Territorial Bloggings

Here they are, America - Your Top 10.

Ryan’s sporting a little reverse-D.A. / faux-hawk coiffure action tonight.

What the hell is Paula wearing? Sleeveless, sequined, with black leather gloves? Yikes!

This week, they’re singing songs from the year they were born — In other words, another 80’s week, as eight of the ten were born in the 80s, with the other two having been born in 1978 (Michael) and 1990 (David A.).

Hopefully, they’ll do a better job of song selection than they did three weeks ago…

Enough prelude. Let’s get to my always trenchant, yet fluffy (trenchantly fluffy? fluffily trenchant?), analysis.

Ramiele - (1987) Alone - Watch out boys - she’s a biter! At least she knows she needs to redeem herself. Picking Heart is not necessarily the easiest way to get that done. Waving arms from the mosh pit? Not hopeful. Ramiele was most definitely not in good voice tonight. The song was WAY TOO BIG for her (and for one of the screeching backup singers…), even given her heretofore big voice. Nope, not good at all. Under the weather? Too bad - that doesn’t cut it at this stage. Randy was not being too harsh, Simon was being too wussy. And Paula just needs to shut the hell up. Being sick doesn’t matter, as other folks in the past have done better while sick.

Jason - (1987) Fragile - Happy Birthday, Jason, you pudgy baby, you. A Sting song is definitely a good choice, as is “hiding” behind the guitar. He’s much, much better when he is feeling comfortable. That all said, I’m not a fan of the performance, mainly because I’ve never really liked Sting’s solo work. It was good enough. Good enough to satisfy his fanbase, and good enough to get through easily to next week. He’s at a point where he doesn’t need to “wow” people to advance. Simon is mightily annoying when he tries to read/discern motivation. Oh yeah - he seems unmotivated because stoners usually do seem to lack motivation…

Syesha - (1987) If I Were Your Woman - Kill the baby cry, Syesha, kill it now & never bring it back again. A power-diva ballad was probably the right choice for her. I think she redeemed herself for last week (although I think I was one of the few who didn’t like her last week…). Best of all, she seemed/felt/sounded genuine, not like an actress playing a part. She’s safe as a kitteh, and she’s showing improvement from week to week. That’s not a bad thing at all in this competition.

Chikezie - (1985) If Only For One Night - He’s a big old likable kid. I’m not a huge fan of the power/soul ballad. Chikezie, though, did a pretty darned good job with this one. His voice stayed strong, supple, & smooth throughout, and the band & backup singers also hit spot in the groove to boot. “Old School” was good, not boring, for Eze. Sometimes, the retro vibe works without being old fashioned. Cheezy? Sure, but it was good cheeze. If he “showed his personality” every time, then they’d complain about that, too. Feh. Chikezie should be safe from elimination.

Brooke - (1983) Every Breath You Take - When I heard it was the Police, I knew it was gonna be Every Breath - there’s no other song off of Synchronicity that would’ve made sense, although I think she’d have been better off with King of Pain. (ask TTW&B - I wrote that before the song was announced…) The false start was not good at all, contra the judges’ opinions. She actually sounded like Bonnie Tyler (Total Eclipse Of The Heart) singing a Police cover, I think. She didn’t sound like the folkie-chick we’ve come to know & love. She was rocking the straight hair (it looks better than the normal perm-ed look), but that was not a good performance at all. Nope, I think she could be in danger. Danger of landing in the bottom 3, not of getting eliminated, but in danger nonetheless.

Michael Johns - (1978) We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions - He looks like his mom. Queen? Usually not a good choice at all, especially these two short anthemic songs. Michael, however, pulled it off. Just like when he did Bohemian Rhapsody in Hollywood, Michael’s voice seems to be uniquely tuned to sing Queen well, even though (because?) he sounds nothing like Freddie Mercury. He won the audience, he won the Territorial Household, and I think he stopped any bleeding-off of his fanbase. He has re-entered this contest with a vengeance. He’s got star potential in spades as a rock frontman, and it certainly was the best performance of the night so far. Welcome back, Mr. Johns.

Carly Smithson - (1983) Total Eclipse Of The Heart - What a little permafro-ed cutie. Goodness, but her mom is attractive. Carly. Rocked. This. Song. Big. Time. She looked good & sounded way better. That was how you do a power vocal. Take note, Ramiele, on how you get the job done if you want to stay in this competition & thrive. Randy is oddly cranky tonight, and I just don’t get it. For once, Paula was right. Unless America once again has their collective heads up their collective asses, Carly is back into the safety zone outside the bottom 3. As it should be.

David A. - (1990) You’re The Voice - Well, he went upbeat this week. I don’t ever remember hearing the song before, so I don’t know what it “should” sound like. But I do know that I didn’t like it. For as good as his voice is, I don’t know how versatile it really is, wrt crossing genres. He’s really more of a sensitive and/or ballad singer. He’s not an upbeat, rock singer. Reminiscent of a theme park performance? Yeah, I can see that, and it’s largely due to the horrid song choice. Don’t choose songs no one has heard of, kthx. He’ll be safe, but he risks turning into a “Sanjaya with talent”, if you know what I mean…

Kristy - (1984) God Bless The USA - Gracious, but she was a cute little kid. She’s white-bread to the Nth degree, but sometimes a nice Wonderbread sammich hits the spot. This was right in her wheelhouse, performance-wise, vocally, and appealing-to-a-fanbase-wise. I think she might have gotten herself a pass out of the bottom 3 this week with that performance. Paula really doesn’t like her that much, I don’t think, as she is much more muted in her “praise” of Kristy than is the norm for her. Simon’s glowing words were spot on.

David C. - (1982) Billy Jean - Boy, he really did have a big-ol’ egghead noggin, didn’t he? His mom looks a little like Meredith Baxter. I’m not surprised at all that he got the pimp slot this week, but he blew the doors off it. Not the Michael Jackson version? I didn’t know there was another version - did you? Anywhoo, it was an interesting way to meet the theme requirement, while slowing things down a little bit. David is the real deal, vocally and performance-wise. He commands the stage & makes you watch him. Which is ok, because his voice makes you want to. Performance of the night, quite possibly of the season so far. I will say this now: not only can he win the whole thing, he should win the whole thing.

The Top 2: David C. & Kristy

The Safe Middle: David A., Michael

The At-Risk Middle: Jason, Syesha, Carly

The Bottom 3: Ramiele, Chikezie, Brooke

Should Go Home: Ramiele

Will Go Home: Ramiele

Tonight’s show took a while to get started up & running on all cylinders, but once Michael hit the stage, business picked right up.

The results will provide a little bit of insight into what America is thinking, re: contestants’ overall appeal vs. individual/discrete performances. For example, if Kristy gets voted off, then we’ll know that the trend of bad performances having a delayed effect & getting punished the following week is still in force. Alternately, if Brooke or Jason hit the bottom 3, then we’ll know that a single bad performance can kill. But if I’m right & Ramiele goes home, then we won’t really know much of anything, as she had bad performances each of the past three weeks.

We’ll see tomorrow…

-ghp