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 career.
Week Seventeen:
The Top 3
Triple Picks
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Guests: Clive Davis
Elliott Yamin: Elliott Yamin’s performance of Clive’s choice of
Journey’s “Open Arms” was pitchy, and we felt it was a safe performance that
had no passion. We were actually a bit disappointed, because we thought he’d
really deliver on this one. On the plus side, he looked great in the suit.
Tips for success: If a song has a passionate, powerful lyric, the
only way to deliver it is to go for it.
Katharine McPhee: Katharine McPhee’s performance of Clive’s choice of R.
Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” was pitchy on the first verse, and she runs
the risk of developing Christina Aguilera Syndrome. She oversang it and
faltered on some of the oversung notes. Her comment that “You guys are hard
on me the last couple of weeks” was a turn off. Well, Katharine, it sucked.
When one has great ability, one is expected to greatly deliver. Tips for
success: Just because you can do vocal gymnastics doesn’t mean you
should every time, on every note. At some point, you’re going to blow it.
Taylor Hicks: With respect to Clive Davis, who signed some of our music
idols (Janis Joplin, Aerosmith), Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”
was a really poor song choice for Taylor Hicks…and it came off like a really
bad wedding performance. The Bland Band’s arrangement didn’t help. There
were no off notes, but…would we pay to see this? No. Tips for success:
Stick to what your throat does best.
Elliott Yamin: Elliott Yamin’s version of Paula Abdul’s choice of “What
You Won’t Do For Love” (Bobby Caldwell) was in the ballpark of the right
kind of song for him stylistically. But, the arrangement was very bland, so
it came off as very Telethon. Perhaps a different arrangement would have
knocked it out of the park. Imagewise, Elliott’s styling was great. Tips
for success: Putting the right song with the wrong arrangement sometimes
sounds like a bad song choice.
Katharine McPhee: Katharine McPhee’s version of Simon Cowell’s choice of
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was on in terms of hitting most of the notes,
but we were bored. She was sharp on the chorus variation, and again,
we say, “Would we pay to see this?” No. Katharine can hit the notes, but at
times she has the charisma of a jukebox. We just want more out of her.
Someone said something about this being the best vocal of the season, and we
couldn’t disagree more, because we were bored. (For this reason,
Chris Daughtry’s riveting “I Walk the Line” wins that title for us.) Tips
for success: Stage presence is every bit as important as hitting the
notes.
Taylor Hicks: Randy Jackson’s choice of Joe Cocker’s “You are So
Beautiful” was a great song choice. It was a nice performance, but a bit
restrained and reserved for a Taylor Hicks performance. Again…Would we pay
to see it live in concert? No. Would we download it? No. But we do like
Taylor doing ballads. Tips for success: At this point in the
competition, you’ve gotta go for it. This song was the perfect opportunity
for Taylor to do that.
Elliott Yamin: In the Contestant’s Choice round, Elliott Yamin’s choice
of Donnie Hathaway’s version of Ray Charles’ “I Believe To My Soul” was a
fairly good song selection. But it came off very telethon and boring, and
he’s capable of much better. Tips for success: Stage presence, stage
presence, arrangement, and delivery.
Katharine McPhee: Katharine McPhee’s version of “Ain’t Got Nothin But
the Blues” left us with one question that superseded the vocal performance:
“If she’s got the blues, why is she smiling from ear to ear???” Next…
Tips for success: Pay attention to the song lyrics. If a friend told me
they were sad but was smiling the whole time, I’d think they were crazy.
Singing is telling a story.
Taylor Hicks: Taylor Hicks’ choice of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little
Tenderness” was an excellent song choice, but the Bland Band’s wedding
singer arrangement was unfortunate…making things a little disjointed.
Tips for success: Arrangement is important, but if you’re stuck with a
bad one in a talent competition, try to make the best of it and vocalize
around it.
We voted for: No one, because nothing blew us away.
Ryan Seacrest Smart Quip of the Night: None, but it was a packed show,
so give the guy a break.
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.
The official American Idol website is
http://www.americanidol.com.
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