In a dramatic moment on American Idol, Michael Lynche received the fewest votes from the public and was in danger of being cut from the show -- a classic case where a talented performer somehow fell through the cracks and the very reason the "save" was invented. And indeed, the judges used their save and Michael Lynche is still in the competition. That means next week two contestants will be cut from the show no matter what.
The night began with the Idol contestants doing a Beatles medley. I can't be certain they were lip-syncing but I believe they were. Frankly, simply the idea that their performance seemed canned is bad enough. They all looked great in mod, black and white Sixties outfits, especially Katie Stevens (who inexplicably changed outfits during a commercial break).
All three women were pronounced safe (a gender breakdown that often happens when one sex outnumbers the other). Kara DioGuardi protege Jason DeRulo performed a snippet of one tune and then his hit, "In My Head" with fire, backup singers, a dangerously studded jacket and dance moves that all echoed Michael Jackson. In a strange gambit, they switched to slo-mo black and white in the middle of the live performance. Not a wise move for a new artist to my thinking -- let us get caught up in the moment; don't let us feel like we're watching a video. It was ok overall, though the song was weak.
David Archuleta delivered a piano-led encore of his rendition of "Imagine," this time including the lyrics "Imagine there's no heaven" that he cleverly skipped when in competition. It was good and the best guest performance of the night. Has he dyed his hair?
Rihanna performed a Grammy-worthy spectacle of her new single "Rock Star 101." Another hip-hop song weak on melody (it's certainly no "Umbrella") but she could sell millions of downloads by showing us how she slipped into that skin-tight outfit.
Finally it came down to the bottom three: Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia and Michael Lynche. (In a poor night, I only got two of the three right.) Aaron was safe and then to everyone's surprise, so was Andrew. Andrew was the only one the judges wouldn't have saved. Michael Lynche did another strong rendition of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" and Simon Cowell -- with his usual dramatic flair -- announced he was safe. Who, I wonder, will be the lead judge next season? They're gonna miss Simon and it should be Ellen, but will Randy feel dissed? What do you think? Who is the next lead judge and were they right to save Michael Lynche, ie. could he be in the finals? Because if he doesn't deserve to be in the finals, you shouldn't use the save.
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I can't think of anyone who could command the respect that Simon has. I'll be watching Xfactor for him. Idol would have to shock me with someone great/interesting to keep me interested.
The idea of someone as good as Mike leaving before the likes of Tim, Andrew or Aaron is simply unacceptable. It should have been Andrew going home last night. Then the judges could have kept the save. Now the respective fan bases will have to come out in force to protect the favorites like Crystal, Lee, Siobhan and Casey. But Mike is the best pure singer among the men and definitely deserves another chance. I remember when Jennifer Hudson got voted off way too early when she was on Idol. The save could have prevented that from happening.
I also think Lee was terrible with "Hey Jude". He probably deserved to be in the bottom three just for that debacle. Even though I like him, I thought this was a trainwreck. He sacrificed vocals for performance.
Braking News: Michael Lynche save on #Idol will be appealed to the Supreme Court http://bit.ly/aag2Kf Tim Urban Lawyers are preparing briefs
All year long I've stated that Michael Lynche was not that good despite the opinions of the Judges and the way the producers have made sure they high-lighted him every week.
Finally last night the audience let everyone know Lynche is not that good.
Why doesn't he audience like him? Simple..... He does not look like an American Idol!
Once again, this is a show about performing..... It has nothing to do with Art or anything of that nature.
The problem with Idol is they have allowed the Bible Belt Brace-faces to completely dominate the voting results by not restricting votes to just ONE vote per phone number. You can see who is doing all the voting by looking at the results each week. Contestants of "color" are leaving early in the game, while the remaining finalists all get increasingly more MALE, younger, and WHITER. (btw, I'm so white myself, I'm practically CLEAR, so no racial bias here, tyvm).
This is not a contest to see who is the best singer. It's a contest to see who will sell the most MP3 downloads to the Nickelodeon crowd currently on the cusp between boys and Barbies.
I can't stand James' rapid vibrato. He sounds like a nervous Chihuahua. Aaron can't handle the low notes; Andrew and Lee have great sounds, but poor stage presence. Katie needs more seasoning, but I like her strong alto pipes. Siobhan is a good singer with a unique style and a great gimmick in her high range. Tim Urban is Tiger Beat fodder, nothing more.
Crystal and Michael SHOULD be the top two finalists. The question is will the Brace Faces grow up and let the most TALENTED get to the finals of a TALENT competition?
I would imagine that's because most such contestants that are serious about getting record deals are into rap/hip hop, a genre that Idol's pop/country foundation ignores. That leaves R&B crooners, a small niche in today's market, for people like Mike and Ruben, who was a better singer than Mike, yet went on to sell few records.
The Save was wasted, cause he'll justifiably be gone next week anyway. The show's always been a popularity contest, but calling Mike "the best singer" when he clearly is not is simply wishful thinking, not reality-based.
We enjoyed Jason DeRulo's performance a lot! Thought he did an amazing job of it. Great dance moves. Also liked the song enough to go listen to his first several recordings. Really like those, as well. Also thought the slow mo stuff was fly. Sorry. :D
Rihanna, on the other hand. Big fan of hers - HUGE. It looked like a phone-in to me. Didn't care for the song AT ALL. Tuneless mess. Not even a decent backbeat. Surprising.
Michael has one of the best vocals on American Idol(but he definitely needs to fine tune his intrument), whilst Andrew is a one-note-samba. Everything sounds the same, and he really has no voice. He's got a quirky voice, but that's it.
The bottom three ought to have included Andrew, Aaron and actually Lee. I normally like him, but he did a poor, poor job in his last performance, and the only thing that saved it was the bag pipe.
The best of the night was surprisingly enough, Casey. A wonderful rendition of one of my favourite songs(Jealous Guy)!
I think this was the first week the live performance was actually live, and it sounded ten times better than ever before.
I think the whole "Save Papa Mike" business was contrived from first to last. No one in their right mind thinks Mike is going to win this thing, not the viewers and certainly not the judges. And after Ruben Studdard sold virtually no records, the producers aren't going to let it happen.
So why waste the only Save on a singer who won't be a finalist? What if Crystal, Casey, Lee or Siobhan end up chopped in the next two weeks. Saving Mike was the best use of that Save? Sure, they've played up the new daddy bit endlessly, but Andrew and Crystal are parents too, but it hasn't been made a focal point of the show.
I think the judges used it because (1) They wanted to appear generous to the New Daddy (2) the producers wanted to get it out of the way so we wouldn't have to go thru this excruciating huddling during the swan-song song anymore (3) They wanted to use it up, so they wouldn't appear to influence the outcome as it gets closer to D-Day...how could you save Crystal if Casey got bounced the following week...wouldn't seem fair.
Back to more important business. One Beatle fanatic, reporting for duty. The "shhoommppp" effect in Come Together was derived from John tragi-prophetically saying "Shoot me!" into the mic, coupled with a slapback-delay effect, masked by a single handclap. And there are four Beatles song credited or co-credited to Ringo Starr (as real name "Starkey"). Besides Don't Pass Me By and Octopus's Garden there were What Goes On, credited to Lennon-McCartney-Starkey, and Flying, from the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, credited to Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey.
Technically, George should have received co-writing credit for "Octopus's Garden". He gave the song a major overhaul between the time it was rehearsed during the Let It Be sessions and when it was recorded for Abbey Road. But since George already had two very solid contributions going onto Abbey Road -- including his first-ever A-side of a single with Something, as well as Here Comes The Sun, he generously allowed Ringo to have the songwriting spotlight alone.
Which is why the voting is just a lure for the masses. They can let Kris Allen win, because they are going to put out the records by Daughtry and Lambert as well, so they have all the bases covered.
And I have to disagree, I don't think Big Mike will have much of a career, outside of lounges/dinner theatre/maybe Broadway. There already is a Luther Vandross, and he isn't even charting these days...the money and sales are in Hip Hop/Rap, and Mike hasn't shown any proclivity for that.
People watch "Idol", obsess on its participants, and forget how many unnoticed good singers there are out there...I did a short documentary film on church choirs, and my guess is there isn't a Baptist church choir in the country that doesn't have a male and female singer as good, and probably better, than Big Mike.
...but thanks for your insight. /snark
Which is why the voting is just a lure for the masses. They can let Kris Allen win, because they are going to put out the records by Daughtry and Lambert as well, so they have all the bases covered. "
Studdard and Hicks both outsold Allen and Lambert so far, BTW. Actually Studdard sold nearly 2 million copies of his debut CD, and Hicks 704,000 (Lambert sits at under 600,000 and Allen under 300,000 at the moment.) The facts are that the market is trending toward singles sales instead of album sales, and Allen's first single, Live Like We're Dying has sold well over a Million Copies. In view of this changing market it is really rather difficult as to who will sell well, but I personally think that Lynche's style is passe.
If one listens closely, he also sang "Imagine all the the people sharing FOR the world" rather than "... sharing ALL the world." Subtle, arguably trivial. Still, dumb. And slightly changes meaning of song. That shouldn't really be an option.