I thought Disco night would be more fun. There was some excellent singing but a lot of the fun factor was just not there, at least for me. i wish at least one of the contestants would've spoofed the genre and gone disco crazy for laughs with outta-sight wardrobe and all the rest.
Adam's song was so sad he nearly had Paula sobbing beyond control (you could actually see her hands shaking with emotion afterwards while Simon was talking). It must be said he did an excellent job with it but for me it was Tracks of My Tears revisited. Another great performance, but on Disco night? What a pro he is though. Maybe too much so for A.I.
Kris' song wasn't that sad but it wasn't too fun either. Lots of adjectives would apply: admirable, sincere, earnest, authentic, competent, but not fun. Certainly not bad. He did make it different and in line with who he is musically. And most importantly of all... HE KNOWS WHO HE IS MUSICALLY! (unlike the two coming next).
Lil and Matt I will group together because they keep making the same fundamental mistake in my view. They both put everything they had into not just paying tribute to the original, but outshining it. A good aspiration i suppose but it meant in both cases overloading their respective songs with a lethal overdose of overdone cliches, completely without irony. Did anyone enjoy Lil's performance? Her wannabe status is now fully established. She has no originality. At least Matt looked like he was enjoying himself but (with apology to joshjr) I suspect most viewers were enjoying it a whole lot less than he (Matt) was. The unending note runs he weighed down the finale with reminded me of... excuse me for putting it this way, but... musical diarrhea. With the one exception of last week when he "sang for his life" (ugh) and just sang the song for a change, he just doesn't know when to stop. A very good singer but almost always too much! Matt and Lil have no unique core, they simply beg, borrow and steal from others. There's musical talent in both cases but little (Matt) or no (Lil) musical originality, imo. Ouch, that sounds harsh but that's how I see (hear) them now.
Allison turned out some great singing but there wasn't much fun in her song either. Maybe I was off-base to think that disco night was going to be a lot of fun? Before and after her performance it looked like she was trying to be more "likeable" as Simon keeps harping on. So she had on the stupid glasses beforehand, and rubbed up against Ryan afterward while her number was on the screen. Ugh. F* Simon and just be yourself again Allison. As someone else posted earlier today, she'll be a
lot better off
not winning this competition. Rehearing her performance hasn't changed my opinion; very strong vocally but not very memorable except maybe for the outfit.
Danny was a bulldozer again which plays to his strength as a power singer but also reveals his weakness of one-dimensionality. His velvet voice was on full display. Sexy though, as Paula claims? I guess she would know better than I. Where was his white leather dinner jacket we saw earlier in the season? Would've been much more suited to disco night than the black and jeans he settled on.
On the other hand there was also Twilight Zone of comments after Kris' song about the business of Kris shopping for womens' clothes, and Simon wondering aloud (in response to Paula's comments) if Kris shops for womens' underwear. Bizarre and disrespectful. Kris winced and shook his head in disbelief. . The judges acted like they were on a disco era drug bender, especially Paula and Simon.
Alright, now that I"ve gotten all that negativity out of my system here is something positive:
Anoop. Way to go Anoop! I have to agree with Kara and Paula that this was of his top performances of the competition so far. Beautifully sung (except for the closing which Randy noted) he really showed his musical mettle Tuesday night. Though not exactly "fun" (by the time his song rolled around i was resigned to there not being any fun on disco night) it was simply and beautifully crafted. Unlike Matt and Lil, Anoop is smart enough to have found his niche (vocally controlled ballads) and is expanding impressively within that niche. The uptempo portion was surprisingly good too. Even though he tripped up on the ending somewhat, it was refreshing to me that in his face you could see that he knew that he didn't finish the way he wanted to and wasn't trying to hide it. What came before made up for the misstep at the end. Simon can't stand him but Anoop is an excellent singer in his zone. He was in the zone Tuesday. On editing i'm going to ding him one slot for the pink sweater vest
I would rank Tuesday's performances as follows:
1) Adam 2) Allison 4) Kris 3) Anoop 5) Danny 6) Matt 7) Lil