Song Spoilers
Ok. It’s officially Monday. I’m going to post what’s buzzing round the boards regarding song choices.
Elliott Yamin’s fans at the official boards at idolonfox.com have been busy playing a guessing game. A family friend posted these hints regarding Elliott’s song this week:
1. Song is from 2005
2. Has a “little more rock edge” to it.
3. Song is by a solo artist
4. Song is on the “list of his fans”
5. Not Usher or Jason Mraz
6. Song is upbeat and uptempo
The “list of his fans” was found, and it was whittled down, using the above criteria:
“Chariot” by Gavin Degraw OR “This is how a heart breaks” or “Lonely No More” by Rob Thomas
ANOTHER hint was posted–that the song was an “even” number on the “fan list”…
The final GUESS?…
“Chariot” by Gavin Degraw.
On Idolonfox today, a friend of Taylor Hicks–a DJ and fellow Auburn Grad posted this:
“Hello again!! I just heard back and all I can say is that he is NOT going to perform “Drops of Jupiter” next week…..he has, however, made a choice that is less-known, but something that is perfect for him to show his vocal range, etc. That’s all I know right now and will post if I find out anything else.”
Hopefully, more will be revealed!
Mailbag/Odds and Ends
I’ve gotten several letters this week from folks telling me they enjoy the blog. Thanks so much for the kind words. Keeping the blog has been so much fun, but it means even more to hear from people who are actually reading it! Total coolness. Also, after I mentioned last week that I had readers from England and Brazil, I learned that I have readers in Asia, too. Just…WOW!
I’ve added more fan websites and forums to the Top 12 list. Check it out!
Somebody wrote asking me for Lindsey Cardinale’s MySpace. She was in the AI audience on Tuesday, and I mentioned that she had some great new songs out, but didn’t link them. For anyone interested, here it is
Also, a correction: I said that Kevin Covais’s original MySpace had been taken down. Not so. Check it out. Funny stuff.
Most of this weeks comments were about Song Spoilers and Chrisgate. Heh. First, thanks to everyone who dropped me a line about any potential song spoilers. I try to keep up with all the message boards, but sometimes it’s tough, especially during the workday. Special Kudos to Alison for putting together the clues and figuring out Elliott’s song choice “Teach me Tonight” last week.
Ya’ll are still discussing Chrisgate. It’ll be interesting to see if the show addresses this at all on Tuesday. It’s become such a big deal, I think that they probably will. One poster suggested that all this publicity may have been engineered by the producers. You know what? Nothing would surprise me. The show seems to thrive on controversy.
I did want to mention that contestants on AI generally don’t come up with their own song arrangements. And contestants have covered cover arrangements in the past. For instance, when Carrie Underwood sang Janice Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” last season, she used a country arrangement very close to a version by country/pop singer Faith Hill.
There would have been no controversy at all if the judges hadn’t lathered Chris with compliments about his “originality”, especially at the expense of his fellow contestants.
Kellie Pickler’s “What’s a Ballsy” remark had quite a few comments too. There were some questions about whether she said “What’s a Ballsy?” or “Am I Ballsy?” I listened again, and I heard her say, “What’s a Ballsy?”. Ryan thought she said that too. He answered her, “I don’t have time to get into that.” Afterward, Chris Daughtry leaned in to say something to her, but I could not make out what he said. Either way, the consensus seems to be that the remark was transparently stupid.
Katharine’s song choice. I mentioned yesterday that Katharine McPhee’s song choice, “Come Rain or Come Shine” was actually released in the 40’s and not the 50’s. I asked for input from the resident “Record Nerds.” Ask, and ye shall receive! Lollypop left this comment, which I’ll partially excerpt here:
“‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ is *such* a standard (a “standard” standard, if you will ;), that I didn’t even give it a second thought when she performed it. Many more versions were recorded in the 50s than in the late 40s. In the mid-to-late 50s, vocal jazz and pop LPs were released in great numbers…
So, as a record/jazz nerd, I found it completely fine that Kat covered that song. Ella Fitzgerald did an awesome version of it in the mid 50s on her Arlen songbook and many people hear that version in their heads when they think of ‘Come Rain or Come Shine.'”
Thanks for that explanation, Lollypop. In fact, Katharine did mention Ella’s version in her video, as another reader pointed out. Lollypop goes on to say,
“And, besides, this just points out the flaw in decade theme nights. The 50s were just as varied musically as “the 21st century” (snerk). The producers are just creatively lazy. Unless you wanted to make all the contestants since prototypical 50s tunes, like doo wop and rockabilly or the Howdy Dowdy theme song, then it’s just another giant loophole into which they can pretend to challenge the contestants while they simultaneously allow their favorites to stay firmly in their prepackaged comfort zones. “
I couldn’t have said it better! Thank you.
