I didn’t want to address this, but looking at my blog stats, I feel like I have to. Unless American Idol takes some sort of official action, I won’t be addressing the Antonella Barba scandal. You won’t find pictures (or links to the pictures) of her here, nor will you find long, drawn-out analyses of her behavior. If you want that, go to TWoP.
Check out the Taylor Hicks with SouthFlorida.com. Taylor comments on the ongoing “who’s the real Idol” debate:
In an interview, Hicks said that to measure him against, say, Daughtry or Underwood is a case of apples and oranges. “You know, it’s funny: People want to try and compare us, and that’s hard to do because I’m not singing rock and I’m not singing country,” he said. “So to compare us — I find that interesting because we’re in different genres.” Hicks said “interesting” with a droll air that suggested what he meant was “inappropriate” or “misinformed.” “If I was a rocker, I could see that [comparison],” he said. “But I’m a blue-eyed soul performer.”
Hee. This was also an interesting tidbit:
Whatever the size of the audience for his brand of contemporary blue-eyed soul, Hicks called the album “definitely a step in the right direction,” adding, “I worked very closely with that producer to capture who I am as an artist and who I was as an American Idol.”
A “step in the right direction,” not, note, “the embodiment of who I am musically and professionally.”
Entertainment Weekly continues it’s tradition of scoring the first round of Idol post-bootee interviews. This week, Shirley Halperin spoke to Paul Kim, Rudy Cardenas, Amy Krebs and Nicole Tranquillo about their short runs on the show. Paul Kim insists that he’s been singing barefooted for five years and that it wasn’t a “gimmick,” just him being him. (Note to Paul — longevity does not a personality trait make; a gimmick’s a gimmick). Kim also reveals that “Careless Whisper” was only his sixth song choice, the first being a Donny Hathawy number (the first five wouldn’t clear), and that he was sick with bronchitis before the performance. Despite his illness, Kim says that at the end of the day, he just didn’t sing as well as he needed to, and that’s why he got booted off. (Hee. Refreshing to see an Idol take personal responsibility for a sucky performance, isn’t it?) Rudy Cardenas is keeping his chin up — he says his performance was “a little much,” but at the same time, he completely embraces the cheesiness that is American Idol. Aww. I kind of like him now.
Amy Krebs wishes Paula had stuck up for her a little bit more (um… you weren’t entitled to it, sweetie), but seems to have taken the judges’ criticisms to heart, noting that she’s always struggled with feeling comfortable in her own skin. Oh, and if she were a scented candle, she’d be cinnamon. And Nicole Tranquillo stands by her song choice, regardless of Randy’s “too urban” criticism. I kind of like that attitude — upon replay, her performance wasn’t that bad, certainly no worse than certain people who should have gone home in her place, and it’s just too damn bad that she didn’t fit into the little pre-packaged box the judges had already picked out for her.
Please to enjoy Katharine McPhee’s new video for “Over It.” I guess the plot revolves around her filming a little video (video within a video — how very meta!) about how — you guessed it — “over it” she is, and then giving it to some guy who dissed her. The video in and of itself is done fairly well, although the plot is asinine, as any woman worth her salt knows that giving a dude a DVD of you moping around on a couch over him is just going to make him all the more glad that he got the hell away from you as quickly as he did. But whatever, it’s TRL. Anyway, the weird thing about this video is that Katharine’s face is kind of blank throughout. She does okay as an actress during the plot scenes, when she’s laughing in a car with her friends, then seems a little deflated when she sees the offending dude at a party. But during the narration, she’s like a zombie. Is she wistful and over it? Is she angry and over it? Does she want the guy to know that she wants nothing to do with him again, or does she hope that the DVD of her rolling around on the carpet in a backless dress, hiking her skirt up to mid-thigh, will entice Cheaty McCheatser to come back to her? I don’t get it, and it’s not really Katharine’s fault as much as it is the director’s. I had the same problem with Daughtry’s video. But then again, videos (or songs, for that matter) don’t serve to tell stories these days so much as they serve as a miniature photo shoot for the singer. Meh.
Concert recap time!
The crowd: Sure, the Glitter Division of the Soul Patrol was representin’; there were women decked out in Taylor Hicks T-shirts (some purchased, some homemade — and very well made; no Bedazzling or Puffy Paint as far as I could see), blinking guitar pins, and official-looking badges, but for the most part, the crowd was comprised of families with young or teenaged children, groups of women in their mid-20s, and yes, some middle-aged women. Interestingly, the crowd was about forty percent men, the vast majority of whom looked like they actually wanted to be there, and were dancing, clapping, and generally having a great time. In fact, to my write was a gaggled of — GASP! — teenaged boys, swaying back and forth, tapping their feet, and snapping lots of pictures. My younger brother came to the show with me, and though he still maintains that he’d never voluntarily listen to a Taylor Hicks album, he had a great time, and had nothing but kind words for Taylor’s performing style.
Taylor himself: Whoo-ee, that boy sure is sweaty! For real, though, I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone having more fun doing what it is they do than Taylor has up on that stage. He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere — which is why some of my pictures are so blurry. He spins, jumps, shakes, wails, coos, rocks and twirls. He’s also silly, at one point (after my camera died, of course) taking the various Mardi Gras items that were thrown onto the stage and dressing his guitarist in a purple pimp hat, and himself donning a purple, green and gold feather boa (which, I have to say, looked rather smashing on him, even if it did clash with the silver blazer and slate-blue shirt he had going on).
