The remaining contestants take a shot at singing songs from the cinema with help from the ever-spazzy movie director Quentin Tarantino as their mentor.
You may be asking yourselves, how is Quentin Tarantino qualified to be a musical mentor? I have no answers for you, my friends, but I think this will either be extremely entertaining or quite painful to watch. Remember when he visited Idol as a guest judge (and ripped Diana DeGarmo a new one?). Well, that seemed a bit less weird...everyone is allowed an opinion about these performances. But now he's giving the singers advice before they perform their songs? Eek!
(P.S. How awesome would it be if the Idols all came out dressed like Tarantino's movie characters: Gogo, The Bride, Vincent Vega or Mia Wallace — complete with syringe in chest?)
At the top of the show, Ryan announces that because the judges talked too much (actually, he accused the girls of talking too much), only two judges would get to critique each performance. Why does this make me smile?
After Quentin Tarantino is introduced as a renegade filmmaker who has changed filmmaking forever, Ryan's voiceover tells us that music has been an integral part of his films. The Idols meet up with him on a movie music recording stage to have their one on-one-time with this wonderfully talented musical legend music aficionado.
Allison IrahetaQuentin makes her sing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Armageddon twice (why am I rolling my eyes already at QT's direction of these poor Idols?) to get her confidence up. Maybe if you weren't so intense, she'd be more comfortable! I kid. Of course, Allison knocks this song out of the park. I bet Adam's jealous that she's singing a Steven Tyler song and is shredding it! (Did you see Katie Couric in the audience?) Paula says Allison is authentic and a remarkable talent, Simon says it was a hot and spicy performance and the girls' only hope left in the competition. He also thinks she believes in herself now and we could see her go all the way. It's about time that the judges go to bat for Allison!
Anoop DesaiI died a little inside when I heard Anoop was singing "(Everything I Do), I Do It For You." Really? I thought we were done with EZ-listening now that Scott's gone from the show. QT has the same concerns, and wants Anoop to really kill the ending. Anoop puts his R&B twist on the song, and it's definitely more interesting than I thought it would be. There were a few funky notes, and he tried to kill the end, but I'm not sure if he really did. Randy says he has found his zone with this kind of song. Kara says it was probably one of his best vocals so far and this is the one time she felt connected to what he was singing. It's all about you, Kara.
Adam LambertAdam is singing "Born to Be Wild" from Easy Rider. From the moment he enters the stage with the cheesetastic white lightning graphics behind the band, I'm over it. Once again, for all those who think I'm an Adam-hater, I'll say that no one can touch this guy's vocals. I mean, wow. But the whole thing is so over-the-top with the strobe lights and his bad dancing. I know the judges will go ape-sh-t over it though, so I'll just go along for the eye-linered ride. Paula is practically having an orgasm before she says, "The reason you're shakin' up this whole competition is that you dare to dance in the path of greatness." What the hell does that even mean, Paula? Simon says it was vocally incredible, but some of it was like watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ha! See, Simon's got my back.
Matt GiraudMatt is singing "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?", and QT tells him he has made the song his own, but to be careful not to lose the lyrics in all the runs. My hubby is enjoying QT as mentor because the Idols are "sorely in need of some direction on how to tell a story in a song." I agree, but still feel QT could have shared the mentor role with a real musician. Matt plays the piano as he sings, and both sound really polished — and best of all, unique. Well played, Matt. Randy says the bridge was pitchy and there were too many runs for him. Boo, I don't agree. Kara basically takes ten minutes to say the same thing.
Danny GokeyWhaaa?? No Glasses? I think he looks really good! He's singing "Endless Love." I'm trying not to gag... or imagine the ice skating scene from Happy Gilmore. Clearly this is about his wife, and that's sweet. QT wants him to put his hand gestures away and concentrate on emoting with his eyes. Well, he doesn't put the hands away, but he does do a lot of emoting. It's a lovely performance. Paula thinks midway through he pulled it together and really nailed the end. Simon says his singing was fine but he was a bit bored because Danny didn't change up the arrangement (like David Cook did with a Lionel Richie song last year).
Kris AllenKris picks the song "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once and QT is impressed that he picked a song that meant something to him. So, no one will know this song, but I'm so excited to hear something that isn't heard in elevators and grocery stores. Personally, I think Kris really shows off his range vocally and emotionally, and I even get a little choked up during the song. Wow. Randy says something dumb, so I won't repeat it, and Kara actually comes through and says it was one of his best in the competition. Thank you, Kara!
Lil RoundsWell, it's do or die time for Lil. If she doesn't nail this song, methinks her time on Idol is over. She's singing "The Rose" with a gospel twist. This is a big song, and the beginning is really rough. She always seems just off the note she's supposed to be on. I think this song is, once again, a hot mess. It's sad, because she clearly has a lot of talent, but doesn't know how to use it. Paula gives her some nonsense about her road being so long, blah blah, and she's made it this far, blah blah.
Simon thought it was terrible, and Lil sticks up for herself. She says she took a beautiful song and put her own spin on it (like they always tell the contestants to do!!!), which is a huge part about being an artist. I have to agree with Lil, she did put her own spin on it, but I just think it was too uneven to work for her. Bummer
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