9th and 10th November 2011
After InTENsity's exit last week, the remaining acts knew that they would really have to up their game to keep in the mix, after the first couple of weeks showed a phenomenal array of talent across the board. The standard is high, and some truly talented acts will be going home early regardless, purely due to the quality in the show.
Movie week was the theme this time out, with Stacy opening things up with a choice cut from The Bodyguard, performing Whitney's Queen of the Night. Cowell panned it, and it was hardly the obvious choice from that film, but it was a little tacky for her in my opinion. That was the biggest problem with it. She can sure wail, but I Will Always Love You would have been a much better choice, especially with that massive vocal range of hers. Perhaps she wanted to try something a little riskier, rather than a song that the judges could have tagged as “safe”. There was nothing much wrong with the performance, but the styling was way off this time out.
Marcus Canty took on Rose Royce's classic I'm Going Down (from the film Car Wash) with a brilliantly emotive performance that ticked all the right boxes. Drew continued with a delicate and moving take on Coldplay's Fix You (You Me and Dupree) which was far enough away from the original, and solid enough to allow her to put her own stamp on it and to make it all her own. It will never be as anthemic as the stirring original, but it was a fantastic performance from a young girl with an inspired vocal range.
Leroy sang a competent if uninspiring rendition of U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Runaway Bride) before Lakoda Rayne took to the stage and wowed with a phenomenal performance of Keith Urban's Somebody Like You (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days). These girls are the real deal, and I really hope that America gives them the chance to shine on this platform. There is a huge gap in the market for an act like this, and I hope that America sees this. These girls are absolutely fantastic.
Astro took flight with an inspired version of Eminem's Lose Yourself from 8 Mile, the youngster even having the confidence and the swag to pull off writing original lyrics and merging them in to great effect. It takes some huge cajones to mess with an original, and he did it with some style. He is a superstar, and an incredibly talented young man. I bet his mentor L.A. already has his record deal waiting for his signature at the end of the series, regardless of where he places.
Melanie Amaro, who is starting to really look like a superstar in waiting with her styling and powerhouse vocals, chose Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror (This Is It) for yet another brilliant performance, before The Stereo Hoggz took a huge risk on Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man (Get Smart). It was ok, but it didn't really fit a male vocal, as they had to change the lyrics a little to make it work. It wasn't bad, but perhaps another song would have suited better.
Josh Krajcik exploded into life on Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends (Across the Universe), immediately putting himself up there as a contender, on a song that couldn't have fitted his raspy vocals better if it tried. An inspired choice, and a breathtaking showstopper of a performance.
Chris kept it old school on Coolio's quintessential Gangsta's Paradise (Dangerous Minds), proving he too can match Astro and write original lyrics, having the confidence to rework another classic, and to make it work. Rachel Crow finished off on the powerful blues staple I'd Rather Go Blind (Cadillac Records) which really let the audience see a side of her vocal that she hadn't showed before, as she showed talent beyond her tender years, hitting some stunning notes in the process.
Yet another solid week meant that I feared for the safety of the groups once again after the shock elimination last week of InTENsity. As expected, both The Stereo Hoggz and Lakoda Rayne found themselves in the bottom two, and had to sing for their survival. It was another unfortunate set of circumstances, as neither really should have gone at this stage.
Lakoda Rayne sang No AIr (Chris Brown/Jordin Sparks) and The Stereo Hoggs sang You Are Not Alone (Michael Jackson) as they went head to head, with the tenure of the Hoggz coming to an end after the judge’s vote. I was glad to see Lakoda Rayne live to fight another day, but I was gutted to see the boys go as I felt that they had a lot more to give in this show.
Elsewhere Willow Smith turned up to whip out (pun intended) her new single Fireball, which was not a patch on her infectious/annoying breakthrough last year, and Jessie J performed Domino, a new track from her deluxe edition of her debut record Who You Are. Swedish House Mafia's Save The World was the group performance, the American contestants pulling off the art of the group performance much better than their UK counterparts ever seem to do.
The American series has been really impressive thus far, and I can see this show going from strength to strength in the coming weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment