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Apr 07
It was love songs week, prompting Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman to make all sorts of vaguely inappropriate innuendo at the prime time audience. Ryan looked a little uncomfortable wearing a jacket that looked three sizes too large for his frame, while he bounded about the stage taking cookies from cute kids in the audience, heckling Simon, and trading not terribly witty bon mots with Brian.
Ah, the joys of Season One.
Kelly Clarkson started out the night with “Walk On By,” and powered through it like she did every other song in season one. It did seem a little shouty in spots, but she still outshone most of the contestants in every other season since with a performance that the judges considered an off week for her. Simon predicted she was going to be huge after the show. How right he was.
R.J. Hilton went with “Arthur’s Song” and massacred it gently. Too many runs, dawg. Too many keys were sung around, but not quite hit.Justin Guarini did some slow song. I didn’t take notes as I watched the show, so I don’t even remember it anymore. It was mediocre, at best. Bad bad song for IDOL.
Nikki McKibbin ended the night with “Always Someone There To Remind Me.” It’s considered an 80s classic today, but it just wasn’t that good for her five years ago. It sounded like her voice was weak and tired. I don’t think she had the energy or power to live up the song at that point in the competition.
Looking back five years now, I can see I liked her far more than she deserved. Hey, I got suckered into rooting for the contestant who sang the Jim Steinman song early on. Who can blame me? And I remember being sure that she was toast the next night. How could America have possibly saved that performance? Easily: R.J. was even worse
Many consider the moment at the end of the song where her son walked up to the stage to give her a rose the thing that saved her that week. It’s quite possible. But, hey, if you thought it was amazing that she lasted past this week, wait till you see next week’s show! Whoa, mama. The coming attractions incorrectly refer to it as the most talked about vote in Idol history. How quickly they overlook the infamous and still-mentioned-on-this-blog Three Divas vote. I can’t wait to see what AI REWIND comes up with for that week.
But, wait! There’s one more performance of the night that I saved for last.
Tamyra Gray memorably performed “House Is Not A Home.” The question we’ve been discussing in the AI comments thread in recent weeks is, “Will the performance still be as good today as we remember it being yesterday?” Honestly, yes and no. Simon’s fawning praise was well deserved. Paula’s tears were needed. And Tamyra was amazing. The last minute of that song was as powerful as AI got in its first season, and you can safely count this song as an “Idol Moment.”
That said, there were some shaky moments in the song where her voice warbled just a tad, but that was all in the front half. She hit the low notes as strongly as she hit the high notes, which is something most contestants can’t do. They usually disappear in the lower section when they’re not showing off. Tamyra powered through even that. So, in the end, it’s still a great performance, and definitely in the top three for the season, if not the best.
You know what. You can watch it for yourself. Click through for the YouTube video of the song. And ask yourself, “What’s with that lazy left eyelid?”
Wow, that long note at the end. . Wow.
If that’s not enough for you, check out her live performance of the song on the tour, where her voice sounds even stronger. Or Anwar Robinson’s treatment of the same song a few season later.
Tamyra wins.
Then she gets kicked off at the Round of 4 level. That’s NEXT week. . .
Apr 08, 2007 @ 20:08:09
Thanks for the Tamyra link. I’d never seen that before. I’m glad I did now, because she nailed that song. Just on the basis of that alone, it’s hard for me to understand how she was kicked off the following week. Wow!
Apr 09, 2007 @ 11:46:04
Even though Tamyra was better than I remembered, I stand by what I said earlier, Augie: she was better on other songs (Touch Me in the Morning, A Fool in Love) earlier that season. However, “A House Is Not a Home” was the most Idol-Moment-type song she performed all season, and she was very good (though not great) on it. And she was easily the best that week, because Kelly made the mistake of picking “Walk on By” instead of “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (she debated between the two). Anyone familiar with Dionne Warwick’s catalog knows the latter is much more of a vocal showcase. But Kelly was still second best, easily. And you’re right about Justin: This was his second weak performance of the season. The other two contestants? Blah.
Apr 10, 2007 @ 05:46:25
I should add that, for me, Kelly’s “A Natural Woman” (from earlier in the season) was more of an Idol Moment than Tamyra’s “House.” When Kelly hit that high note near the end of the song, I got the kind of chills I didn’t quite get from Tamyra.
Apr 15, 2007 @ 13:04:55
I don’t know whether you’re going to create a separate thread for the round of 4, Augie, but either way here are my comments. I always assumed the public just plain screwed up in picking Nikki over Tamyra, but now, after seeing this show again, I can see there was a little more to it than that. First, Tamyra had her weakest showing of the entire season, while Nikki gave her strongest performance to this point (she would be even better the following week on “Black Velvet”). Never mind that I don’t think Nikki was better than Tamyra even this week — it just seemed that way. Second, the judges reinforced this idea by raving about both of Nikki’s performances, while not getting all that worked up about either of Tamyra’s numbers (particularly the first). Long story short: Tamyra’s dismissal doesn’t seem all that bizarre and/or conspiratorial this time around.
Finally, with her two excellent performances, Kelly left no doubt that she was Season 1’s best contestant. While the song itself means nothing to me (thereby not meriting consideration as an Idol Moment), I’d put her rendition of Celine Dion’s “Surrender” right up with the best anyone sang the entire season — including her own “Natural Woman.” And when you hear how hoarse she sounded in the interview right after that, you know she’s really something special.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 09:15:55
I had completely forgotten about “I, Surrender,” but I was blown away by it this weekend. It was obvious that both her voice and Tamyra’s were weakening badly by this point in the competition, but that performance still gave me goosebumps. Change the lighting a little — think Clay doing “Solitaire” — and you may have had a legitimate “Idol Moment” there.
I also enjoyed Justin’s cheesy “PYT” performance. Wow, that was bad.
And after watching five full seasons of Idol, I can see the weaknesses in Nikki’s song stylings that weren’t obvious to me then. Even on a good night like she had in the Round of Four, she still shouted a lot of stuff.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 09:27:16
Yep, Nikki wasn’t that good even on her best night(s). And I too liked Justin’s “PYT” a lot more than Randy and Simon did. I mean, is it possible to perform that song without imitating Michael?
Btw, I thought Justin was second best in the round of 4, and I still put Nikki last despite her improved performances.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 09:43:11
I moved this discussion to a new post. =)