American Idol Review – Top 10 – singing and performance tips

Posted on 26. Mar, 2008 by Per Bristow in American Idol, Performance, Singing

Another week of American idol and as we see the same performers, there is a lot to enjoy and learn from. We begin seeing habits that are not so great and patterns that are indeed great. I also love the fact that each week offers surprises of the singer’s potential. This week there was a huge surprise. Click on the "read more" link to see all the videos and my perspective on each performance. Love to hear your comment and if there are take-aways to apply to your own singing and performing. Go here…

 
Ramiele Malubay – Alone

I’ve written before about the fact that Ramiele lacks strength in the low register and here half the song was in the low register.  Consequently it was wavering in pitch. Singing on pitch is far more a muscle issue than an ear issue. The other part of the song is in the really high register which was not so easy for her either. Apparently she wasn’t in top health, which obviously make everything more difficult. When we get a hoarse voice we lose the bottom register. If we have laryngitis or swelling of the vocal cords our voices get deeper.

Jason Castro – Fragile

Jason is Jason. I wrote before how I like his genuine laid-back, yet open personality. However, his laid-back approach was getting to the judges. Simon said he’s not taking this seriously. I don’t agree with that, but I do agree that Jason didn’t offer any surprises. He is limited to what he can do with his voice, and the question is how long he is able to sustain our interest – whether during weeks of American Idol or a two-hour Jason Castro show.  

 
Sayesha Mercado – If I Were Your Woman

Sayesha has elevated to a new level of singer and perform since last week. I really, really liked this. The beauty is that not only did she “sing” fantastically, but most of all she communicated the song.  She was alive. After all, singing is about communicating and Sayesha really did so. Sayesha has indeed come alive as of last week.  I’m excited to see what happens next week.

Chikezie – If Only For One Night

He has done better with the up-tempo songs than the ballads so far in my opinion, but I thought this was the best ballad he’s sung.  Just like Sayesha, I felt he was communicating the intent of the song well. I do prefer the fun side of Chikezie, but the variety will probably serve him well. If he would sing an up-tempo song every week it would lose its power, just as it would in a real concert. 

Brooke White – Every Breath You Take

Nice, but not much happened. She has similar strengths and similar weaknesses as Jason Castro.  She is charming and likeable but limited as to what she can do.

The judges said they would have preferred if the arrangement would have just been her and the piano.  I agree, and the reason is this: Remember last week a wrote about how great Sayesha was because of the vulnerability and the introspective way she sang the song “Yesterday”?  Brooke sang this song with a similar introspective approach. Now, if she had stayed calm and introspective, and it had been just her and the piano, it might have been very powerful. But now, as the band kicked in adding a groovy beat to it, she stayed just as introspective, which didn’t work so well. What would pianists such as Elton John or Billy Joel have done in a groovy song like that (not a fair comparison, I know)? The other thing is that the lyrics are not about “yesterday” – i.e what happened in the past. The song is about the here and now and the fact that “Every breath you take and every move you take I’ll be watching you”. Watching who? A person in her memory? The piano keys?   

Michael Johns  – We will Rock You/We Are The Champions

Can someone please throw away the mic stand! Come on, Michael. You rock the house. You sang better than Freddie Mercury for cryin’ out lout. Okay everybody, watch this: The crowd, the band, everybody is clapping with the intro. Then we find him behind the mic stand. It seems he didn’t make them clap but that it was the song itself and the fact that we know it so well that made it happen (and the direction of the TV producer of course). Okay that’s fine. He then frees himself from the mic stand. Now watch when he moves stage right (our left). Notice how the audience authentically screams as he gets closer. And the song builds… It’s about to soar into one of the greatest sing-along choruses of all time… the audience is about to blow the roof off the building… but what does he do?  He backs off and goes and locks himself behind the mic stand!!!! Michael, what are you doing???! Yeah, I’m frustrated and do you know why?  Because that was world-class vocals. If Michael would just for once take the stage without needing that crutch of a mic stand, and instead get busy communicating and engaging us, we could experience something truly sensational.

 
Carly Smithson – Total Eclipse Of My heart

She’s got such a great voice but I don’t feel it. I just feel it’s over the top and aggressive and I get tired from it rather than inspired and emotional. She sings "I need you more than ever.  If you only hold me tight…." Well, if that’s me she’s singing to, I really don’t feel a desire to hold her tight. Truthfully, I also feel frustrated because I know how easily this can be improved.  It’s so common, especially among people with big power voices to want to show it off, when we instead would become more powerful – even be able to sing more emotionally aggressive if we so desire – if we didn’t force it so hard. She habitually becomes engaged in giving all in her voice, but is not clear on the intent of the song (or made an uninteresting choice of what the song was about). Watch the video and think about who she is really referring to? Where is this person? Carly needs to get out of herself and really start communicating.

David Archuleta – You’re The Voice

David knows better than to hide behind a mic stand. David owns the stage. He moves well too. Since he doesn’t have the strength in his voice, his voice doesn’t cut through in this kind of music, so he needs to work quite hard on the high notes. The force made one of the high notes go significantly flat. We shouldn’t compare to the originals, but John Farnham who sang the original happens to have one of the greatest power voices of all time. One of the reasons John Farnham was so effective in this song was because his voice cuts through the music so easily.  The “oh oh oh” calls of the song really have the effect they are meant to have. The more upbeat and the more the song rocks, the harder it is for David to cut through. He’s got the groove, the musicality and the moves. His voice just doesn’t have the strength to really make justice to a song like this.

Kristy Lee Cook – God Bless The USA

Wow, I didn’t know she could sing like that! I haven’t heard that from her before. That was power – not force, but power. I loved it. I feel she’s been lacking in confidence in the past and has always been hammered by the judges. Maybe this will awaken a new sense of confidence and power in her and make her come alive. Based on tonight I really hope she gets to stay.

David Cook – Billie Jean

I was about to write about David’s musical genius of having the audacity of rearranging a song like this, when I realized he sang Chris Cornell’s version of the song. That’s alright. After all, this is a Karaoke competition of sorts, and whether he is the originator of the arrangement or not, David sang it phenomenally well.  He actually sings it quite differently from how Chris Cornell does anyway. Yes, David can win the whole thing, but just as I hoped Chris Daughtry wouldn’t win last year, I think David, just like Chris, will have a better career by not winning and instead go on and do his thing.

This week’s positive surprise:  Kristy Lee Cook

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