Tonight’s American Idol on Fox focused on songs from The Rat Pack and the Big Band Era. This theme always bugs me a little because they always keep the songs in the original genre. The problem with this is that the big band sound most definitely isn’t going to be the kind of music they’ll perform once their career starts, so it’s not a very good gauge of what they will record once they are released into the wild. Besides, I like hearing covers that twist songs into other genres.
The Mentor for tonight’s American idol was Jamie Foxx and since he’s not a regular in the music industry, so I wasn’t sure what kind of advice he was going to be giving. After all was said an done, I thought that his advice was pretty productive and was a good addition.
Kris Allen sang, “The Way You Look Tonight” to open the show. I really like Kris’ simply sincere vocal and this song was a good showcase for him. While listening to it I wasn’t a big fan of the way the tempo picked up toward the end of the song, but given the mellowness of the next two ballads, it was the fastest the songs got for quite a while.
Newly 17-year-old Allison Iraheta was up next and took on the song, “Someone To Watch Over Me.” This can tend to be a rather boring song if it’s not done right. I think it was a good choice for her to go into the bridge of the song early on because that is the more interesting part of the song. This was a good showcase of her vocal talents, but I didn’t find it overly thrilling.
Matt Giraud chose to sing yet another ballad, “My Funny Valentine.” I was thinking that he’d be singing “Georgia On My Mind” again which was one of his breakout performances in the preliminary auditions. I think he did a good job with the song, but with this being the third ballad in a row I thought that no matter who ended up being the first to sing a fast song, either Danny or Adam, they would bring the house down.
I think that Danny Gokey’s voice sounded really good for this genre, and although he sang another ballad with “Come Rain and Come Shine,” by the end of the song he had picked it up into a very big jazz song that made full use of the big band and, just as I thought, brought the house down. I really enjoyed him tonight.
Last one up tonight is Adam Lambert who sang “New Dawn, New Day.” I was hoping that Adam was going to change it into more of a rocking song, but instead it was a very energetic big band song. I liked his performance and think he’s in a league of his own. He definitely has the confidence that it takes to make it big in the music industry and I feel a little sorry for the other contestants.
After the three ballads, it’s no surprise that the powerful performances Danny and Adam brought the house down. In my opinion, it’s a competition for third place because I think that Adam already has first place locked up and Danny Gokey a virtual shoe-in for second.
Even thought Matt’s performance was very good, I’m thinking that out of the 5 finalists, he’s generally the weakest. Of the other two, I think that Allison will go after Matt and then Kris will be the third.