Live Show 7: Whitney Houston vs. Elton John

[aradia22]

There's no way this will end badly -said no one. 

 

We can decide in a few months if this was better or worse than the Lifetime Whitney biopic.

[aradia22]

Lauren Platt: How Will I Know. A little off. She's not straight-toning it. It's more like she's moaning on pitch. I'm talking about notes like "to" in the line "looks into my eyes" and "lose" in the line "Oh, I lose control." Her low notes were kind of pretty though. The problem is her upper register is thin and she's a little all over the place and she doesn't have great control. But she can't really access her lower register the way she'll be able to in a few years because her voice hasn't finished developing. Was that Lauren trying to dance? Why can't she bend at the waist? The big note was better this week. Much less tortured though she did slide off pitch a few times. I'm going to call it a good week. She was almost believable as a young person.

Ben Haenow: I Will Always Love You. I don't mind gravel and grit. But I hate it with Ben's closed off vowels. It's so unpleasant to hear. The long notes don't do him any favors. The pitch is very shaky. A guy like Ben needs to write his own songs which other people will make youtube covers of. Or sing in a rock band. Also he's still so goddamn smarmy. Ben will not always love you. Even as he's giving you this speech, Ben is thinking about what he's going to have for dinner. Ben will turn the football match back on as soon as you walk out of the flat. Ben is already sleeping with his neighbor. And your best friend. 

Andrea Faustini: I Have Nothing. Andrea also doesn't believe an word he's singing. That's why his eyes are going all over the place and he closes them so you will not see the false emotion. He was a bit off in the beginning and this felt like a particularly boring week for him. Even when he hit the high point of the song, I was bored.

Only the Young: Something About the Way You Look Tonight. This feels off brand. I think it was a mistake to give them a song like this that they had to force to fit to their style. Also, what is wrong with the brunette? You have the shortest solos. Pull it together. This hampered them. They were still solid but it wasn't as fun this week. The forced levity with the silly string was just awkward. Bad song choice.

Fleur East: I'm Every Woman. There were small things that could have been cleaned up but for a live performance, it was pretty great. Fleur has the magic the others don't have. She's going to get eliminated soon and I'm going to be so upset. I thought the thing with all the women and Fleur's sisters was cute. They suck at choreographing things anyway so this felt much more natural.

Stevi Ritchie: I'm Still Standing. Why the hell did this have an Egyptian theme? Karaoke but good for Stevi. Stopping him from running around helped out the vocals. Still not great. 

Stereo Kicks: Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me. Barclay Beales started off strong. Well not strong really. OK and kind of shaky on "darkness." He has a nice tone but he doesn't have a strong voice. Reece Bibby was technically sound but unremarkable. James Graham is still the best. Jake Sims managed to not be off key and got in a nice growl. Tom Mann's voice was unpleasantly high and child-like like a cartoon character. For Stereo Kicks it was good if very 90's.

 

Rankings

1. Fleur East

2. Only the Young

3. Stereo Kicks

4. Lauren Platt

5. Andrea Faustini

6. Ben Haenow

7. Stevi Ritchie

 

This week is double elimination. Someone already went home. It was

Only the Young

. I'm super upset about this, guys. If

Fleur

goes tomorrow I don't think I can handle it.

[Kaoteek]

C'mon, she won't, she was pretty solid tonight. Boring week, though.

 

Lauren was okay, Ben was okey (albeit quite shaky on some early long notes), Andrea was Andrea (I get it, Andrea, you like Whitney, but that's enough Whitney for an entire competition ; get out of your comfort zone, for once, and sing some flashy, happy Elton John), OTY were enjoyable, but that song wasn't particularly interesting, Stevi was Stevi (he's still standing, indeed, and at least it wasn't boring like the others), and finally, Stereo Kicks were the most uninteresting act of the night, even though restricting solos to only 3 or 4 of the guys makes their performance much more bearable.

 

Kinda sad they eliminated OTY, but it wasn't gonna change anything to the likely Ben/Andrea/Fleur final three, so whatever.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Kaoteek

[aradia22]

If there's any justice, we'll shed Lauren or Stevi tomorrow and certainly before the finals. I still think Only the Young deserved to get to the finals and maybe win. They were generally good singers (other than the brunette). They were clean and consistent which is more than can be said for... well, everyone else. Fleur should make it to the finals but I'm almost OK with it if she doesn't win because I think she'll have a stronger career if she's runner up. She better get a recording contract though. I used to sort of like Ben but it bothers me that he hasn't improved and if anything his vowels are worse. He's relatively talented but he's sloppy. And he doesn't seem to be working on his performance or stage presence. If he's not singing a rock song I'm generally not into it. He really needs to stop singing love songs. I don't like Andrea but he's almost guaranteed a spot in the finals unless he does something crazy or has a scandalous secret that gets revealed. I wouldn't discount Stereo Kicks' chances of knocking either Fleur or Ben out of the finals. I don't have a good grasp of what's going on with the groups. Even though I really like Little Mix now I never saw them winning in their season.

[aradia22]

OH MY GOD, you guys.

Lauren, Stevi and Andrea

were the bottom three and

Lauren

was safe. That means

Stevi and Andrea

were in the sing off.

Andrea

was in the sing off, you guys. This almost makes up for Only the Young going home last night. Not really.

 

Obviously the judges sent

Stevi

home. And this will probably boost

Andrea's

votes next week with people scared about

him

going home. But for one shining moment I was happy.

[Kaoteek]

 If I was enclined to conspiracy theorizing, I'd argue they put 

Stevi

and the strongest singer in the bottom two, just to be sure to get rid of

Stevi

... but then again,

Andrea

really was competent but bland & boring, yesterday, so... Today, he was somewhat better, but

Stevi

was also surprisingly decent. Oh, well, too bad. I'm sure the staging for

Stevi

's performances would have been even more outrageous had he stayed in.

 

Anyway... the upcoming weeks will be pretty boring to me, so I'm kind of hoping Fleur will get the win... but I'm not kidding myself about it.

[Rockwello]

What I don't understand is how simon is supporting nonsense like stevi? He would have been so harsh if this was Idol, lol

[Kromm]

It's such a damn shame both of those guys in the bottom 2 couldn't BOTH go home.  Over the top, meet over the topper.

 

Fleur for the win.  The only one in the entire contest I can actually see having an actual career.

[Kromm]

BTW:  Someone still has to explain David Guetta to me.  To this day I don't get what's the big deal about having some real talented singer fronting you, while you stand on a platform behind them pressing a few buttons and clapping your hands over your head.

[aradia22]

I don't really get DJ's or producers either but I don't hate his songs like other people do. Sometimes I do listen to EDM stuff like Avicii and wish that they could just take out the dance breakdown and leave the vocals.

[Kromm]

I don't really get DJ's or producers either but I don't hate his songs like other people do. Sometimes I do listen to EDM stuff like Avicii and wish that they could just take out the dance breakdown and leave the vocals.

Producers make sense. They do a lot in a studio. DJs--at least the modern implementation of a DJ where they are somehow part of the act and get lauded as "artists" doesn't make the same kind of sense (to me at least).  I mean I get that they may still have had a big effect on the backing music being played, but it's not INTERACTIVE.  So them standing there bopping around and waving over their heads just, to old and out of touch me, makes them look like poseurs.

 

A guy like David Guetta in particular... he's not even doing recognizable things that DJs from the Rap era, for example did--where they were recognizably using turntables and consoles as substitute musical instruments.  Guetta just fiddles with stuff we can't really tell what it's doing and has flashing lights and various video and other screens around him, and does lame ass "pump it up" motions over his head.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Kromm

[aradia22]

 

Producers make sense. They do a lot in a studio.

Oh, I agree. I just thought David Guetta was considered a producer and not a DJ. I can't keep up with these things. I like Titanium. I don't need to see him onstage but I like some of the songs he puts out.

[Kromm]

Oh, I agree. I just thought David Guetta was considered a producer and not a DJ. I can't keep up with these things. I like Titanium. I don't need to see him onstage but I like some of the songs he puts out.

Because he gets good talent to sing, yes.  It's his on-stage shtick, and in fact the marketing of him as the core figure I don't get.

 

Compare him to lets say... Carlos Santana. He's an interesting older parallel.  Santana doesn't sing, and the typical albums are all guest stars, but he IS recognizably performing (and I think has at least a few musical tracks without any guest singer).  Guetta, is harder to figure out.  Apparently per his bios his early career was just as much hosting parties and managing night clubs as DJing.  And he did write and produce songs eventually for people like The Black-Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, etc.  How that transition to HIS name going on the front of the album, and him getting on stage acting like he's doing something more than waving his hands and blinking lights is the mystery. SURE he did more--BEFOREHAND (assuming he wrote and arranged the songs).