PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON MY NEW TWITTER!!!! PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON MY NEW TWITTER!!!!
http://twitter.com/#!/UnassumingName
So y’all sick of American Idol, yet? Well I promise this will be my last post concerning season 10 (at least f0t a while…) What better way to end probably the strongest season since…season 6?…than to finally countdown the twenty best performances from the season. I made some earlier rankings as the season went along, and opinions change. So if this list seems a little inconsistent with my earlier American Idol rankings…it’s simply because I’ve changed my mind and I’ve learned to love/hate some performances more. That’s life I guess. So let’s begin this thing!
20. Scotty McCreery “Check Yes or No” – Consistent contestant. Perfect song choice for him. What more is there to say?
19. Scotty McCreery “She Believes in Me” – Definitely my favorite performance from Scotty. I just love it when he hits those big, “high” notes (not “Jacob Lusk” high but still…) He ranks pretty low on this list (but it’s 20 performances out of like 100!)…but I really don’t mind that he won. He’s been a favorite of mine since “babylockthemdoors”.
18. Lauren Alaina “If I Die Young” – I think I rank this performance in the top 20 because it was such a perfect song choice for Lauren…and the type of song she should be singing. She’s a “Taylor Swift”…not a “Melissa Etheridge”. (PS…I know this isn’t a Taylor Swift song…but you gotta admit…it kinda does sound like a song Swift would sing…of course with boy trouble mixed in it.)
17. Haley Reinhart “Rolling in the Deep” – I love the Adele version, but Haley really found her own voice with this song. When she sings “Count Your Blessings…”, I’m just like DAY-UM! Even Adele doesn’t do that!
16. Pia Toscano “River Deep Mountain High” - How she was eliminated with this performance I’ll never know. Yeah, she could have moved around more (maybe by getting rid of those high heels!) But the vocal for this performance is outstanding. When she is turned around from the audience, then she turns around to face the audience to begin singing, I already get chills.
15. Thia Megia “Smile” – Soft, comforting. This was one of the most effortless performances from the season. Her voice just soothes my…everything!
14. Lauren Alaina “Wild One” – Fun performance where Lauren is really allowed to break out of her shell. Maybe I just love the song too much! It seems like my personal favorite performances from Lauren are everyone else’ least favorite. Go figure!
13. Lauren Alaina “Anyway” – For someone who has taken very little risks on the stage…she still has a lot of great performances. Like this one. Listen!
12. Haley Reinhart “You and I” – She took a risk. Screw the judges (and that one guy who does USA Today’s Idol Meter)! To everyone else with ears, this was a stand out performance.
11. Casey Abrams “Harder to Breathe” - It was the kiss. Nuff said.
10. Haley Reinhart “Beautiful” - For some reason, I find myself replaying this performance over and over again. This is one of the few times where the Idol recording is stronger than the original. Carole King has officially passed the torch to Haley! A funky, soulful, energetic, exciting performance.
9. Naima Adedapo “Umbrella” – Man! I love this performance! Best dancer the show has ever seen? And the reggae was added in nicely. (PS…her face is really symmetrical).
8. Casey Abrams “Your Song” - At least Casey left with one intimate, vulnerable moment on the show. And this was it. He desperately needed this performance after being “almost eliminated” the week before. He proved to America he deserved to be “in it to win it” (well…that is until he sang “Hi-Dee-Ho” a few weeks later).
7. Stefano Langone “If You Don’t Know me By Now” – Despite Stefano’s stumble during the following weeks to come…he still delivered some great vocals…and this was definitely his best. PS…the live version is stronger than the studio version.
6. James Durbin “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow” – Arguably, the purest, strongest, most fantastic male vocal of the season. When he sings that first line…I was in shock. I’ve always loved James…but that was a most definitely a turning point. If it wasn’t for this performance…his elimination a few weeks after wouldn’t have been much of a big deal. This was the performance that made him a “front runner”.
5. Naima Adedapo “Dancing in the Street” – Naima’s elimination was a sad moment for me…because at the time, she was the most inventive and creative and exciting contestant there. She occasionally had issues with pitch…but this performance was IMO pitch perfect. And she nailed it with the African dancing!
4. Kendra Chantelle “Georgia on my Mind” – My biggest regret during this Idol season is that I never gave Chantelle the support she deserved early on. It took me about 3 listens after my first ranking of this season to realize how amazing and strong this performance is…and how potential Chantelle had to shine in this competition. Well…the chance is over now. But I’ll make it up to her by deservedly putting this performance fourth on my list (like she’ll ever read this!) Even the beginning low part is beautiful because it’s impressive that a female singer can even hit those notes…and she sings them with conviction…just like the rest of the song.
3. Pia Toscano “Where Do You Broken Hearts Go” – This is my favorite Pia performance. One, I think the arrangement is really cool…I even prefer it to the original. Two, the outfit she’s wearing is so weird, it’s bad-ass. And three, the vocals are out of this world. This proved that she didn’t have to sing ballads all the time to show off her booming, over powering vocals. It’s not a coincidence that her 2 strongest performances were upbeat songs.
2. Lauren Alaina “Born to Fly” – Yes…this is number 2 on my list. Deal with it! She’s fun! She’s cute! She’s boppy! And she was born to fly…to number one on the Billboards-ok, i’m done.
1. Haley Reinhart “Bennie and the Jets” – Once again, this is number one on my list. I have nothing more to say except…she’s one of my favorite contestants of all time (up there with Adam and Kelly and Allison and Crystal and David Cook and Fantasia)…and I really really hope she gets signed and does well in the music industry…and doesn’t go the way of other third placers (like Kimberly Locke, Vonzell, Melinda, Kimberly, Syesha…wow, what do these women have in common?) I think Haley is great and I wish she was my friend.
And can I be real for a moment? I honestly think all of Haley’s performances (minus 2 or 3) was pretty much better than everything else this season…so I tried to be as fair and as unbiased as possible…but I’m still reeling over the fact that I couldn’t put “House of the Rising Sun”, “I who Have Nothing”, “What is and what it never should be” and even “I’m Your Baby Tonight” on this list. Oh well!
So…last word? Despite the fact that another dude won this season…this was truly a season for women. They take 14 of the top 20 spots. So…yeah…here’s to ten years!
PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON MY NEW TWITTER!!!! PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON MY NEW TWITTER!!!!
http://twitter.com/#!/UnassumingName
I don’t know if I’ll be recapping the Voice (although I have been watching…and I’m totes rooting for the Thompson sisters!)…but I’ll definitely be recapping X Factor. I cannot wait!
AND also…I’ll be recapping SYTYCD during this summer so continue to read this blog. See ya later!
