Top 6 Live Blogging

Andrea Boccelli. Love songs. 2 songs each. Whew, what a night this should be! Wow, what a voice Andrea has, eh? Andrea teaches them his opening vocalization technique, and the Idols choke. David critiques each of the Idols quite severely, but he’s bang on with each of his gotcha’s.

Katharine McPhee

I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston / David Foster. It’s an absolutely huge song, and Foster’s critiques were fantastic. Could she sing opera, Andrea says sure and they bust it out. Good times, haha.

Okay, Katharie’s first song. Kickass outfit. All the Kgirl gawkers will be enjoying this outfit ;-)

Good stuff so far. The music is good, and her voice is strong. See if she can carry it into the chorus… And… Yeah, she can. Nice little smile on my face right now. She’s nailing this. I’m thinking she got a bit too much coaching on how to play to the camera though. She’s just a bit too out there for me, though maybe she’s trying to Whitney-up the song or something. Holy crap, that dress has some leg!!! Geeze, from little miss school teacher show no skin to a bloody … Well, whatever, this is a new side to Katharine.

Anyways, singing was bang on. Awesome.

Judges: Randy: Worried about this week, and the song was way too big for her. Paula: (her mic is useless right now) There were pitch problems, when you don’t push your vocals, and don’t oversing… This is a tough song to sing, you are a star, know where your money is – your money is your intimate vocals. Simon: Katharine, very simple, by choosing that song it’s like saying “I am as good as Whitney Houston”. I think you went backwards.

Post thoughts: When you pick a week with “great love songs”, you HAVE to pick big artists. Anyways, very good. Hopefully Katharine’s second song will be much more intimate, because she can nail both types, though Paula’s right that her intimate stuff is her, em, “money”.

Elliott Yamin

Elliott is looking pretty pumped, hopefully that comes through for this. David Foster makes some pretty serious changes, that Elliott didn’t totally get. I think Foster has a very particular vision of what he likes, which is hard on the Idols I’m sure.

Let’s see if Elliott can deliver tonight, as he’s been off, well, for a month now. He’s only been safe because someone always choked.

So far, so good. First verse was nice and straight. Second is starting to show his pacing, his range, his passion. You can tell he’s comfortable, enjoying this, and that he’s really digs into this song. Foster told him to get away from the oirinal artist’s licks, and after the hits to really NAIL it… Too bad Elliott didn’t listen. He’s doing well, 8/10 kind of well, which isn’t as good as Katharine’s first shot, but he’ll likely miss the “oh you’re trying to tell us you’re better than Whitney” shots as well.

Overall, it was good. He’ll need to step it up with his next song, but it was good.

Judges: Randy: Didn’t like the arrangement (agreed, actually, it was weird). But, love YOU. Paula: You “move me” (she’s crying). You’ve moved me from the beginning. You are this handsome, evolved performer (Simon is choking back laughter). Simon: Seven weeks ago, he said that you were one of the best male vocalist. Tonight, in parts, it was superb.

Post thoughts: I don’t think it was all that, but it was solid. Maybe I’m just not his demographic though. Obviously I’m not on the same page as the judges. Overall, this was a solid performance, I just don’t see it as a “vocal masterclass”.

Break Thoughts

So far, first two songs were good. Not wowy howie great, but both were very good. Nothing wrong, really, just nothing that made me get up and yell kind of thing. This is the final 6, though, so if the worst we see tonight is “not quite amazing” … Well, that’s not bad. I’m sure we’ll see 1-2 performances tonight that knock our socks off. Will one of those be from Kellie Pickler? Not sure I’ll go that far, but both Katharine and Elliott really, really showed the quality of their vocals tonight. If their next song gets us emotional (Katharine) and gets us moving (Elliott), these two could create some great memories tonight.

As I said before, really looking forward to tonight. Plus, David Foster’s feedback is crazy good :-D

Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler announces she’s single. Then she talks about how Ghost’s pottery scene is sweet. And she touches Ryan’s leg FOUR TIMES. She’s singing Unchained Melodies. Andrea loves the song and her voice. David says she’s robotic. Asks if she has a falsetto. She hits it the first time. Foster identifies that this is a make/break kind of song. Not sure if Kellie can “make” it, but we’ll see.

Kellie starts off sitting on the stage. This’ll be an interesting song. She’s wearing… A 12 year old’s outfit? Anyways. Vocals aren’t quite there tonight. Not enough depth, or substance there at the start. It’s all very … Yeah, robotic. Like she. Hits. Each. Note. For. It’s. Time. Ugh. Verse two makes this even more apparent.

Kellie looks away going into the bridge and you can tell she knows she isn’t doing this. SO TURN IT UP! I mean, if you’re going to crash, crash and burn.

I’m not sure I want to write anymore. She hit her falsetto, but that was the only redeeming part of this song. The arrangement is slow. Flat. Boring. And Kellie is just making it even worse. Her final run was okay, but 4 seconds aren’t enough to save a performance lie this.

Judges: Randy: “You think you butchered this one too?” … It never really quite got on. It was just very strange. It wasn’t the right song. Paula: The six of you are fantastic, I don’t see you raising the bar each week. I adore you, I think that America has fallen in love with you. But at this point, it’s about greatness and I didn’t feel that from you. Simon: That deserved tears, for a very different reason. I felt that it was so monotonous and so bland, no heart and no warmth from your vocal at all. … And, the music cuts him off, haha.

Post thoughts: Poor Kellie. 2 bombs in a row is awful. She’s a sweetie, but she’s simply not Top 4 material.

Break Thoughts

Shoo. Alright, tonight is really about figuring out who belongs in the Top 4. Based on tonight, Katharine definitely does. Elliott could, but we’ll see based on his next performance. Kellie simply doesn’t. Which means only one more person needs to get earmarked for elimination. Tonight is all about who is leaving, not who is staying. You have to absolutely shine, or you just won’t be good enough to stay for sure.

Crazy pressure.

Paris Bennett

The Way We Were, by Barbara Streisand. She’ll likely get the “compared to the performer” bit. Andrea says she has great volume. David Foster says she’d sing the first eight bars softer, which is bangarang. Andrea says her volume range is amazing, that she has an instrument that is absolutely incredible.

Apparently she, too, chose not to listen to Foster on starting really, really, really quiet. Her vocals are alright. She’s enjoying the song, and she isn’t just singing it straight, which is great. Paris is all about fun and spunk, and she’s bringing that to this song, which is a bit odd, considering the actual subject matter. Almost like her singing is disconnected from the words…

In fact, the song is really, really big, and her performance is over the top for how I remember the original. But vocals are good. Nothing wrong. Just not sure she’s Top 4 material. I didn’t actually LIKE the performance.

Judges: Randy: I thought it was pretty good. I liked it, though I wasn’t over the top about it. Paula: I thought you oversang the song a bit (yep). Simon: Sounded a little bit like you were impersonating another artist.

Post thoughts: I’m thinking they’re realizing the first few performances took too much time.

Break

Erm, just one song each tonight, eh? Dunno what I was on with two songs…

Taylor Hicks

Just Once he’s singing. It’s a really, really soft song, which will be really different for Taylor. Andrea thinks it’s the perfect song for him. Foster thinks he has crazy charisma.

On to Taylor, ladies and germs. Starts off weak. Sounds like my dad singing at first, like he’s not actually vocalizing. As he starts into his chorus, it picks up though, and you can tell he’s actually singing it to someone. He’s delivering it a little straight, and he’s rather pitchy, which is hard to see. In fact, this may be Taylor’s worst performance. Ever. Not as bad as Kellie’s, but Taylor’s fan base is a weird one, so you never know. Taylor is losing it, so he’s pulling up his boots and falling back on his old standards, which is good. The last 30 seconds’ll be fairly good, though the first 60 were quite hard.

Okay, the last 30 seconds weren’t really great. Does he have a cold? It’s like he’s not listening, or vocalizing properly… Hell, he’s not even interacting with the band as per normal. That was a hard performance. 6/10 from me overall.

Judges: Randy: I don’t know if it’s me tonight, but dude that was the wrong song for me for you. Felt like weird karaoke. Paula: I love the song, but Taylor there are sensitive sides and playful sides. It wasn’t my favorite song though. Simon: Taylor you looked uptight tonight. Taking that performance outside of American Idol, you hear that every night in hotel lounges. It was not a winning performances. Paula interrupts Simon to say “we love you”.

Someone needs Prozac. Btw, love Taylor’s outfit ;-)

Break Thoughts

Okay, I need to rethink everything. The first half of the show I was totally sure there were 2 performances per performer. I must have mis-heard Ryan. Crazy me. Anyways, based on tonight, Katharine’s was the strongest so far. Kellie and Taylor were the worst. Paris was close behind, and Elliott did pretty good compared to the rest tonight. Let’s see how Chris does.

Chris Daughtry

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman. Brian Adams. Not sure if this is a good song for Chris, and not sure if he’ll do anything really great for this song, since it’s soooo stylized in pop culture. Andrea, Foster and Chris make him lie down and sing so he has to use his diaphragm.

Chris is on stage WITH 2 guitarists. I love Chris. They’re doing this in a very mexipop style, which is interesting alongside Chris’s voice. His voice is good. I think he could have done it in a lower key and really hit more emotionally. It’s just a touch too high for me. Lower would have conveyed more emotion. Anyways, he’s doing pretty well. It’s an interesting arrangement (if a bit full), and he’s doing enough original that it’s sounding good. He’ll get compared to Adams by the judges, and he’ll get mixed reviews across the net, but he proved he’s Top 4 material tonight, and Taylor / Kellie saved him.

Judges: 10 second reviews. Randy: Loved it. Paula: Love you. Simon: Great choice of song.

Roundup

Katharine: Fantastic. Everyone will love that dress.

(erm, the judges mics are still on, lofl)

Elliott: Really quite good.

Kellie: Holy hell, second bomb in a row.

Paris: Paris is a caricature. She’s great, spunky, fun, but she won’t win American Idol.

Taylor: Worst performance of his whole Idol career. You can see he knows it in his eyes.

Chris: Pretty darn decent. Up there with Katharine and Elliott tonight.

The Call

Top 3: Katharine, Elliott, Chris
Bottom 3: Kellie, Taylor, Paris
Going home: Kellie