but I always got the feeling that part of the reason he goes crazy wild on top is that it just plain feels good to him to do so. Like a race horse breaking away, it just feels good to let lose.

Well, my sense with him is that “if you got it, flaunt it” – he COULD do all those vocal acrobatics, and no one else could, so he did it. Very few singers (esp. on Idol) can pull out those kinds of notes, so he threw it out there knowing it was in his bag of tricks. Again, part of the reason I didn’t like him at first, because I thought he was just showing off.

It’s true that the control he later displayed, in TOMT and MW, were what convinced me he wasn’t just about flash, but had a lot of control, sensitivity, and range as an artist and singer.

Many singers with big voices lack the control to go soft and subtle – and when he showed that he could, I was really won over with his talent.

It was all like ‘Just in case you didn’t know, HBIC is onstage next. So wrap it up screamboy.’ 

LOLz!!

*sigh* Good thing that Adam is oozing with talent, a good head for strategy and A in performance.

But still, it may just plain feel really good to go ape-shit crazy on it, just because he can.

I like your guess!

And just like a horse isn’t going to win without control and strategy and discipline, he won’t make the best music without control and artistry and discipline. But still, it may just plain feel really good to go ape-shit crazy on it, just because he can.

But I’m just guessing.

saga
That doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t use it but every artist has to kill their darlings to become really good.

LOL!!!! Not sure why but this made me laugh; I don’t think I’ve ever heard this expression. :laugh_tb:

Therefore, if you are in California it’s possible to attend the live taping at 5pm and then watch the show at 8pm. Simon does this for just about every show.

Natasha – That works for me. Thanks!

Anastasia72071 – You’re right! Adam’s parents were in the audience the first night. You can see them in the performance video at about 1:38. They were up on the balcony the second night. Weird! What could Amy be blogging about?

Since the show airs live on the east coast at 8pm it has to take place at 5pm Pacific time. California’s time zone is 3 hours behind the east coast. The show then comes on at 8pm California time on tape as it aired in the east.

Therefore, if you are in California it’s possible to attend the live taping at 5pm and then watch the show at 8pm. Simon does this for just about every show.

Sarver and Scott, most definitely, Lil will probably bring out some fun, and has a good voice at that, and Megan will add that kookiness to things to make it a little interesting. Danny, eh, well I can’t miss his set out of fear of missing Adam’s, but I’m not all that excited about his, though I bet his voice will sound great live.

It will be interesting to see if other acts get as many effects as Adam – not saying that he’s “special” in that regard, but just that, as with the show this season, he seemed to place extra interest in the full staging, more so than the other contestants. Then again, for many of them the full Adam staging would not really have worked so well, stylistically

Re the Bowie set, you have to wonder how much time Adam was really able to work on all the intricacies considering he was working on the album as well, plus a ton of interviews, with very little time to completely rework songs for the tour. Unlike most of the other contestants, Adam does a lot more to change things, with staging, costumes, reworking the songs, etc. So it takes a little more work than just doing a retread of an old idol song.

Oh, absolutely. At the end of the day, with a little more rest and rehearsal, and when he’s “on” ’cause he’s performing and drawing energy from the crowd … I think Adam will blow everyone else away. Allison will put on a good show too and I bet Kris will be lovely in a low-key kind of way. But I think everyone else in the F10 is going to look awfully karaoke in comparison to Adam. Especially since Adam’s got the light show, the JACKET (must use all caps at all times) and the fierce stage presence. He and Kris are doing more songs than the others and the Starlight medley is new for him (and probably longish), so I think Adam’s still working it out. But he’ll be spectacular in person, I don’t doubt that.

One thing I often felt about Adam’s songs on idol was that they always seemed a lot shorter than some of the others .. this could be because a lot of time was taken up with glory notes and him fitting in his trademark ‘scream’  .. it didn’t leave much time for him to use his lower range or for him to build the song.

I had that sense too, particularly during Rat Pack Week with FG – it seemed shorter than the other songs, but time-wise was about the same. Granted, he had to work in a repeat of several orchestral measures near the top to allow time to get down the stairs Plus “the note” lasts 8 full seconds (yeah, I timed it one day ) So that takes up time too.

That said, my thinking was that, whereas most of the other contestants seemed to go on forever because the song just plodded along without much of interest going on, Adam’s went by way too quickly simply because they were so much more enjoyable and entertaining, and I didn’t want them to end

Re the Bowie set, you have to wonder how much time Adam was really able to work on all the intricacies considering he was working on the album as well, plus a ton of interviews, with very little time to completely rework songs for the tour. Unlike most of the other contestants, Adam does a lot more to change things, with staging, costumes, reworking the songs, etc. So it takes a little more work than just doing a retread of an old idol song.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rehearsal order wasn’t the final order for the show. As someone who has done a lot of theater and music performances, you often work things out of order for whatever reason, but at this stage in the game I would have expected it to be the actual order, especially to practice transitions in the actual venue.

I wasn’t a fan of the Cher song either for the same reasons. I love hearing his lower register, especially when he sang ‘We are the Champions’  with Queen. It is so rich and beautiful. I think he may have used his upper register alot because not many people can do it, and it sets him apart.

Some interesting comments here about Adam’s singing, and I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents:

I liked the Cher song, though it sounded just slightly pitchy at the beginning, before really soaring toward the end (then again, the clip is about 10 seconds long, ridiculously short, so it’s really hard to do much in that amount of time.) That said, I’ve often found that the most AMAZING hollywood singers don’t hold up as well soon after in the later rounds (Matt is a good example). So Adam not impressing some early on may not have necessarily meant much.

And I think Simon and co immediately latched onto Adam because he had a HUGE voice, very impressive range, and on a singing competition, being able to sing that well is pretty important

As for the rest of his singing – I’ll admit I was one of those late to jump on the Adam-train, because I accused him of showing off too much early on. I knew he was ridiculously talented, had a better voice than anyone else on the show (in terms of range, dynamics, etc.) but thought he just showed off with it too much. Even TOMT didn’t win me over, because I was too firmly rooted against him at that point . But MW most definitely did, and after that, I even fell in love with his earlier performances.

He is definitely polarizing as a singer, but he seems to love that, and I for one love it too, because he takes those risks, goes to extremes, doesn’t play it safe, riles a few feathers and blows expectations out of the water. Time and time again, whether you loved him or hated him this season, he always got people talking, more so than any other contestant this year.

And as one last note, I do believe there is a distinct difference between his performances and his studio recordings – he goes all out in the live versions, because it is a LIVE perforamnce and you’re giving something to the audience, in that moment, and the emotional response is just so much more immediate. In the studio recordings, his voice is lovely and controlled, and doesn’t go all out like with the live ones.