MBADC American Idol
Armchair Quarterback 2005
American Idol from
the perspective of someone who's booked artists at the national-level: who we like in the
competition, what works, what doesn't work, what contestants can do to improve
their chances of success, and advice you can apply to your own performances.
Week 17
Tuesday, May 10 2005: The Top 4
Sing the Philly Sound and Country (Gamble and Huff and Nashville)
Carrie Underwood 1st Performance: Carrie Underwood's performance of
"Sin Wagon" was an excellent start to the show. Excellent vocal, excellent
performance, excellent imaging. A star performance. Tips for success:
Continuing this kind of great song selection will be key. Carrie looks great
in black, and the hair looked really good too, so she should keep it up.
Carrie Underwood 2nd Performance: Carrie Underwood's performance of
"If You Don't Know Me By Now" is what we meant last week when we said that
as an artist Carrie doesn't have the reliability factor we'd like and that
we don't always feel she "gets it". It wasn't a good song for her style, the
arrangement was draggy and boring, and although she sang it well, it was a
little pitchy on a few notes. As for the imaging, we absolutely hated it; it
lacked star quality and made her look too plain. Tips for success:
Better song selection and glam will work much better for Carrie.
Bo Bice 1st Performance: Bo Bice 1st Performance: Bo Bice's choice of
Travis Tritt's "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was a good one for his voice
and style, and showed the versatility of his voice. Unfortunately it lacked
a little energy, which may have been due to a poor arrangement. We just like
to see a little more power from Bo. Great imaging, though; we really liked
the shirt. Tips for success: Higher energy, and more power will do
the trick. We want to hear Bo Bice power notes and feel his love of music
fill the room.
Bo Bice 2nd Performance: Bo Bice's For the Love of Money" is
what we like to see in a Bo Bice performance: vocal power, great energy,
excellent song arrangement, and presence that fills the room. This isn't
even one of our favorite songs, but Bo made us love it, which is a cover
singer's job. We loved Bo Bice's vocal styling on this, and it was a star
performance. Bo has soul. Like Simon, we really hated the imaging though:
great suit, but kill the chains, sunglasses, and --gads--sandals. Tips
for success: Sunglasses prevent the audience from connecting with the
performer. Drop the prop-ey costume. Bo Bice doesn't need props.
Vonzell Solomon 1st Performance: Vonzell Solomon 1st Performance:
Vonzell Solomon's performance of "How Do I Live" was definitely the worst
performance of the night. The beginning vocals were pitchy and flat, the
arrangement was draggy and tired, and Vonzell had a lot of pitch problems on
the basics but hit the hard notes (which we find irritating, because it
shows a lack of substance in training). We loved the imaging, and Vonzell
always looks great, but we hate that she consistently manages to get more
camera time than any other contestant before Seacrest gives her voting phone
number every week...either via shout-outs, blowing kisses, hellos to her
father, or even tears. It ain't the Vonzell show. Tips for success:
Mugging for the camera gets irritating after a while, as do sympathy pleas
for votes.
Vonzell Solomon 2nd Performance: Vonzell Solomon's performance of
"Don't Leave Me This Way" was 1000 times better than her first performance.
It was a slightly pitchy on certain notes and a little frenetic, but she had
excellent stage presence and a great overall performance. Excellent imaging,
too. But we're over her because of the mugging and attention-getting
heartstrings tactics. Tips for success: Be yourself and bring out
your own personality instead of resorting to tactics. Bo Bice doesn't use
them...
Anthony Federov 1st Performance: Anthony Fedorov's performance of
"I'm Already There" finally lived up to what we liked about him during the
auditions, and it was great to see. There's a beautiful tone Anthony's voice
gets when he hits certain notes, and this song had it in abundance.
Excellent song selection. We loved it. We weren't crazy about the imaging
but can live with it. Tips for success: Whatever happens on American
Idol, we hope Anthony continues vocal training with a great teacher, because
he has the potential to be excellent...especially in light of the fact that
according to the American Idol website, he'd never had formal voice training
before. Developing consistency is what we most want to see with Anthony, and
it should be your goal, too.
Anthony Fedorov 2nd Performance: Anthony Fedorov 2nd Performance:
Anthony Fedorov's choice of "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was an excellent
song selection for his range and tone. Anthony may not have soul, but he
sang it soulfully, with passion, and few, if any, pitch problems. We loved
the imaging, too. Tips for success: Continuing with great song
selection, excellent training, and the kind of clothing image Anthony used
in this performance will help Anthony go far, regardless of tomorrow night's
voting results. He's only 20, after all.
We voted for: Bo Bice, because aside from a bad wardrobe choice, he
impressed us the most over all. And because if he wins and the album does
well, it may bring major change to the music industry. 2nd choice:
Carrie Underwood, again with some reservations. She's loaded with star
quality and talent but needs to up her consistency as an artist. Carrie
Underwood is a good example of why some artists really do need the aid of
good management and A&R.
Ryan Seacrest Smart Quip of the Night: "How was your week?"
(referring to the hits American Idol and Paula Abdul took over the past week
when an ex-competitor claimed to have had an affair with her during Season
2).
American Idol
Armchair Quarterback
The MBADC American Idol Armchair Quarterback is intended as commentary and
is not affiliated with Fox Television, American Idol, or its producers or
judges in any way. Tips should be taken as a suggestion only and are not
intended as a substitute for qualified vocal coaching or artist management.
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