faces she made (after hearing her talk about the passion and making people FEEL, I had to laugh at the faces she was making!).
Anyway, next week, COUNTRY! I can already picture what Sanjaya is gonna wear. And well, we know Phil will have on a hat, maybe a cowboy hat this time. :)
I like Phil. He has a loving family, and he adores them, and he is so happy. And when he didn't get booted off, I didn't even see a moment of a smile, but only a sad look for Haley. He seems like a really decent guy. What would make him want to enter the music biz, who knows?
There's nothing wrong with this, but it does remove the pressure from the producers of the show to deal with the fact that talent is not a bottomless well from which new idols can be plucked over and over.
The producers of American Idol have a schedule to keep. Every year they need a new stable of wannabes whether they are the most talented contestants out there or not.
The only sad part about the whole thing is that it pushes the truly talents artists out there who don't choose to be shoved through the American Idol pipeline out of the picture.
I don't watch american idol, but enjoyed your article.
I can definitely understand why people don't like Chris R. He is really getting on my nerves. I don't think he is a good singer. His voice is too high and nasally and the Justin Timberlake card is being over played. I hope he goes home next week. It'll be either him or Phil. Phil isn't all that bad but he is kinda creepy. I think it's because he has big ears and the baldness doesn't help that.
I am so glad that they got rid of Haley. She was an ok singer but I always agreed with Simon when he said she was too cabaret. She belongs in musicals, not in America's pop culture.
I wasn't thrilled with LaKisha or Melinda's performances. I just really don't think that Melinda fits the American Idol profile. And LaKisha needs to STOP wearing V-necks!!!!! Why is it that Haley gets crap for wearing short shorts but LaKisha doesn't get anything from the judges about her boobs practically popping out of her dress? It baffles me!