MBADC American Idol
Armchair Quarterback 2006
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 Ten:
The Top 10 Sing Songs of the 21st
Century
Tuesday, March 29, 2006
Lisa
Tucker: Lisa
Tucker’s version of Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” was an unfortunate
song choice. Her timing was off at the beginning of the song, and she was
way off pitch. Simon Cowell used the word “painful,” and despite Ryan
Seacrest’s objections to Simon's use of the word, we agree: during the
performance, our Ed in Chief had written in her notes, “The fact that the
Kelly Clarkson version is still getting strong airplay made it particularly
painful.” Harsh? Maybe, but when hundreds of thousands of people audition,
you expect excellence from a Top 10 finalist. Tips for success: A new
vocal coach to improve her technique would probably help a lot—we’re just
not seeing any growth there. Also, never perform a current hit by a
successful former contestant; even if you happen to perform it well,
the comparison won’t be favorable.
Kellie Pickler:
Kellie Pickler’s version of
Sara Evans’
“Suds in the Bucket” by
was a little pitchy in a couple of places, but she sang an OK vocal
overall--though not necessarily a memorable one. It was a fun song that
could have been a good choice for her had she approached it a little
differently: more power and expression to highlight the lyrics. Styling
wise, she looked great. Tips for success: Story songs with simple
melodies and clever lyrics need a little extra from the performer to make a
live audience pay attention. More power, and using a lot of expression and
showmanship to highlight certain lines of the song usually does the trick.
If you don’t have the performance confidence to pull that off, choosing a
more powerful song is the way to go.
Ace Young: Ace
Young’s version of Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” was a better song selection
and performance than in past weeks, and he sang it pretty well...But it was
not a "blew us away" performance. At this point in the competition, it
should be memorable. Also, who is Ace Young as an artist? So far he’s done
pop, R&B, jazz, and now alternative pop. If someone’s going to buy his CD—or
invest a lot of money in producing and promoting it--what will they get for
their money? Justin Timberlake falsetto R&B, which they may hate, or
alternative pop, which they may love? Something else entirely? We have no
idea, and we don’t think Ace does either. At this point, he should know more
about who he is as an artist. Tips for success: Pick a musical
personality and stick to it. No creative person likes to be put into little
boxes, but becoming a star takes consistency in marketing and solid
demographics…and very few audience members like every musical style.
Finally, for an artist to have a commercially successful CD, people need to
actually be able to find your music. (“What’s it filed under? Pop? R&B?
Jazz? Rock?”) What if you don't want to be commercially successful? That's
cool, but don't go on Idol, because that's the whole point.
Taylor Hicks:
Taylor Hicks’ version of Ray LaMontagne's “Trouble” was an excellent song
choice because by choosing a song that was unfamiliar to most of the
audience, he was able to automatically make it his own. We didn’t like the
Bland Band’s arrangement, but Taylor delivered a nice vocal that was
consistently on pitch. We do wish he would have added a little more “wow”
factor with more variations or ad libs, though…Not over the top Christina
style, but a little more Joe Cocker would have been cool. (Taylor's original
enough to pull it off.) Styling-wise, we liked the great suit better, but
finding his own style that reflects himself as an artist is most important.
Tips for success: Singers with stylized, soul-laced vocals sometimes
have a hard time striking a balance when they want to do something
different. Taylor’s never been in danger of a Christina-esque case of the
runs, so he could get away with injecting more here. It’s important to
remember what your trademark is and strike the perfect balance. Image-wise:
consistency is important; you can switch between suits and casual wear but
still maintain a consistent image if both looks have a similar line and
style. For the novice snazzy dresser, it’s often easiest to start off by
sticking to one designer for both casual and suited up looks.
Mandisa: Mandisa’s
version of Mary Mary's “Wanna Praise You” wasn’t delivered with the greatest
vocal, but the energy level and stage presence she brought onstage were
fantastic. We liked her styling, too. If the vocals had been there, that
could have been a fabulous performance. Unfortunately, it seems like a
different element of the package is missing each week. If she can get them
all together consistently, Mandisa has the capacity to be amazing. Tips
for success: Putting together the whole package into every performance
is what sets great artists apart from the mediocre ones. It takes a
combination of great song selection (preferably upbeat at this stage of the
competition), stage presence, energy, and styling all at once…consistently.
Chris Daughtry:
Chris Daughtry’s choice of Creed’s “What If” may not have been the best song
selection to win this particular competition, because it’s probably a little
too heavy for most of the AI voter demographic. But, we respect that
Chris took the opportunity to do a song geared more toward his own true
audience (and its talent buyers). That shows he knows who he is as an
artist, and it's the kind of long-term thinking that can lead to long-term
career success. Meanwhile, he sang it very well and proved his
performing ability, which is what takes to get away with that kind of risk.
Extra credit to Chris and Seacrest for smoothing ruffled feathers by
explaining that last week's version of "I Walk the Line" was Live's
arrangement; As we mentioned in
last week's Armchair Quarterback, Live fans were up in arms for
the shows' failure to mention it. Tips for success: Take risks, but
calculate them carefully, and know in advance what you'll do next if it
doesn’t work. By establishing his artistic direction early on, laying a
foundation of consistent performances every previous week, and going for the
heavy song farther into the competition, Chris can still get industry
attention if the AI audience rejects his song choice and votes him
off the show.
Katharine McPhee:
Katharine McPhee’s version of Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within” was a
poor song choice for her voice and style, and it just didn’t work. The notes
were all over the place and were seriously off-pitch, and part of the verse
leading up to the chorus was unrecognizable. We’d really like to know what
the AI judges were smoking when they gave glowing reviews of that
performance…Or more likely, whether the sound quality on the AI
soundstage was particularly bad this week--because the vocal that was beamed
out to the home audience did not merit the high praise she got. Tips for
success: Song selection, song selection, song selection...
Bucky Covington:
Bucky Covington’s version of “Real Good Man” by Tim McGraw wasn’t bad, but
it didn’t wow us. It was performance worthy of a fairly good local country
bar band, but not "Next American Idol", top selling artist. We like
Bucky and want to see him grow, but this just didn’t do it. Tips for
success: Project, project, project! In live performance an artist’s job
is to entertain an audience, not sing to himself or for himself. One way a
shy artist can bring out stage presence and come out of his shell is to walk
out onstage with the mindset of being the host of the party, whose job it is
to make sure everyone has a great time.
Paris Bennett:
Paris Bennett’s version of Beyonce's “Work it Out” was a very good
performance, but who is Paris Bennett as an artist? We want to see Paris
Bennett, not baby Beyonce…or baby Gladys Knight, or baby Billie Holiday, all
of whom she’s been in previous weeks. Tips for success: Pick a
musical personality and stick to it, preferably your own. This is especially
difficult for young artists, because they’re still figuring out who they are
as people, let alone as performers. Watching live performance DVDs of male
and female artists in all musical genres on a regular basis, as well as
attending as many live performances as possible, helps you figure it out. By
watching a variety of styles and performers, if you do subconsciously copy,
you at least pick up a variety of moves and sounds that will eventually mesh
into your own style and mix with your own personality, instead of seeming
like an imitation of another person.
Elliott Yamin:
Elliott Yamin’s choice of Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be” was the
perfect choice for his range and style, and we liked that he changed it to
fit his own musical style. He was off on some of the low notes, but it was
an OK performance overall. Tips for success: Continuing with good
song selection, making them his own, and continuing to improving his stage
presence is the way to go. Kick it up a notch by striving to make every
performance memorable as well. As an artist you want the audience to
remember you and your excellence.
We Voted for: Chris Daughtry. Close second:
None. Chris's consistency in performance skills, musicality, song
selection, image, and studio vocal capability are far beyond what any of the
other contestants have shown thus far.
Ryan Seacrest Smart Quip of the Night: None. We
like Seacrest, but some of his joyful exuberance seems to have left around
the time he also got rid of his trademark "Seacrest out". Lighten up,
Seacrest! We miss your silly, fun side.
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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