I have to say, contrary to what I anticipated, it wasn't much different watching the performances live versus on TV. It might have been because we were very close to the floor monitors that the judges listen to. It all sounded much the same (just louder) as it does at home. The difference is that the judges comments and Ryan's remarks are harder to hear because they drop the sound level down on those in the studio. So we heard the performances loud and clear, plus we got to see the contestants sing up close and personal.
First up was Jason Castro and my goodness, the guy is gorgeous. He looks even better in person. I loved his first song, "Forever in Blue Jeans." I thought it was classic JC, and I think he is at his best when he plays the guitar and sings songs that are kind of folksy. That's what he does. I loved it. The judges didn't like it much, but they don't seem to like much of what anyone does except for the two Davids these days. Now, I really didn't care for JC's second song, "September Morn'." He seems uncomfortable when he has to stand on the stage with just a mic in his hand. His vocals were not great but who cares. The guy is smoking hot.
David Cook was my fave of the night and Jen P. was out of her mind for him. She was woo hooing him during both of his songs. He did rock the house, but Jen P. was not happy with the reversal trend that his hairstyle is exhibiting. I wasn't familiar with either of the songs that he did, but I thought both were good, the first better than the second.
Thirdsies for the evening was Brooke White. Her husband was sitting right behind the judges and they kept smiling and waving at each other when she came on stage. It was really cute. His hair is quite long at this point, I wonder if this is the week he'll go for a hair cut. (Sidenote to Brooke: 1974 called...They want their pants back.) Brooke made an odd choice for her first song with "I'm a Believer" which is more famous from the Monkees TV show than from Neil Diamond but for me will be forever associated with the movie Shrek. It wasn't very good, but when you're standing in that pit uptempo songs are better than slow songs, so it was OK for me in the studio, but not a great performance for her. I do love Brooke though and her second song was fabulous. She sang "I am, I Said" while accompanying herself on the piano, and it really worked for her. The judges all seemed to like the second song much better than the first.
Finally the moment all the young girls were waiting for arrived and David Archuleta took the stage to sing a very odd arrangement of "Sweet Caroline." This is the song Carly was to have sung this week and I'm telling you she would have done a great job. But all we had was the robotic and emotionless David A. rendering the song nearly unrecognizable. Randy, of course, thought it was "'Da Bomb." We never got to hear Paula's thoughts on that performance (more on that in a minute) and Simon, thankfully, deemed it "Amateurish." (I think Danny Noriega must have gotten a hold of Simon because last night everything was -ish: Nightmarish, Amateurish, etc...) Follwing in the boot tracks of KLC, David's second song was the cheesy and patriotic "Coming to America." Very smart Papa Archuleta, very smart indeed. It was OK, I still think he's overrated. Nothing he has done over the past two months has come anywhere near to his heart wrenching performance of "Imagine" back in February. I felt bad for Simon because right after he get's done skewering David A. on a stick he has to get up and walk right in front of his parents. They seemed to take it in stride though and Simon did say something to them but I didn't catch what it was.
Syesha was pretty good in both of her performances. Her voice sounded pitch perfect in the studio during "Hello Again" even though I couldn't see her for most of the song because she was sitting down on the edge of the stage. And her hair was so pretty but I wish she would have put some shoes on. Enough with the bare feet already. I thought her voice was better on her first number, but her performance of "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" was much more fun for us arm-wavers in the pit. I loved that the backup singers were down on the stage with Syesha, and she was energetic and theatrical, which is annoying but entertaining all at once. Sometimes when I'm watching her that baby noise of hers flashes in my head and it's all I can think about. But she was good and deserves more praise than she gets. I think the judges have already written her off as "Broadway Actress" rather than "Recording Artist."
Last night's show was a bit chaotic due to the whole judging snafu. The judges were supposed to watch both performances and then critique at the end of the second song instead of critiquing at the end of each song. I think that came as a surprise to all the judges who were being given instructions in a whispered conference with one of the producers at the beginning of the show. Then a PA brought out blank notepads and pens for Simon, Randy and Paula in case of sudden short term memory loss. Paula seemed to be the only one taking notes during the performances, but as we all now know, it didn't help. What also didn't help the flustered Paula was the apparent last second decision by the producers to do a quick judging recap after all the Idols had sung their first song. I think they may have been running ahead of schedule and needed to fill a minute or two because Ryan seemed unsure of what was going on and the Idols had to be quickly rounded up to get on the stage. In what has now been termed Paulagate (thanks Michael Slezak at EW) when it came time for Paula to give her speed critique she mistakenly referred to Jason Castro's second song, even though he had only sung one at that point. Paula was definitely embarrassed and unable to recover her composure so Simon stepped in and quickly crushed everyone's hopes and dreams before the show mercifully cut to a commercial. I will say also that I never once detected a whiff of alcohol coming from Paula's direction, even when she was speaking to me. I have long suspected that her Coke cup was filled with Strawberry Daquiri, but maybe it really is just Coke.
So today the internet is alive with Idol conspriacy theories. Some say the producers gave her notes to follow or the judges had cue cards to read. Or Paula was confused and referring to the rehearsal performances, which is a no no. I can tell you, since I was right next to the judges during the show, that they had no notes or cue cards of any sort to read off of. I think the rehearsal theory may be closest to the truth, but honestly, I don't understand what all the controversy is about. Paula never makes sense. Ever. I think she was just having a loopy Paula moment which was brought on by the total confusion of last night's judging procedure. Give her a break.
First up was Jason Castro and my goodness, the guy is gorgeous. He looks even better in person. I loved his first song, "Forever in Blue Jeans." I thought it was classic JC, and I think he is at his best when he plays the guitar and sings songs that are kind of folksy. That's what he does. I loved it. The judges didn't like it much, but they don't seem to like much of what anyone does except for the two Davids these days. Now, I really didn't care for JC's second song, "September Morn'." He seems uncomfortable when he has to stand on the stage with just a mic in his hand. His vocals were not great but who cares. The guy is smoking hot.
David Cook was my fave of the night and Jen P. was out of her mind for him. She was woo hooing him during both of his songs. He did rock the house, but Jen P. was not happy with the reversal trend that his hairstyle is exhibiting. I wasn't familiar with either of the songs that he did, but I thought both were good, the first better than the second.
Thirdsies for the evening was Brooke White. Her husband was sitting right behind the judges and they kept smiling and waving at each other when she came on stage. It was really cute. His hair is quite long at this point, I wonder if this is the week he'll go for a hair cut. (Sidenote to Brooke: 1974 called...They want their pants back.) Brooke made an odd choice for her first song with "I'm a Believer" which is more famous from the Monkees TV show than from Neil Diamond but for me will be forever associated with the movie Shrek. It wasn't very good, but when you're standing in that pit uptempo songs are better than slow songs, so it was OK for me in the studio, but not a great performance for her. I do love Brooke though and her second song was fabulous. She sang "I am, I Said" while accompanying herself on the piano, and it really worked for her. The judges all seemed to like the second song much better than the first.
Finally the moment all the young girls were waiting for arrived and David Archuleta took the stage to sing a very odd arrangement of "Sweet Caroline." This is the song Carly was to have sung this week and I'm telling you she would have done a great job. But all we had was the robotic and emotionless David A. rendering the song nearly unrecognizable. Randy, of course, thought it was "'Da Bomb." We never got to hear Paula's thoughts on that performance (more on that in a minute) and Simon, thankfully, deemed it "Amateurish." (I think Danny Noriega must have gotten a hold of Simon because last night everything was -ish: Nightmarish, Amateurish, etc...) Follwing in the boot tracks of KLC, David's second song was the cheesy and patriotic "Coming to America." Very smart Papa Archuleta, very smart indeed. It was OK, I still think he's overrated. Nothing he has done over the past two months has come anywhere near to his heart wrenching performance of "Imagine" back in February. I felt bad for Simon because right after he get's done skewering David A. on a stick he has to get up and walk right in front of his parents. They seemed to take it in stride though and Simon did say something to them but I didn't catch what it was.
Syesha was pretty good in both of her performances. Her voice sounded pitch perfect in the studio during "Hello Again" even though I couldn't see her for most of the song because she was sitting down on the edge of the stage. And her hair was so pretty but I wish she would have put some shoes on. Enough with the bare feet already. I thought her voice was better on her first number, but her performance of "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" was much more fun for us arm-wavers in the pit. I loved that the backup singers were down on the stage with Syesha, and she was energetic and theatrical, which is annoying but entertaining all at once. Sometimes when I'm watching her that baby noise of hers flashes in my head and it's all I can think about. But she was good and deserves more praise than she gets. I think the judges have already written her off as "Broadway Actress" rather than "Recording Artist."
Last night's show was a bit chaotic due to the whole judging snafu. The judges were supposed to watch both performances and then critique at the end of the second song instead of critiquing at the end of each song. I think that came as a surprise to all the judges who were being given instructions in a whispered conference with one of the producers at the beginning of the show. Then a PA brought out blank notepads and pens for Simon, Randy and Paula in case of sudden short term memory loss. Paula seemed to be the only one taking notes during the performances, but as we all now know, it didn't help. What also didn't help the flustered Paula was the apparent last second decision by the producers to do a quick judging recap after all the Idols had sung their first song. I think they may have been running ahead of schedule and needed to fill a minute or two because Ryan seemed unsure of what was going on and the Idols had to be quickly rounded up to get on the stage. In what has now been termed Paulagate (thanks Michael Slezak at EW) when it came time for Paula to give her speed critique she mistakenly referred to Jason Castro's second song, even though he had only sung one at that point. Paula was definitely embarrassed and unable to recover her composure so Simon stepped in and quickly crushed everyone's hopes and dreams before the show mercifully cut to a commercial. I will say also that I never once detected a whiff of alcohol coming from Paula's direction, even when she was speaking to me. I have long suspected that her Coke cup was filled with Strawberry Daquiri, but maybe it really is just Coke.
So today the internet is alive with Idol conspriacy theories. Some say the producers gave her notes to follow or the judges had cue cards to read. Or Paula was confused and referring to the rehearsal performances, which is a no no. I can tell you, since I was right next to the judges during the show, that they had no notes or cue cards of any sort to read off of. I think the rehearsal theory may be closest to the truth, but honestly, I don't understand what all the controversy is about. Paula never makes sense. Ever. I think she was just having a loopy Paula moment which was brought on by the total confusion of last night's judging procedure. Give her a break.
I think everyone is vulnerable this week except for David/David. The weird thing is that Dial Idol shows David A. with lower votes than David C. or Syesha! Can't wait to see the results tonight.
BTW watching the show live was amazing, I will definitely try to do it again next season.
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