Megan Joy is no more, having flown away, cawing relentlessly, back to her Utahan haven, rejoining her progeny and leaving American Idol 8 with only one singer capable of baffling the audience on a weekly basis. Out of the Top 8, Adam Lambert is the only contestant that is a complete wild card. Each and every Tuesday, Lambert could go any number of ways and, in all likelihood, the banshee-voiced talent hoarder has another trick or two up his sleeves. Kris Allen – often great, but consistently, clinically so. He’s not going to show up on stage in raccoon eye-liner and sing a Moroccan arrangement of an Eric Clapton song or anything. Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai are of the either/or variety – they either will sing to their strengths and succeed (blues for Matt, ballads for Anoop) or they’ll sing to their weaknesses and fail (pop/r&b for Matt, high-tempo r&b for Anoop). Lil Rounds and Allison Iraheta will do what they do and let their voices carry the load, for better or worse. Scott MacIntyre will keep working on his hotel lounge performing resume. Danny Gokey will continue to lead his American congregation in the way only a Gokey could. Only Lambert brings the madness every week. But is there any value in that? Is unpredictability a strength, or is it meaningless?
As we enter April and the final eight of American Idol, it’s pretty easy to take stock of the competition. There are three singers remaining who have a 0% chance at winning it all: Anoop Desai (the other guys are just too good), Lil Rounds (not going to happen) and Scott MacIntyre (see: the last two months). The other five singers all have a shot, which is why this season should be exciting from here on out. With those top 5 grouped relatively close together, with uncertainty reigning supreme, we have to look at the intangibles to see which contestants have the odds on their side, which brings us back to Adam Lambert. Unpredictability. Lambert has already been ordained as god’s gift to televised singing competitions by the judges on a couple of occasions, and part of this comes from Adam’s ability to wow the audience in ways that they hadn’t expected to be wowed. When Adam showed up clean-cut without make-up, looking like Young Elvis, and dropped the hammer on the rest of the competition with his rendition of “Tracks of My Tears” it was impressive on a number of levels. For pure singing, it was the best performance of the season. Symbolically, however, is where that performance hit its real mark.
After weeks of high energy, over-the-top, theater-inspired songs, the stripped down melancholy of “Tracks of My Tears” was Adam’s way of telling us all that he can (and will) beat everyone else at their own game. He’s no one-trick pony. However, it is exactly this chameleonic nature that has inspired a cynical reaction from viewers looking for a genuine, real artist. This argument always strikes me as futile and purposeless – to view Lambert’s ability to put on a show, to wear different hats on stage, to be able to go genre-hopping with ease, in a negative light is a cop out. Like him, don’t like him, it’s all subjective. But, because other performers give off an aura of down-to-earth homeyness, or because you feel like you might “know” some of the other contestants better due to their salt-of-the-earth demeanors, it doesn’t mean they are putting on any less of a facade than someone like Adam Lambert. For one, you and I will never know any of these people in our day to day lives. Our relationship with the American Idols (or any musician) begins and ends with their music. Who cares if Adam Lambert has no easily relatable persona? How is that a legitimate reason to make a value judgment about his worth in a competition like American Idol?
My opinion really doesn’t matter, or it only matters as much as every other American Idol fan. Perception is reality, and even if some haters take what I view to be an unjust take on Adam Lambert’s relative merits as an Idol contestant, that’s their opinion and the voting will reflect that. Lambert’s ability to traverse styles has one more positive outcome – it allows viewers who may not like one style of Lambert’s singing to vote for him anyway. Chances are if you like Danny Gokey, you’re going to like everything he does. Contrarily, if you don’t like Danny Gokey, there’s nothing he’s capable of doing to change it up and bring you in as a fan. This is not the case for Adam.
Thanks to Marcy!!
RUMORED SONG LIST!!
I have a friend who works for the show and somehow I finally got some info about song choices for this week. I’m not sure if these are finalized, or if my friend is just messing with me, or what. But I thought you guys might be interested in them anyway. I don’t know the performance order. Just got the song choices. So here’s what I got.
Kris – Heaven
Lil – Let’s Hear It For the Boy
Adam – Edge of Seventeen
Scott – You’re the Inspiration
Anoop – Who’s Johnny
Matt – Part Time Lover
Allison – Tears in Heaven
Danny – Crazy Little Thing Called Love
interesting article, loved the racoon eyeliner line (probably because i have racoon lined eyes myself every day). however i do think adam is likeable and personable, but i can see how others might not agree. song choices above, some are safe, others i dont know so it will be interesting to see how right this list is tomorrow
Interesting. I am already bored by Lil and Scott’s choices. I don’t know Anoop’s Who’s Johnny, I don’t think…I am not surprised by Danny’s at all. He gets to dance around.
Sounds like Adam takes another risk, and LET ME NOTE that he would be singing a song by a woman (which is one reason I could see him singing Sweet Dreams, Bill). Will he wear a white veil like Stevie always does and twirl around in it?
I find it interesting that people diss Adam as not showing emotion or being “genuine” in his performances, and that his theatrics should not be part of the performances.
I think that is hogwash. I agree with some random poster that I read recently: this is NOT really solely a “singing” competition – or all the contestants would be singing from behind a curtain. It is a “singing performance” competition.
It is called “American Idol” for a reason – it is not “American Singer”. Perhaps if they were just recording songs that we listened to – performance would not be as much of a factor. They definitely need to PERFORM in order to be successful – this is a TELEVISION show.
And Adam KICKS BUTT in that area, as well as having a great voice. He’s the only reason for me to watch Idol, the rest have all been around before – in various shapes and sizes! Without Adam, AI is ho-hum!
I agree. As far as pure vocal ability, I think Michael Johns and David Archuleta had it last year. But Michael didn’t fit the demographic and Archie was too boring for many of us, and Cook won on a very good voice and look (I think he’s very cute), an interesting way to change up songs, and real stage presence (no, not like Adam, but he was in the zone). No one can work the stage like Adam can, plus he rarely hits an off voice. He is so polarizing that he might not win, but so many of us are tuning in every week to see what he is going to look like, what he is going to see, and *how* he is going to look like. He is the consummate performer. I would be his CDs AND I would pay a lot of money to see him in concert. Paula and Randy were onboard right away; Kara seems confused (and just likes the word artistry), and Simon wants whoever is the most likely to appeal to the masses, IMO (so he LOVED when Adam sang BoW and ToMT, like PTFM and detested WoF, which might have been my favorite performance). I think he was thrilled when Carly was booted off last season; she was not the Idol he wanted. He wanted Archie, but I don’t think he was displeased with Cook (who has already gone platinum, good news for 19 Productions).
I’ve said it before and I will again: I really like Matt, Kris, and Allison, but when if/when Adam is eliminated, I turn off the show until next season.
While I do not like the rumored song choice for Adam, I am sure even if he sings itsy bitsy spider I’ll immediately go to itunes and download it like I have every other song he has sang since BOW. He is the best and most unique AI has EVER offered. I really don’t care if America doesn’t get him…I love him! I’m like Sue…I’ll spend money on Adam for the rest of my life.
Heh, Itsy Bitsy Spider. I want him to sing the Alphabet Song, b/c they said he could make it sound good, and I know he could. Then onto the phone book.
God, if I make any more typos in my posts, I am going to…I don’t know what, but it won’t be pretty. I apologize.
The only reason I didn’t download ToMT is because it sounded too conventional for me with the original Motown recording background. I still like WoF and BoW better in the studio, which shows me how well Adam can record. Of course, we already knew that from his YouTube recordings.
Come on, Adam, I’m begging you to sing Journey. *sigh*
Go Janice—right on. This is a perfomance singing competition. And more than that it is a competition (at least with AI Judges) to determine who does marketabe performances in the long run.
But Buddy TV brings up a good point “is unpredictability a strength, or is it meaningless?”. Its great for TV that Adam is unpredictable, but its not what brings VOTES. It’s if people can connect to him with the song. Does it evoke something in them that says “hey this is a guy who I like to listen to and want to see more of”.
Isn’t unpredictability done consistently a kind of predictability? And I don’t see Adam’s performances as unpredictable so much as they show him inhabiting the song… Rolling Stones needs swagger, MJ needs a bit of over the top, the only way to do Johnny Cash is to grab it by the throat, you get the idea.
To me everyone else is just standing there singing a song. To quote Adam from his audition – he “fearlessly puts on a show” every week and damn if we don’t love it.
Never mind. I have changed my mind. I put my trust in Adam, and he can sing whatever he wants (duh). I think he will smash it, and he will no doubt surprise everyone. That’s what we love about it.
Someday, though, I would be in heaven if he sang Leona Lewis. I Will Be, performed by Adam Lambert…wow.
YES. I love Stevie Nicks!
someone suggested ‘Blue Eyes’ by Elton John…after going to Napster and listening to it…I truely believe this would be even better than ‘Tracks of my Tears.’
The unpredictability gives viewership to Idol season after season. I mean, after 8 seasons… why do people still stop their lives to watch this show? HAHA.
Kara said it herself, she couldn’t wait for what Adam will do next. And I think a lot of viewers (in America and overseas – I’m from the Philippines btw) share that sentiment.
Edge of Seventeen is not the right song for Adam. It’s more of the same of his other edgy song numbers. I hope and pray he sings Open Arms. He will do it great justice and make his critics drop their jaws in awe (like w/ TOMT).
I’ve been spending my lunch break listening to Adam’s performances on YouTube and the guy can sing anything he wants. So far i have been pleasantly suprised with his song choices, and i believe whatever he picks to sing tonight it will be fantastic. I’m trusting him to change the song enough to make it his own.
Go here:
http://americannobody.com/
This is Jon Peter Lewis’s video series (he was an Idol finalist), it’s always hysterical, and this week Adam is “featured” in the Idol’s week in crappy picture…LOL
so i really liked your posting. it’s actually pretty true. adam is the life of the party on american idol it seems. he brings the joy every tuesday for me. him or allison. everyone else isn’t doing too well. matt is okay. he did great tonight i thought.