Tuesday, February 12, 2008
American Idol Hollywood Week: Now with Extra Colossalosity
Hollywood week on American Idol is always a little irritating. The faces and voices go by so fast that you don’t really notice many of the people--except, of course, the really cute ones like Brooke White. Hubba hubba and I love her voice--it’s pretty, strong, and a little bit earthy in nature. I love the fact that they are allowing musical instruments this year, though; it makes a much more satisfying listening experience. Some of the time.
At other times it was even more brutally painful than normal--like Jacob’s drummer/singer version of “Hooked on a Feeling.” Ouch.
There is something of a “No Wannabee Left Behind” feeling to Hollywood week. It’s like every half-assed karaoke talent from around the nation was allowed to come play with the big kids. Listeners with more sensitive ears might be forgiven for thinking, “And this was the best of the bunch? Will they actually find enough decent singers to torture us with over the next few months, nurturing our inner Simons as the cruelty flows from the keyboards of countless armchair critics without the balls or talent to compete themselves?”
Or, maybe that’s just me.
It’s truly painful listening to some of the murderous thing that these kids do to the music.
“Hey, Big O, whadya got there, fella?” Love that ad.
I did like the mildly scary looking Amanda Overmeyer and her Elvira-eque hairdo. A little taste of 60’s rocker at least gives the show something grittier than a boy-band nasally whine. She isn’t a great singer, but she’s a passionate and fun performer--I’m half surprised that they let her through and are keeping her in the show. My only fear is that she’s sort of a female Lenny Kravitz--that is, a complete compilation of her influences without anything new to add to the mix. That’s fun for a while, but it gets boring after a bit.
But if she’s going to be derivative, at least she’s pulling from a unique source. She stands out from the competition in a huge way.
Josiah Leming is another one that I find interesting. He’s obviously a lost kid who has made some bad decisions, but that brit singer sound that he has going on is interesting even if it is very much playing in the Coldplay ballpark. I can’t help but like him, though.
I wonder if success would help him pull himself together or if it would give him the capacity to really screw things up.
And, yeah, I liked tattoo girl. Not only is she cute and talented, but she seems like a hell of a nice person.
Was Jack Black born to be Kung Fu Panda? I think so.
Thanks to Doug S. for colossalosity. The word “colossalosity”, that is, not any actual act of colossalosity.
Comments & Trackbacks
Josiah Leming...holy merde, Josiah Leming. I had to call the Husband in from the other room (he despises Idol), and after about 20 seconds of watching this kid, he turns to me and says, “This kid is the reincarnation of Freddie Mercury. Just stop the competition right now and sign HIM.” Indeed.
The Girl sort of enjoys Idol, but she holds that and NFL games against me when she’s irritated with me. She missed a lot of the singers today and really didn’t seem impressed with any of the folks that she did see. I sort of wonder what she would have thought of him.
That is the single best summation of Lenny K I have ever heard. Also, I agree with the 60’s rocker AND Josiah. Emphatically.
Josiah does cry a bit much, though, doesn’t he? Precious li’l feller.
Mr Lady,
David J. knows music as good or better than anyone I know.
Which was irritating to me for a while, because I know how to play music quite well, and I don’t get half of what he gets. But then I realized jealousy is a waste of my time as much as his, and so I embraced the music critic genius that is the David J.
And no, I’m not just saying that to try and get him to give us more free ice cream.
I’m not feeling you on this one. Well, not entirely…
Josiah Leming irritates the snot out of me. “I came from nothing!” No, dunbass, you had a roof over your head and three squares a day. You left that to sleep in your car and do nothing with your life. You don’t know the first thing about having nothing you self-righteous, pretentious little jackass. And quit the crying. Everyone else on the show went through exactly the same thing that you did while in Hollywood. You aren’t special and you aren’t “brave” (thank you Simon for correcting the little turd). You had an opportunity and you screwed it up. Get over it.
I can’t freaking beleave they kept the little whiner.
I’m also a little less unimpressed with the biker nurse than you are. I may not be a Daughtry fan but he was totally authentic. He really was the music that he sang and his subsequent success is deserved. Biker nurse is trying to hard to be a rock-n-roller but she lacks authenticity. Simons “of course” comment when she announced that she was singing The Doors was dead-on. It was a totally safe and uninspired choice. I agree that her voice has a throwback quality that is very welcome on Idol but the package is unimpressive. The tattoo chick is far more authentic and genuine than biker nurse. She isn’t “trying” to be a “rocker”, she just is.
And back to Josiah Leming, He is not, in fact, the “reincarnation of Freddie Mercury.” Not even close. The dude who sang Bohemian Rhapsody was far more impressive. I can’t remember anything else that he sang but this one choice was easily the most ballsy song choice of the evening (far braver than biker nurse singing The Doors) and he pulled it off spectacularly. He did not try to imitate Mercury but he didn’t try to reinvent the song either. It was a solid, strong rendition of an amazing song that was respectful of the original but also played to the strengths of the singer. I don’t remember the dude’s name but that performance will stick with me for some time.
Of course, now that I’ve Googled tattoo girl and learned the truth, I may have to revise my opinion of her…
Such a fuss. The Josiah kid suffers from a great deal of “special snowflake syndrome,” that’s for sure, but he is undeniably talented. Mister Bohemian Rhapsody did a fine job, yes, but he’s just a singer. Josiah has that thing, that almost idiot savant fire. He’s either going to succeed spectacularly, or flame out, equally spectacularly.
Okay, what is it about tattoo girl? I don’t remember her name, so now I have to feel left out.
As for Josiah, I’m in Hazel’s (and, yes, being a Heinlein fan, that makes me giggle every time) corner on this one.
First, the Bohemian Rhapsody guy (girl liked him--although I’m not sure it was for his singing) was good but not great. Decent singer, decent version of the song. Honestly, I thought it was a bad choice for him, though, because where Freddie Mercury’s voice soared, he had to pull back. It didn’t show the range of his voice, it showed the limitations of his voice--and I can’t hear it without mentally comparing it to Mercury’s incredible talent. He came out lacking in that comparison, although I seem to be alone in feeling that way--shows what I know.
Josiah, on the other hand, just might be special. I thought he was annoying, too (hence the comment about too much crying and sarcastic comment about how precious he is). I have no doubt that I wouldn’t like him on a personal level. I’m giving him a little slack on the bad decisions thing, scowling through the “poor lost me” crap, and hoping that he grows up a little over he course of the show--assuming he even makes the cut.
Now, the nurse, I dinged her for being derivative, too, but that isn’t the end of the story. Daughtry never had a voice or presence that caught my attention. So, even if he was through-and-through authentic, he was authentically boring to me. The nurse isn’t boring at all. Most artists and artist wannabes go through periods of imitating their influences and that’s alright. It’s part of learning their craft. The question is whether she can get past that to establish something unique.
It’s American Idol, so my guess is that she’ll probably get tossed out in the middle of the thing when everyone realizes that she’s just going to be Janis Joplin, Jr. for the rest of her life. But I can hope that someone with so much passion and appreciation for rock roots will grow to be more than that.
Nathan, my musical obsession is directly related to my musical limitations. If I had the talent, I would much rather be in a band than talking about them.
Which is why I stick to free ice cream.
Apparently, the tattoo girl once had a recording contract with MCA and a failed album. You and I seem to be the last two to learn this because it seems to be all over the Internet: http://tabloidbaby.blogspot.com/2008/01/idol-pulls-fast-one-tattooed-carly.html
You make a good point about Bohemian Rhapsody guy. When he first said that he was going to sing that song I immediately assumed that he was going to bomb terribly. He probably sounded better to me than he deserved just because he didn’t totally screw it up. I think that we can all agree, however, that there is only one Freddie Mercury.
I agree with you that crybaby has talent, but I think that my intense dislike for him has made it impossible for me to actually like his singing, no matter how good it may be. I’m willing to admit that I may not be capable of judging him impartially.
You hit the nail on the head when you say that Daughtry was “was authentically boring” and I will give biker nurse credit that I find her less boring than Daughtry. Given a choice between the two I would rather listen to her sing. If she develops her own style I think that she might be one of the more interesting contestants (I didn’t like Beatbox Blake, for instance, but I found his performances to be among the most interesting). I predict that the biker nurse will fall prey to the Idol paradox: the people who vote often are not the ones buying the albums. Every baby Boomer that I know watches the show religiously and votes diligently but they never buy the albums. Biker nurse will get the Joplin-nostalgia vote from the older audience but I can’t imagine her getting enough of a following from the album-buying tweens and teens necessary to actually score the recording contract.
"Every baby Boomer that I know watches the show religiously and votes diligently but they never buy the albums.”
Not every baby boomer does that. I don’t watch the show at all, don’t vote at all, and never buy the albums.
See? That’s completely different.
Yeah, but you miss out on all the fun conversation, too. Sad for you.
I’m going to have to reconsider my stance on tattoo girl. I wonder how much of that is true--obviously, there’s at least a grain of truth to it. Damn, that’s disappointing.
Josiah could wear out his welcome pretty quick. I really do want to see what he does, but not if it means seeing him quivering his lip every week on the show. And no hard luck stories, either--bad decisions are bad decisions, but I’m not feeling sympathy. Shut up and sing. I think I’ve heard that somewhere before.
I have yet to buy an album from one of the Idol alum. It is weird that it’s us and the 14 year old girls that make up the audience--but only the teenagers will go and buy the albums when they can. Sometimes I wonder if we’re ruining the show for the poor bastards.