Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Our First Best 3 Picks for American Idol Top 36 Group 1





Yes 36 among the 10s of thousands of people got through to the round. But the game plan have totally changed. While last time everyone have a plenty of time to get to because there’s only 1 or 2 eliminated every performance. This time it’s make it or drop it because each time the get on one round there’s only 3 going through and 9 will be drop with no guarantee of a wild card chances. So the stake is really high and they have to nail the first performance. Because there’s no 2-4 chances for the semifinal. There’s only one. And this time it’s a mix round there’s no male first then girls it’s the fight for your life. So late the game begin.

Jackie Tohn – miss personality did a spin on the song, she got the energy but not much on the vocal is shown yet, it is a bit flat. It’s the enthusiasm that the producer looking for but not the best opening though.

Next up Ricky Braddy – doesn’t have much telecast during the preliminary round. So this would be the first time that any audiences see or heard about him. The sound is a bit jazzy, it’s suitably perfect pitch and some fantastic soulful twist to it. That’s the one that the producer’s looking for. It’s top notch. And it comes naturally, but there’s a doubt as Simon say it’s not as photogenic as some of the contestant.

Alexis Grace – Did a fierce Aretha and actually make it work with her sazz up look pinky tail. Her voice is not as smooth as Aretha but it is suitably hoarse for the song. So it works well. It’s not the big voice but if it’s the previous format, she’d be fine. It is a good choice for the night but in the new format we’ll have to see. It’s one girl and one guy top vote and the next second highest marks for the night top 3 to go through. At least here is 2 that worth going through from each gender here.

Brent Kieth – Finally a country rocker, the song is rockin, Brent’s performance is OK. And because country is a style that is more attitude and techniques than vocal which makes it even harder to impress. Brent has a vocal but the song is not exactly what memorable.

Stevie Wright – tried to do a Taylor Swift song to show that she is as young as her age. But Taylor’s songs is sometimes tailored to her voice only because the special pitch in her voice. And Stevie is exposing herself by toning the sound down. And I believe it is not the right song for her at all.

Anoop Desai – have a good voice and did a pop sound. It does show his range. At the beginning the voice is sweet and fantastic. But somewhere in the middle it’s drown by the background vocal. He lost the pitch after that so it’s a hanging vote and we are still waiting for the 3rd best to come. Paula say it right, he does have a bit of a Brian McKnight drift and he got that thing that people can connect to on screen. So we’ll have to see.

Casey Carlson – the first thing that came to mind when she first go on is that she got the look. Now we just have to see if she got the voice too. She got a voice that is pretty modern. Although she try to spice up the performance, but the stage presence doesn’t really sync with her voice. She’s just not that big voice that matches with her stage performance. It’s a bit of a shame though. I think she has to go and find her own gimmick. Sorry not the third one yet. But with the new format it is a very very hard choice to choose 3 best from 12 than 2 bad from 12. The judges may sound a bit harsh but that is the reality of the new format for the show.

Michael Sarver – The oil rigger that we are rooting for, he is a likable dude, but does he has the chops for the live show? He takes a Gavin DeGraw, and did his own twist but the twist is knotted too tight. It can fit his voice but he lost the intensity that Gavin DeGraw has. I love something that’s more soulful like what he did in Hollywood. It’s not the perfect fit for his voice. It is in the end a popularity show and there’s still no front runner for the third one to go through yet.

Ann Marie Boskovich – Another beautiful lady and did another Aretha, so would she do better? Natural Woman is what she is. She show her voice, it’s not as soulful as the original but she did her best with it and it does show her range. There’s still some doubts hanging here and there. Randy don’t really like it though. Right, the vocal are a bit below the standard, but to go to that high standard it’s better than most of them already. So it depends on the audience response to the performance.

Stephen Fowler – who forget the lyrics in his last round of Hollywood. Would he do better this time? He has a really classic R & B voice, but to choose a Michael Jackson early classics, he may just blow it. It started rough, and then in the middle the rhythm is off. His got the high range and the pitch but I don’t think it is good enough because the misstep is a bit too much and the style is too old.

Tatiana Del Toro – well she is the Diva of the season. Not the typical cruel Diva but the show have sculpt her to be a bit self absorb and it’s not the best loved quality in human history and the annoying factor as usual in this show could either make or break a person. We’ll just focus on her talent here a bit more here than all the riff raff before. She of course did a Whitney, it’s clear what the judges see in her voice. But to do a Whitney could really sometimes break a contestant vocal and show the weakness and strength in her voice. She got some of the parts right and lost some of pitch problem that needs patches. So we’ll see how the audiences vote. It is a bit old for her though cause it is not a record deal for her yet. A contender for the third seats of the week.

The last of the 12 to go on stage is Danny Gokey – it is truly a test what likability footing is on the show because of all the 12 I’m sure many have made the decision with Danny even before he sang because he is just this extremely likeable guy. And to do a twist on the Mariah Carey’s “Hero”, the judges all love it. It is not exactly the best vocal of the night. But there’s not really any wrong throughout the performance. And I feel that this the third seat and I am pretty sure he got it.

So if it’s up to me, my 3 choices for the night would be Ricky Braddy, Alexis Grace and Danny Gokey. Sorry Anoop and Tatiana and Michael, it’s just not the year to hope for second chance on the first performance, there’s just not enough seats to put those that still need improvement to get through.

One small thing with the show though, that’s the last showing of the performance because they fail to show Jackie’s they scrap it for everyone and the show automated self promote with the crazy SMS votes numbers, I wonder not showing the contestants name and number how many actually remember the number to votes? I just hope that is not a big upset to the show’s voting system.

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