American Idol - Recap
It appears none of the contestants on American Idol have broken out of their shells entirely. Perhaps it is the fear of getting booted soon or the nerves of the first time in front of the cameras that keeps holding the contestants back on showing their talents. The night started off with Todrick Hall singing a Kelly Clarkson song and the judges thought he just about committed sacrilege due to his interpretation. Unfortunately for the viewers, the show did not improve much from there.
The songs were forgettable, the interpretations were bland and it appeared that the Top 12 Male contestants decided to do exactly the same thing as the girls did the night before; pick the wrong songs, do a too far out arrangement of a popular song, and, worst of all, try to sound like the original singer and failing at it. It seems the only three that made a more lasting impression even on the stage audience were Mr. Lynche, Mr. Casey James, and the last contestant, Mr. Andrew Garcia. The problem was that it wasn’t a lasting impression during the entire performance, it was intermittent at best or they shone at one particular moment.
The judges did agree on a “great voice,” except all of the contestants were told at least once that they had “a great voice.” Nevertheless, they failed in one or more ways to use it to blow the minds of the audience and especially the judges. The words “bored,” “murdered the song,” and “people like you for X-reason” were used by Simon to indicate that talent and star power were not seen during the performances.
The most insipid of all was Mr. Park. At one point he declared that he was just in it for the money, then changed his story to say it was for his parents; neither one of them matters when trying to impress a panel of judges in a singing competition. His performance was bland, flat, and pitchy all in less than three minutes. The thing that made it most memorable was his asking Shania Twain to marry him. That was undoubtedly hilarious. However, after his performance, he should not wait by the phone or remain in the competition one more week.
Maybe it is the amount of hours during photo shoots and interviews and publicity that all the contestants could use for rehearsal time. Maybe it’s all the “self-indulgence” that none of the judges failed to mention. Whatever it is, this season of American Idol will need to improve drastically in order to bring any form of recognition for these yet unknown artists. More and more it seems that the show is using how relatable the stories and people are because the talent just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. More and more people may audition every year but this is a show that should be about the quality of the talent, not the immense lack thereof.
The biggest thing to be pointed out by the judges is that none of them should get cocky simply because they have made it to the top 24. Most likely because in Hollywood Week 1 they tried harder, performed better and seemed to want to shine far brighter than they did this week. Tonight’s results should give us a look as to what to expect from future episodes as the first four are voted out of the competition.