Territorial Bloggings

That played out pretty much like I expected.

The group number was a nice surprise, but then I’m a bit of a sucker for group numbers when there’s a nice blending of voices. And this group of 24 did sound pretty nice together. The Tears for Fears song was OK too — not as good as the stuff off their awesome Songs from the Big Chair album, but still pretty good at lending itself to the cheeziness of an AI group number.

Fantasia? Feh! Didn’t like her in season 3. Don’t like her now. Won’t like her in the future. I’ll stop before I say something as ugly as her…� �
The guys were pretty much a crapshoot to predict, other than the fact that Chris Sligh & Sanjaya would be safe because they appeal to distinct voting blocks (Sanjaya in particular…). I agree completely with getting rid of Paul, as I had his being the worst performance of the night among the guys. It looks like guilty feet, in addition to having no rhythm, don’t wear shoes. While I would’ve much rather seen Sanjaya eliminated, I can live with Rudy getting the axe. He was forgettable and just not that good.

The girls played out pretty much like I expected. The awful-sounding hotties (Antonella & Alaina) skated by on their considerable good looks, while better singers got eliminated. That said, Amy’s demise doesn’t bother me, because she just didn’t make an impression. Song choice didn’t do her in as much as the way in which she performed the song — even if she couldn’t make us love her, she could’ve made us notice & want to vote for her, but she didn’t.� Nicole didn’t deserve to go; however, her ouster should serve as an object lesson to the remaining 20 — song choice matters! Nicole did such a bad job in choosing a song that she could not overcome it. Why not? Well, not even her obviously good voice could make that train wreck of a song sound good (not even Chaka Kahn did, IMO…). So, America just saw her twitching a bit, both physically and vocally, on the stage, and noticed her for all the wrong reasons. And since she didn’t have any goodwill built up from the audition & Hollywood phases (ala Sundance), she couldn’t survive. And that’s a pity.

I like that the producers finally realized that viewers want to know who the celeb coaches will be. The group they have lined up seems to be a good one, although I don’t really know how much valid vocal coaching JLo & Gwen Stefani will be able to give (esp. JLo). I actually think that Kelly Clarkson would be an interesting coach, given her current stature & past involvement with the show — she’s the only former contestant that I could say that about, by the way…� I’m particularly looking forward to the Jon Bon Jovi, Barry Gibb, & Tony Bennett weeks.

I hope the guys, especially the top-level guys, accept the challenge that’s been made by the top-level ladies, and raise their effort-level next week. I’m also looking with interest to the possible impact that Antonella’s naughty/foolish photo controversy will have on things.

-ghp