Music To My Ears: 6+1 Idols Dance The Night Away

Lil Rounds - "I'm Every Woman" - Chaka Khan
As disjointed and desperate a performance as we've seen from her, from the vocal delivery to the choreography. Not unexpectedly so given the trajectory she's been on and the steady decline in support from the judges and now, clearly, the producers. Everyone's out of love with Lil -- as demonstrated by the "death spot" order she was given, through to Simon driving the final nail into her coffin. This week, though, I can't even really feel sorry for her. She continued her stubborn ways, being unwilling or unable to help herself, choosing Chaka Khan (covered by Whitney et al.). It will be funny to see if her voting bloc keeps her in this, against every direct and indirect effort to oust her. Funny, but also sad--for her, and for us. MTME Rating: 2 / 5

Kris Allen - "She Works Hard For The Money" - Donna Summer
Yet another completely original, interesting arrangement from Kris. He stamps his artistry on each song. Kris was one of the contestants that I thought would struggle most with this theme, but he took a big risk and it paid off. The sub-text that Ryan seemed to be suggesting during the intro was that Kris didn't know the song is about a prostitute (at least, I think that's the sub-text. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!). Yet, he definitely chose the song understanding that it "told a story." What, he thought she was a waitress in a 24/7 diner?? LOL Could sweet kissy-face Kris possibly be that innocent? No matter...regardless of WHY he connected to the lyric, connect he did. I will say, though, that his connection didn't result in a particularly strong emotional response from the audience. This song just can't get to that place that is Kris's special niche: the deeply felt, authentic emotion that he pulls out of listeners with his interpretation and his arrangement. Tonight, I didn't think the vocal was particularly compelling--it was solid, but not exceptional, and we've heard him stronger. Nonetheless, I loved the jazzy, contemporary feel he gave this song and he has now definitely shown himself to be among the best song arrangers this show has ever seen. MTME Rating: 4.25 / 5

Danny Gokey - "September" - Earth Wind & Fire
The extra little whoo's and bop-bop-bops didn't work for me, but other than that, I really enjoyed Danny's performance! This was a great song choice, with excellent upbeat energy to it. He showed some personality, picked up the tempo, put a little flair in some of the phrasing here and there and got back to that place of strength where he can really connect with the audience in a genuine way. AND I loved the sampling of I Can See Clearly Now which is the song I chose for him last week. HAH!!! Brownie points for that, Danny (also MUCH better with your trademark glasses. Please keep them on!) MTME Rating: 4 / 5

Allison Iraheta - "Hot Stuff" - Donna Summer
Miss Allison shows she TOO can bring something unique in the way of an arrangement that shows off her particular strengths and style. I'm going to go along with (most) of the judges (heaven forbid, even Randy), saying that while the arrangement suited her, the vocal wasn't her best. Not that it was particularly bad, but the combination of so-so song, adequate performance and average vocal adds up to nothing much to grab hold of or be impressed by. I loved the rocker-chick meets disco-diva outfit though -- it worked! MTME Rating: 3.75 / 5

Adam Lambert - "If I Can't Have You" - Bee Gees
I have mixed emotions about this, as usual. I admire the completely new treatment that Adam gave this song. I just don't know if it was entirely successful -- not only did he slur his words on a couple of lyrics, but in points I could hear his voice starting to show some strain. (I hope he is taking care of his voice. The amount of singing these kids are doing -- you will have heard Paula's comment about Lil being on complete vocal rest yesterday -- is at this point in the competition probably really starting to separate the trained from the untrained. No one is pushing himself harder than Adam, so he better be careful or he could find himself unable to perform when it really matters.)

Aside the unusual, only semi-successful arrangement, I thought he overacted it and as a result his attempt to create an emotional moment felt ... yet again ... staged. Adam's unpredictability is now becoming a little bit predictable. His repertoire seems to ping-pong between over-the-top performances filled with energy and that distinctive vocal range to slowed-down, all-falsetto treatments acted out to give the impression of drama, but not the reality of emotional connection.

There are six weeks left, and no doubt he'll be here for all of them (barring a shocker). I need to see something else from him. How is it possible that such an exciting and entertaining performer is starting to bore me? Has he set my expectations so high that he is now failing to live up to them? Perhaps. For all of those reasons, this didn't quite work for me. MTME Rating: 3.85 / 5

Matt Giraud - “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees
Okay, you know Robin Williams? He wears a full beard in his dramatic movies, and is clean-shaven in his comedies. I've decided that Matt with and without his fedora is a similar kind of thing: with, he gives us a strong performance within his comfort zone. Without, we're in trouble. Tonight, fedora on -- and he delivered a go-for-broke performance of "Stayin' Alive": the ground-zero disco song. The mother of all disco hits. The ... oh, you get it. The performance was infused with Matt's knowledge that he evaded his fate last week and got a second chance. He had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. There were a few problems with the falsetto screech somewhere there in the first third, and a lot of breathlessness ... and by and large, he didn't transport this beyond its kitschy disco (and dated) origins. But it barely mattered because of the energy and conviction he brought to it. If it does turn out to be his last performance, then he'll be leaving on a high. MTME Rating: 3.75 / 5

Anoop Desai - “Dim All the Lights” by Donna Summer
The song is unfamiliar to me. As for Anoop, I like the scruffy look ... it's a shame he's finally gone fashion-forward just when he's taken a step back musically. The abrupt ending to this song capped off an overall awkward arrangement. The vocal sounded pretty clean, and almost excruciatingly boring. Whatever Paula was blathering on about Kris shopping in the ladies department (for this we traded intro clips of the Idols?!?), Anoop has in the past been able to take a song performed by a female and turn it into something quite special. Not so this time. MTME Rating: 2.75 / 5

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MTME Ranks:

Kris: 4.25
Danny: 4

Adam: 3.85
Allison: 3.75
Matt: 3.75

Anoop: 2.75
Lil: 2

A final note: Overall, the performance order seems to be completely random this year. Ending the show with Anoop left us on a bit of a downer. Not only are they pacing the show differently now that there are 4 judges but, in a demonstration of monumental poor planning for a reality show that has been on the air 8 years and pulls the kind of ratings it does, they appear to be managing each show on the fly. Tonight, with the abrupt start (all of a sudden Lil was singing! no intro, no nuttin'!) and the disappointing ending, I have to wonder whether Nigel Lythgoe's steady hand at the helm--as autocratic as he no doubt was--isn't sorely missed.

Music To My Ears: Top 7 Emote, err, Sing (or something)

Tuesday night, we heard more over-arranging and overall unevenness as our fading former frontrunners and judges' faves (Danny, Lil) tried to up their game and missed; and our challengers (Matt, Allison) weren't at their best. Anoop, Kris and Adam hit their sweet spots: but while the first one surprised me and the second mesmerized me, the last left me, funnily enough, a bit cold.

Here's how I heard it:

Allison Iraheta - “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" - Aerosmith, Armageddon

This song won a Raspberry award, did you know that? Allison bottomed out on some of the low notes at the beginning but when she hit her stride and started belting it, she was powerful. The editing of the song was a little odd, and I think made it sound more off-pitch than it was. Even Simon, grudgingly, had to acknowledge her as a likely frontrunner, and certainly the best hope of the two gals. Solid effort, but not nearly as good as last week. MTME Rating: 3.5 / 5

Anoop Desai - “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams - Robin Hood
Anoop! Dawg!! You KILLED it!! What a gorgeous arrangement--an arrangement that actually worked (hear that Matt? see below). Anoop brought out all of the emotion of the song, through holding on to those key words and notes, and by projecting it to the audience (oh yeah, he MUST have been singing to someone special!). I usually find this song slightly cloying, as I do much of Bryan Adams' music, but, as he did with True Colors (a song I do like), Anoop really sold it to me! He climbs out of the bottom 2 with this performance, easily. I hope the voters see it that way. MTME Rating: 4 / 5

Adam Lambert - “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild
A wild ride, for sure. Everything from the sneers to the pelvic thrusts to the interplay with the band and the final, on-his-knees spent posture were contrived and delivered with specific intent. It was just way over the top in a clichéd, I-wanna-be-a-rock-star kind of way. As a result, there was no emotional connection for me--I didn't feel the power of the song, which is a classic rebel yell. His performance, by being so calculated, ran counter to this anthem to rebellion, and to being uninhibited, wild and free.

Now, you may say--what on earth was Adam doing if he wasn't wild and free in this performance? But wait: he was not. Every move, every look, every vocal inflection was staged and planned to give the impression of being so, but it was an act. This is the Adam show with which we are now very familiar. It's high energy and vocally proficient, yes. But when he picks these uptempo songs, it gives him even less room to actually bring nuanced emotion to the stage. He just becomes very, very ... theatrical. There's no other word for it. And because I was so aware of it being an act, I didn't end up feeling what he wanted me to feel. It was, as Simon is fond of saying, self-indulgent. Yes, I stood and watched, in awe, of his vocal acrobatics and tremendous energy. But that fourth wall--it is still there. MTME Rating: 3.75 / 5

Matt Giraud - “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” by Bryan Adams - Don Juan deMarco
Oyyyyy ... this was a bit of a mess, and I really, really like Matt. I do. But this has just got to stop. He is overarranging and trying too hard. This was actually a pretty good song pick (too much Bryan Adams tonight, but still...). It started nice and simple, with a lovely piano accompaniment, but by the line "see every dream", it started a steep decline. He wrestled it back when he returned to the melody, but every time he tried to change it up, he just went off. It was painful. I bet it will be better in the studio. The other thing is that falsetto: I think I understand now what he is doing with it. He is overusing it to make up for a lack of range, I believe. The analogy that is coming to mind is of a plain woman who wears far too much make-up. From a distance, it looks pretty, but get too close-up and it just highlights the real flaws. All of the vocal flourishes (or some of them, anyway) serve only to disguise what is, at the core, a pretty average range and tone. I liked the bit at the end when he went into his growly voice, and then that last falsetto note, but by then it was too late. MTME Rating: 3.25 / 5

Danny Gokey - “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie - Endless Love
Arrrrrrrrrrggggggggggh. No, no no no no no. A harp? A HARP! Someone please just shoot me now. Perhaps he would like to come out in a white flowing gown wearing angel wings, hmmm?
And Simon pandered right back at him, because ... oh who cares why. We all know why.
Danny is, when I'm feeling generous, a B-range singer. He has a nice raspy tone to his voice, which would be served better if he would veer away from the cheap sentiment--which is, at best, sincere but misguided, and at worst, deliberately manipulative. He is choosing songs that pander to his audience's emotions in as crass a way as it is possible, whether intentionally or not. And tonight, he was off-pitch more than he was on, from the beginning through to at least the middle. He then picked it up for a big sentimental ending. I'm surprised they didn't lift him (and the harpist) up on guywires to the rafters in a crescendo of tearjerkery glory. I am filing this performance under "Céline" cross-referenced with "overwrought angst." Paula, Simon ... you totally missed the boat not calling this guy on that stuff, and your failure to do so--especially you, Simon--is evidence of your own crass manipulation (and underestimation) of your audience. MTME Rating: 2.5 / 5

Kris Allen - “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Once
Quentin said: Kris "lived up to the spirit of the competition most." Amen, brother, and nowhere was that more apparent than in tonight's line-up. Thank you, Kris, for being the anti-Adam and the anti-Danny of this competition. This is not only appreciated (at least, by me) but also smart. What we get from Kris--quiet, consistent, confident Kris--are simple, nuanced performances of depth and quality (leaving aside the misstep of All She Wants To Do Is Dance last week, of course). We get subtlety and genuine emotion. Was it a perfect vocal, or a technically outstanding one? No, but it was a very strong vocal, a controlled one, and one that touched us with its authenticity.

What I like about what Kris did here (and this takes extreme control and confidence), is that he picked an original, unusual, very hip song, and then he let it BE. There is no need to over-arrange a song that almost no one has heard anyway, and he resisted the urge to do anything big and blowsy with it. Good choice not to have the guitar (or other instrument)--very similar to what he did with To Make You Feel My Love. Without the guitar, we got to focus on the emotion of the song, and his delivery of it. Kris, again, hit that sweet spot that is uniquely his (and, increasingly, although in some way less compellingly, Anoop's): the sincere, heartfelt performance. Where the others are trying to throw every vocal trick in the book at us to impress the judges and cow their competitors, and also overarrange these overdone songs to try to make them interesting, Kris instead picks an interesting song and sings it well. I mean, it's so simple really!! With subtlety and I would even say strategy, he is sneaking up the middle, letting Adam do his Adam thing and polarize the masses; and watching Danny and Lil self-immolate. Now that Matt has had another off night (and may even be on his way home because of it), I'm thinking Kris' real competition is Allison, hehe.

"Take that sinking boat and point it home / we've still got time" -- listen to the nuance, the subtlety, the emotion in that. Oh. My. Just perfectly gorgeous. It was a bit rough starting, but when he got to the chorus, he totally had his hooks in me. Heartwrenching and wonderful. MTME Rating: 4.5 / 5

Lil Rounds - “The Rose” by Bette Midler - The Rose
I did not hate this. I thought it was a pretty good song choice--she did pick something "big" but compared to what we were all worried she was going to do, it wasn't THAT big. I also hear where she was trying to take it, and I thought she was partially successful--I like some of the trills and runs she brought to it, but -- similar to Matt -- it was too much fluff on top of what is really a very classic melody that just sounds, well, odd with all those vocal curlicues. Thing is: Bette Midler is about as white as you can get, as is this song, and it just really doesn't take well to an R&B patina, y'know? I really felt bad for Lil tonight, because I see what she was trying to do. And I applaud her attempt to justify her decision to Simon; I hope that doesn't backfire against her. By the end, she was in tears, and even Ryan seemed to desert her as he rushed to get the final clips up. It made me sad. MTME Rating: 3.75 / 5

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So, weirdly enough, here are the MTME Rankings (out of 5) for the evening:

Kris 4.5
Anoop 4

Lil 3.75
Adam 3.75
Allison: 3.5
Matt: 3.25

Danny 2.5

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.