American Idol 4: 1970s Dance Music Night

April 19th, 2005

Published on April 19, 2005 By Jamie Burnside In Entertainment

It is nice as the competition winds down, because I have fewer contestants to write about. Having fewer contestants also means better performances, as the figurative fat has been trimmed from the competition.

Tonight's show, featuring 1970s dance music turned out really nicely. The contestants as a group performed as well as I have seen them since the first "big stage" show.

The Contestants:

1) Constantine Maroulis sang "Nights on Broadway". The first thing that struck me about Constantine was his makeup. He looked like the young Ozzy Osbourne.

Constantine continued his apparent upswing with his best performance that I can remember. He'll get lots of votes tonight.

2) Carrie Underwood sang "MacArthur Park". I don't know what was going on, but Carrie seemed to mumble a lot of the words to the point of inaudibility. I don't think it turned out very well.

Earlier on I mentioned that Carrie looks like a Mandrell sister. Tonight I felt that she is looking like Dolly Parton these days.

3) Scott Savol sang "Everlasting Love". This song is one of my favorites lately. They play it often on the radio station that I listen to at work. It would be hard for Scott to measure up to Clay Aiken's brilliant performance of the same song two years ago.

I suppose the song was okay. It was definitely as good as Scott has been in a while.

Scott's wardrobe tonight was interesting. Give him a baseball cap and an apple, and you'll have Larry Mondello. "Just wait until your father comes home Scott Savol!"

4) Anthony Federov sang "Don't Take Away the Music". Anthony was surprisingly good tonight. He hasn't done much lately.

5) Vonzell Solomon sang "I'm Every Woman". I love Vonzell's vignettes. She comes off as being so endearing when she talks into the camera. I root for her to succeed each week.

Tonight's performance by Vonzell was fantastic. Way to go!

6) Anwar Robinson sang "September". Anwar always sings well, but doesn't seem exciting at all.

7) Bo Bice sang "Vehicle". Bo is strongest when he can find a song that fits his voice and preferred style of singing. After a mini-slump, it seems like Bo was able to save himself for another week.

Once again, Bo wins the "Best-dressed" award for tonight's show. He is better than any of the other contestants at picking out his clothes for each show.

Tonight's Top Three:

1) Vonzell Solomon 2) Bo Bice 3) Constantine Maroulis

Weaker Performances:

Carrie Underwood, Anwar, Scott... It is tough to pick weak ones tonight. Apart from Vonzell's performance, there hasn't been much seperation between good and bad in tonight's show.

Let's see how it shakes out tomorrow!

Comments

KellyW0498

on Apr 20, 2005

Good Morning Jamie,

I must respectfully disagree with you with your view on Vonzell. I like her but, I don't think that was a great performance for her. I don't know why, but I thought she could have picked a better song, and enough of Whitney's songs.

My bottom 3 pick....Scott, Anthony and Anwar.

See ya tomorrow.

Jamie Burnside

on Apr 20, 2005

Did Whitney sing that "I'm Every Woman" song too? (I am clueless when it comes to Whitney. I know that she sings the "Love You" song, and I enjoyed watching "The Bodyguard".)

Those Idol contestants can't get enough of Whitney Houston, can they?

Dynosoar

on Apr 20, 2005

AndyT

on Apr 20, 2005

Hi Jamie. My usual few comments.

Idol contestants sings songs by Whitney, Mariah etc because they are the powerhouses. To be able to match them vocally would be amazing - but unfortunately this doesn't leave room to show uniqness, or personality.

I agree with KellyW, I don't think Vonzell was that good. She always chooses the difficult songs, doesn't she? Simon was right as her personality shows through her performances (much like Fantasia), but vocally she was a little off.

Carrie did say she will have some trouble due to her background. Judging by the judges comments, it must have sounded a lot better in the studio. I think Carrie didn't know she needs to up the volumn (for her low notes) for a dance track to carry over to TV viewers. I hope people don't just judge her for tonight because Carrie is a good vocalist. I also wondered if she knew what she was singing.

Do you think Constantine might have a chance of winning?
He has not been in the bottom three at all, even in his poorest performance, maybe due to his fans. So if he can pull of consistently good performances he will mostly stay on top.

Everyone was good tonight (compared to everyone else) so I have no idea. If I have to hazard a guess at the bottom three, it would say Scott, Vonzell and Anwar.

Jamie Burnside

on Apr 20, 2005

Good comments AndyT.

Constantine made a lot of fans during the audition/ Hollywood stage of the competition. That was before anyone heard him sing...

Once he started performing songs, he turned out to be a little less-than-advertised.

If a segment of fans takes a particular contestant to heart (in this case Constantine found a following early), they'll vote for him and keep voting for him. Constantine is lucky that he was able to find a fanbase before he started actually performing songs.

At least Constantine is no less than ten-times better than last year's stinker: John Stevens.

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