Matt Giraud – Performance Profile, American Idol 2009 Season 8

April 28, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Matt Giraud performs My Funny Valentine, American Idol 2009 Season 8, Week 8 (April 28) Top 5: Rat Pack Standards with mentor Jamie Foxx

Matt Giraud performs My Funny Valentine, American Idol 2009 Season 8, Week 8 (April 28) Top 5: Rat Pack Standards with mentor Jamie Foxx

Matt Giraud performs My Funny Valentine, American Idol 2009 Season 8, Week 8 (April 28) Top 5: Rat Pack Standards with mentor Jamie Foxx

Matt, Matt, Matt . . . what is going on? I used to love Matt Giraud, but the train has definitely left the station. I am very familiar with this song, so maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but I thought the whole performance was a mess. I didn’t like the arrangement or the vocals, especially in the opening verse.

Matt Giraud is back in his signature hat and suit. I’m not a big fan of the hat, but to each his own I suppose.

Review Score: ★★½☆☆ 

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Adam Lambert stuns Randy Travis with Ring of Fire Egyptian Remix, American Idol 8 Top 11

March 17, 2009 by vongsundara · 1 Comment 

Tonight is American Idol’s annual trek into the world of country music, this week’s theme being the Grand Ole Opry. I’m glad that the guest vocal coach is Randy Travis, as he has an incredible amount of credibility in the country music world.

The big story of the night is Adam Lambert’s bizarre but memorable take on Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. He shocked me with his bold choice. I’m not sure what to make of it, which is a sign of good art I suppose. It’s always a good idea to change things up and deliver something unexpected; otherwise, people will get bored no matter how great your performances are.

Matt Giraud most definitely stole the night away with his mesmerizing performance to close the show.

I have to give big props to the stylists this week. Last week, I was upset that some obviously horrible hair and style choices were still around despite it being the first week that the stylists had access to the contestants. This week, all the horrible hair from last week was corrected: namely Scott MacIntyre and Lil Rounds looked a lot better.

The American Idol producers went a bit too far trying to push this week’s show to two hours. There are commercial breaks between every single performance with only one exception. That’s a little bit too much in my opinion. I can’t fault them, though, since it does bring in more advertiser dollars during a time of economic downturn. Still, I’m allowed to be annoyed.

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Adam Lambert vs. MJ’s Black or White, American Idol 8 Top 13, Michael Jackson

March 14, 2009 by vongsundara · 2 Comments 

I’m surprised American Idol decided to go with Michael Jackson night. Michael Jackson is the type of artist that the judges always warn contestants to stay away from. Michael’s vocal range is incredibly high and his style is something that can’t be mimicked. On top of that, Michael Jackson is the best dancer ever to grace the stage as a pop icon. His moves are ridiculous, particularly his footwork and isolations. Because of this, I went into the night expecting a train wreck. I wasn’t completely wrong, though there were a couple of performances that stood out.

The new stage is absolutely incredible. It’s huge and allows far more cinematic camera angles.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the contests look. The Top 13 are allowed access to stylists. In years past, some American Idol contestants went from horrible-looking wannabes to full-blown pop icon hotties. David Cook went from looking greasy and boring to being a bonafide sex symbol, not to mention what the stylists did for Clay Aiken.

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Tatiana del Toro mistreated and Top 13 announced, American Idol 8 Wildcard

March 5, 2009 by vongsundara · 1 Comment 

I had a lot of fun watching tonight’s American Idol 2009 Wildcard Round. There were some definite highs, some strange lows and the weird announcement of the Top 13. Making it through to the Top 13 (yes 13, not 12) are Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray and Megan Joy Corkrey.

I really don’t think much of Jasmine at all. She’s almost commercial, but not quite pretty enough or talented enough vocally to be a star. Megan Joy Corkrey has the looks and the voice to be a real star, but she definitely needs to work on her stage performance. Anoop Desai is very likable, but his vocals the last couple of rounds have been absolutely terrible. Matt Giraud had a terrible performance as well, but he has potential for sure.

I don’t like to mention the judges too often, but I do think they went a bit far tonight with their exploitation and bias against Tatiana del Toro. Paula blasted her for singing the same song, but then all four judges made excuses for why Anoop Desai made the right choice to sing the same song again. Their reasoning was paper thin. “You sang it better than last time?” Whatever . . . at least Tatiana rearranged her vocals this time and changed up the entire feel of the song and her look and performance. Anoop actually sang the same song in the same arrangement with the same stage performance.

Overall, the performances weren’t that great for tonight’s Wildcard Round. No one really broke through to prove that they absolutely belonged in the Top 13.

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Adam Lambert’s powerful high register steals the show, American Idol 8 Top 36 Group 2

March 1, 2009 by vongsundara · 3 Comments 

I don’t know what happened this week, but the majority of performances were rather horrible. I’m sorry that there will be three performers who will make it through from this group. There were really no performances that I would go back and watch except for Adam Lambert’s take-it-or-leave it finale.

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