Thursday, February 28, 2013

American Idol 12: Sudden Death Top 40 - Girls Group 2

WOW. This group was incredibly strong that I realized it's the luck of the draw for most of these girls. It's kind of annoying that someone like Tenna Torres from last week got through when some of the girls eliminated tonight were stronger. Sigh. One thing I noticed though, there was just TOO MUCH of the same timbre in the same octave! Haha.

As for the judges, they were mostly decent. Keith Urban was fine and Randy Jackson should just die. Mariah Carey actually looked more engaged and gave some solid critiques, which I enjoyed, but I was quite baffled with Nicki Minaj. Haha. I mean, she gave some great comments, but I wish she was as critical with the guys as she was with these girls. It was obvious that she has this a distinctly much higher level of enthusiasm for the guys than the girls, which I don't like to see.

Anyway, how did the second set of girls do? Let's get on with the rankings!

10. Cristabel Clack
No One
Yes, I do like Cristabel's scratchy quality to her voice, but that somehow didn't fit well with the song for some weird reason. I thought she started good until everything fell apart because of those self-indulgent and unnecessary runs especially towards the end. Oh, and Mariah's remark was the silliest, "Please come back." Haha. Great! 5.5/10

09. Melinda Ademi
Nobody's Perfect
What was up with all the gasping? Melinda has the potential to be great despite having a thin tone to her voice, but this was just the wrong song for her. Aside from the fact that Angela Miller performed this last week, her vocal technique was annoying and quite distracting. That gasping sound during the verses didn't sound right. That said, Nicki Minaj's critique of her singing too much Jessie J was strange when their precious Angela Miller sang THREE Jessie J songs already. But I digress. 6/10

08. Janelle Arthur
Just A Kiss
I honestly didn't expect her to choke this early! Just from the edit Janelle got this season, she's obviously one of the show's golden girls - alongside Candace Glover and Angela Miller - but her bland song choice fell flat. Sure, I appreciated the fact that she picked a country song that's pretty current, but her performance sounded so labored, her vocals were uncharacteristically flawed and it just didn't go anywhere. She better pick a good song next week or she would seriously lose her frontrunner status. 6.5/10

07. Rachel Hale
Nothing But The Water
To me, Rachel's strongest quality is that she comes across as if she's just so happy to entertain people and she connects well with the audience. Of course, that's not to say that she doesn't have a good singing voice because I seriously find the quality of her tone stunning. Her vocals were a bit uneven and she made a couple of awkward faces, but that's something she can work on eventually. 7/10

06. Zoanette Johnson
Circle Of Life
Call me crazy, but Zoanette is my guilty pleasure underdog that I just can't help but root for. True, she sounded off pitch a couple of times and she didn't strike a good balance between her outrageous stage presence and a good technical vocal delivery, but I found her performance memorable and strangely mesmerizing. Plus, that opening bit was hilariously compelling. I don't know. I think she's one of those crazy contestants we all love to watch until she steals a spot from someone more deserving. 7/10

05. Juliana Chahayed
Skyscraper
I seriously liked Juliana. Yes, she held on to those last notes a tad too long and her arrangement was a bit sleepy, but she has an ethereal tone that's very memorable and her phrasing was exquisite - especially in the beginning. She's definitely someone I could see coming back much improved down the line and could do some serious damage to the competition. 7.5/10

04. Aubrey Cleland
Sweet Dreams
While I did feel that her vocals weren't on point as compared to Jessica Sanchez, who owned this Sweet Dreams interpretation last season, I seriously enjoyed Aubrey's performance. She has a solid soprano voice with a lovely vibrato and a current sound that I can actually see fitting in with the current music landscape. Oh, and she actually looked the part. Very nice. 7.5/10

03. Breanna Steer
Bust Your Windows
Breanna may not have a unique sound to her voice - her nasal tone may eventually irritate me in the long run - but her vocals were mostly spot on and I liked that she had swagger in her performance. Throughout the song, she latched on to some incredible connection with the material that if she'd be accused of felony, I'd actually believe it. Haha. 8/10

02. Jett Hermano
Only Girl (In The World)
I agree, her arrangement of this Rihanna hit could've been better as I also felt like it didn't go anywhere, BUT her interpretation and vocals were sublime. Vocally, it wasn't perfect as she was straining most of her notes in her upper register, but there was also an interesting tone to her voice that was exposed when she hit her higher chest voice. Her falsetto was beautiful, the arrangement, though risky, actually worked, and showed a great sense of musicality. 8/10

01. Candice Glover
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Other than the fact that she was one of the few people who annoyingly picked an overdone song to perform tonight, Candice's vocals were impeccable. I've heard better versions of the song, but her effortless take and that ability to walk the very fine line between doing too much and doing too little was pretty impressive. It was subtle and restrained yet powerful all the same time. 8.5/10

RESULTS

TOP 20
Zoanette Johnson
Aubrey Cleland
Candice Glover
Breanna Steer
Janelle Arthur

ELIMINATED
Melinda Ademi
Juliana Chahayed
Cristabel Clack
Jett Hermano
Rachel Hale

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get this feeling that this whole season is a joke season. I'm so very underwhelmed. There's been so little performances I found enjoyable on either show for either group. And Zoanette? WTF?!

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