TOP 11 – 17Mar09 – Country Week

Best dressed award goes to: Paula (lovely gown), Ryan & Randy, who outclassed Kara and Simon in the fashion department. On to the singing….

MICHAEL SARVER (6.5/10) – Michael seemed in his element with this song. I like the quality of his voice. The song wasn’t “challenging” in terms of range, but he sang and performed it well. I could see him on the country charts. Vocally he sings a little too “tight” – he shapes his vowels very flat and very wide, this places the voice in the back of the throat. He would get more depth and range and projection if he opened in the right way. When he does open his mouth, there is good quality in the tone. I know it’s country style. I totally disagree with Simon’s “1.2 out of 10.” Michael looked good, had fun, remembered the lyrics, and sang on pitch. It was at least a 6.5.

ALISON IRAHETA (6.0/10) – Alison has a good voice, but she hasn’t got enough experience or training to understand her instrument. For me it sits too far back – it’s like she’s swallowing the words. Another “tight” singer – meaning you clamp down on the voice in the throat, and then push for ‘power’. So you get a ‘hollow’ sound. Doesn’t work that way. That way is the road to constriction and potential damage. And limited range. There IS a bloom in the voice, but it is hard to hear it with this method of singing (oversinging). That’s why it sounds “tuneless” and has a “dull” tone.

KRIS ALLEN (6.25/10) – Kris has a clear tone, there’s a nice bloom on the voice. The song was well-arranged (simple) and let him shine. Well-phrased. It didn’t blow my socks off, but I thought it was solid.

LIL ROUNDS (6.10) – Lil is not a country singer, but I wish she had chosen a song that fit her better. However, it was well-phrased. She has good tone and solid vocals. I agree with Paula, singing a second verse before going to the chorus was not the best choice, the song took too long to take off. Simon was right – the song didn’t fit her.

ADAM LAMBERT (9/10) – Well I was looking forward to this as IMO Adam clearly has all the ingredients to be an American Idol. What will he do with country, I wonder. Johnny Cash, ‘Ring of Fire.’ All rocked up, interesting take on the song. The best voice in the competition, bar none. If I had him in my studio I’d have very little to say. He seems in command of his instrument, and he’s creative with it. He’s an Artist, for sure. I disagree with Simon – it was an different & interesting take on the song, not at all ‘horrific’. I agree with Randy – Nine Inch Nails doing country (“Hurt”, anyone?).

SCOTT MACINTYRE (5.0/10) – Scott is talented, no doubt. Especially on the piano. But I don’t think he’s a particularly good singer at this moment in time. I think the voice needs further development. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about him, or want to see his dream die, but I think we also need to assist young people to assess their abilities honestly and figure out what they need to work on to grow and improve. One of the issues is how he pronounces his words… very wide vowels, which means he loses tonal quality and strength of tone. The too-big shapes and the lifting of the head as he sings leads to an unnatural vibrato in his voice and a sense of thinness in the sound. I found the debate between Paula & Simon over whether or not Scott should use use the piano to be irritating. I agreed with Randy, it was a ‘nice’ and ‘safe’ performance.

ALEXIS GRACE (5.5/10) – Alexis has a strong voice, she phrased the song well and put her own interpretation on it. Her top voice needs development – really, she needs to understand her instrument better. When we have a powerful chest voice and we are in the habit of oversinging… our pushing takes something away from the top voice and makes the transition to the upper register more difficult (and unhealthy). There was a word that she especially pushed on that caused the tonal quality to be very hard/harsh, and there was an unnatural wobble in the sound at that point. This kind of pushing leads to pitch problems and uneven tone. She needed to sing it simply, and trust the song to bring her voice out (if a song doesn’t bring your voice out effectively – pick a different song!). One of my main issues with the Idol shows as samples of ‘good singing’ is that they often lead to the misapprehension that ‘loud’ is better. Alexis’s performance was a good example of that misunderstanding.

DANNY GOKEY (7.0/10) – Danny has a good voice, although I find it a little nasal in quality, especially in the verse. Pretty solid performance, though. I didn’t feel like it was a terrific song choice for him, and I agree it took awhile for the song to begin to work for him. Randy was right about the need to support the verse better, and Danny said he didn’t know what to do with that part. That surprises me. I understood that, besides working with Randy Travis, the competitors had a vocal coach. But I guess they can choose whether they use those resources or not. If you don’t know… why wouldn’t you work with a coach. If you don’t know… perhaps it’s the song itself that isn’t a fit. In any case, I thought it was extremely interesting to hear the judges comment on this performance. Compare what they said about Danny to what they said about Adam. They actually said that Danny’s performance was better than Adam's performance. Really?

ANOOP DESAI (7.10/10) – I like the placement of Anoop’s voice. It’s not back in the throat, it doesn’t resonate in the nasal cavity, he has a clear bright tone. He phrased the song well, and I liked how he built the song using vocal texture – which demonstrates sensitivity and mastery. Sometimes, simple is best. And letting the song ‘sing itself’ while you sing from your heart, is powerful.

MEAGAN JOY (5.2/10) – There is a depth to Meagan’s voice, but I don’t think this song (or any other song she’s sung to date) really shows it. I thought this was a rather “girlish” performance and that some of her licks were insecure. I felt like it was “Beach Blanket Bingo”. However, at the end of the song, the judges pointed out that Meagan has been very ill, and I give her kudo’s for performing so well under enormous pressure. As a singer myself, I know there is nothing you can do to create tone or stay on pitch if you are so ill that the voice isn’t responding. However, I looked back at how I’ve rated her in the past… the average out of 3 performances was 5.1 out of 10. I marked her 5.2 for this performance. I’m sure she’ll be back, and we’ll see how she progresses.

MATT GIRAUD (5.5/10) – Nice bloom on the voice, I like that warm vibrato. I wondered about some of the phrasing and how breathing was handled. The practice of singing breathy in the verses (which tires the apparatus) and then pushing the chorus is one I dislike for many reasons. The judges raved so much about this sometimes pitchy, seemingly insecure performance that I went back and watched it again. It certainly didn’t work for me, and I shook my head when Kara, Paula and Simon were all over it as being the best of the night. Not to put Matt down for putting it out there and doing his best, but I do sometimes wonder if I am hearing a different performance than the judges, or if it sounds different in the theatre than it does on tv.

Who should go: Scott.
Who will go: Lil.