At long last, American Idol moved into its semifinals stage, and the results were decidedly mixed. Things started off promisingly at first with one increasingly strong showing after the next, but then the performances went south very, very quickly. Not helping matters was a glitch-laden broadcast that featured so many miscues on the technical end, it sometimes felt we were watching public access. Ryan, who came to us dressed in a saggy, Mr. Rogers sweater, did his best to keep this raggedy production together, but even he seemed caught off guard by such improbable accidents as the Stevie Wright video package playing instead of the one for Brent Keith. Of course, Ryan was left speechless a fair number of times, especially when Ann Marie Boskovich mentioned sitting on “the hard part” of the couch. Silly giggling by Ryan ensued, which was unfortunate because no one else in the studio seemed to be on his wavelength (don’t worry, Ry-Ry. My dirty mind was right with you).
As for the judges, Kara fit in quite nicely on her first live show, often offering pointed criticism and some occasional fiery passion (see Danny Gokey). Paula, meanwhile, continued her coherent streak with several well-stated and articulate comments. Don’t worry though. She still had some loopy moments, such as her muddled proclamation of “Two words. With a hyphen. Sold-out arenas.” But hey, at least she didn’t threaten to decapitate anyone and hang their cranium from her rearview mirror. Baby steps…
In terms of performance, things were very up and down on this first night. We had some great, head-turning moments. And we had some awful, head-turning moments. At the top of the pack for me were two surprises: Alexis Grace and Ricky Braddy, with Danny Gokey a smidge behind. Alexis kind of shocked me with her command of the stage. Like the judges said, she had soul. Here I was preparing for perhaps a saccharine and cloying performance, but instead what we got was a totally self-professed and emotional singer. Probably one of the biggest surprises of the evening for me.
I would say that Ricky Braddy was an equally large surprise, but the simple fact is that he’s had about two seconds of screen time total; so really, there’s nothing to be surprised about because I had no prior expectations. Nevertheless, he was great. One of the judges called him effortless, and I couldn’t agree more. I loved how he seemed like a total natural up there. I fear that his lack of screen time will come back to bite him, and just his luck that with his first chance to share his personality, it turns out his mic pack was broken. Oh well. Some people never catch a break.
As for Danny Gokey, you all know I’ve been pulling for him for some time now. I think he’s great, and I love his story. That being said, I didn’t think his version of “Hero” was worth the insane accolades that Randy, Kara, and Paula gave it. I was more with Simon, who felt it was really good, but nothing special. It was definitely one of the best of the night though for sure.
After Danny, there was a steep drop-off in expertise. Sure, there were several singers who certainly had some great moments, but they all stumbled as well. Crowd favorite Anoop Desai was pretty good with his take on “Angel” by Monica, but I couldn’t help thinking it was an odd song choice. I mean, you’re Anoop Dawg! You gotta do something more fun! It didn’t help matters that he was a bit “pitchy” in the beginning, but like the judges said, he did feel connected to the music, and his likability is super strong.
Not faring so well with the likability (at least for the unenlightened) is Tatiana Del Toro, the most dramatic contestant of the season so far. Oddly enough, she took to the stage without any hysterics â€â€Ã‚ seemingly almost catatonic and rigid. It’s too bad actually because believe it or not, she overall sounded really good. Singing “Saving All My Love For You,” Tatiana was a bit too reserved and uneven in the quieter moments of the song, but when she let her voice go, she proved herself to have some of the best female vocals of the night. Yeah, you heard me right: Tatiana had some of the best vocals of the night. Still, she’s gonna have to overcome a huge amount of resistance to her from the audience, not to mention that whole identity crisis issue the judges mentioned. Methinks this might be the end of the road for her.
I think it might be the end of the road for Jackie Tohn too. The vivacious singer opened the show with a bouncy, Spandex-rific rendition of “A Little Less Conversation” that was so bizarre, I couldn’t decide if I liked it or hated it. I’m leaning towards the latter. I respected the fact that she wanted to entertain us all, and I did enjoy her personality at first. But then by the end of the show, she went from amusingly quirky to annoyingly quirky, and I decided I’d pretty much had enough of her.
At least Jackie made more of an impression than Brent Keith and Michael Sarver. The former singer showed off some pretty solid country chops with a tune called “Hickstown” or something like that. He actually was pretty good; although, he struggled on the lower notes. The only problem was that the song was so generic and forgettable that I can’t imagine he’ll be moving forward (unless he mobilizes all those country fans out there. And Bucky Covington). Michael Sarver, meanwhile, remains aggressively boring to me. I know he’s a nice, honest, working man, but seriously, he never makes an impression. Plus, I was totally with Paula on the whole microphone thing (for those of you who missed it, Michael had this annoying tendency to switch the mic back and forth in his hands like a hot potato. It drove me nuts).
Also stumbling this week was Ann Marie Boskovich, a demo singer who I thought would fare a bit better than she did. She certainly was a bit out of tune at the beginning of “A Natural Woman,” but to her credit, she seemed to come alive in the latter portion of the song, and I also felt she was more connected to the music than the judges gave her credit for. However, I do agree with Kara that the song was a bit too old fashioned â€â€Ã‚ a comment that prompted Ann Marie to accidentally and passive aggressively suggest that she should stay away from singing “good” music. The resultant stammering was so deliciously awkward that I was half shocked the producers didn’t cut away to a camera man focused on the ground for the umpteenth time that night.
Well, all the singers I’ve mentioned so far were either excellent or very good, but flawed. The rest of the gang  well, they were simply awful.
Stevie Wright laid a giant egg on the stage with an absolutely horrendous take on some Taylor Swift song. Oh my gosh was she bad. I think she missed every note, and the further she got in the song, the worst she became. Her only saving grace was her unflinching ability to remain smiley and bouncy through the trainwreck, unlike similar disaster Casey Carlson. Oh Casey, Casey, Casey. Hearing her, I wanted to stab myself in the head with a knife. Not only was she completely off, but her strange dancing and bizarre facial expressions were totally off-putting. Sure, she may be the resident hottie of the group, but she had no business being on that stage. She was like the Holocaust of music. The Rwanda of karaoke. The Sudan of anything remotely harmonious. And the song choice â€â€Ã‚ that was just baffling. Sometimes I think these people are just idiots. Don’t they ever think about how something will play in a room? You can’t choose your songs solely on which are your favorites. Awful.
Bad song choice pretty much sums up the downfall of Stephen Fowler, whose biggest claim to fame has been walking off the stage in Hollywood Week after forgetting the lyrics to a song. When Ryan announced that he’d be singing “Rock With You,” I knew it would be a failure. There’s no way to sing that song and not come off, as the judges later called it, corny. It was such a stupid song to sing. I don’t care if he’s not used to singing without a piano. The guy is a professional entertainer. He should know better.
So who should advance? I’m a bit torn. Based on talent alone, I’d like to see Alexis Grace, Ricky Braddy, and Danny Gokey move forward. But then that means the end for two of my favorites: Anoop and Tatiana. Dammit. I hate this new format. Why must our time with these singers be so fleeting? Oh well.
Who were your favorites? And who stunk up the stage for you?