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ImWyckA a écrit : La fille qui a chanté la toune à Kat (que Kara a écrite) est excellente !

February 10, 2010
"American Idol" 2010: Hollywood Week, Part 2: Group Night

By Eric Rezsnyak Comments (0)

GROUP ROUND! My favorite single episode of every "Idol" season. There's always so much potential for disaster, so many clashing egos, and there is almost always immediate comeuppance for the assholes in the group. It's like instant karma. Let's dig in!

As a refresher, during Hollywood Week Round 1 81 contestants were culled, but 96 remained for groups. They were allowed to self-select their groups, which apparently ranged from three to five members, and then tasked with picking a song from a predetermined list and hashing out harmonies and choreography.

Drama started early with the group calling itself "The Dreamers," featuring Alex Lambert and Mary Powers. They initial started out as a trio but two other girls hitched up their wagons, and then promptly disappeared. The original three set about trying to figure out whether or not they could ditch the other two, but ultimately decided to go ahead as a drama-filled quintet. That's...probably not a great idea. Mary became the de facto leader, and her pushiness put off even the simpering accompanist.

Meanwhile, "Big" Mike Lynche was continuously on the phone with his wife, who was IN LABOR with his first child while he sat in a California hotel learning four-part harmony with a bunch of fame-seeking assholes. I'm sorry, but that's simply unacceptable. I get that he's getting up there in years, and this is probably one of his last shots at the show (the age limit for auditioning is 28). But you have TWO LIVES depending on you, and at some point you have to put away childish things. I don't care that he said his wife wanted him to follow his dream. She was pushing a totally new human being that he helped to create out of her body, and he should have been there. When the time for delivery actually came, he went about talking her through labor via his iPhone. I'm sure that was a real comfort to the poor woman. I don't have an iPhone; do they sell an app for hand holding and physical encouragement? At one point he said, "I can't believe I'm not here for this." You and me both, jackass. Have fun explaining to your 9-year-old daughter why you were absent for her birth because you were too busy trying to be on TV.

The first group up was named Faith, and included Charity Vance, Ashley Rodriguez, and Michelle Delamor. I couldn't recall any of them, and they did very little to stand out here. They picked "Irreplaceable" by Beyonce and I didn't care for the version at all. It was boring and warbly, and I didn't think any of the girls had particularly good voices. And yet they all made it through. Eh.

Next up was Team Awesome, featuring Big Mike, Seth Rollins, Tim Urban, and Michael Castro. They did "Get Ready" by the Temptations, and Big Mike and Seth Rollins were the only ones that really impressed me. And yet it was Mike and Tim Urban that got put through. This show seems to want me to like Tim Urban, and I just don't see that happening. I think he always sounds flat.

Next group: Neapolitan, a group featuring Liz Rooney, Thaddues Johnson, Jessica Cunningham, and some Paige girl they never ID'd. Again, I didn't really recognize any of these people. They chose "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga and spent most of the episode bitching that another group that picked the same song, Destiny's Wild, was rehearsing too loudly next to them. Real-world translation: the other group is infinitely more talented than we are, and we're going to cry about it because life's not fair. I seriously hated almost everything they did. I thought they sounded terrible, but the judges liked it, and they were sent through. Again with the "Eh."

Then Destiny's Wild took the stage performing the same song pretty much the exact same way - according to the DW crew, Neopolitan came in to rehearse after they did and totally stole their idea to perform the song a cappella. Who knows what actually went down, but it was clear to me that Destiny's Wild was composed of much, much stronger singers and performers. They had actual choreography, even if it was a bit esoteric (hey, it's Lady Gaga), and one guy came out and did a spectacular backflip. I liked much of what they did, especially the vocals by Todrick Hall, Jareb Liewer, and Siobhan Magnus. The fourth member, the singularly named Theri, was generally awful and off-key for portions of it. They were all put through. I would have cut Theri.

The Mighty Rangers was a quintet of auditioners from Denver that looked dysfunctional from the start of the episode. The group was made up of Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Mark Labriola, Kimberly Kerbow, and Danny Jones, and they chose Ne-Yo's "Closer." Things started out strong with Tori, and then the whole piece crumbled, as Mark and Kimberly forgot their lyrics, and Mark looked like he was about to burst into tears during the actual performance. Pathetic. I also didn't care for Maddie, although both she and Tori got through. Mark begged to be spared, was denied, and then blubbered to Seacrest about how this was his dream. Then maybe you should have worked a little harder and not sucked. I mean, really. I have no patience for the idiots on this show who think they can get through after totally biffing the words. I know it happens, but it shouldn't. It's like expecting to be a writer and not knowing how to type.

Right before Phoenix, one of the most troubled groups, was about to go on stage, one of its members walked right out of the competition because she didn't want to humilate herself. Small problem with that plan: you just showed yourself to be a total loser on the highest-rated show on television. I would have had more respect for you if you'd at least tried and failed rather than bail at the last minute, screwing over the rest of your group in the process. The remainder of the group - Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Moorea Masa, Jermaine Sellers - tried to pull its shit together backstage, but this team was soaked in doomed sauce since pretty much minute one of the episode. They did "Carry On My Wayward Son" (what a terrible song choice) and it was a seriously mixed bag. Honeycutt sounded lovely, Moorea forgot the words (UGH!), Jermaine squealed through his solo, and Jeff sounded like he was barfing out his lyrics. It was the most weirdly aggressive singing voice I've ever heard. At first I thought he was having a stroke. The harmonies were also super rough. When Moorea tried to pass off their last-minute abandonment as an excuse, Simon called it out as "rubbish." Somehow Jeff and Jermaine got through, despite being the worst two singers of the bunch. I don't understand how they cut Ben out of the four. That made absolutely no sense to me.

Several groups completely biffing Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape," which is a song I would never in a million years attempt to sing in this setting. It's a great song, super fun, and catchy as hell. But the rapid-fire lyrics are impossible to understand, much less spit out, and that tripped almost every group. Some of them were straight-up amateur night, and I'm amazed any of those girls (including Haeley Vaughn) escaped unscathed.

The last group to try the song was Big Dreams, featuring Matt Lawrence, the big Southern guy who was in juvenile hall for years after attempting to rob a store with a BB gun, and drama queen Amanda Shectman. The group straight-up BOMBED, with Matt delivering a mushy-mouthed, off-tune solo and Amanda basically laughing through her portion. Shameful. They all got summarily dismissed. If it makes you feel better, Matt, you are brutally hot.

The following groups got rapid-fire takes: Middle C, featuring Janell Wheeler, Jermaine Purifory, Casey James, and someone who was never ID'd, did a great low-key version of "Closer." (I will say that Casey looked nervous on the harmonies, but pulled it out in his solo.) Three Men and a Baby included much-pimped front-runners Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens, plus J.B. Ahfua and an unnamed fourth member, and they did a lovely version of an Alicia Keys song. All eight of them made it through.

The final group of the day was the much-maligned Dreamers, with Mary Powers, Hope Johnson, Margo May, Alex Lambert, and...someone else. They chose "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac. Mary started up and she was visibly embarrassed to be part of the group, although she sounded good. Hope drives me nuts - she's so flitty and has a tiny little voice - but it actually worked for the song. Then poor Margo came up and delivered what may have been the worst vocal of the night - Simon actually requested that her mic get turned off. That poor girl wasn't even in the same time zone as the key she was supposed to be singing in. And Alex took to his solo as though he was sleep singing, with zero energy, although again, it sounded OK. Mary, Hope, and Alex all got through. I think that was too kind for that group. I would have cut Alex too.

In the end 71 people escaped group round, which still leaves a LOT of room for culling next episode. Next week: the final Hollywood performances, more shocking cuts, and on Wednesday, The Chair.


source:
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/e ... oup-Night/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DJo-Coeur a écrit : Y ont pas éliminé beaucoup de monde cette semaine
Ça va être un carnage la semaine prochaine. Une quarantaine seront coupé.

xilef a écrit : [...]


"As a refresher, during Hollywood Week Round 181 contestants were culled, but 96 remained for groups."