Disco Night - 4/21/09

Hi gang. Well once again Disco week is upon us and of course the same-o songs we have heard over and over are chosen once again for this theme. American Idol really needs to update their choices of songs for our contestants. I mean really during that period there were other artists besides Donna Summer, BeeGees and Chaka Khan who hit the charts and made us want to dance the night away. I will say however that some of our contestants did make what they had to choose from somewhat different so on to the show.

Ryan looking quite spiffy in his suit opens our show by reminding us of the "save" card that was used last week for Matt Giraud. We also hear that two will be eliminated this week. Our usual intro to our judges follows (I love Paula's outfit) as well as the intro to the contestants. No messing around this week as right away our first contestant is ready to perform. This is how it came down:

Oh hell, this song again? Lil Rounds is performing "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan. I remember that the best I had ever heard this song was by Mandisa from season 5. Lil on the other hand gives us kind of a copy cat performance with the back-up singers doing most of the lyrics. Her stage presence was good but overall it was just another boring moment from Lil. Paula mentions that she was on vocal rest the day before but all the judges pretty much agree that Lil has not once shown us who she is and Simon frankly says this is probably her last week on the show. I agree with this. My grade: C

Kris Allen is a pretty good arranger I think but picks an odd choice to perform. He is doing the Donna Summer classic "She Works Hard For The Money". With guitar in hand and some drummers on bongos he gives the song a kind of latin tone. I heard some off-notes and overall the vocal was just okay for me however our judges went overboard with praise for this young man. He is original yes but c'mon judges he was not blowing us away. My grade: B-

My heart sank when I heard that Danny Gokey was going to sing "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. Don't get me wrong I like this group but we have heard this song too many times during past seasons. Surprisely, Danny does pretty well with it and shows us some stage presence. His tone is spot-on and I found myself liking his performance. All of the judges thought it was a solid performance with Paula calling his voice sexy which I agree with. Randy did not care for the song choice that much and Simon would have liked to see more stage presence but they agree this guy can definitely sing. My grade: B+

Allison Iraheta is up next and is performing another Donna Summer song called "Hot Stuff". She starts it off slowly while sitting on the stairs but then shows off her rock-edge as the song progresses. I feel this was the best performance that Allison has given us and was also intrigued with her sparkling ouitfit. Randy and Kara did not love the arrangement but loved her singing. Paula feels she is edgy and Simon adds that it was a brilliant performance. My grade: A

Adam Lambert is next looking very much like a businessman in his suit and tie. This sort of took me off guard as his usual attire is definitetly more racy than this. However you forgot what he was wearing as he performed another changed arrangement of the song "If I Can't Have You" off the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and performed originally by Yvonne Elliman. I felt myself choking up with tears as I heard this emotional rendition of this song as did Paula. You could just hear his pain and passion. Kara calls it brilliant. Randy thinks he is ready for the big time and Simon feels he is original and gave an immaculate vocal. I agree. My grade: A+

Matt Giraud is doing the song "Staying Alive" by The BeeGees and I must say this was appropiate being he almost was gone last week. He had some nice tone to with a slightly different arrangement and showed some stage presence. I thought his high note was great but went for overkill I think at the end. Randy did not like the song choice but feels Matt can sing, Kara thought it was pretty good, Paula liked it but simon didn't. Overall I thought it was good and hope this buys him another week on the show. My grade: B

Anoop Desai looked good in his outfit but I did not care for the un-shaven face. Tonight he is performing another Donna Summer song called "Dim All The Lights". He starts it off like a ballad but speeds it up as the song goes on. Frankly I did not care for the arrangement and sadly I am getting quite bored with this fellow. Sure he is a good singer overall but like Simon I feel he is bordering on mediocre. Randy thought it was a nice moment, Kara knows how well he does the ballads and thought it was okay, Paula calls the vocals beautiful but talks more about his outfit. For me it was just barely okay. My grade: B-


So now disco performance night is over and my picks to leave are Lil and Anoop however I think Matt will round out the bottom 3. Sadly Matt does not have the fan base that others have so it might be curtains for him as well. I hope not. Anyhoo, hope your day is great and I will be back later with the result re-cap.

Take care all!

It was weird - for once my Mother got to watch the show. She had no preconceived ideas walking in, and pretty much agrees with your assessment. She really dug Adam, which surprised me.
~tyg

Thanks for responding tyg. I have to say I am sorry for all the mis-spellings of my post but I am finding lately that when I post a subject about half-way through it gets difficult as the words keep jumping around and I have to keep edging down to make sure what I wrote came out correctly. Need to pm Jodie on this problem although I think the fault may be my computer as it just does not work as good as it did before I obtain that horrible virus. Oh well, hope my words were clear enough in spite of the spelling errors.

No worries CC. I read your post easily. As usual you gave a great recap to last night. Here's what I thought:

Everytime I see Ryan dressed up in his suits I think.....

Lil Rounds - ~sigh~This girl, despite her good vocals, she just isn't doing a thing for me. Copycat is a good description of her

Kris Allen - I loved his take on "She Works Hard For The Money". I worried a little that taking on a female performer like Donna Summers might hurt him. But he did quite well.

Danny Gokey - Can't help it girls. I love this guy and his rendition of "September" was one of his best. JMO. And I totally agree.....Danny has a sexy voice.

Allison Iraheta - I think she's ready to give Kelly Clarkson a run for her money. I thought of Kelly as I listened to Allison sing "Hot Stuff".

Adam Lambert - I'm sorry Adam fans. I recognise he's a very gifted singer, has great vocal range and he's good looking. But I just don't get into this guy at all.

Matt Giraud - I really liked Matt at the beginning of the competition but I'm losing interest....FAST!!! Didn't like his "Staying Alive" performance at all.

Anoop Desai - Definately has good vocal range. He will make a great balladteer. I had to agree with Paula. It takes a real man to look good in pink and he looked good. {not crazy about the facial hair either, CC}

My pick for the bottom three: Matt, Lil and Anoop.

CC thanks once again...

I was really NOT looking forward to Disco night at all, I did not know what to expect at all and I have to say that it was different..

Lil, Poor Lil try as she might she just can not seem to get it right.

Kris, Now with Kris I was worried very worried, he's more of a soft singer and didn't know how he'd handle the Disco theme but he did pretty good doing a Donna S song and I think he pretty much fooled everyone..

Danny, He did a good job but he's done better and I thought he'd mix it up some.

Allison, Even though I'm a Kris fan I thought she was the best of the night.

Adam, I think Adam is super talented and all but persoanlly I didn't like his performance, I really expected much more from him.

Matt, the only one of the guys that did "mix" it up and he did a pretty good job.

Anoop, I liked his performance and once again I noticed that this kid has a lot of talent and is very nice looking as well..Pink shirt and all..