Here’s a few articles about Last nights American Idol performance show
Nick Mitchell Makes Lasting Impression on ‘American Idol’
Thursday, February 26, 2009
By Diane Macedo
Nick Mitchell might not be the most commercial contestant on American Idol, but after round two of Season 8’s semifinals, he’s certainly proved to be the most memorable.
In a crowd of contenders who seem to have no idea who they are as artists, Nick seems to have no problem identifying himself — he’s “Norman Gentile.” And like him or not, he’s pretty darn entertaining.
Nick was one of the few second-group semifinalists who made a lasting impression, as some of the group’s strongest contenders were lost in a blur of bad song choices.
It’s extra frustrating because many of these people were early favorites, and for good reason – they can sing. Unfortunately the songs they picked, did nothing to show that off.
Matt Giraud, for example has this great gritty blues voice which he totally strutted when he blew everyone away with “Georgia” in Hollywood. Somehow, he thought it would be best displayed this time around singing Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” Really?
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TV Watch
‘American Idol’ recap: There Will Be Blood
Half of the evening’s twelve semifinalists deliver decent performances. Too bad half of ‘em won’t make the cut
t may not be as overtly violent as the death-matches portrayed in the 1985 classic Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, but there’s a certain brutality to the structure of American Idol‘s semifinals this season. As a dozen contenders take the stage each performance night — some hinting that they might be future singing superstars, others betraying the fact that they can’t hack the pressure of appearing before a televised audience of 25 million — I’ve been half-expecting Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity to pop out from behind Paula’s massive weave and repurpose the movie’s ”Two men enter, one man leaves!” tagline into, ”Twelve singers enter! Three singers advance!”
I mean, think about the bloodbath that’s coming Wednesday night. Even after you weed out the obvious train wrecks/insomnia curers from last night’s telecast — Dude With Headband, Lady Hot Legs, Vibrato Boy, Perspiring Welder, Shaggy Hair, and Girl Who Went First — that leaves six performers who made at least some kind of compelling case for why they deserve another chance to take the Idol stage this season. And of that sextet — Allison Iraheta, Mishavonna Henson, Megan Joy Corkrey, Jesse Langseth, Adam Lambert, and Kris Allen — half will face the Idol guillotine in less than 24 hours.
As any Idol addict will tell you, though, it doesn’t hurt to have heavy backing from the show’s judges and producers — which has to come as great news to Adam and be about as welcome as a two-by-four to the gut for Kris. As far as I’m concerned, however, Kris ought to win the guaranteed ”male contestant seat” over Adam, even if his ”Man in the Mirror” didn’t display the note-for-note technical perfection of Adam’s ”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
Sure, Kara was right that Kris struggled with the beginning of his Michael Jackson cover — particularly the lower notes in the opening lines of the verse — and I also observed he had a tendency to hold the mic too close to his mouth. But Paula and Simon were also correct that Kris nailed the number by delivering what could’ve been a trite ”message song” with real emotion and proving to have enough grit in his voice to overcome an absolutely monstrous karaoke arrangement from the increasingly bizarre Idol house band. (Dear backup singers: Either try to stay on pitch, or just don’t sing at all.) And while some folks might assign bonus points for the fact that Kris danced (yay!), or wore a black jacket from the nonexistent ”David Archuleta collection,” or that he looks a lot like Ugly Betty‘s Val Emmich (as Simon noted, ”chicks are gonna love you”), the bottom line is that he’s interested in telling a story with his music, not merely engaging in a 90-second fit of aggressive vocal acrobatics. And that ought to count for something, no?
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‘American Idol’ Recap: Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert, Megan Joy Corkrey Heat Up Competition
Nick ‘Norman Gentle’ Mitchell continues to ham it up and annoy Simon.
If “American Idol” wannabes don’t know by now that song selection is more important than finding just the right sparkly shirt to wear on TV, then there’s nothing the judges can do to help them.
But, apparently, most of the second group of 12 who performed on Wednesday night in still haven’t gotten the memo, because Simon, Paula, Randy and Kara called them out for picking songs that did nothing to help their chances of advancing.
With contestants again picking from the Billboard Hot 100, it was a night with just a few highlights, and several judges’ favorites crashed and burned.
(Check out last night’s live “Idol” blog for a full recap!)
But first the good news. Under-the-radar 16-year-old Allison Iraheta, in the words of Randy Jackson, “just blew it out the box.” The spunky, flame-haired wonder exploded on Heart’s “Alone,” tearing into the classic rock nugget with her husky, powerful Kelly Clarkson-esque voice.
“You don’t even know how good you are,” Kara DioGuardi told Iraheta. Paula Abdul said the teen could “sing the telephone book,” and though Simon Cowell told her to work on her personality, he added, “It’s like the competition just started right now.”
Also killing it was show-closer Adam Lambert, 27, the musical-theater junkie who surprised everyone by bringing some Billy Idol/Axl Rose/ Elvis lip-curling swagger to the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Shaking his hips and sporting an all black ensemble pimped out with a fingerless glove and a neck full of chains, Lambert worked the stage like a pro, gave the camera a longing stare and ended his performance with a lens-shattering falsetto scream that got Cowell’s attention.
Paula busted out a standing ovation and said she felt like she wasn’t watching “Idol,” but an “Adam Lambert concert.” Simon said parts were “excruciatingly bad,” but others were “brilliant.” And Randy just loved it, calling Lambert the most current artist ever on “Idol.” He compared Lambert to a mash-up of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Fall Out Boy, “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson and My Chemical Romance.
And then, there was jokester Nick “Norman Gentle” Mitchell. The most improbable “Idol” top 36-er ever delivered on his promise, once again busting out “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” dressed in his signature silvery shirt, cargo pants, running shoes, brown socks and red headband, accessorized with a white tuxedo jacket with tails and two red wristbands. “And I am telling you, I hope I’m not going. … I’m staying. … I’m not waking up tomorrow and finding out there’s no ‘Idol,” Mitchell warbled as he writhed on the stage, tossed his glasses, touched hands with screaming girls in the crowd, nuzzled the “Idol” logo and ended by holding a long, off-key “Youuuuuuuuuuu!” and staring into the camera in all his baggy-eyed glory.
Cowell couldn’t help but laugh. “I hope I’m speaking on behalf of America when I pray you don’t go through to the next round,” he said, calling Mitchell’s comedic throwdown “arguably one of the most atrocious performances we’ve ever had at this stage of the competition.”
Mitchell stared back and snapped, “Takes one to know one, sassy pants!” as he unleashed a high karate kick. Randy called it one of the most entertaining performances ever on the show. Kara said Mitchell will always be remembered, and Paula called it an Olivia-Newton-John-meets-Jerry-Lewis mash-up that was a lot of fun.
But perhaps the night’s biggest breakout was tattooed 23-year-old mom Megan Joy Corkrey. Wearing a sassy, white high-waisted dress, with her long hair done in waves, the runway-ready Corkrey showed off her 1,000-watt smile and wowed the panel with Corinne Bailey Ray’s “Put Your Records On,” while doing a cutesy hip-swiveling dance she called “the Corkrey.”
“You picked the right song. … The camera is in love with you,” Paula enthused, calling Corkrey “interesting, relevant, hip, cool, beautiful.” Simon agreed, and Randy compared her to Grammy-winning British singers Adele, Duffy and Amy Winehouse. Kara said Corkrey could easily be a “breakout hit artist on radio” with the right song
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The NGH Report – American Idol 8’s Semi-Finals, Group 2: “Karate Kick!”
by Joseph Banks — 02/26/2009
The second week of American Idol semi-finals gave us another set of highs and lows – sometimes in the same performance. For example, how did Mishavonna (right) score high on Joseph’s list and yet at the same time not particularly provide any excitement? And who ended up on the bottom of Joseph’s ranking even as says this person won’t advance? Who is not safe? And who is Never Going Home?
Yeah, yeah. I know, it was a new week. But, let’s first mention the most important bit of news that was broadcast to us on tonight’s episode:
Megan Corkrey is a FONT
DESIGNER!!
No, you didn’t hear me wrong. She designs fonts. The absolute best job in the entire world. Unless she invented “Wingdings,” in which case she is a disgrace to humanity. I mean, honestly, “wingdings”? [Editor’s Note: I think those were probably invented before she was born, so she’s off the hook there.]
This week’s program was a vast improvement. Except for some reason Ryan Seacrest is dressed like a bible salesman. Ryan proceeded to ask the judges for advice for the contestants. Paula wins the award for dumbest advice of the night: “I hope you picked the right song.” Honestly? Could they do anything about it now? It’s too late. The show is live. There’s no takebacks.
Also, where were the parents? Apparently, this week all of the performers were estranged from their family? They just had other plans? Was there a bus accident?
Let’s go!
12. Nick Mitchell – I am placing Nick at the bottom of my rankings for this episode… but I don’t want to. He was my favorite performance of the entire night and I giggled like a school girl when he screamed, “Karate kick!” Nick sang his trademark “And I Am Telling You” as his alter-ego, Normund Gentle. I could write joke after joke about Nick, but I don’t need to because he has left me speechless. He is my hero. Does he deserve to go on? Yes, he does. Will he? Oh, hell no. NOT SAFE.
11. Jeanine Vailes – We haven’t seen Jeanine before tonight and now we know why. She’s awful and seems to have a personality that teeters on annoying. Jeanine sang “This Love” completely out of key. It was quite the feat. Unfortunately, this show rewards good singers, so Jeanine will be forgot about in less than 24 hours. NOT SAFE.
10. Matt Breitzke – I already feel like there can only be one roughneck allowed in the top 12. We already have Michael Sarver so if we let Matt come aboard, he would only serve confusion to Michael’s backstory. He’s pretty much toast. Of course, it helped that he sang an uninspiring version of “If You Could Only See.” And, really, he couldn’t take some extra time to iron his shirt or put on a pair of slacks? Even when Matt sounds polite, he means something super intense: “I appreciate that, but I disagree” really means, “Shut the #$%# up or I’ll take a bite out of your face.” Watch out, judges. NOT SAFE.
9. Jasmine Murray – Jasmine sang “Love Song,” which was a little too low for her range. She also might be a little too young for this show. Her voice is commercial but not big enough to really impress the voters. As much as I tried to enjoy her voice, I couldn’t help thinking, “Didn’t I see her on the Disney Channel?” NOT SAFE.
8. Matt Giraud – Matt sang a rushed version of “Viva La Vida” with almost zero diction. Even with all of the nerves, parts of the song were really interesting. Yes, it was a bit sloppy, but Matt has too much potential to stop me from taking notice. He seems to be special even if this performance didn’t illustrate the fact. Unfortunately, it is American Idol. Sometimes you only get one chance. NOT SAFE.
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