Idol Chatter: They've Got the Beatles

Express' Greg Barber's got a ticket to write about Lennon-McCartney Week on "American Idol."

IT'S A MUCH-ANTICIPATED week on "American Idol." The Top 12 have been chosen, so eliminations will grind to a near halt, with just one little Idolite losing his or her place per week. The auspicious occasion has been marked in many ways.

First, there's the new whizbang opening graphics package, complete with throwback-looking logo. It's fancy. (Watch here, if you're into that sort of thing.)

And then there's the new set, which Seacrest hyped last week. It's monstrously large, and resembles a blue, pulsing scorpion.

"Bigger and better than ever," Seacrest says, bursting with pride, as he describes his new digs. "Lots of action gonna happen right here on this stage."

He makes it far too easy for us.

As if it's a temple to its own sense of grandioseness, the "Idol" Death Star can glow at will with the light of many suns. Poor Ricky Minor, the leader of the band, is stuck in a gleaming chrome tower like a futuristic Rapunzel, while the rest of his band is set off in its own "penthouse," which must make mid-show potty breaks a true adventure.

There's even a "mosh pit" for part of the audience, Seacrest says. It's delightfully quaint, like the space you'd see angry forty-somethings use to thrash about at a Jane's Addiction concert. They'd been caught stealin' once when they were five. Of course, that was back in '66.

The judges are introduced with a flourish, giving Seacrest a chance to needle Simon about the unnecessary amount of chestal area he's showing off. Then, the stage's massive mouth yawns open to reveal the Top 12 contestants — saved, possibly, right before they dropped into its acid-filled stomach.

Hey, it could be true. This is Fox, after all.

Tonight is, of course, a special night in "Idol" history — it's the first time the show has been allowed to use tunes from the John Lennon-Paul McCartney songbook in competition. (Although keen "Idol"-watchers will note that some Beatles tunes made an appearance during last year's finale.)

Before the competition begins, the show offers an appropriate tribute to John and Paul, although it strikes me as a bit strange that a discussion of Beatles music involves not even a fleeting glimpse of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Their exclusion seemed almost painstakingly deliberate.

Afterward, Randy secures his position as master of the obvious: "I think these are some of the greatest songs in the history of music," he says. "I mean, these boys, they put it down."

Way to go out on a limb, dawg.

Paula sounds a note of caution. "These songs are full of melody. If you sing the songs straight, it pays great tribute. But for those who are going to take the risk, it had better be worth the reward."

Is it weird that I almost understood that?

Seacrest asks Simon about the songs' difficulty level, at which point Simon transforms into his superheroic alter-ego, Captain Bitchypants. "It depends on which ones you choose," he says. "If you choose 'She Loves You,' it's easy. If you choose 'Yesterday,' it's difficult. Duh."

Captain Bitchypants has the maturity of a cranky 4-year-old.

"We look for more of your colorful insight as the hours go on," Seacrest says.

"Likewise," snaps the Captain.

I approach this show with trepidation. Like many people of my generation — as well as those younger and older — I grew up listening to Beatles music, influenced by a mother whose love of the Fab Four knows no bounds. (She's a George gal; I think if you were a young female in the '60s, you were legally obligated to pick one.) I knew the lyrics to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" before I had my ABCs down pat.

So these kids aren't singing from any old songbook; this is a cultural touchstone they're holding.

And the results are edge-of-your-seat exciting.

SYESHA MERCADO
This week's intro interview theme, apparently, is "assume the audience is bigger than usual because of this Beatles thing and introduce yourself as if the viewers have never seen you before." Which means those of us who've been watching are treated to a minute of boredom ahead of each performance.

When Syesha takes the stage, I'm struck by the realization that each week I forget how good she is before I'm reminded by her performances. She sings "Got to Get You Into My Life" with a peppy horn-buffeted accompaniment and a light, melodic, bouncy voice. She seems more at ease on that larger stage than she has all season, and probably sang better than she has thus far. She looks dynamite, too. (Watch here.)

Purists might scoff at her big-band-ish approach, but I love it.

"Nice arrangement of that Beatles song, kind of the Earth, Wind and Fire arrangement, yes?" Randy says. "It started a little rough for me at first, because there were some little pitch problems, but by the middle, you kind of got into it and started having fun with it. ... It was all right for me. It was all right."

"It started off-pitch ... but midway through, you found your zone," Paula says. "You sounded great from the midway through to the end."

"I thought it was better than all right, Randy," Simon says. "I thought it was a great choice of song. I just think you looked very, very nervous ... but I thought you were better than you were last week."

Strange. I didn't get the sense that she was nervous at all. In fact, I thought she was steadier than usual. Maybe being in the room gave Simon a different feel?

CHIKEZIE
The Coke Lounge becomes the Coke Corner on this new set, and Chikezie has been replaced by Alfonso Ribiero's character Carleton from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air." I think Blake Lewis wore the exact same outfit last year. Spooky.

Chikezie used to work as a security guard at LAX, and his coworkers would set him up to see Paula when she made her way through there. Seacrest asks if she's safe to travel with. "Yes, she's very good at the airport," he says. My question would be more specific: "If you shake her luggage, does it rattle like a giant pill bottle?"

He had a close call last week, when he and Danny Noriega shared center stage during the tension-filled final moments of the results show. It was Danny who got his walking papers, but I had hoped the scare would keep Chikezie on his game.

Clearly, it had an impact.

It's rare to see a checkered sweater vest and a banjo sitting side-by-side, and when I hear the first notes of the bluegrass band Chikezie's assembled to back him on "She's a Woman," I think he's made a massive mistake.

Actually, first I think somebody slipped something psychotropic into the sushi I ate for dinner. But then the mistake thing.

Little did I know that's only Act One. Act Two is a hard-rock finish, complete with stuttering, wailing and a high-note ending that all wrap together to form an infectiously engaging performance. I had almost written Chikezie off this week, but his efforts turn that old-school rock song into a tour-de-force stage show. It's brilliant. (Watch here. It's worth the minute, 44 seconds, believe me.)

Randy is so flummoxed, he can speak only in catch phrases. "Chikezie, man. Dawg, lemme tell you something, man, I was thoroughly entertained. ... Chikezie smashed it!"

"When Ryan asked me the question, 'What should they do?', and I said those who take a risk, the greater the reward if they can change it up," Paula says. "You started with an 'Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?' type of vibe. Then, you turned it into this rock vibe. ... I've been waiting for this."

"I'm really surprised that I actually agree with these two," Simon says. "What I loved about it, other than the fact you looked like you were completely drunk halfway though the performance, is that unlike the last singer, you actually have changed within a week. You took control of the stage, the stage didn't control you. It was certainly a unique version of the song. But I thought you were terrific."

Chikezie is so psyched that he bounds around the stage and doesn't even seem to mind when he's creepily manhandled by Seacrest.

RAMIELE MALUBAY
She dedicates "In My Life" to "all of my close friends who've left the show already." Fitting, since she cries so much during results shows, you could fill a kiddie pool with the tears she's already shed.

I'm not too keen on her performance, though. She's shot from above during the first few verses, which isn't all that flattering for a person as petite as her — it makes the buckle on her giant belt seem like it's the size of her head. She appears to stumble a bit as she descends the stairs, and it isn't until she's on solid ground that her voice seems to discover its lower register.

Once it does, though, the song improves greatly. She's drawn the short straw, though, having picked such a slow song and such a straightforward arrangement after a rousing, genre-bending performance like Chikezie's. (Watch here.)

"It was kind of pretty, but it was also kind of pretty boring for me," Randy says. "I kept waiting for you to do something special and interesting to it, because it sounded like that's where you were kinda going. ... It didn't move any earth for me, I'm sorry."

"Ramiele, you look lovely tonight, you look really pretty," Paula says, doling out her patented kiss-of-death-by-compliment, delivered with the strange new tic of bowing her head to the left for emphasis.

"It was pretty safe," she says, head dipping, "and I want you to know that you are an amazing singer and your voice allows you to go many different places and you need to take advantage of that. Even though it's a very [*dip*] simple, beautiful song, you could have really [*dip*] gone in more melodic directions. ... The whole world needs to see what we hear in your voice."

"Ramiele, I was bored to tears throughout the entire song," Simon says amid a cacophonous cascade of boos, "from the awful standing on the stairs, to the walking in the middle with a dreary song choice that did absolutely nothing for you. I was forgettable, boring and I expect a lot better from you because you're better than that. Sorry."

"Did she do enough to make it through to next week?" Seacrest asks.

"I don't know, man, that was pretty boring right there," Randy says.

"It doesn't matter," Paula says, coming to Ramiele's rescue. "Even though it may have been safe and boring, she's got a beautiful voice and she should go through."

I wonder if that exchange there might have just sunk her.

JASON CASTRO
The guitar is back, and so Jason jingle-jangles his way through "If I Fell." I like the stripped-down arrangement, and I think the song fits his voice quite well. It's a solid performance. It's not really a departure of any sort for him, nor is it knock-your-socks-off wonderful, but it's good. (Watch here.)

He's got some strange body language, though. He begins to almost shrug to the beat near the end of the song. And then he makes a Dave Matthews-esque weird guitar face right as he strums the last chord. I could have lived my whole life happily without seeing that.

"I liked, I didn't love it," Randy says, "and the reason I didn't love it is just that it's one of my favorite songs of all, and just that sometimes with a melody that classic and a song that's great, you just need to just sing it with a more heartfelt thing. ... It was all right."

"I disagree with Randy," Paula says. "What is so special and unique about you is that I do feel your heart, I feel your heart, and I feel like the audience feels your heart. And that is such a special connection that makes you truly unique. And you don't do all the riffs and the runs and you don't have to, because you have an emotional connection with the songs that you pick."

OK. So Jason's got more people feeling his heart than a cardiac patient? Got it.

"Last week, you were incredible," Simon says. "Tonight, if I'm being honest with you, it was all a little bit student in a bedroom at midnight. ... I thought the song, actually, was quite boring. ... Good enough to stay in another week? Definitely. But not as good as last week."

Seacrest takes to the stage with a smirk, which means it's awkward Seacrest-Simon interaction time!

» Seacrest: My advice to you is, when the sun goes down, leave that student's room.
» Simon: Uh, Ryan?
» Seacrest: Uh, Yes?
» Simon: Careful.
» Seacrest: Uh, why?
» Simon: Just be careful.
» Seacrest: 'Cause you have nothing clever to say right now.
» Simon: I think you know why.
» Seacrest: When he says "be careful" and laughs, he's out of thoughts.

Does this mean Seacrest likes 'em young and matriculated? Was there a tryst in a dorm room we haven't heard about? Hope folks like Mary Hart and Pat O'Brien were listening. Go get 'im, TMZ!

And I think that menacing, top-row-of-teeth-exposing smile Simon gave Seacrest will haunt me in my sleep.

CARLY SMITHSON
Carly and Amanda Overmyer are roommates, apparently, in the new Hollywood living space the contestants are sharing. Their room must be badass central.

Speaking of coeds, is the top she's wearing a graduation gown cut up into a sleeveless blouse? It makes her tattoo arm twin look very studious.

Her version of "Come Together" is hard-charging and rockish, but feels a little disorganized. She's reworked verses in a way that don't match up with the original, which might seem sacrilegious to some Beatles fans. If she'd been allowed to sing the full song rather than just an "Idol"-sized snippet, it might have sounded more complete.

Her voice, however, is in top form. She's got one of the best sets of pipes in the competition, so the missteps in arranging shouldn't be enough to tear her apart. Her singing was powerful, powerful stuff. (Watch here.)

"You were strong, you were confident, dude, you were having a good time up there, you sounded amazing, there wasn't a note out of tune," Randy says. "Stellar performance. Stellar."

"Watching you up there, I felt like I was already watching a star," Paula says.

"Week after week so far, I think that you have chosen the wrong song," Simon says. "Until now. ... This reminds me six years ago, exactly the same week, Kelly Clarkson."

Carly is ebullient. Beyond ecstatic. Even her arm twin's mouth appeared to fall agape at all the praise. She revels in the attention — maybe a bit too much. But, hey, she earned it.

DAVID COOK
I'm picking up a theme in his performances. Last week's version of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" — which I listened to several times last week just for fun, I liked it so much — seemed almost stalkerish. This week, he makes "Eleanor Rigby" seem downright sinister, as if Eleanor and Father McKenzie are suspected of bumping off all the lonely people.

The light show behind him — with stage lights blazing and the screen behind him projecting a Nine Inch Nails-esque black-and-white distorting fuzz — make the performance feel all the more menacing.

His singing and posturing is pure rock 'n' roll, the combination of sound and light washing over the audience like a driving spring rain. He's a mesmerizing performer. And his voice hits Chris Cornell-like heights, which is fitting, given that the arrangement has a Soundgarden grit. It's another masterful turn. (Watch here.)

"You had a little pitch problem on the first part," Randy says, "but, dude, once you hit the chorus, dude, it was rockin'. Let go. You got this."

"I've been telling everyone that you're the dark horse," Paula says, setting up a metaphor destined to be beaten into the ground. "This is proving there is more than one horse in this race. And you're a thoroughbred. I think that you are fantastic."

"David, I thought it was brilliant," Simon says to thunderous applause. "If this show remains a talent competition rather than a popularity competition, you could win this entire show."

No way, Simon — it is and always will be a popularity contest. But he might win anyway.

BROOKE WHITE
She picks "Let It Be," which, in my humble opinion, is one of Paul McCartney's best songs. However, this isn't Brooke's best work. Her piano accompaniment seemed off-key at the beginning, and she was nearly out of breath by mid-song. Brooke has a winsome sound, and, aside from the aforementioned criticism, it was a fine effort. (Watch here.) But she's done better. And several of her cohorts already outpaced her during this episode.

"I don't know if it's your strongest performance," Randy says. "I love the fact that you have all of this conviction. ... You gave a very heartfelt performance."

"This is your niche, Brooke — it's picking songs where we can feel your heart," Paula says as Brooke gets visibly teary. "It's having that connection — that emotional connection — that makes people fall in love with you."

Paula sure is getting up close and personal with plenty of hearts tonight, isn't she?

Simon is effusive. "I thought, Brooke, it was, again, one of the best performances of the night," he says, "Three weeks running. Great."

DAVID HERNANDEZ
We learn during the intro interview that David is a student at Arizona State University studying broadcast journalism. He talks about a typical day involving sleeping in, studies and then working at the "Pizza Bistro." Uh huh.

He sings "I Saw Her Standing There" with a '50s beat, but a Broadway verve. He starts his set behind the judges' table, then boogies his way to the stage, dancing uncomfortably close to some of the gals in the audience along the way.

There are just too many closeups. And now that I've realized just how much his perfectly tweezed eyebrows wriggle during a performance, I just can't stop staring at them. They're like little lean pipe cleaners set to a rhythm.

But, right, the singing. It's good, albeit a bit razzle-dazzle showtuney. No new trails were blazed, but he's got skills. (Watch here.)

"You've got a big voice, you can really sing, but here's the deal," Randy says. "On a song like this that's really simple, for me, it was a little too overdone, you were trying to do too much with it."

"David, you know I love your voice," Paula says. "I feel like you kind of overdid it a little bit."

"No, no, no," Simon says. "I thought it was corny, verging on desperate, to be honest with you. ... It was all a little bit rabbit-in-the-headlights. ... I didn't think it was a particularly strong performance. Sorry."

"You had a stressful week over the last week or so," Seacrest says. (You might say that.) "Do you think you overanalyzed your song choice?"

David doesn't cop to that, but says he'll take the criticism and try to do better next time. If he's still in the running next time.

AMANDA OVERMYER
I'm not sure what's different about Amanda this week, but she looks really pretty. Aside from her pants, which make her legs look like twin sticks of Big Red gum.

If her past three performances had been as good as her take on "You Can't Do That," she'd have a much surer hold on a spot in this competition.

It's not without its flaws, though. One of them isn't her fault: The music from the band is louder than her vocals, which, given her propensity for projection, must be a control room problem. However, what she can control is the guttural gruffness that fuzzes out portions of the song. Once or twice, that effect would have been rousing. But it happens so much throughout the song that it makes the lyrics tough to make out. (Watch here.)

Given the promise she showed early in the season, she should have turned in so many stellar performances that this would rank as one of her more mediocre turns rather than one of her best. It shows that Amanda's back in the game, but it also illustrates how far she slid before she got here.

"Guess what, you took a Beatles song and took it to a Southern club or a Southern bar and rocked it out," Randy says. "I've got to give you props for that. Good lookin' out."

"You're smiling, you're having fun, you look fantastic, and you are a star up there," Paula says.

"I didn't think it was as good as last week, Amanda," Simon says, "and I understood about 30 percent of what you sang. It was like you were slurring a lot of the words and it got a little bit shouty. Having said that, I think it's a very — shut up, Paula."

"Don't be disrespectful," Paula says.

"Well, then, don't be disrespectful to me, Paula," Simon snaps back.

Mom and dad are fighting!

"I'm rooting her on," Paula says.

"Then let me finish," Simon insists.

"OK now. OK, baby. OK," Paula coos mockingly.

"What I was going to say was I think it's a good thing that you're in this competition because you are like a breath of fresh air coming on," Simon says.

The two of them really should just do it and get it over with.

MICHAEL JOHNS
Pure genius. Whichever "Idol" producer saw that picture of the show's only Aussie as a youngster in a Vegemite T-shirt and realized it had to be on TV should get a bonus. That's just classic.

He does a very straightforward take on "Across the Universe," complete with requisite swirling instrumentation. It's a different sort of song for him, which is interesting, but I'm not sure it's complimentary. There's something almost Josh Grobanesque about his voice as he sings John Lennon's mantra, which throws me off more than anything else.

It's not bad. But it's not great. (Watch here.)

"I don't know if it was your best performance, man, I thought it was good," Randy says, "I was waiting for something big to happen once again. ... It was OK for me, a little sleepy."

"It takes an inner strength and an inner quiet confidence to be able to stand center stage with the microphone and do nothing but —"

Pause.

"Sing?" Simon offers.

" — sing brilliantly. ... I thought that was a brilliant performance, I really do."

"I'm going to agree with Randy," Simon says. "Because he's absolutely right, you should have done — what's the Irish girl's name?"

"Carly!" Randy and Paula say, gasping almost in unison.

"Carly. Carly did something brilliant with the song. And that's what you should have done. ... Now's the point when you've got to let yourself go a little bit. Because I'm still a big, big fan of yours. And I'm frustrated still that we haven't heard what you're capable of doing."

Also not in Michael's favor: the irony factor. Singing "nothing's gonna change my world" on a rejection show would make for magical television.

KRISTY LEE COOK
She turns "Eight Days a Week" into a country song, which, in her intro interview, she bills as taking a chance — even though the judges explicitly told her to sing country songs.

So far, revamps of Lennon-McCartney tunes — like Chikezie's or David Cook's — have been masterful. Kristy's, though, isn't.

I hate it. I really, really hate it.

The arrangement is terrible. It's like somebody took a Hee Haw musical interlude and sped it up to 78 rpms. It's a twang tornado that sweeps poor Kristy up and appears to knock her off-balance, since she seems to be either confused or off-beat or both throughout the performance. (Watch here, if you must.)

This could be the end of her.

"I actually liked the arrangement and the idea of the song, it's just vocally I felt like you were trying to force some runs into it," Randy says. "Half of me likes it, half of me didn't like it."

"Kristy, I didn't enjoy it," Paula says, "I didn't get it."

"I thought it was horrendous, actually," Simon says. "You sounded like Dolly Parton on helium. It was a very brave, but probably foolish, thing to do, because that song just doesn't work in that style. It was like being in some sort of ghastly country fair or something."

Seacrest questions Simon's advice from weeks ago that Kristy should go country. Which provokes another fight with Simon. It would take a set of heavy-grade Ginsu knives to cut though the tension in that studio.

DAVID ARCHULETA
During his intro interview, Li'l David says that the idea of performing "We Can Work It Out" left him feeling stressed.

It should have. It's the worst performance he's given this season.

He forgets the words outright in at least two places. He stumbles in several others. The funky Stevie Wonderish arrangement would have been good, but his vocals are so stop-and-start unsure that he's never able to really capitalize on it. (Watch here, but be forewarned: it'll make you cringe.)

After he performs, you can hear the distinct sound of squealing. But is it his teenybopper fans or the brakes on the Archuleta Express?

The look on David's face when he turns to the judges shows that he knows he's about to get slapped around.

"You know I like your voice, you know I'm a fan of yours," Randy says, winding up to smack him. "This week, dawg, it was not on point, man. ... It felt very forced and it just really didn't quite work."

"This wasn't your best week," Paula says. "Forgetting the lyrics, it gets a little tough. You can never let it show on your face."

"OK, we've got 12 people here, all in the same position, all want to win the competition, so I'm going to treat everybody fairly. That was a mess," Simon says. "At this point in the competition, I expect incredible performances. It wasn't. It was your weakest performance so far."

Listen to those cheers, though. Anyone who thinks this one sorry set is going to fell the Goliath that is Li'l David needs to check their noggin for bruises. He's in this game for weeks to come.

FEARLESS PICKS
What a surprise this episode was. The odds-on favorite, Li'l David, faltered, while folks like Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson soared. David Cook gave the night's best performance, but Chikezie was a close second — and the night's biggest surprise. I have no doubt that he just saved himself from certain elimination.

No, this week it's time for Kristy Lee Cook to ride off into the sunset. She was among the night's weakest performers, and her history of undistinguished — forgettable, some snippy judges might say — work makes a convincing case that she's not prepared for this level of competition.

But she's not the only one in trouble. Michael Johns, Amanda Overmyer, Ramiele Malubay, David Hernandez and Jason Castro need to climb out of the middle ranks or face their own eliminations in the weeks to come.

» TONIGHT: An hour of show is scheduled, but just one little Idolite will leave us. What will Seacrest and the gang do with the rest of the time? Jell-O wrestling matches between Simon and Paula? A track-by-track sing-along to Randy's new album? An animated look at the continuing adventures of Captain Bitchypants? God only knows. In any case, I'll have a fresh recap at readexpress.com/idol on Thursday morning.

In the meantime, what did you think about the Beatles Show? Get back to the comments section below and leave your thoughts.

Photos courtesy Fox

Posted By Greg Barber at 9:00 AM on March 12, 2008 Tagged in Arts & Events , Idol Chatter , Stage , Television , Top Columns

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