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We'll Be The Judge of That! - American Idol 4, May 10by Foxes on Idol Judging Staff -- 05/11/2005
View Printable version of this article The final four’s challenge this week was to bridge opposite sides of the spectrum. First, the contestants ventured to Nashville to investigate their country sides. Then up north to “The Sound of Philadelphia,” the songs written by Gamble & Huff. By now, you’ve read the recap on RealityNewsOnline, so you know what Randy, Paula, Simon, and Sting7 think. But what do our judges – Brian Towers, David Bloomberg, and Bruce Barker - have to say? 
Carrie Underwood, “Sin Wagon” and “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” Brian: Carrie’s probably been hoping for this week all season! I’ll confess right off the top, I don’t know these songs so if the tune or lyric was wrong, you’ll need to look elsewhere for that critique! So, what CAN I offer? Carrie showed enthusiasm this week that rarely comes across, and I thought that was great. Her voice is perfect for this kind of music. If she’s the Idol, she won’t be producing the kind of album you pop fans are used to. I’ll leave it to you to decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Carrie’s voice was a little under-power for much of her second song. There was the obligatory money note, and she showed off her range nicely, but at the end she came as close to shouting as we’ve seen her. I thought she did OK, but not great. Could she be at some risk? David: Sorry, but I wasn’t impressed with Carrie’s first performance. It was a nice performance and showed some of her personality, but sheesh, the sound of her extra-countrified voice just sounded like nails on a blackboard to me. As for Carrie’s second song… yawn. She stood stiff as a board for much of it and it might as well have been a lullaby for all the energy and emotion she put into it. Oh, wait, she finally put something into a couple of big notes. Big deal. Color me unimpressed. Bruce: I have to agree! False start, bad choice, flat voice. How could a favorite falter this badly? Her voice was all over the map and she knew it. She laid an egg so big it could’ve hatched twin ostriches. 3 There is only one word to describe Carrie’s second performance; “Anemic.” It was a soul-less and catastrophic effort with horribly misplaced emotional punctuation. I don’t know what happened with this odds-on favorite, but this was a pair of performances that would have gotten her eliminated if they had shown up earlier in the season. 4 Bo Bice, “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive” and “For the Love of Money” Brian: Southern-boy Bo was not on completely unfamiliar territory this week. What was evident to me was that Bo has an interesting and memorable voice. This song, however, is exactly what I don’t like about country music – it had no zip. Maybe he should have yodeled more? Bo injected some real life into his second song, spoiled by over-exposure on The Apprentice. I thought he picked up the slack from his earlier performance… and more! Trump-tastic! I must ask, when Bo uses it, do they still call it “a mike stand?” – it‘s always airborne and never actually stands! Bottom line, he’s so-oo safe. David: I was really hoping that Bo would choose a country-rock number for his first song. Unfortunately, he didn’t. I can’t say I loved this song, or even particularly liked it. It didn’t really allow Bo to stretch himself and, frankly, it bored me. Bo, Bo, Bo, you can do better! Now Bo’s second performance I loved! I momentarily thought it was Thursday night and expected to see Donald Trump, but I quickly got over it. I thought Bo not only did a great job singing, but he really looked the part. As my wife said, he made up for his first song with this one. Great job! Bruce: This was not a difficult song for a person with the right voice and Bo coasted through this like a racehorse on a garden path. It was every bit as challenging for Bo as tossing a marble through a hula-hoop from a foot away. 7 If you go to a lot of concerts you’ve no doubt seen a couple of shows where the bands just went through the motions, collected their check, and moved on. The common industry slang for this is “mailing it in” and it describes Bo’s second performance perfectly. Bo was acting, not singing. His performance was full of dropped lyrics, bad vamps, and poses more suited to Constantine than suitable for the man who would be Idol. Any heat in the song was generated by the band, not the Bo. The audience went insane and so did the three judges, but I think Bo got away with one with that performance. 5 
Vonzell Solomon, “How Do I Live” and “Don’t Leave Me This Way” Brian: Even I can tell that Baby V started out off-pitch, and the problem seemed to recur a couple of times. Well, she looked great and finished pretty strong, but the money note seemed sloppy, too. Maybe it’s time to pick a simpler song and stop showing off her shortcomings? Her “tough day” just got tougher. At some risk at this early point. Vonzell’s second effort was better – much better. In fact, she busted out all the stops and more. Some of the low notes were iffy, yet she was spectacular when she blew into full disco-diva mode! If her voice lasts until she’s thirty, there’s a career as a singer out there for her. I thought this was the best effort of the night, but… at some risk. David: Vonzell’s first performance was the kind of “country” I can deal with – uncountrified! Vonzell definitely put her own stamp on this well-known song. That said, I wasn’t thrilled with all of her stamping. There were some points where I just felt she didn’t properly bring all of her voice to the party. It was there for the big notes, but it seemed like some parts just got left behind along the way. I was trying to figure out what else I felt was wrong, and Randy hit it on the head – it seemed to be moving too slow; dunno what was up with that. Still, it was the best of the three so far. 1 2 Next-->View Printable version of this article
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