The Way I See It!

Guest Blog - We bid Danny adieu, Thanks to Paula Abdul

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on May 13, 2009

Guest Blog

By Carrie Hollenbeck

Thanks to a horrible song choice by Paula, I am afraid we will be seeing Danny eliminated on Wed, May 13^th’s American Idol results show.  Her song choice was not relevant to the audience watching and voting. 

Perhaps I was already tainted when I read what songs the judges picked for the three remaining contestants.  Both Adam and Kris had current songs selected for them.  Danny came out and did what Danny does best…he puts his heart and soul into every performance.  I didn’t like the song choice for him, “Dance Little Sister” by Terrance Trent D’Arby; it wasn’t current and I don’t think a lot of people will relate with it.  With that being said, I think some voters who might have been sitting on the fence, will in turn, vote for Kris.

Kris’s performance of “Apologize” by OneRepublic, was mediocre, however, since it is current song, his cover of it was acceptable.  It came out that Randy and Kara chose that song for him hoping he would change it up a bit (of course, Kris isn’t a mind reader and his voice suits the original version very well).  Simon let it be known that it was Randy and Kara’s responsibility then to work with Kris on his arrangement.  Randy outright stated that he never knew they were to do that.

Adam’s performance of U2’s “One” was too slow in my books.  I think it is a great song and I love U2, however, I think Adam’s theatrical voice actually took away from the song.  Unfortunately, all four of the judges loved it and him.  Simon made a personal phone call to Bono of U2 just to have that song approved for Adam to sing it!  Hmm…no favoritism going on there at all!  Simon was very forthcoming that he and Adam worked for hours on the correct arrangement.  Why not just sign Adam to a contract now if this is what Simon wants?

Finally, half way through and now it was time for the three contestants to sing a song of their choice.  First up was Danny with “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker.  An ABSOLUTELY PERFECT selection for his voice!  It actually brought tears to my eyes.  Thankfully, the judges liked it a lot and even Simon commented that he didn’t like the arrangement, but Danny’s singing was a “master class” in voice! 

Second up was Kris, who sang Kanye West’s “Heartless”.  Kris’s acoustic version, just him and his guitar, was even better than the original song…at least to me.  Judges Randy and Kara loved it and told Kris that is what they wanted him to do with “Apologize”.  Kris’s performance definitely changed things up in this competition.

Once again, Adam closed the show.  How he keeps getting lucky with that, one only knows!  He choose Aerosmith’s “Cryin’”, which he stated he wasn’t going to change the arrangement, however, it was a typical Adam performance when he loses himself in song and starts to scream like Axel Rose from Guns n’ Roses!  I really liked Adam for a while, but he is so over the top and all his performances started to sound alike.  To no surprise, all 4 of the judges have pretty much sealed the deal for his Idol win.

It’s unfortunate that Danny and Kris are similar singers (hence the reason they sounded good when they did their duet last week).  Adam will have his followers; however, Danny and Kris’s votes will be split.  Had Allison still be in the competition, Adam and Allison would have been competing for the same votes.

I’ll be very sad and disappointed if Danny leaves on Wednesday, however, I am preparing myself.  Thanks Paula for once again being a little “off”!

If you were listening to Jay Weber’s show today, he read this at 6:30am.  Thanks Jay!