Latin Passion as Coached by J Lo

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Latin Passion as Coached by J Lo; AI 4/10/07
Topic Started: Apr 10 2007, 08:34 PM (496 Views)
jlyl	Apr 10 2007, 08:34 PM Post #1
ARTsy Posts: 650 Group: Writer Member #240 Joined: July 14, 2005	Kids, I’m going to be brave tonight and risk losing my cookies by watching a night of J-Ho. It’s the top eight and they’ll be “mentored” by Miss Lopez in their quest for the AI Crown. Let’s get it on … Seacrest introduces the band, the judges, and the special guest, Jennifer Lopez. The crowd is more excited about this than I am and they cheer as AI breaks into a J Lo montage that goes all the way back to the one time I liked her – when she starred as Selena. Jennifer sits the kids down to talk to them about the passion of Latin music and the importance of giving the viewers goose bumps. She also claims to watch AI at home and says that she has her favorites, but she is diplomatic enough to not reveal who they are. First up is Melinda Doolittle, who is singing “Sway” tonight. Melinda, big surprise, is excited. Jennifer is excited to see that Melinda has a sultry and sexy side, but Melinda is nervous that it won’t come across. As she starts singing, though, she looks great. She’s wearing a perfect LBD and her hair is perfectly coiffed rather than hiding under a silly hat. Her voice is smooth and seems to my untrained ear to be on key, but I don’t really get any sort of a sultry vibe from her – it’s closer to Broadway than a smoky lounge and I’m left wishing for a little more. Next, the judges weigh in: Randy: Another solid performance, but I’m not saying that it’s your best. Paula: Very sultry, very smooth. You look lovely. It was subtle and sexy and beautiful. Simon: It had to happen, Melinda. I didn’t like it. I’ll tell you why – that song is all about personality and you appeared must, must older than you are. It sounded like a cabaret lounge. I think you can do better. Q and A with Seacrest: Melinda says that Simon really wanted to say something bad and she’s glad that he got the chance. Then she gives a big, toothy grin as everyone, including Simon, chuckles indulgently. Ahhh, shucks, Melinda! Next up is LaKisha. Ryan sits down with her in her ridiculously bright red dress to ask her a question from a viewer: what made you try out for AI? LaKisha says that she wants to make a better life for herself and her daughter and she wants to share her talent with the world. During the week, LaKisha sat down with J Lo to ask her an important question – how to pronounce the word “conga.” Jennifer also helps with movement by showing her how to “ride the rhythm.” Seriously scary. Next, LaKisha breaks into her song for the night, you guessed it, the conga song. I’m not sure of the exact title, but y’all know it. I’m not sure if she’s exactly riding the rhythm, but she tries to move across the floor and she does ait. She adds a little soul to her Latin passion and it creates kind of an interesting sound – a cross between Gloria Estefan and Aretha Franklin. I give her credit for infusing her own personality with the week’s theme. It’s pretty good, but I’m not inspired enough to get up and dance around the room like I am when I hear Gloria sing it. Let’s see what the judges think: Randy: What I loved about that was you came out and you had a good time – you had fun, you made it your own, you did what Melinda failed to do. Paula: First, you look lovely, but I didn’t love it as much as Randy did. I felt like it was a very safe LaKisha and it’s time for you to do more. Simon: First asks if LaKisha agrees with Paula, and she doesn’t think she was being safe (Randy yells out his agreement from the dawg pound). Simon does agree with Paula. It’s a song that’s a fun performance, but it’s not a real singer song. It’s a safe song … Randy breaks in with saying that she was dancing, but Simon points out that the dancing wasn’t that good. Wow, that’s twice in a row now that I agree with Simon … maybe I’m even meaner than I realized! Plug, plug, plug for “Idol Gives Back” and we’re back to the show … Our next singer is Chris Richardson who will be singing “Smooth.” He needs a little pronunciation help from J Lo as well, who also advises him to take it up a key. The rehearsals don’t sound so great, so I’m a little wary, but here we go … Chris takes the stage and is underwhelming at first. All I can think of is Rob Thomas and Chris lacks the passion and sexiness – it’s like he’s over-pronouncing the words or over-hitting the notes or something. Okay, clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about, but the fact is that it lacks something. Paula apparently disagrees with me, though, because she’s up dancing. I’m confused. Randy: You did a really good job and you found yourself at the end. Very cool. Paula: It was a hot performance. You were sexy. Simon: I’m not going to say it was a great vocal, because it wasn’t, but compared to the first two, it was a great performance. The first two were too hotel cabaret, but this was a great performance. Okay, I’m really confused now … did they watch something other than the boring performance I just witnessed, or am I just hypercritical? Back to our mentor Miss Lopez, who is now working with Haley. She’s singing “Turn the Beat Around,” which is hard because it’s about rhythm. Jennifer advised her to “bite” the words and describes the song as “almost a rap – you have to throw the song at people.” Haley takes the stage and I’m starting to feel that excitement that I’ve been missing tonight. Her energy is high although her movements are a little robotic. She looks great in black short shorts and heels, which I wish were red, but hey, she does have great legs. I don’t know how technically wonderful the song was because the words felt kind of rushed at points and sometimes her movements seemed to hold her back from her singing, but the song felt more fun than anyone else so far tonight. Randy: For me, just keeping it honest and real, dude, that was really karaoke for me tonight. I could’ve been anywhere – any bar. Paula: Again, it’s not a singer’s song, but it’s a fun song and I think you had fun up there. Simon: I think you have a very good tactic – wear the least clothes possible because you can’t do well in this competition based on your voice, so all you can do is have fun. The vocals were so rushed, I actually couldn’t understand most of what you were singing. Q and A with Seacrest: Haley says she appreciates the judges, she had fun, and it got the audience going. Next, Phil Stacey is going to sing “Maria, Maria” by Santana. He’s a little freaked out because he’s rehearsing with Jennifer Lopez. She tries to help him get into the mindset of the song, and he gives her some goose pimples. She thinks that a lot of people will get goose pimples. As Phil takes the stage, he’s pulling the whole, “I’m so cool and casual I sit on a stool to sing” thing and almost pulls it off except he’s wearing a goofy hat. His vocals are pretty smooth and I’m feeling him. He doesn’t move too well, but his outfit (minus the hat) is awesome – untucked button down over jeans with a casual blazer. Overall, his singing impressed me the most so far tonight – I think I got close to the goose pimples. Maybe if I was actually there in person, they would’ve come out in full force. Randy: All right, so, I don’t know if this was your best performance. It didn’t all come together for me. Paula: Vocally, with the exception of just the end, I thought it was a real good vocal. Simon: You’re a nice guy and you picked a nice song, but there was nothing I can get particularly positive or excited about. Q and A with Seacrest: Phil says that his daughter just got a stuffed animal cow and she calls it “Simon Cow.” Okay, so I’m not totally mean, I just apparently have completely different tastes than our AI judges. BTW, this doesn’t upset me or make me want to change in any way. Next up, Ryan sits down with Jordin to chat for a small minute and answer a viewer question, which asks her what theme she would choose for next week. Jordin’s answer is that she would choose 80s music. I love this chic already! Tonight, she’s going to be singing “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You” and her rehearsals with J Lo seemed to go pretty well. Jennifer gave her some advice on movement, but seemed to just want her to go on with what she had going on. She starts off and she sounds great, but her outfit is quite unfortunate. She’s wearing a beige-ish shimmery shirt that’s too bulky and not at all bright enough. She’s a pretty girl with an awesome voice. She gives the song some attitude and personality and it’s very enjoyable. Really, for me she’s the total package. Randy: That was absolutely wonderful and absolutely great. You got it ‘cause you got it. Paula: I love just you’re so authentic and you’re you. You’re adorable. Simon: I feel about you how I felt all night. They’re okay performances. There’s nothing stunning. We all know you’re a good singer, but … Just a thought, but if you want a different sort of performance, shouldn’t you talk to Nigel about the kids singing a different sort of song? And now, Blake … He’s singing a Marc Anthony song, “Need to Know.” J Lo talks about the song needing to mean something, then talks about Marc Anthony as though he’s a complete stranger. She does give some good advice though in telling him that he doesn’t have to try to sing like Marc Anthony, he just needs to sing about getting that girl. When Blake takes the stage, he’s also wearing a silly hat. What is it with these people? His voice is okay, but his movements are stiff and he has pit stains. Overall, it’s just a mediocre performance and I’m waiting for the judges to talk karaoke again. It’s a shame because he seems like a cute kid. Randy: Best song choice of the night and that was a hot performance. I liked that. Paula: Very smart performance. It captured who you are and the essence of who you are. Simon: Best song choice of the night, best performance of the night. Finally, it’s the guy we’ve waited for all night, who Ryan calls the “embodiment of Latin passion,” Sanjaya. I wonder if Miss Lopez realizes that she’s the one meeting a celebrity in this moment because right now, His Royal Hairiness is much bigger than she is. He chose a Spanish song and Jennifer says that he impresses her and she likes him. I think she does realize what sort of presence he’s in. He takes the stage with some beautiful disco ball sparkles sprinkling over him. His hair tonight is curly and kind of kept under control and for some reason he’s wearing a moustache and goatee. For all grooming, though, I’d think that the boy would do something about those eyebrows! As for the singing, it’s ait. It’s kind of quiet, but it’s smooth and seems to be pretty on key. It’s kind of a talky-singy thing, but it’s kind of harder to assess the whole thing because it’s in Spanish. Randy: You know what? You’re one of the smartest contestants I’ve ever seen, dude. That was actually pretty good! Paula: It was smooth, on pitch, it was nice. Very, very nice. Simon: I couldn’t understand a word of it, you sang like a 14-year-old, and I’m going to hate myself for this, but it wasn’t horrible. Q and A with Seacrest: I think they talked about something, but I was transfixed by Sanjaya’s strangely white teeth. So what did you think? Sign up and come chat with us!
	I Heart Phil


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