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.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 4

Last week was a little bit shaky for Adam Lambert. Apparently his vision of Ring of Fire was too provocative for the casual voting viewers. Some are even accusing him of butchering a Johnny Cash classic. The Interweb initially exploded immediately after his performance with bloggers and forumers saying it was horrible and over the top. But after the initial uproar had subsided and some more repeated viewing, together many people thought it wasn't really bad after all.

Danny Gokey easily breezed through Grand Ole Opry week and was ranked number 1 in Dial Idol Website. In spite of those advantages, there weren’t really new to see on his performance that week. This Motown week, he also wasn’t able to pull away from the pack because he just rehashed a PYT type of performance. Singing an energetic song Get Ready from Temptation, he finally failed to impress the judges who were saying it was forgettable. If Danny continuously shifts from ballads to up-tempo week after week then he will become a boring performer.

Now if Adam Lambert was spitefully criticized for his brave attempt to go over the top, he must have realized by now the boundaries of the outer limit. What he smartly did to counter the backlash was to throw away the emo-glamrock image (temporarily) then re-invent himself into some kind of an Elvis Presley reincarnation. Right there, he delivered a soft, mellow and sweet rendition of The Miracle’s hit song The Tracks of My Tears. Everyone was blown away with his toned down and unplugged style delivery. Smokey Robinson, who is the song’s composer and the guest mentor of the evening, was the first one to give Adam a standing ovation and he also gave him thumbs up for a brilliant performance.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 3

Based on the result show last week, it looks like Danny and Adam had successfully established quite a solid fan base. All they have to do is to be consistent in their performances and to impress the judges in order to gain their praise and their positive opinion. In this early, voters easily sway votes every now and then.This week, American Idol presented The Grand Ole Opry featuring country music which Simon Cowell hates. This theme could be a disadvantage to Adam Lambert and to the other contestants who are not into this type of music.

Going back to his sensitive side is Danny Gokey’s version of Carrie Underwood’s ballad Jesus Takes the Wheel. The performance was kind of a step backward from his previous performances. Maybe because this is already his third time on the stage so doing inspirational ballad again had lost some of the freshness and also his take on the song Hero was exceptionally better. But then again, he is the judge’s favorite so he is mildly praised.

Adam Lambert is the brave glamrocker of the bunch, the one who is not typical for American Idol audience. For example, he wears guyliner, sporting a slick emo hairstyle and he dressed up like some cool vampire or otherwordly character in a horror movie. He must have thought that he (so do I and the rest of us) could not imagine himself yodeled some country music, it is ridiculous. However, he did manage to do something tonight that is more suited for his rock edgy image and he completely avoided embarrassing himself. By simply refusing to go country, he performed a re-imagination of the Johnny Cash classic Ring of Fire giving it an middle eastern spin and turned it into some kind of a spellbinding, otherworldly erotic song. He made everyone in the studio confused but somehow happy (Kara). But it brought Simon to utter words like absolute indulging rubbish.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 2

The competition in American Idol is starting to take off where 13 contestants instead of the usual 12 have succeeded passing through the group rounds and are going to battle it out for the title. The contestant’s performances from group rounds have introduced them to the voting public and this is the part of the season when they must find their niche and keep a solid fan base. First theme of the season is Michael Jackson Week. The pop legend got great catalog of song choices though most of his songs are untouchables or difficult to nail, it would possibly make many of them deliberately fail in this round.

Season eight’s early favorite Danny Gokey got a good start dancing and wailing one of the early Michael Jackson hits PYT (Pretty Young Thing). He must be really intimidated by Adam’s insane vocal ability since he himself did his own “screeching high notes” type of performance on that song. It wasn’t bad though, the judges collectively praised him after but he failed miserably in dancing. He doesn’t have the swagger like Adam.

Adam Lambert continued blowing his rivals out of the water after his faultless rendition of Michael Jackson’s hit Black or White. This guy looks formidable. Once again, he unleashed his singing arsenal using his vocal pyrotechnics, hypnotic dance moves and flawless stage presence. All the judges thought it was enormously awesome that it made him teary eyed and become emotional. Even Paula shamelessly predicted that he will be going to the finals with Danny Gokey. The only thing that might harmed his chance of winning though is that his style is too theatrical and over the top. Those things might not be the cup of tea for some people or are not ready for it, we shall see.

American Idol Season 8: Danny vs Adam Round 1

Starting up the eighth season are the initial three shows that introduced to us the top 36 contestants and their performance. It showed a lot of promising new talents. In this early, I already picked two of the favorites who I think could be the next idol. They are Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. They are the two most interesting (Adam) and hyped (Danny) contestants in this season.

What could be a more moving story in American Idol than a young soulful singer auditioning for the show to fulfill his promise to his wife who died of heart disease in barely three months prior? That premise which is capable of becoming an Oscar nominated movie is a true story of Danny Gokey, 28 years old. It is very endearing that it triggered nationwide support for this Church Musical director. In keeping with the theme of his back story during group one show, Danny heartily sang Mariah Carey’s inspirational song Hero and then easily breezing through the top 12. That’s the power of pimping guys.

Adam Lambert is probably the best vocalist ever to surface on American Idol stage. The outer space notes his hitting while singing Satisfaction from the Rolling Stones during group two episode I think was never been seen before in the show. American Idol had just found a very rare breed of talent. Adam started his singing career while he was ten. He was into theater at a young age and then in his early 20’s he hustled for theater gigs in Hollywood, California. He was a cast member of the musical Wicked. This 27 year old hottie wears guyliner, punk clothes and sports emo hairstyle and that makes him a very interesting person, so interesting that he single handedly polarized people though.