Thursday, February 14, 2008

Hollywood Week

We finally made it to Hollywood Week. This has seemed like the longest audition process ever. But I have to say that this has been a much more enjoyable process, as Paula has been coherent and Simon has been noticeably less cruel to the contestants. This week, I am tempted to call his behavior "humane". I KNOW!

The first thing I want to talk about is the new way Hollywood Week is being run. You get a chance to sing, and if you impress, you sail through to the final round on Day Four. If you fail to impress during the first two days, you have to sing a cappella on Day Three, where there are mass cuts. Day Four brings all the remaining contestants back together to perform.

I like the new process. It gives the judges a chance to really get to know the singers, and hear them sing more than one song, instead of writing them off after one bad performance, which may be contributed to nerves.

However, I miss the group sing. To me, the auditions are a necessary evil we must endure to get the awesomeness that is Hollywood Week. The group sing is where we learn the real dynamics of the contestants. Have we forgotten the Brittenum Twins "My spirit has been broken" diatribe in Season Five? We would have been denied that glorious piece of pop culture greatness if the group sing had been eliminated.

That's not to say I don't love hearing them sing together. That's often where we see greatness. Remember the Frenchie Davis/Kimberly Locke duet, "Band of Gold", in Season Two? Those girls were so fierce (to borrow a phrase from my beloved Christian on Project Runway. Seriously, I love him. I want to tote him in my pocket.) that no one else wanted to be in their group. Also, let us not forget Season Six group sing of awesomeness that was Blake Lewis/Chris Sligh/some other people performing "How Deep Is Your Love?"! I think that's why the producers did away with the group sing this year. No one could ever top that performance.

I'm glad to see that the rooms are gone. To me, that was an unnecessary tension-builder, when the kids already have to take the long walk to the judges table. That's a pretty tense process in itself.

Speaking of the judges table, I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the Top 24. I can't that I've bought into the hype that this is the best group yet, but they do seem like a pretty strong set this year.

And yes, I have some pretty strong preconceived notions about a few of them (ahem, Kristy Lee Cook: do not sing "Amazing Grace" and then shake your behind like you're Britney on a three-day bender. I'm just saying--maybe it's not the most appropriate.), but I'm going to bite my tongue until I see them perform.

Y'all--THIS is American Idol.

Toodles!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love Christian too! I also agree with the comment about the Cook girl. My thughts exactly!

-Tiff