American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 11

Last week’s elimination when Adam landed in bottom two gave a major scare to Glambert Nation. Vote splitting and voter’s complacency were blamed. However, this week the Glamberts were riled up and voted like crazy. Adam’s bottom two landing officially made Danny the only front runner in the competition... interesting.

This week’s mentor Slash the lead guitarist from the famous rock band Guns n Roses was helping Danny pull off the challenging song Dream On from Aerosmith. The song is kinda like hard to pull off especially to a crooner like Danny because it got a sinister high note wail in the end that he had to belt. Slash warned him it could go either way to awesome or to a massive trainwreck. Unfortunately for him, it went from awful pitchy moments from beginning to major last note scream wreckage. Simon said the scream was like he’s watching a horror movie and he was absolutely right that it made me laugh so hard. I also noticed Danny was copying Adam’s signature moves like the eyefuck and it didn’t worked for him. Danny should stick to his own style and stop being an Adam wannabee.

Led Zeppelin mysteriously gave clearance to a rock song Whole Lotta Love for Adam to sing in the show. Adam seemed to have the trust and respect by the rocker community. Who wouldn’t? He got the pipes to pull it off. During the show, Adam in his full rock make-up and outfit didn’t fail to impress. His all out solid vocals and his entrancing acapella rendition nailed every inch of the song it was whole lotta perfect. Kara called him the “ROCK GOD”.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 10

American Idol has been evolving rapidly in this 8th season. Usually, viewers were treated two songs from the contestants when it is down to 5 (or in this case 4) however adding additional judge (Kara) made the critiques took longer time and it made 8 performances difficult to squeeze within one hour. Interesting... what they did was to tweak the format again and came up with “duets”. So, 4 performances plus 2 duets which was first time in American Idol hopefully will solve the time constraint dilemma. I don’t know if it is acceptable for the viewers or it is beneficial for the contestants though.

Singing Styx's Renegade, the first pair was cool Kris and his partner Danny who was wearing his trademark glasses which was odd in rock week by the way. Vocally, both of them were pitchy in their solos but together they harmonized very well. But Danny had a disgusting propensity to pullout from the pair and sang by himself in full volume doing runs and riff in the end of the song. That left poor Kris just watching him and acting a little bit surprised or pissed I guess. Judge Simon comments about Danny being the better singer doesn’t make Kris felt better also.

Meanwhile, if there is a term for a perfect marriage in duets, Adam and Allison would be the right pair suited for that. Both have rockers written all over them from their hair (Allison said that Adam hooked her up with his hairstylist and that explained why they looked so well blended), their mannerism and swagger, their outfits (Adam’s tight pants anyone?), and of course their solid rock vocals. Their rendition of Slow Ride was done in team effort and was one of my favorite performances ever in American Idol and the hug was so cute. Adam said Allison is like his little sister, sweet.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 9

Season 8 could be anybody's ball game and heading to a down the wire finish. As mostly expected,The only black contestant Lil Rounds and the RnB Indian crooner Anoop Desai were booted out from the show during last week's elimination. Only five more contestants left who are going to sing in Rat Pack themed episode. Aside from Adam and Danny, 16 year old rocker girl Allison, cutie-pie and a sneaky dark horse Kris and the 2-time bootproof contestant Matt are still gunning to reach the finish line in this highly rated singing competition. Adam the elephant in the house had all the indicators pointing him as front runner. However, Danny could still managed to stay right on track to hit a bullseye and the other 3 remaining contestants surely got something else in their arsenal to provide us a shocker elimination.

Just as I was thinking Danny was fizzling down in the competition, he dropped a huge bomb in the stage strutting "Come Rain or Come Shine". I have to admit that, it was really a stellar performance as Paula Abdul described it. Danny just bounced back in the competition showing Adam a run for the money. It was the first time in the competition for me to see Danny showed something different in his singing style and that was satisfyingly unexpected.

Now, after that big Danny performance, it left me wondering what Adam got to do to counter that. Appearing from above the stairs for a dramatic entrance, Adam started singing "Feeling Good" in a sinister-esque voice while descending down slowly like the Don from the Godfather movie. Then he mercilessly unleashed his perfectly mouth-openning vocals leaving audience captivated. I got to say, the continuous high note in the end was the ultimate showstopper. That was the performance of nuclear bomb level in the whole night's show.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 8

Last week was kinda historic moment in American Idol. Matt Giraud who was voted off in the competition was the first contestant saved by the judges. The one time save for the entire season was finally used which means two contestants will be going home this week and no one can save them anymore. During that episode, I was really moved on the drama that happened that it brought me in the brink of tears . It was just so nice seeing all of the contestants wanting to save Matt. They really are like a family.

I really got to start feeling doubtful about Danny’s fate in this competition right at this moment. His performance on September wasn’t even that good compared to the rest of the competitors. Online polls were showing his popularity was fading like a smoke in the sea of air. Matt, Allison and dangerous darkhorse right now Kris is inching their way to sneak in on Danny. So step it up Danny. Danny looked hideous with that beard by the way.

The man to beat in this competition is no other than the great Adam Lambert. This guy had showed us varieties of performances of different levels of entertainment and all of them are now sort of an instant classic. People are even arguing which performance from Adam is the best. The thing is, Adam is way above the competition. He is the mighty contestant, the chosen one, the one who is destined to take it all. Tonight, with his flawless rendition of the heartbreaking “disco music turned ballad” If I Can’t Have You that brought Paula Abdul shivering in tears, feels like there is no stopping on Lambert's destined idol glory.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 7

I did not like the format they used in judging the contestant’s performances this week. It is actually the direct result from last week’s show which was unfortunately running too long leaving DVR viewers unable to see the unbelievably awesome rendition of the song Mad World by no other than the great Adam Lambert. So AI decided pair judging instead in order to squeeze in an hour show. I thought it is kind of unfair to some contestants because not all of them will fall under the harsh tongue of Simon Cowell, bad idea.

The way I see it, as the competition is coasting its way to the finale, Danny is rapidly falling behind Adam and the gap is by a country mile. Danny’s singing of Lionel Ritchie’s ballad Endless Love was an authentic snoozefest. There is nothing wrong with his voice really in fact his precision in hitting notes was almost flawless, the tone of his vocals was powerful and beautiful however, this particular performance really falls flat in the chart of entertainment value. By the way, for the first time, Danny showed up on stage without wearing glasses. He got some cool facial hair on his face, very manly, and it looks like he is losing weight…. hmmm.

Since this week is Movie Theme on American Idol, funny how the guest mentor movie director Quintin Tarantino had enthusiastically been giving performance tips to our contestants except to Adam Lambert. Quintin just said to him he just wanted to know what Adam’s version of Born to Be Wild from the movie Easy Rider would be like. When Adam showed him some bits of his performance, Quintin liked the taste of its electronica-rock flavor but he wants to taste all of it during the show. Sporting a new shorter emo-glamrock haircut, Adam didn’t disappoints as he rocked the house with his head banging and high note wailing performance amidst the stage’s seizure-inducing light effects. I got to mention my extreme excitement to the back-up singers’ head banging, it’s a piece of entertainment artistry. Way to go Adam.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 6

Worst singer of season eight Megan Joy was dramatically eliminated last week. Just before singing for her life to Bob Marley’s hit Turn the Lights Down Low, Megan was told by Simon that they are not even considering her for the one time save. The reason was that the judges were piqued after she smugly said to Simon that she didn’t care about his comments because her fans are feeling her dreadful singing.

Now let’s go back to the main topic, leaders Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey once again avoided the bottom 3 last week. Dial Idol website also ranked both of them strongly in their polls. However, as one by one weak contestant is eliminated, Adam and Danny are faced with stronger rivals. They should be impressive all the time because others will take the opportunity to overtake once they fall short.

Giving himself more momentum in his favor, Danny Gokey jazzed up a 1980 hit song Stand by Me. He remained strong in the competition by allowing himself to showcase some creativity to this cover. After some weeks of boring same old performances, Danny was awesome tonight.

Adam Lambert ultimately pawned every single contestant in the competition tonight. With his rendition of a 1982 hit song Mad World from Tears for Fears, he sang it in a way that the song sounded so breathtakingly eerie and yet disturbingly calming at the same time, it’s astonishingly out of this world. Judge Simon had to give him the standing ovation for a very amazing performance. That gesture of appreciation from Simon was never been seen before in a long time.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 5

As the number of contestants dwindled to 9, favorites Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey must not let their game loose or they will face elimination before the final two. Right now, the stakes are getting higher. Allison and Kris are threatening them as these two contenders broke out awesome performances lately in the competition. They are possibly an intimidation to spoil the inevitable Adam vs. Danny final two.

Choosing songs from i-tunes top downloads, Danny Gokey continuously appear as one of the front runners when he soulfully belted one of Rascall Flatt’s poignant melody What Hurts the Most. The song is probably one of the most powerful ballads ever recorded recently. But then again his prevailing vocals wowed the admiring audience in the studio. He showed his sensitivity and becomes teary eyed while singing his heart out. Judge Kara said she got goosebumps when listening to him.

Ditching his just found mellow, soft and sweet side, Adam Lambert returned to his usual over the top, high note screeching performance tonight. Singing and dancing freely to a 70’s night club hit Play That Funky Music from Wild Cherrys, he made everyone in the studio rocking however there was no standing ovation for him this time. Funny, he is still sporting a slick back hairstyle tonight. Probably, he reads blogs and forums in the internet because right there he can read people talking about how they liked the slick back hair from previous week. He strikingly resembles Elvis with that hairstyle though and that’s a good thing.