Confirmed: Jason Castro Signed to Atlantic

Fans of the laid-back dreadhead have been abuzz for weeks, ever since Jason Castro cancelled a much-anticipated release of an independent CD. Today, Atlantic Records confirms they have signed the Season Seven third runner-up:

Atlantic Records has announced the signing of singer/songwriter Jason Castro. The Texas-based tunesmith, best known as the third runner-up on the 2008 season of Fox's American Idol, is currently hard at work on his debut album, set for release later this year. A multi-talented singer and guitarist, Jason Castro was among the most popular and talented artists in American Idol history, entering the record books as the first contestant ever to play an instrument on the show.

Atlantic lists a number of high-profile creative collaborators on the project, including Grammy Award-winning producer John Fields (Lifehouse, Switchfoot, Soul Asylum) and a number of acclaimed songwriters, including Kara DioGuardi (Kelly Clarkson, Jewel, Santana), Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall), Sacha Skarbek (James Blunt, Jason Mraz), Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams), and Jason Reeves (Colbie Caillat).

Atlantic Records

Who's Hot, Who's Not: The EW Power Poll Top 7

Entertainment Weekly does a great job tracking public opinion from week to week ... here's their latest poll results.


EW.com

Music From The Movies: American Idol Top 7

In anticipation of this week's "Music From The Movies" theme, here are some Idol Moments from the three divas of Season Three (the last time this theme was done).

Fantasia: Summertime, George Gershwin (Porgy & Bess):


Jennifer Hudson: I Have Nothing, Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard):


LaToya London: Somewhere, Bernstein & Sondheim, (West Side Story):

Music To My Ears: CC Reviews The Top 8

From my recap at americanidol.com

Aside from Adam, I honestly don't know why anyone else needs to bother showing up again next week. BUT ... the show must go on. Adam is driving the rest of these contestants to compete at a level that is beyond their capabilities. That's why we saw the kind of overblown arrangements from the three other contestants fighting for that precious finale spot: Danny, Kris and Matt.

These guys are becoming increasingly desperate, and pushing themselves beyond where their talents can comfortably take them. Meanwhile, Adam merely has to pick a great song (which he has a knack for); find a good arrangement of it (or make one up), and phone it in. He barely has to try, and he still manages to deliver a performance that makes the rest of them look like it's amateur night at the Airport Holiday Inn.

Only Allison appears not to be succumbing to the pressure that Adam is creating: probably because she is youthfully oblivious to this silly show's importance to her career, or perhaps because not even she expected to last this long.

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Danny Gokey- “Stand By Me” Ben E. King

So, obviously: Danny was feeling the heat and knew he needed to do something musically innovative to get back in the game. This was an interesting arrangement. Not entirely successful, but I'll give him points for originality, and at least he didn't oversing it. There was some subtlety here, and the glimmer of a competitor who's still in it to win it.

MTME Rating: 3.25 / 5

Kris Allen - “All She Wants To do is Dance” by Don Henley
This was a bit of a mess, but not as much of a mess as the judges claimed. First, it is a strange song choice--if he wanted to go uptempo there were many other options, at least one other on that Henley album alone (Boys of Summer would've been great). There is a cynicism to this lyric that he missed--either because he skimmed over some of the lyrics, or because he made it a little too boppy and dance-y (too literal, in other words). All she wants to do is dance, despite the fact that the world around her is ruled by drug lords and gun runners. This is a CYNICAL song. The horns added a jazz element that seemed out of place--there was a little too much going on here musically, and the staging didn't help either. I'm not keen on putting these guys in the middle of the mosh pit--i can't imagine they are comfortable there, and it shows in a slightly awkward performance. We couldn't hear his guitar -- again.
MTME Rating: 3.25 / 5

Lil Rounds - “What’s Love Got to Do with It” by Tina Turner
Lil--much better outfit. Your performance was as cliched as your song choice. And, you can't keep telling the judges that "you'll do better next week." You've had your three strikes, time to go home (but she won't, just watch).

MTME Rating: 2 / 5

Anoop Desai - “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper
I liked this. I'm not over the moon in love with it and I don't think it allowed Anoop to make up any lost ground, but it was a sweet vocal, and a nice (albeit very straightforward) treatment of this song. An unusual, but I think successful, song choice and he made it work for him. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, because at this point it barely matters.

MTME Rating: 3.5 / 5

Scott MacIntyre - “The Search is Over” by Survivor
This was a disaster. Why oh why did he try to play power chords on an electric guitar ... on this song?!? It was jarring, and he's not even 1/10th as good a guitar player as he is a piano man. Leaving aside the extremely poor choice in instrumentation, the vocal itself was painful to listen to, the staging was awkward. This whole performance was just plain amateurish.

MTME Rating: 1.75 / 5

Allison Iraheta - “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt
I was completely unable to pick any songs out for these contestants this week, but I did suspect that Allison was going to do this one. Bonnie Raitt is such an obvious choice. Too obvious, and that is the problem. Yes, she sang it well ... really well, in fact. As she always does. I liked that she went for a softer ballad, but it was kind of boring. She did nothing to the arrangement to make it particularly unique or uniquely hers. She is competing with Matt, Kris and Danny for a spot in the finale against Adam ... she needs to step up the musicianship a notch. Earlier in the competition, this would have received an even higher mark. From here on out, she needs to be better.

MTME Rating: 4 / 5

Matt Giraud - “Part Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder
"Incredible on every level"? "Unbelievable"? (said Kara) A standing ovation from Paula? "A million times better than last week" (Simon) ... well, that last one's true, but the rest -- ??? I don't think so. This was one overdecorated cake, with no nutritional value whatsoever. A mess of runs, growls, headvoice and falsetto phrases. It was all over the place. It was a good song choice, but he was trying too hard to make it into something much bigger, without actually making it interesting.

MTME Rating: 3.25 / 5

Adam Lambert - “Mad World” by Tears for Fears
Well, how could we be anything but impressed by this after all that came before? The staging was very compelling -- it looked like he was floating in a pool of blue light. Almost as creative as the treatment used in the video for Gary Jules' version of this song (go look it up, it's wonderful); that is, the arrangement that Adam copied virtually note-for-note. If it was the arrangement (or the lack of time), rather than Adam's typically virtuoso vocal performance that led Simon to give him a standing "O", well -- that's unfortunate. I would have liked to have heard some judging commentary around it, to be sure of what, exactly, was leading Simon to that first-in-eight-years moment. Still, it was the best of the night, and the quality of Adam's vocal cannot be denied (despite -- or because? -- he missed the last note, recovered and made it sound like it was intentional). Very clever, very compelling performer.

MTME Rating: 4.5 / 5

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Overall Rankings (out of 5):

Adam 4.5
Allison 4

Anoop 3.5
Kris 3.25
Danny 3.25
Matt 3.25

Lil 2
Scott 1.75

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Maybe I'm just grumpy, so I'll go away and sleep on this......... do let me know what you think. Am I being unduly harsh? Should I just give up and drink the Glambert Koolaid? And the most interesting question: who has the balls to come back next week with something new, fresh, and unique to upstage Adam (and will Adam continue to push himself to the next level?)

Music To My Ears: Kris Allen's "Moment"

Top of the Ninth, Bases are Loaded and Kris Allen Steals The Show

Kris Allen is currently in a fierce battle with Matt Giraud for the title of 'dark horse' of Season Eight. This past week, in a self-admitted (and successful) attempt to create a "moment", Kris pulled into the lead by making Ain't No Sunshine (When She's Gone), a 38-year-old song that has been covered approximately 236,794 times*, sound original and current, while Matt did a current song by The Fray. Badly.

* ok, I exaggerate. But, a lot.

Kris earned an understated but emphatic approval from Simon ("good job")--capping off a string of subdued approvals and constructive critiques by Simon over the past several weeks. The previous week, when Kris did a perfectly acceptable and squeaky clean version of Marvin Gaye's How Sweet It Is, Simon told him he wasn't "conceited" enough.

Simon looks for killer instinct, and knows that without it one is unlikely to have the star power to ever make it in the music biz. In Simon's world, arrogance is a virtue and egocentricity is not just an important quality, it is an essential one. Kris--the "tender puppy"--is a bit of an enigma to Simon, because aside from being cute as a button, Kris is nice. Nice confuses Simon, almost as much as country music does. Nice guys finish last, certainly in Simon's world. Or, do they?

He may be nice, but what Kris showed us last Tuesday is that he is also a fierce, and very smart, competitor. This tender puppy has TEETH. Kris knows what Matt seems not to know (and Danny is struggling to show): that to advance in this competition, it is not enough to be talented. You must also be relevant; clear-sighted in your artistic vision and solid in your execution; capable of listening, learning and growing from the feedback you receive each week; and able to choose and arrange songs--no matter what the theme--that show off your particular musical skills.

The only thing I can possibly fault Kris on is his wardrobe, which leaves a lot to be desired. :-P (Kris--bold choice to go with the grey T-shirt. Much better than the khaki shirt of last week). LOL

But even in this, I sense a (perhaps unconscious) strategy. Kris is happy to be underestimated, and is using the fact that people's attention is elsewhere to pace himself carefully and slide into the Top 3, having gained tons of friends (fans) and no enemies.

It's a smart play, because it's the ONLY position one can take against the current frontrunner. There is no way to beat Adam at his own game, and it would be insanity to even try. Gokey is going to burn himself out trying to steal the limelight from Adam, instead of creating his own niche. You can almost hear him doing it in his vocals week to week.

The smart money is on whoever (and right now, I believe it will be Kris) can provide a viable alternative: something equally compelling, but different. This week was the week that Danny or Matt could have done it; instead, Kris actually did. (Adam and Kris are roommates--can you think of a better "odd couple"? I wonder how much Kris is learning about Adam's game, and storing up quietly to use against him. hehehe).

I've said it before, I'll say it again: this Idol year is a terrific competition.

Great Song Choice
Kris seems to have a knack for picking great songs--songs that have not been done to death on Idol, and which have great "bones". For the most part, he's chosen songs with great hook-y melodies, in his range and with lyrics that he can sink his musical chops into. Ain't No Sunshine is a fantastic song for him: it's very economical lyric-wise, but also very moody, and it offers a perfect canvas for interpretation. This is the reason, I suppose, that so many have covered it.

It is, at its very heart, a blues song. That rhythmic blues chord progression (Am-Em-G) is simple and classic. Find the cover by Freddy King or the one by Buddy Guy with Tracey Chapman, and you'll hear the song's blues roots brought to the forefront. As a blues song, it also oozes sex appeal; it is very primal. Kris is almost a little too boyish to be sexy (to wit: his self-mocking attempt to put on the sexy face for the camera that we saw last week), but he's smart enough to know that there's a good portion of girlies out there in the voting audience who want to see that from him.

And beyond that, Kris has shown how well he can make a connection to the heart and soul of a song and project that out to the audience. Go back and have a listen to his To Make You Feel My Love to hear another example of this. He's drawing from that same well of emotion, and it's no accident that they intersperse cuts of Kris's homecoming-queen wife during his performances, Simon's earlier cynicism about that notwithstanding.

Strong Vocals
What is surprising about Kris, now that I've gone back and listened about a dozen times to both the live and the studio version of this song, plus his earlier performances, is how good a singer Kris is. I mean, he rarely misses a note! He also uses runs and growls appropriately (Matt: listen up, buddy!), and in ANS, this let him transfer the emotion of the song to the audience with a well-modulated and spine-chilling intensity. Again, go back to To Make You Feel My Love, and you will hear a similar level of control.

He doesn't have the range of an Adam, of course, but he does know his own voice very well, and he can manage things on the fly: he is able to use a number of vocal tricks to get himself out of a jam, as he did during the live performance on at least two occasions, including the very last note. To my ears, that last note--while it wavered a bit--was more or less on pitch, if a bit breathless, and didn't mar the rest of the performance. In fact, it was hearing that roughness that brought home the emotion of the song, and I thought actually strengthened the overall performance. But I am weird like that, as I like to hear vocal imperfections: they bring the interpretation and emotion into relief, and make the performance feel even more real. There is nothing worse to me than a perfect, clean vocal--with no hint of any authentic emotional connection.

Musical Versatility
Now here's where Kris's strategy really paid off, and how with clear intention he vaulted this performance into a "Moment." Out of all the covers I've heard, they are almost exclusively guitar-based. (Trivia tidbit: The original had Stephen Stills on guitar; Stills is ranked #28 on Rolling Stone's List of the Top 100 Guitarists of all time). So doing this on guitar would have been the easy choice for Kris.

Instead, he chose to switch over to keyboards. Very clever move. First, we got to see Kris on a second instrument--a subtle but powerful demonstration of musicianship that automatically racheted up the competition. Since they have allowed instruments on AI, we have seen the artistry on this show go up. Vocal skills are still all-important, but if you can also play an instrument, you can offer the audience another layer of richness in your performance. (Allison, take note: if you're going to play with the big dawgs, you need to play with the big dawgs, y'hear?).

If one is good, two is even better: if you can play both of them well, you are now exhibiting true mastery over your medium. Furthermore, whether Kris did this intentionally or not, he chose instrumentation to set a mood, highlight his skills, and position himself against Matt. Matt had been getting the accolades for instrumental skills; but Kris is no less--and perhaps more--of a musician. He showed exactly how much more this week.

Second, the arrangement itself sounds to me to be completely original. I've now listened to every single cover I can find (all 457,298 of them), and the only one that seems close might be Aaron Neville's. Someone correct me if you've found a similar version out there...but to me, that sounded like Kris's own arrangement. And, what a great interpretation it was: it captured the longing, the sadness, the pent-up frustration of separation. The blues of it. As Adam does with more flamboyance, Kris did here with subtle confidence: he created a perfect storm of staging, arrangement, interpretation, vocal skill and song choice.

One Last Thing: Live versus studio version
I prefer the live version. The studio version is slightly faster, and too string-y for my taste. It's lost the gutsy, bluesy quality. Kris's vocal is beautiful, but the overall arrangement is over-embellished and not as raw. I hate the fade-out at the end, it loses the sadness and poignancy Kris offered with that final falsetto/head voice finish. I am still getting chills re-listening to the live version; not so with the iTunes one.

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Next week: Will Kris keep up the pressure, or has he blown his cover as the dark horse? Will Adam grow complacent and slip? Will Matt get back in the groove and make a final challenge for Top 3? Does Anoop have a hope in heck of catching up? Can Danny regain momentum? Who will be the final gal standing: gritty young rocker Allison or wannabe-diva Lil?

All predictions welcome! As for song choice for birth years, I haven't got a clue, but am looking forward to being surprised...again.

Music To My Ears: CC Reviews The Top 9

From the Archives at americanidol.com

This week ... it's a COMPETITION again!! Without further ado, my assessment:

Anoop Desai - "Caught Up" by Usher
I don't know this song so I have nothing to compare it to...but what I saw was Anoop trying to act the hip, streetwise R&B singer, and not quite pulling it off. He doesn't have a style to call his own -- he has a great voice, but it's not gelling with any of the music he's choosing (with the exception of his You Are Always On My Mind during Country Week). I was bored again. He seemed downright angry with the judges, barely able to bite his tongue. That attitude won't help him with the voters, but those Troopers are a steadfast lot.

MTME Rating: 3 / 5

Megan Corkrey - "Turn Your Lights Down Low" by Bob Marley
I'm going to try to find enough synonyms for quirky so that I don't have to overuse that word in this, what I expect to be the last or second-last Megan review. I like her--or at least, I want to like her. There were parts of this, a couple of 5-second snippets when she was doing a run of whooooaaas, that I actually liked. She has such a unique (quirky), interesting voice. It's a (brace yourself) Dylanesque voice. By that I mean, it sounds almost intentionally off key. On the "right" song, when she combines that weird (quirky), jarringly atonal, clipped delivery with a song that is equally as unusual (quirky) and a similar arrangement, it can work. Problem is, that can't happen week after week on this show. It's fun once. Was fun once ... on Black Horse & Cherry Tree. I think Simon said something like "everything we liked about you is now becoming annoying." That about sums it up for me, too. It's starting to be kind of heartbreaking watching the judges criticize her week after week, and Megan just standing there all pretty and smiley. I hope the voters (despite valiant attempts by the bratwursters to thwart the process) put her out of her misery soon. It's getting hard to watch.

MTME Rating: 2.5/5

Danny Gokey - "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts
A-ha!! Did Danny read my advice to him? No, you don't think?? Coz he did EXACTLY what I wanted him to do: find a great song, sing it well, make me FEEL what he is feeling. I was transfixed by the performance, even though he was just standing there basically (!), and was still a bit too yell-y for my tastes. Didn't matter this time, because he was sooooo connected to that song. Genuinely connected to a genuine lyric, not disingenuously using a lyric to take a short-cut between his own emotion and the emotion he wants to make the audience feel. (yes, I could psychanalyze that. I'll resist.) He said as much afterwards himself. This was one of the tops of the night for me, and a welcome surprise--I was starting to think I was overlooking something since so many others find him so great, and until tonight, I haven't.

MTME Rating: 4.25/5

Allison Iraheta - "Don’t Speak" by No Doubt
Allison is not much of a guitar player. She looked like she was very uncomfortable playing it, even in the rehearsal when she had to look at her fingers before each chord. Why'd she bother, other than to don the trappings of a "rock star"? She doesn't need to do that...we know she's a rock star as soon as she opens her mouth. And No Doubt? Really? Her voice sounded quite good, almost great, but the overall performance was as cluttered and messy as her outfit. Sorry Allison...this one didn't work for me, and as I said in my "Advice To The Contestants" post last night, this could end up really hurting you. Your support is too soft to withstand an less-than-stellar performance.

MTME Rating: 3.5/5

Scott MacIntyre - “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel
Ok, yes: Billy Joel is perfect for him. But, heck ... why couldn't he have done one of Billy Joel's COOL songs?!? (uhh, which one's that, CC? LOL) Instead, Scott took a 30+ year old song which was sappy and old-fashioned even in 1977, and made it sound even more old-fashioned with a truly horrific arrangement. Also, while he's a very good piano player (not quite Billy Joel, but GEFI, or "good enough for Idol"), soloing with the piano makes the imperfections in his voice even more evident. That big note at the end? That was truly dated and cheesy. It sounded like something you'd hear off-season at a hotel lounge in the Catskills.

MTME Rating: 2.75/5

Matt Giraud - “You Found Me” by the Fray
Really rough beginning ... bottoming out and off pitch on low notes, and sounded wavery throughout, perhaps nerves, perhaps exacerbated by standing in the middle of the audience. He really was quite off -- BUT, I felt the emotion in his voice and you could see it in his face. He is such a natural musician, truly sympatico with his instrument. And, I confess, I LOVE this song--I love the ambiguity and angst in the lyrics. I, for one, think we need more angst on this show, not less. Real angst, real emotions: the whole gamut of them, messy, spontaneous and authentic. Not trite sentiment or vacuous pop or contrived drama, which is what we typically get from the show, and from the songs allowed by the format. Matt kind of choked this week trying, again, to show off his 'current' side. It went awry as his Coldplay fiasco did, and for similar reasons. I refuse to believe, though, that he can't sound current and also hit that sweet soulful spot of his. We'll see what the voters think.

MTME Rating: 3.25/5

Lil Rounds - “I Surrender" by Céline Dion
Someone on the PBP said that she tore a page out of Jhud's book with her hairstyle, and as soon as I heard that I put my finger on what was wrong between this song and Lil. First, it SHOULD have been good--I mean, Lil has been pimped as though she has the chops to pull off Celine. But she didn't do it. Her voice sounded thin. And when it didn't sound thin, it sounded like she was trying too hard to make it sound ... not thin. And she was fighting the pitch all the way through. She took a backwards step on the fashion, too: not quite all the way back to her mother-of-the-bride days, but definitely in bridesmaid territory.

MTME Rating: 2.75/5

Adam Lambert - “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry
Oh, good! It was NOT the best performance of the night .... no, not by a longshot. I'm going to make this short and sweet, because I'm tired of writing about Adam. He reverted to his screamy schtick. A screamschtickle. I wanted another layer, another veil, another Adam. I didn't get it. MTME Rating: 3.5/5

Kris Allen - “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers

WOW. WOW. WOW. I would NEVER have guessed that Kris would be the horsie who would pull out front this week. A great, great song which he Krisified. He showed his versatility and another side to his musical personality on the electric piano. The vocal was almost impeccable. He missed a line, though, anyone catch it? It SO didn't matter. Best performance of his so far this year, and definitely the best performance of the night ... well-deserving of the last spot. I did find the strange caterpillar thing on his upper lip a little distracting. It looked itchy. Oh, and our cutie-patootie sweet little Kris--that boy brought some HEAT to this song!! I know (I know, I know, I know) exactly what he's gonna be up to "when she comes home." hehehe This will be the first iTune I download this year. WOW, i am relistening now and it is beyond a phenomenal vocal and arrangement. Chills, I tell you.

MTME Rating: 4.85 / 5

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

MTME Rankings:

Kris 4.85
Danny 4.25

Adam 3.5
Allison 3.5
Matt 3.25
Anoop 3

Scott 2.75
Lil 2.75
Megan 2.5

So, what do YOU think?? Are your faves holding steady? Who surprised you, changed your mind, or made you sad, mad or glad?

Music To My Ears: The Adam Lambert Show

Welcome To The Adam Lambert Show, formerly known as American Idol Season Eight

First, to those of you PMing me (or feeling inclined to post here) about whether I've got a hate-on or a love-on for any particular contestant, please rest assured: I don't. Each of the Top 9 has the potential to give a performance that is as nuanced and interesting as any other. Yes, including Megan. And maybe (but I don't think so), Scott. I don't not like Scott. He's a lovely man who plays a mean piano. I just think he's now way over his head on this show.

Just as soon as someone other than Adam gives me something to grab hold of, chew away at and think about in terms of performance, you can bet they will get my attention and my time. In fact, let's hope someone does, because when this show becomes a foregone conclusion this early in the season, it gets a bit boring, doncha think?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Adam pulled off a feat of fairly monumental proportions this week: he actually brought an entire audience segment onside with that one performance of ToMT. You've probably all seen what I've seen--there is no end to the commentary on these here boards that starts kind of like this: "well, I'm not an Adam fan, but..." and ends something like "this week, I really enjoyed his performance."

Adam The Actor

Adam made a very shrewd, very calculated, very smart set of performance choices this week. His musical theatre background lets him approach every performance as an actor would. Every song is a planned series of choices, not only vocally, but also with respect to gesture, expression, staging, costume, arrangement, etc. Then, he delivers. Live.

I'd like to know how much control a contestant has over those aspects of their performance (or even of song choice for that matter). Did Adam, for example, ask for (and receive) the three musicians accompanying him on stage? Or, do the producers see where a contestant is taking a song, and then stage/choreograph it? I suspect it's probably a combination: the stronger and more confident a contestant is musically, the more likely it is that their vision gets expressed. I assume the producers have final control over staging based on its viability for TV and the reality show format. There has been no end of speculation as to why Chris Daughtry always got the dry ice and light show, for example. But still ... I don't think it's as cut-and-dried as producers picking a fave and stacking the deck for them. Someone with experience and chutzpah (who clearly knows his or her value to the show) can likely make more demands than can a less confident contestant.

Toning It Down

Apart from staging, the second choice Adam made was about how to take this week's performance in a different musical direction. I imagine that he knew how polarizing Ring of Fire was, and figured he needed to go somewhere else this week.

He could have chosen a song that maintained his ability to show off his range--one of his key strengths--but scaled back his tendency to scream. Or, he could have chosen to do a song "straight"--i.e., forgo a unique arrangement, and focus instead on his vocal skills and the emotional interpretation.

Instead, he decided to do about five different things at once: take an emotional song, a song with tremendous nuance; arrange it so that he could sing it entirely in head voice and falsetto (thks for clarification on that, FTA); stage it so that the emotional element comes to the forefront (and his tendency to over-dramatize is minimized); costume and make-up himself so that it is a complete about-face to the Adam character that we have seen; and then deliver it with nary a false note (ok, one or two wobbles, which he masterfully finessed his way around). Plus, that long, head-voice, a capella note at the end? That's like a figure skater deciding to put a triple axel at the end of a long routine. The breath control was amazing. And he was SITTING.

So, he is literally saying: not only am I going to show you I don't have to scream all the time, but I'm going to show you an entirely different type of vocal style of which I'm capable. All you naysayers: I am going to blow your mind by being understated and classy in the same way I have been blowing others' (minds) by being dramatic and flamboyant. You wanna see another side to me, here's another side.

That's a pretty remarkable accomplishment.

Song Choice

Another thing: the song itself. Ok, so the edit they chose of Smokey telling Adam what the song was about? Watch Adam's reaction to Smokey's explanation. He remains respectful, even mouths the words "ooohhh" and I think what amounted to a partial "wow." But inside, I think he's sayin': Smokey, my man, I understand this song better than you think I do. This song is about a person in conflict, who feels so much inside but must "masquerade" to the outside world. THAT's what I'm goin' for....

Smokey tells Adam the literal meaning of the song. That's not what Adam asked, or what he wanted to know: Adam asked, "what inspired you to write it?" He was asking for the emotional context of the song, so that he could get into the character's head. That's an actor for ya'! Adam already knew what the song meant, but was seeking info about the emotional wellspring from whence the lyrics came.

What the title means, literally, is the LEAST interesting thing about that song. Much more interesting is the fact that this song is about someone showing a public face that is much different than the swirling chaos and sadness of their internal emotions:

Although I might be laughing loud and hearty, deep inside I'm blue ...

So take a good look at my face, you'll see my smile looks out of place ...

Outside I'm masquerading ... Inside my hope is fading

Incidentally, this song is a companion song to Smokey's other, Tears of a Clown. Same sentiment; in fact, the next lyric from above is "Just a clown oh yeah..." Now, don't tempt me to get into a psychoanalysis of Smokey Robinson...coz you know, I will. :-P

What a song choice! Here we are all critiquing Adam for not showing us "the real him." And he comes out and sings a song about the struggle that a person has when their internal emotional state contradicts the external face they present in public. You don't think that was intentional? That was intentional. And awesome.

Making It Work For TV

Last thing: Adam has clearly figured out how to scale back his stage mannerisms for a TV audience. As I've said elsewhere and at the start here, Adam is an actor first. In musical theatre, an actor (or director) doesn't have control - via editing, camera angles/shots, etc. - of the audience's attention. The actor must actively demand the audience's attention with every move he makes. As a result, gestures, expressions and vocals need to be BIG, over-dramatized to get the audience to focus in on them, when there is so much else to divert their attention. On TV, that can look very artifical, very staged. What Adam was being criticized for--smouldering looks and sneers into the camera, the hand gestures, even the over-the-top screaming--was, I think, an artefact of his musical theatre background. He has learned, as he confessed he needed to do way back in the Top 36, I believe it was, how to scale back his stage mannerisms to create a more intimate moment for the TV camera.

Next week, look for another layer, both in terms of vocals and performance, to be revealed. I'm no longer really concerned about seeing the real Adam. I'm more interested, now, in seeing the next Adam.