American Idol 4 Episode Review: Top 9 --- Classical Musicals

Top 9: Classical Musicals Nite
Urgh! What a theme! I really liked the generic themes so far. Not only is this theme so narrow, the genre doesn’t appeal to the audience of AI.

Scott Savol: The Impossible Dream
Oh my! A sign of things to come for this episode: boring. Vocally, he sounds nice, but not a performance to remember. A few bum notes near the end, and the last note was scary.

Constantine Maroulis: My Funny Valentine
This was certainly an “Oh My Gosh” performance! I did not know that Con had this in him. As it turns out, he had some theatre training in school before, and it really showed. The arrangement was perfect. The key was perfect for his vocals. And of course he smoldered for the camera as usual. This is Con for me, a crooner. As long as forgets the rock stuff, I like him a lot.


Carrie Underwood: Hello Young Lovers
Technically, this was the best vocal performance. Maybe it was because she was unfamiliar with the song so she concentrated on getting the vocals spot on. Almost flawless. To think she never had any formal vocal training. However, the song was boring.

Vonzell Solomon: People
Like Carrie’s song, I found it boring, but with her vocal talent, as able to make something out of it. I really was considering giving up reviewing this episode. A few bad notes, but she nailed the big one at the end.

Anthony Federov: Climb Every Mountain
OK. The Sound of Music is one of my favorite shows, and this is my favorite song from it. He started out hideously (as it turned out, Simon used that word too!), and I immediately started rummaging for my Sound of Music tape. The middle was OK, but he butchered the last note big time.

Nikko Smith: One Hand, One Heart
Started out pretty rough, but he managed to infuse his modern R&B style into this song. Vocally not as polished as Carrie or Vonzell, but I enjoyed the performance. The end was very strong.

Anwar Robinson: If Ever I Would Leave You
He had a rough time with the lower range of his vocals, and I never got into the song. Another poor song choice for him. A shame since he has such a nice voice.

Bo Bice: Corner of the Sky
I wasn’t impressed when he announced how he picked this song: by closing his eyes and pointing at the song list. Sounded defeated from the start. His performance showed this, and was easily his weakest. I got the impression that he didn’t put in much effort, and was just hoping that he had enough of a fan base to make it to the next round.

Nadia Turner: As Long as He Needs Me
At this stage, I am wondering how I managed to finish the review for this episode. Nadia does OK, but like the rest, was boring. Please no more musicals.

Overall comments:
Simply put, no more musicals for heaven’s sake. I only enjoyed Constantine, and this is the first time I felt I wasted time watching the show. Again Anthony has my vote to go.

Top 9 rankings:
Constantine
Carrie, Vonzell
Nikko (voted off) , Nadia
Anwar
Scott
Bo
Anthony

Thoughts on Nikko:
I always liked Nikko from the semis, and was disappointed that he originally did not make it to the final 12. I guess that maybe the way he wore his glasses made it difficult for the audience to have eye contact with him. He definitely found this niche in R&B. Vocally not great, and he sure is smooth. I guess I wasn’t too surprised that he was the first guy to go.