With all business out of the way, the real show began.
Jai Rodriguez/Patti LaBelle. In a pre-song interview, Jai is floored when he reads the name of his partner. "This is like a dream come true and a curse. I think, for me, this week is going to be harder than ever before because my artist is so strong vocally." What an understatement! Ms. LaBelle's fierce vocal ability made her a top-notch headliner years ago and she has not lost a bit of it. Jai started "Lady Marmalade" as a solo onstage, high energy, saucy dance moves, and some pretty strong vocals of his own. When Patti joined in, it was as if they'd caught fire in a duet not sung in typical harmony but in counterpoint to one another. They were playful and their joy in working together showed. Marie's comment of "Jai, you smoked it" was interrupted by David Foster, tired of being delegated to the position of last to speak on the panel. He stated "You killed it," but meant it in the most flattering way possible. Little Richard's comments should be a TV show on their own. Suffice it to say, he agreed with both of the other judges. The in-house audience must have thought so, too, as the duo received a standing ovation.
Lucy Lawless/Richard Marx. The video clip before her song showed Lucy asking her performance consulting team, "Are you sure this isn't going to be too hard for me?" Last week she'd won the title "top vote getter" and Lucy was feeling the pressure to maintain that position. They sang "Waiting For You" and I think her nerves were showing as her vocals were a bit off; only a smidge, though. I have enjoyed her past performances but this one left me a bit flat. I lay the blame partially on the song itself but mostly the wishy-washy arrangement. There was no room for her to shine in what I thought was nothing more than a role as "glorified backup singer." But what do I know? She also received a standing ovation and the judges all gave her glowing reviews.
Hal Sparks/Dee Snider. Last week David Foster told Hal "you think you are a Rock Star and I don't believe you are." This was addressed in the video clip as Hal said, "My real reaction is I don't necessarily know that you know Rock. And it's certainly not the kind that I like." He did his homework for this week by heading out to the local Hard Rock scene to sing onstage with various bands — he definitely did not want to be one of the two NSCs to get the boot this week. Sadly, I don't think it worked, but as with Lucy's performance, I don't think it was his fault. The staging of this duet, from his look to the guitar he was playing, rang of fakery to me. He was dressed in what I can only think of as what corporate media "suits" think Heavy Metal is: headset microphone, eyeliner, brand new instrument, shiny clothes. Dee, on the other hand, personified the real deal indeed: long hair, dark shades, hand-held mic, dressed in black from head to toe. This made for a glaringly ugly comparison between the two. Hal's heavy-handed slant on certain lyrics, to highlight Foster's attitude about this genre, didn't help matters any either. Would "We're Not Gonna Take It" end up being prophetic for Mr. Sparks? Marie liked his enthusiasm, but not his screeching vocals and noted that, while Dee Snider also screamed the words, there was an element of tune and voice control to his singing. I was pretty sure Little Richard liked it, which is one of the beauties of his critiques. You can't tell what he said, but you had to dig the way he said it. David's assessment surprised me. Seriously. He would like to take Hal into the studio, "I can make you sound better and you can teach me how to rock."
Article comments
1 - Brent McKee
"I still think that Jai is the one to beat for the top prize."
Boy did you get that one wrong! Not that I think you were wrong (Hal should have been dropped along with Cheech) but the people who voted in this thing obviously thought differently.
2 - tink
LOL...you are right Brent!! I think that's why these types of shows intrigue me so much...the difference between what I think and what the viewing public thinks.
Still, I do feel that Jai was the best on the show, always consistent in bringing his top game to each performance...which didn't give him much room for improvement. Sometimes that factors into the end results...you just never know.
Thanks for reading...I look forward to hearing what you think about the final two shows next week.
3 - Ash
I think America is deaf in one ear, lucy Lawless is an awful singer. Her voice lacks character and is extremly thin. Jai should have stayed, he actually has a great voice. I wish he would have sang Over the Rainbow instead of Lady Marmalade that night.
4 - tink
Ash, Hi! As you can tell, I do love the Jai too, but Lucy wasn't all that bad to me, looked like she was giving it her best shot each time up at bat which goes a long way in my book. Not J-Rod quality of course, still...
looking forward to hearing what you think about next week's shows...
5 - Monte4amy
"Lady Marmalade" was not Patti LaBelle & Wayne Brady's duet, it was the song Jai and Patti LaBelle sang together, the first song of the night. Patti came back to sing "All Alone" with Wayne Brady and they REALLY smoked it and yes, the audience was screaming because of Ms. Patti's vocal chops and Wayne was great, too. They could have released it as a single.
6 - tink
Thanks for pointing that out, Monte4amy!!! The powers-that-be here at BC have done their magic and fixed my error.
I agree with you, that was a killer duet. I'm hoping, since American Idols Simon Cowell is exec. prod. on Celebrity Duets, that he'll take another page out of the A.I. book and release some of the best songs from the season on cd.
Thanks for reading, too!!