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Post by MFWalkoff on May 12, 2024 23:51:50 GMT
Disney Night - The top five each perform two beloved favorites from the Disney songbook as America votes for the top three heading to the finale; guest mentor Kane Brown; Jenifer Lewis performs.
Enjoy the show!
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Post by Navybelle on May 13, 2024 1:44:50 GMT
Katy looks cute as Cinderella.  And it's nice they have the moms sitting up on stage with them on Mother's Day. So far, I've liked everyone's first songs a lot. Their second songs weren't quite as great, but still they did a good job with them. I'm a little behind, started late, so maybe I'll have a different opinion as the night ends. Final 3 tonight! wow. Now that I've finished watching, I am fine with the final three: Abi, Will, and Jack. It's a strong group! Although I liked Triston, I couldn't see him winning. And Emmy probably shouldn't have made it this far anyway. |
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Post by liedenfrost on May 13, 2024 12:25:29 GMT
May 12, 2024: American Idol The Top 5
1. Will Moseley: Ballad Of The Lonesome Cowboy is typically Disney so there’s not a lot in it for a Southern adult male country blues/rock singer. But it was, in my opinion, a very smart choice because Will and Chris Stapleton are an unbeatable combination. The meaning of this song is explained by this: “I was a lonesome cowboy/ I didn’t have a friend/Now I got friends coming out of my ears/I’ll never be lonesome again”. As Rock presents a challenge to the female contestants, I think Disney is hard on the male contestants. So in the end, any advantage/disadvantage created by these themes cancels each other out and all is fair. Born To Be Wild was written by Steppenwolf guitarist, Mars Bonfire who was cruising the highway in his brand new Ford Falcon when he saw a poster of a motorcycle erupting from the ground like a volcano with the caption Born to Ride written on it” via Cathy Wurzer, MPR News, 2018. Bonfire then penned the now timeless rock anthem and biker favorite, Born To Be Wild. The song topped the international music charts as the title track for the popular cult film, Easy Rider. It’s a song that sounds simple but is not. It presents a challenge not unlike Rachmaninoff’s ossia cadenza in Concerto #3 First Movement (opus 30). It sounds so good when you listen to it that you want to play it only to find out that it’s a lot harder than it sounds. Born To Be Wild is in the key of E, Mixolydian mode, so you wouldn’t think it difficult since most rock bands are quite familiar all the most popular Mixolydian keys but a closer look reveals that it is far from easy. Its Chord Complexity is rated 50/100 in difficulty and its Chord Progression Novelty is rated 60/100 in difficulty. Both are manageable but not easy. Its Chord Melody Tension is rated 70/100 in difficulty. Its Chord Bass Melody is rated 83/100 in difficulty, and, its Melodic Complexity is rated a whopping 85/100 in difficulty. The ratings were determined via the website Hook Theory (Theory Tabs DB)). Gimme Three Steps is easier to play but the rhythm comping gets tricky. I don’t know if this has anything to do with why Will left his guitar back stage the last two weeks but based on what I heard the last two shows, Tim Stewart (rhythm guitar) and Greg Suran (lead guitar) don’t need any help from Will. I looked up their resumes. Those guys are good. Besides the two guitarists, keyboard player Peter Dyer, bass player Joe Ayoub, drummer Adam Marcello and Music Director Kristopher Pooley are famous in their own right. All members of the American Idol House Band are well-experienced and accomplished musicians and have accompanied some of the most famous singers and bands in America, including out own beloved Katy Perry and Lionel Ritchie. Give the American Idol House Band some love! They kicked butt on this song. You know they’re good when your attention goes to the band more than the singer. But My God, Will can blow! It’s like he swallowed a dynamic mic when he was a baby and it just took up residence in his vocal chords. By the way, this song is not easy to sing either; the chorus can be quite tough on the vocal chords if sessions are extended. Finally, let’s thank Steppenwolf . Without them, we wouldn’t even have a music genre called “heavy metal”. Metallica does but Steppenwolf does not do heavy metal. But it was they who first coined the term. In its 22 season history, Idol has seen its fair share of hard rockers but only one authentic heavy metal singer, James Durbin. I will never forget his howling presentation of Sammy Hagar’s wonderful Heavy Metal, which I ranked #4 on my list as the best performances ever on American Idol Seasons 1-22, behind Joshua Ledet’s It’s a Man’s Man’s World, Joshua Ledet’s When A Man Loves A Woman, and Candice Glover’s Lovesong.
2. Jack Blocker: I’m sorry but I have no idea what Jack was doing on Nobody’s Fool. I have a lot of respect for Jack (when it comes to music, he didn't just come down with the last shower; he knows what he's doing up there) so I guess this performance was over my head. The judges got it and that’s all that really matters. And he advanced so whatever it was, it worked brilliantly. I played it back and I still didn’t get it. I also don’t agree with Kane Brown that he should bounce around the stage. I love Kane’s music. I follow all Idol contestants and learned of Kane Brown when I read that our Laura Alaina, runner-up to Scotty McCreery in season 10 of American Idol, was recording a duet with him; e.g. What Ifs. I liked that song and have followed Kane every since. He’s a wonderful country singer. But watching Jack stomp around the stage like Frankenstein was just plain weird to me. The film is animated but that doesn’t mean Jack needs to be. As soon as I heard that he was singing David Bowie’s Space Oddity, a song I’ve loved for years, I forgave him immediately because I knew this song was squarely in the middle of his wheel house. I expected a wonderful performance and, as he’s done all season, he delivered a fine performance. By the way, despite the lyrics, I will never believe that this song is about an astronaut lost in space. At the time it was written, David Bowie was a known drug addict. Bowie later confirmed in the song Ashes to Ashes what many of us had thought; that the song was actually a metaphor for a drug overdose: per the lyric: “Ashes to ashes / funk to funky / We know Major Tom's a junkie / Strung out in heaven's high / Hitting an all-time low.” If the song was written under the influence, it wouldn’t be the first. I love Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit but will always believe that Kurt Cobain was under the influence when he wrote it. What does this lyric actually mean? “Here we are now/Entertain us/ A mulatto, an albino/A mosquito, my libido/ A denial? I have no idea. And Sly & The Family Stone’s confusing “Boom laka-laka-laka/Boom laka lak goon kaboom” in the hit song I Want To Take You Higher was more likely than not written under the influence as Sly was known to be a heavy drug user. I thought for some time that the Beatles Come Together was written under the influence but later found out that weird phrases like ju-ju eyeballs, toe-jam football, walrus gumboot, and shooting coca cola are British slang terms that have real life meanings. For the record, I could care less if they were written under the influence but it certainly will change a song’s meaning if true. Regardless, I will always love David Bowie, Nirvana, The Beatles, and Sly & The Family Stone as I pretty much know every song they’ve ever recorded.
3. Abi Carter: I agree with Lionel. Her voice is tailor-made for Disney songs. It’s just that I don’t like the Disney theme. The fact that I don’t like it automatically suggests that a majority of Idol viewers probably do. These themes don’t happen by accident. Surely ABC and the American Idol producers (and the judges) did their homework and queried potential viewers. The reason I don’t like the Disney theme is because Disney fans are resistant to adaptation and don’t respond favorably to changes in well-known melodies, lyrics, and arrangements. This means that the Idol contestants are limited to as-is versions if they want significant numbers of votes from this demographic. Nonetheless, Abi clearly won round 1 with a beautiful presentation of The Little Mermaid’s Part Of Your World. As is her wont, she was emotionally invested in this song and projected the lyrics with crystal clear tone and passion. Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain was chosen for Guardians of The Galaxy 2 because, according to Peter Gunn (the film’s director): “The oft repeated lyric “And if you don't love me now/You will never love me again," stands as an ultimatum, with one person pressuring the other that if they can't make their relationship work, if they can't repair the bond now, then it's over. In regards to the Guardians, their weird little family stands at a similar crossroads. 'The Chain' first plays when Peter, Gamora, and Drax leave with Ego, leaving Rocket (and Baby Groot and Nebula) behind to repair the ship, effectively splitting up the family. Later we hear, "I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain," the song goes, and it isn't broken. When at their lowest, the whole team rallies together engineers their escape and that moment The Chain returns, swelling as the guardians fight to protect their family and the bonds that bind them.” This performance was Abi at her best, a spectacular vocal accompanied by a visually stunning stage performance from a consummate artist that lately has been competing with unburstable heart and fierce determination. You have to admire a woman like that. And I absolutely do. Still, I’m an old Idol veteran. In a show that inherently favors Southerners (as we don’t have as many entertainment options as those living in the Eastern, Northern and Westerns United States, so we tend to have more free time to vote in these competitions), the AI format makes it harder for non-southerners to win Idol. At least, extend the voting times overnight. Some viewers simply do not have the time to vote in the short period of time allowed to voters. But, Idol is not run by fools. I'm sure they have done their research and run the numbers and determined that the present format is good enough. They know more than I do about these matters.
4. Emmy Russell: Emmy’s version of Miley Cyrus’ The Climb was so sweet and adorable. Emmy will be a pleasure to listen to on the radio. And I don’t know that she has to limit her options to country music. I have stated that she sounds a lot like Kelly Pickler in The Woman I Am, so is a good fit for country music, but she also sounds like Colby Caillat in Bubbly, Ellie Goulding in Love Me Like You Do, Cristini Perry in A Thousand Years, Anna Nalik in Breathe, and especially Natalie Imbruglia in Torn. So, pop music is also an option for her. In fact, it may be a better option than country. She compares favorably with a lot of sweet, soulful, mellifluous singers in pop music. There will always be a market for soft, sweet, adorable, voices in the music industry. At least, for as long as I’m in the listening sphere. We need these voices for balance, for those much needed mellow moments that keep us sane. In the seventies, music was dominated by hard rock. From about 2000 until now, it has been dominated by Rap & Hip-Hop. All music genres are dear to me and I don’t want any of them to disappear. As for Brandi Carlisle’s Carried Me With You, it is one of my favorite songs but I liked Emmy’s version even more than the original. I just love who she is as a singer and I can’t wait to hear Emmy on the radio. By the way, women are not the only gender that can generate sweet, mellifluous tone. Remember James Blount’s You’re Beautiful and Carry You Home? And have you ever heard Aaron Neville's truly angelic voice; e.g., For The Good Times and Don't Take Away My Heaven? Good luck to you Emmy. I wish you the very best.
5. Tristan Harper: Tristan owes Kane Brown a dinner for advising him to pick Almost There. That was a wonderful performance from Tristan. I didn’t care much for Tom Cochrane’s Life Is A Highway. But I’m sure Tristan was covering the Rascal Flatt version that was included in the Pixar film, Cars. The song has a wonderful message. We should live our lives like we’re driving on a highway all night long and taking in all the sights, the bad and the good. And we should not linger in those places/situations where times are hard and we are faced with difficult choices and situations which we cannot control. Just move on and continue living your life until you find a better place to cope or a better situation further up the road. Tristan is a good guy. Even though I thought he was out-classed in this competition by seasoned veteran competitors, he’s had a difficult life and I want nothing but the best for him and his mom. This is a poem by poet-laureate Amanda Gorman. She wrote this poem for the soul of a nation but I think it applies to Tristan's situation as well:
The Hill We Climb
“When day comes, you step out of the shade,
Aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as you free it
For there is always light
If only you are brave enough to see it
If only you are brave enough to be it.”
Good luck, Tristan. Never give up your dreams kid.
These are the latest odds (updated to include tonight’s results: Chances of Winning (calculated based on standard probability formulas based on my eleven point criteria formula):
Chances of Winning Idol
Will Moseley: 75.0%
Jack Blocker: 68.8%
Abi Carter: 40.3%*
For those wondering why Abi has a poor chance of winning, I can tell you the reasons. She's not from the South, she's not a good old country girl, she doesn't sing country music, she doesn't play guitar, and she's not male. This doesn't mean she can't win. Any contestant with a non-zero chance can win. It just means her chance of winning is not as good as Will's or Jack's. But it certainly does not mean that she can't win. I simply parsed data for the last 21 seasons and determined the profiles for the 21 winners. Abi is missing (assigned an ordinal of zero) in four of these eleven critical criteria. If I were Abi, I would keep the faith. David Cook won and he's from the Mid West. Nick Fradiani won and he 's from New York. Jordin Sparks won and she's from Arizona. Ian Tongi won and he's from Hawaii. Non-southerners can win Idol but Southerners have the best chance of winning.
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Post by Gutmutter on May 13, 2024 16:10:11 GMT
As much as I would prefer that Jack (or Abi) win, I think that the elimination of the other two country singers will focus their votes on Will. I am not a Will fan.
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Post by dagwood on May 14, 2024 19:23:26 GMT
I think Abi will win but I wouldn't mind Will or Jack. I like Will, his type of music is something I enjoy. I think this is a good final 3, they are all good.
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And it's nice they have the moms sitting up on stage with them on Mother's Day. 
