american idol talk's blog

well, that was a surprise

 abuse

I never expected the judges to use their save for Matt Giraud. He's just not been that impressive enough on a consistent basis to hold in the competition. I would have thought they would have saved the save for someone like Adam, Allison, or Anoop, the three front-runners. but oh well.

Anyway...

Next week is disco week, my second love beyond out-and-out funk. This is going to be a very difficult genre to adapt to the American Idol format regarding performance length since the songs themselves were so long, what with remixes and all. Part of the appeal of disco is how the song controlled the dance floor. The tunes came in waves -- starting (relatively) soft, building to a crescendo, crashing back into the bridge, then building again. The end result was to give people on the floor the chance to take moving breaks, but leave them panting at the end. Yet that construction contributed to long songs, and songs whose every note is permenently impressed in the minds of those who heard them. It will tend to be jarring when parts are missing.

And for those of you who think all disco sounds alike, I need to tell you that you are completely wrong. Yet among all the songs, one thing that differentiates them is the ability of the lead singer to grab the tune and strangle it to death, to own it, to take the song and place it firmly into the bodies of the dancers. The voice must be matched to the tune, though. So I thought I would offer my suggestions as to what songs the contestants should perform. Here goes...

1. Allison Iraheta:  Dr. Love by First Choice. (Rochelle Fleming on lead vocals) Lotta brass, strings, and thumping bass runs. The lead is perfectly suited to her voice, though there will be some issues with handling the double tracking found on the original cut. She can really show her power on this song.

2. Anoop Desai:  Come Go With Me by Pockets. (Al McKinney on lead vocals) Anoop needs to start showing some serious energy and this is the song to do it with. Pockets was produced by Earth Wind and Fire so you have the R&B sound combined with the disco beat. The vocals soar and the chorus completely jams. Just figure out an arrangement to deemphasize the verses.

3. Adam Lambert:  Disco Party by The Trammps. (Jimmy Ellis on lead vocals) Hey, why not have him do the granddaddy of them all? Adam can easily handle Jimmy Ellis. Sure most of the song has limited vocal range; it's all on the high side of tenor, but where it slams, it slams hard. Arrange it to focus on the ad libs, the choreography, and the pounding beat, and he has it made.

4. Matt Giraud:  Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. Matt's about as far from disco as you can get, but there are some songs that mesh with his voice and lack of stage motion. This is one of them. Good range with that baritone lying underneath it all. A bit slower than most disco tunes, but there is a lot going on in the song that can amplify his vocals.

5. Danny Gokey:  H.A.P.P.Y Radio by Edwin Starr. It's going to be tough to condense this song into the time constraints of American Idol, but if they can get the arrangement right he will blow the audience away. Most of the lead is on counterpoint to the background singers and will really let his voice come to the forefront.

6. Kris Allen:  My Love Is Free by Double Exposure. (Leonard Davis on lead vocals) Speed it up just a tad, bring the lead way out front, and have him just stand there and sing like it was effortless. That's all it will take to bring the house down. And never fall into falsetto; sing it straight up and belt it out.

7. Lil Rounds:  The Boss by Diana Ross. If there is one song that Lil can redeem herself on it is this one. Disco, R&B, the possibility to church it up are all rolled into one. Sweet sections in the vocal play against the power bridges and will let her show the full range of her ability. And it's at a high enough register that she will not have to reach down into the alto range where she has been having so many problems.

Filed under: Music