Ehhhhh, I'm not so sure about the concept for this week, but hey, it's harder to fake it without the amps kicking behind you.
Dave and tommy strip it down(oh and Toby too), but what about Brooke huh? I mean come on. Come on honey, throw us a bone.
The Reviews:
Zayra Alvarez - Original song, "Lluvia De Mar (Rain of the Sea)": Zayra has been a successful original artist in Puerto Rico, and I've been saying if she could show herself well, she'd do a lot better, let's see if she can do it. Much more comfortable on stage, even with her ridiculous getup, and with her voice here. Sounds very nice actually. Beautiful, breathy, expressive, VERY emotional. then into a powerful refrain, which is finally PITCHED RIGHT FOR HER VOICE. I said before her voice reminds me a bit of Bjork, and the comparison comes again, though Zayras voice is better. Oh but I gotta say, back ribs are NOT SEXY. It was honestly a great performance, and a good song. I can see why she's successful in her home market. It's not rock and roll, it's not Supernova, but it was really good. If this was something other than "rockstar" she'd definitely be safe with this performance, but she may still end up bottom three based on audience hatred, and lack of hard rockin.
Magni Asgiersson - David Bowie, "Starman": I dig the song when Bowie does it, but I thought Magni came off too lounge singer, especially with the white suit. Of course it just showed the guys he got the range to do just about anything. Great tone, modulation, and breath control, and an appropriately matched performance, not flamboyant, but mobile, not stiff. Again the thing that comes to mind the strongest is "professional". All that said, I think it was probably his weakest performance. Good, but not great.
Patrice Pike - The Police, "Message in a Bottle": Kind of a tough song. Her voice sems to be working with, but theres maybe a bit too much curl to the end of her lines, as usual. Oh, she cracked flat on the refrain, not good. The pick up into the second verse is completely botched, and she's off key into the change. REALLY BADLY off key, and she drops the refrain on the floor again. No energy in the performance, no juice... I actually think she might be drunk or high. Off key on the chant... That's it, she's gone. This is a guaranteed trip to the bottom three.
Lukas Rossi - Chad Kroeger, "Hero": Ooooh, I dunno about this one. First of all I hate the song, but that's jsut me. I heard it WAY too much when the movie came out, and it wasn't any good in the first place. Kroeger has a lot more bass and low end, without as much grunt as Lukas puts into his lows, so this one is going to be tough. I think he COULD pull it off, but it'll take some serious work. Okay it's a completely different arrangement, and I don't think that's a bad thing. He starts off real sweet, and goes into the choke, not as bad as before, but not enough body to the sound. I don't compare it to the original because it's a completely different song. I like his intensity here, and he's clearly having a good time with it, he just sounds too thin in front of the orchestra. He'd do a lot better here if he stood up; you can hear he can't get his diaphraghm into it jsut to push it out. Also, the key is jsut a bit too high. Reasonably well sung, but really he needed to get the power into it more. Maybe bottom three, maybe not, I can't tell. He judt REALLY needs some voice training, and he'd be really good.
Storm Large - Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive": Okay, so Storm in her "day job" does punk and lounge sendups of this sort of song, so this might be cool; somehow I don't think it's going to be a straight cover, but even if it was she does have the vocal power for it. Oh and a suit? No it just doesnt look right. Oh yeah, she starts off lounging it up a bit, and puts a bit of the funk into it in the change. She's going more for Cake here than Gloria Gaynor. I kinda dig the arrangement, though the stage gyrations looked silly. Great power in the reprise... I dunno, it's missing something... Great way to finish it off with the high run and the breathy stuff, but it's still "I will survive". I would rather he have done a real punk sendup or a totally ironic lounge act than this.
Toby Rand - Peter Gabriel, "Salisbury Hill": Great song. I love Peter Gabriel (can't stand his politics though. Just STFU and play man). I think Toby has the voice for it. I wont say it's terribly hard, but it certainly isn't easy. Oooh I think he's pitched himself too high. Hee needs to be in the octave below (and I know he has the voice for it). He's not getting much dynamic range here, it's not bad, but it's not really working. He doesnt have any resonance in his voice in this range, and it sounds... not flat, but lifeless maybe? Actually he sounded more like Freddie Mercury on "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" than Peter Gabriel, or even himself. Normally a Mercury comparison would be a good thing, but not here. Honestly it wasn't bad, I just didnt think he had it yaknow? The band liked it, but I just didnt think he was THERE enough. I gotta give him credit for the naked thing though. I think he's safe here.
Ryan Star - Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight": This song is about power, and heat, and burn. I don't think Ryan has the burn here, though his presence and intensity are great. A bit too much vibrato, too much... smoothe, and not enough starkness. I dunno, I kinda dig it. It started as a good pickup into the refrain, but he kinda lost it. His voice started to wander. He got the power and the FORCE down though. Good way to pull it back. My guess is that he's gonna end up in the bottom three. I dont think it was bad, and I don't think he deseves bottom three, but I don't think the country is going to like it.
Dilana Robichaux - Harry Chapin, "Cats in the Cradle":One of my favorite songs ever. A tough song, that lots of people have covered badly. I dunno about this song with Dilanas voice. It's a stark, spare, very clearly sung tune, and her voice isn't really suited to it. She was just a little too freaky witchy on the performance,and she switched it up into maybe a bit too much Tina Turner; though she sung it better than I thought. She's doing a good job but... the thing is, when I hear this song, I'm usually throughly emotionally fucked with, and I didnt have that evocative reaction to this. It wasn't bad, but I just didn't feel it. I think it was probably the best performance of the night, but that isn't saying much.
Honestly, I'm kinda underwhelmed here. I don't think anybody did a really great job, but also, I don't think anybody did a bad job except Patrice. My intial thought is Patrice, Storm, and Ryan are going to be in the bottom three here, but I have no certainty on that. I wont even guess who gets the encore or who the other bottom dwellers may be.
At this point in the competition, there isn't really any deadwod left but Patrice. Zayra is insane, and has no chance here, but she isn't a bad singer. With the right song choices she could actually stick around a while. I doubt i, but it could happen. My guess is that Patrice is gone this week, and I think she knows it.
