American Idol Top 10 Girls: Underwhelm from Top (Carly Smithson) to Bottom (Asia'h Epperson)
I couldn’t have been more excited for American Idol’s Top 10 Girls tonight. I was really expecting some performances that would make me rethink my assessment that David Archuleta turned out one of the best performances in Idol history during Top 10 Guys night. Well, the girls proved me right: David was that much better than everyone this week and the girls really underwhelmed from top to bottom.
It was supposed to be 70’s night, but it turned into the night of questionable song choices. My favorite (Kady Malloy) looked like she was about to fall down while she was walking down the stairs on one of the more awkward entrances I’ve ever seen, but she definitely had some sexy looks for the camera. Kind of like this picture from last week, but with a different dress on. But more importantly and sadly for my early favorite Kady, I didn’t really even get what was going on in the song she was singing.
But I like that sexy face.
Kristy Lee Cook smartly chose to go more of the Haley Scarnato route by wearing a form fitting shirt that showed some boobage, which earned one vote from me, though I can’t really remember much about her performance. If we’re at week two and we’re showing some boob, I’m wondering what it’ll be like if Kristy makes it to the Top 5… Maybe it’ll keep the guys voting…
But really, I want Kristy to be great. I think she can be, given the right theme, but her vocals are definitely not nearly as powerful as a good handful of girls in this competition.
For some reason, Alexandrea Lushington decided to sing the Pets.com (RIP) song, “Please Don’t Go,” that I felt like was almost as awkward as John Stevens’ rendition of Crocodile Rock. Maybe Alexandrea isn’t old enough to remember when Pets.com used that 1970’s classic in a commercial featuring a sock puppet dog, but to me, that’s what I associate with that song – a sock puppet dog that represented the burstage of the dot-com bubble.
What made this performance that marked the end of the .com glory days even worse was that Alexandrea (Alex-Andrea) was wearing CARGO SHORTS WITH HEELS ON.
I’m no fashion expert – I have 5 pairs of Reebok Classics, motion controlled running shoes, and I wear skate boarding t-shirts and clothes with my initials on them even though I can’t skateboard and I’m really that vain on the latter. But CARGO SHORTS and HEELS?? Are you going camping after the ball or going out on a safari after a night at the clubs? I can work with work boots (AKA Timberlands) and a suit, but I just didn’t understand! Maybe I’m getting too old.
Even Alaina Whitaker, who I thought was tremendous last week, just really, really underwhelmed tonight. She was REALLY cute in terms of her personality, talking about how she loved her American Idol blue dress (I did too!). She was like a really cute lizard blending into her surroundings with her way overdone makeup to create high cheekbones (not needed!), and her Carrie Underwood haircut (which I love!).
Unfortunately, Alaina didn’t have that magic and energy that she really brought in last week’s upbeat performance. She really struggled in the transitions between the low and high notes throughout her performance. There were moments of greatness, but not a total performance of greatness like there was last week. Out of all the performers, this was the biggest disappointment for me because I really was looking forward to seeing a lot of good from Alaina this week and she even had a chance to overtake the potential of Kady Malloy in my mind.
Amanda Overmyer continued sounding like a grandmother, which is fine, because that’s really her style and I’m not trying to hate on her. I think she has talent and I can see the appeal for other people, but if I’m being completely honest, her voice is just really not my thing…nor her hairdo that made her look like a bad guy from Ghostbusters.
Amanda is one of the judges’ favorites this year and even they were underwhelmed at what I felt like was a really awkward performance – wasn’t feeling the dancing, singing, or really just anything about it. Somehow, every song ends up sounding exactly the same and I have a feeling that Kady Malloy can do a real spot-on Amanda Overmyer impersonation that is probably really, really entertaining.
Even Ramiele Malubay, who I think is a fantastic singer and was actually really great last week, but I just am not a huge fan of her ample geyser of tears and how she says “THANK you….VERYYYYYY much” and the word “like” as verbal filler, was really just ok. She said that she could dance, but when she had the perfect opportunity to dance during her performance, she didn’t! She was singing an exciting song, but expended very little energy, stood on one spot on stage, but tried to make up for it with some growly notes. While Ramiele was definitely just ok, the more disappointing part is that her performance was probably one of the best on the night, along with Carly Smithson and Brooke White opening up the show.
Fighting through sickness (but I think her voice is naturally a little scratchy), even the talented Asia’h Epperson shot a blank on a note during the first chorus during “All By Myself,” something P. Diddy would never be ok with hearing on Making the Band.
With all this disappointment, where did my votes go? Here’s my problem: My votes are going to completely different people (sans Kady Malloy) because none of the girls grabbed the lead by the proverbial balls like David Cook and David Archuleta did for the Top 10 guys. I’m usually a sucker for female Idols, overrating their looks, performances, everything. I admit it! So far, I’m really underwhelmed with this group minus one great performance by Alaina Whitaker last week.
Here’s how my votes went:
Kady Malloy: 5
(Giving Kady two more weeks to really bring it, but at that point, I’m open to a new favorite)
Brooke White: 1
(Showed the talent and charm of a really good acoustic singer/songwriter)
Carly Smithson: 1
(Best Vocal on the Night)
Kristy Lee Cook: 1
(For the shirt)
Syesha Mercado: 1
(Thought her vocal was pretty decent, though song was a little contained for her)
I loved Carly and Brooke’s performances but slowly started to check out after they were finished, as everyone else seemed to bore and pale in comparison (and I have the attention span of a pre-ritalin elementary schooler lately). I can’t remember who sang “All By Myself,” but Randy credited that as being a Celine Dion song, which I always knew it was, but if it was a Celine original, not a cover, how the hell is that a 70s song? I mean, I know it FEELS like she’s been singing forever, but in reality…
Anyway, onto my favorite trainwreck of the night: Paula. I got the feeling she wasn’t listening to any of the contestants last night on the Top 10 Girls, and only 3 songs in, she confirmed it when her critique of Ramiele’s performance uncharacteristically agreed with Randy’s negative vibes. Basically she just reworded his previous comment to make it sound like she had her own independent thought but that her opinion was very similar to the guy who spoke first. Oh Paula, I’m onto you; that’s exactly what I used to do in English (or history or chemistry or French…) class when I hadn’t read the assigned reading.
Other than the judges’ antics, the show is exceptionally dull this year. Thank God for those three whipper-snappers, or I might have to turn! off! the! tv! for once.
I know that since I’m a girl, it’s understandable that I’m more passionate about the male performances (and, you know, how pretty they are). However, I was really hoping my gender would step up and represent last night.
Girls, tehre are things that we can do with our voices that boys just CANNOT do. Amazing things! Jaw-dropping things! Where were these things last night? (I mean my jaw dropped several times, but for no-good-very-bad reasons).
*sigh* I’m let down.
Just an FYI about the cargo shorts/high heels thing: Yes, you might be getting old. (I’m in my 30s, myself.) I live in Shanghai, and I see it all the time here. Not sure where this look came from, but I too am having a hard time getting used to it! A lot of the fashion sense here comes from Japan, and most of it is sense-LESS to me. Often girls are trying to be trendy or sexy, and they just end up looking like prostitutes!