My “The Voice” Quick Wrap Recap for the Top 6

I have to say I almost didn’t write this recap… I was so disappointed and irritated with last night’s episode of The Voice, I had to wait until this morning to calm down and be a little more objective… Unfortunately, the top 6 show in season 3 brought up everything I hated about the show from the previous seasons. It was as if the show had turned into the atrocious X Factor again. There was the over-production of all the numbers, the emphasis on dancers, props, lighting and staging over the singing. There was Carson Daly at his worst and the useless Christina Milian babbling away with the stupid “social commentary” of the show. There were all four judges being producers’ puppets and overly praising and hyping their pre-ordained winner Cassadee Pope (who’s good but not that good people). There was no true criticism and the judges were making it all about themselves again. Plus, Christina Aguilera could’ve have been more full of herself and rude again last night, and what on Earth does she have against Amanda? Jealous much? And don’t get me started on Xtina’s wigs and costumes. As a former big fan, she is on her last legs with me… I could go on and on, but I just want to count down the performances and be done with it because I am honestly worried about tonight’s results. As America has proved time and again with talent shows, they often get it wrong and I’m really worried that might happen tonight.

The Voice Performance Rankings for the Top 6
1. Amanda Brown- “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman”: Simply brilliant. The best performance and vocal of the night by a mile.
2. Amanda Brown- “Here I Go Again”: her rocking take on Whitesnake’s 1987 # 1 hit was inspired and awesome. This girl is in a class of her own people!
3. Nicholas David- “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: just when I thought I would never hear a new interpretation of this classic, I was wrong. This was a lovely interesting version of the song that had me rather pleased and surprised.
4. Cassadee Pope- “I’m With You”: Avril-lite finally got to do an Avril Lavigne song with her nice if uninspired version of this # 3 hit. Sure, Cassadee has a lot of potential to be the first real hit maker from The Voice, but I’m sorry I’m just not buying the Cassadee juice the producers are selling.
5. Trevin Hunte- “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”: while this was his best performance in weeks, I’m sorry Trevin, but you are no Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Holliday or even Jessica Sanchez.
6. Terry McDermott- “I Want to Know What Love Is”: I wasn’t blown away by Terry’s take on this 1985 # 1 hit by Foreigner like the judges were. However, it was pretty good. I would’ve liked more variation and tenderness in his choices and less hollering the whole time.
7. Cassadee Pope- “Stand“: this was another solid performance, but um, Blake she’s not a country artist and stop trying to make her one. Plus the glowsticks in the audience made me want to hurl my tv out the window. Stop it Voice producers! These people are not stars yet!
8. Nicholas David- “September”: this was an ok version of the Earth Wind and Fire classic. Nicholas always exhibits smooth soul and good vocals, but it was a bit boring.
9. Terry McDermott- “Stay with Me”: um, that was fine…. That’s all I have to say cuz I’ve already forgotten it.
10. Trevin Hunte- “Walking on Sunshine”: what the hell was that? Please never again.
11. Melanie Martinez- “The Show”: oh dear that was bad and the rainbow in the background too? Really?
12. Melanie Martinez- “Crazy”: CeeLo should’ve been pissed. She utterly ruined his song with another atrocious pitchy performance. Just terrible.

Should go home: Trevin, Melanie
Will go home: Trevin and um… I don’t know… I think the only person who’s safe is Cassadee. Nicholas, Terry and Melanie are charting well on iTunes, so that will help them. Unfortunately, the best contestant by a mile, Amanda, may end up the loser tonight. Blargh!

So, there’s my recap and if America does the wrong thing and sends Amanda home, I’m done with the show. So, I’m gonna end it here and just wait and see. Hope ya’ll voted for Amanda!!!

Some Belated Thoughts on the Season 11 American Idol Finale

Some of you readers may have wondered why I didn’t post anything after last week’s American Idol finale…. Well, the reason is, which may come to you as no surprise, that I was just upset and annoyed. I needed some time away from Idol for a bit. I was incredibly frustrated, though not surprised, that the wrong person won again! This was the fourth year in a row when a lesser contestant (Phillip over Jessica, Scotty over Lauren, Lee over Crystal, Kris over Adam) won the show and the fifth year in a row that a white guy with a guitar won the show (David Cook completes the quintet). So, when Phillip Phillips was named the winner, I was honestly pissed off… Ok, I get that he has a big fan base and he’s incredibly attractive and charming. But he’s not a very good singer people! And in a singing competition, shouldn’t the best singer win? If that were the case, Jessica Sanchez would’ve easily took home the crown… Alas, we all know this is a big popularity contest along with a singing competition and you can’t deny the power of the tween girl texters who have powered all these boys to a win…. Now, despite my anger over the outcome, I wish Phillip well. His songs are selling decently on iTunes for the time being (comparable to Lee’s and Scotty’s but below Cook’s). I do wonder how he will do once his album arrives. I think it could sell well, but I highly doubt he will ever have any hit pop songs. His Dave Matthews-type music has a certain audience but it isn’t the type to get radio airplay these days… That task we will leave up to Jessica who will certainly get a record deal and if Jimmy Iovine and the people at Interscope treat her right could have a huge pop star on their hands. She’s that good. She just needs the right guidance and songs. (As we all know, and even I will admit, song choice was not her strong suit in the competition… nor was it the producers or judges…)
So, as we say goodbye to a really good season that brought us some phenomenal talent, I will say I foresee record deals for Phillip and Jessica of course, along with Joshua Ledet (who could do well in the gospel and R&B arena), Colton Dixon (who has a great contemporary Christian career ahead of him) and especially Skylar Laine who has a wonderful shot at a fantastic country career. I am also curious to see what happens to perennial underdog Hollie Cavanagh. She has an incredible voice, but needs some more guidance and experience…. We’ll see how they grow as performers and artists this summer on the American Idol tour.

Now, there are some things Idol needs to do next year to get its edge and influence back. Here are my suggestions~

1. Ban guitars and instruments… Go back to singers singing if you want to see a different type of winner…
2. Get new relevant and current themes. The producers need to wake up and do contemporary themes because those are the ones that connect with the young audience they so crave… (And hello, trotting out those old artists on the finale like Neil Diamond, John Fogerty and Chaka Kahn, who are certainly wonderful in their own right, was a big mistake. The young audience doesn’t know who they are for the most part and doesn’t relate to them. You need to keep your guests more like Rihanna if you want bigger ratings…)
3. Switch up the judging panel~ Dump Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler. Randy is useless and Steven, while entertaining, is a hot mess and only gives a real critique one out of every 15 tries. He also clearly has no idea what “Over the Top” really means cuz he used it wrong constantly…. They can keep J. Lo for star power and her sometimes useful critiques. But she needs to study up on the history of the show because she is constantly proclaiming things that are totally wrong. For example~ she stated she’d never seen anything like Phillip’s performance of “Home”. Hello, check out Lee Dewyze’s finale performance from two years earlier)… Then, they need to add Jimmy Iovine to the judging panel for some real, honest critique…. Finally they have to add a younger artist the singers might relate to better for the third choice~ perhaps a former contestant? I’m open to ideas for that third spot.
4. Get some new producers… As I said before, the producers are using the same old tricks with the themes and guests… They need to mix it up big time.
5. Put a limit on text and phone votes like Dancing with the Stars... 5 calls per house or phone or something will make it a lot fairer.

Ok, so those are my brief thoughts for the time being. I really enjoyed this season for the most part which gave us some incredible performances, fun personalities and villains (argh Heejun Hahn!), lol … Before I go, please enjoy the two best performances from the finale featuring the girl who should’ve won it all, Jessica Sanchez.

Jessica Sanchez “I Will Always Love You” (Idol finale)

And the undisputed performance of the night from Jessica and Tony and Grammy winner Jennifer Holiday on “And I Am Telling You”

American Idol Quick Wrap 5-9-11~ Jessica Throws Down the Gauntlet!

The voice of this season’s American Idol will not be denied, and tonight that voice declared “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going”. It was a fitting sentiment for Jessica Sanchez who was shockingly almost eliminated a few weeks ago as she utterly destroyed the competition on tonight’s show with that iconic Dreamgirls number and a wonderful Etta James cover. I was thrilled that she threw down the gauntlet and proclaimed her rightful place at the top of this race with those numbers. It’s even more incredible considering Joshua Ledet gave arguably his best performance to date as well…. So, what does it all mean for tomorrow’s elimination? Well, you can probably guess who’s safe… But for more clarification, let’s take a look at my rankings and predictions from tonight’s Idol where they tackled “Songs they wish they had written” and “Songs by Californian artists.” (Yes, I thought those were pretty odd themes too in case you’re wondering.)

American Idol Performance Rankings 5-9-11

~the great
1. Jessica “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going”: singing the ultimate diva anthem, Jessica literally blew the roof off the joint. She made wonderful versions of this song previously sung on the show by the likes of Tamyra Gray and Lakisha Jones seem pedestrian in comparison and I’d say she made both Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson proud. This vocal was simply brilliant. Everything about this performance was perfection. Simply astounding. And she finally got her much deserved standing ovation from the judges. I believe it was her first since her brilliant “I Will Always Love You” rendition months ago!
2. Joshua- “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”: holy crap was that one fantastic performance?!! It was easily Joshua’s best, most nuanced, emotional and vibrant performance. He really interpreted the song perfectly and his vocals were naturally amazing resulting in yet another standing “O”. And this standing ovation I totally approve of for once!
3. Jessica- “Steal Away”: singing Etta James classic blues number “Steal Away”, Jessica showed a sexy and powerful side that easily was the best of the “California” numbers. She was mature beyond her years in this number, and it still felt so natural for her. Fantastic!
~ the good
4. Phillip- “Volcano”: I was truly surprised at how much I liked this one. Our heart-throb really gave a layered and moving performance of this great song by Damian Rice. The background singer helped a bit too, but it was still one of his best numbers of the season…. And I say all that despite him still sounding very much like Dave Matthews on it.
5. Hollie- “Faithfully”: our cutie patootie really sang this Journey power ballad beautifully, especially the second half. While I wish she had picked something younger and fresher (perhaps No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” or “Hella Good”) for her “Cali” song, I still really liked this. And she looked so pretty doing it! (love the wind fans!)
~ the ok
6. Joshua- “You Raise Me Up”: singing Josh Groban’s iconic uplifting ballad, Joshua was predictably good. However, it was all so predictable. And I felt his gospel’d up arrangement stripped the song of some of its simple true emotion. It was a nice vocal, but the whole thing felt a bit forced.
7. Hollie- “I Can’t Make You Love Me”: Hollie sang this beautiful song very well. Unfortunately, she paled in comparison to the heart-breaking original by Bonnie Raitt, not to mention the amazingly haunting versions by George Michael, Adele and original recipe Idol Kelly Clarkson. It was lovely, but rather forgettable in the end.
8. Phillip- “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”: Phillip did a fine job on this Credence Clearwater Revival hit and he clearly seemed to be enjoying himself throughout. I liked that it didn’t evolve into a Dave Matthews song, but overall, it was rather unremarkable. Thus, it ends up at the bottom of the list.

Duets & Group Performances:
1. Joshua/Phillip- “This Love”: this version of Maroon 5′s # 1 hit really got moving as it went along and by the end it was pretty darn entertaining. I think this one was a million times better than their duet from last week too.
2. Hollie/Jessica- “Eternal Flame”: I liked this one a LOT more than the judges. It was quite pretty, thank you very much. And how can you not love this # 1 smash from 1989 by the Bangles?
3. Hollie/Jessica/Joshua/Phililp- “Waiting for a Girl/Boy Like You”: um, that was plain weird. Sorry

Predicitons~
Bottom 2: Hollie and Phillip (yes, I think he may finally land here!!!)
Buh Bye: Hollie

Well, it looks like Hollie’s long and rather roller coaster run on Idol may finally come to an end tomorrow night. This dark horse has survived long after many thought she would fall and I have to give her big props for that… Now, if she can make it one more week and knock off Phillip, I would be over the moon! …. We will see. Now, let me see what you thought of tonight’s show. Sound off below.