Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Apologies for the slow updating. Caught in the midst of final-final drafts, National Hip-Hop Political Convention bizness, getting ready for March Madness, and enjoying the best episode of American Idol ever. My cup runneth over, I don't know what to do.
Let me talk about American Idol. This last thing is the kind of pop event that get music crits like us excited. I imagine there will actually be some buzz amongst our cooler-than-thou bloggerati before this is all over.
There's a depth to this year's class that is intriguing. Execs must be licking their chops because contracts here can easily go 4-5 deep beyond the winner. The talent is that rich. Randy and Paula are already running out of platitudes.
The episode also gave me a new appreciation for Simon Cowell. I disagreed again with his "oversinging" critique--how do you "restrain" yourself on an Aretha Franklin or Chaka Khan number? More to the point, I haven't heard the useless Aguilerian melismatics of last year's class. When someone like Jennifer Hudson runs a phrase, she's running a phrase and you better fuckin pay attention.
He made that comment in the middle of the show at Jennifer Hudson's expense--a pattern, dude really doesn't like her, which I suspect goes back to his body-image issues. And it was wrong to make that comment after hearing Latoya and Fantasia belting out their numbers as well.
But Cowell has a logic--a contrarian logic that wants to turn the attention to separating the field. These are all great singers, Simon was saying, now how do we distinguish between who's really good and who is just good? Again, a critic's ear. Can't be mad at that.
So John Stevens, the 16 year-old going on 64, comes up and does a sappy rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Lately", sub-sub-Norah Jones, effortless but emotionless. Now I really hate this dude's aesthetic--this kid is to Stevie Wonder what Elvis was to Chuck D. But you gotta hand it to him, the kid has come to the competition with an aesthetic. Simon, to be consistent, calls him "an artist". Hyperbole once again, but at least Simon is defending his position.
Here's hoping John Stevens, Fantasia, and Jennifer will force the rest of the field to develop their own aesthetic, which would be a great thing for Cowell and us critics: Let's not just talk about who is good or who has the potential to be good, let's start talking about what is good.
My take:
*Fantasia's idiosyncratic take on Stevie Wonder was brilliant. Her voice is so interesting I wouldn't mind seeing her sing the theme from Barney the Dinosaur.
*Jennifer Hudson, not Fantasia, is the "new Aretha"--power, control, phrasing, narrative. Thankfully she'll never take Cowell's "oversinging" critique too seriously, because she knows what she has. Unlike any singer who has ever appeared on American Idol, Jennifer approaches a song with the careful method and the calculation of a true jazz singer, and she has the talent to sing circles around most of the top-selling professionals right now. Someone please get her together with Andy Bey so we can see the sparks fly.
*LaToya London and Jasmine Trias can sang and have that X factor, and being that they rep Oakland and Mililani respectively (plus LaToya's a mom and Jasmine long-boards!) I'm rooting hard for them. But we still haven't seen who they really are yet. Luckily they'll be in for the long run.
*George Huff is far too happy for me, but Simon is right--he's clueless to how good he is. In fact, his stage presence was absolutely Otis Redding, and he's got an early Marvin Gaye charm. But he has shown no edge whatsoever (something his back-story hints at). He wants so much to please the crowd that the thing he hasn't copped to yet is his own grittiness. Like Marvin, he might become an incredible recording star with the right music and a lot of drama. But you'd never want to see him on tour, because he'd speed up all the slow jams so he could dance around to them in silk shirts.
*Jon Peter Lewis has no idea who he wants to sing like yet--he changes styles sometimes three times in the same verse. He's the one Simon should be accusing of "oversinging". His performances have no flow or consistency. But he's also an original, completely at home in his skin. That's probably what distinguishes this class--previous groups wanted to please the judges, and played it safe--these folks are unafraid to do themselves.
*That's why Leah and Camile are hurting right now. In a field of folks that are already halfway to becoming full-blown artists, they've got to step up and show some confidence and personality on-stage. Leah's got a moving backstory but hasn't found anything approaching her voice yet. She's become very stiff at the mic.
*Neither has our household's personal favorite, Camile, who is suffering from Haiku-to-Hollywood shell-shock. Camille, we know the feeling girl. We love you. Hold your head and deliver that Lauryn Hill funk like we all want you to. Maybe do some Marley or Bruddah Iz or something. Go for it.
*Amy would be cool to have lunch with, but you wouldn't want to have her drive you home and have to listen to all those sappy ballads on her "quiet storm" station.
*Matt would be great to have a beer with, but you'd want to leave the karaoke bar early before the whole team got really drunk.
*Diana DiGarmo I just don't get yet.
Ok my 10-minute blogging period is up for today...
posted by Zentronix @ 8:13 AM
|
Previous posts
HOW TO PISS OFF STUPID WHITE PUBLISHERS
Inspirati...
YEAR OF THE MONKEY, PART XX
[updated 3/16/04]
The...
DADDY TURN IT OFF!
A really touching post from Si...
WILLIE HUNG, GANGSTA
Whoa! No sooner do we give u...
WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?
Ladies love cool ...
MUST-READ
Evelyn McDonnell & Nicole White expose ...
THE CASE FOR THE SHIELD
Oh, so much easier than N...
THE CASE FOR RALPH
So great is the urgency to bur...
Proof again that great music inspires lots of grea...
LOCAL GIRLS ROCK, PART 2
A great year for Pinay d...
select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks"
#content#
Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
|
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment