Eleven episodes into Season 10, and the first pieces of the giant puzzle known as the Top 24 on “American Idol” started to come together last night. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist at least one blatant Beatles reference…)
But in order to get there, the 61 contestants who survived the brutal Hollywood round had just 24 hours to practice a song by the Fab Four and perform under the spotlight on the same Vegas stage where the Cirque du Soleil show “Love” is running.
For some, that meant having to deal with the wrath of mean old Peggy, the “vocal coach from hell.” If you thought the trainers on “The Biggest Loser” were tough, you have to meet this woman.
“Sing, damn it!” she barked out to two terrified young singers during their rehearsal. “Do it from the top, and don’t make a mistake!” She then gave Thia Megia and Melinda Ademi a nice vote of confidence before they headed to the Vegas stage: “Guess what?” she snapped in her witch-like tone. “You’re gong to die up on the stage in front of all those people!” She was serious.
In addition to wondering whether Thia and Melinda would crack under pressure, I had some other questions running through my mind. My first thought: What the heck is country singer Scotty McCreery, the 17-year-old kid with the ultra-deep voice, going to do when he finds out there are no Beatles songs that start out with these lyrics: “Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low. Put some music on that’s soft and slow…”
My second thought: How will that blonde basket case, Ashley Sullivan – the “emotional time bomb, in the frank words of Ryan Seacrest -- hold up in Vegas?
Well, turns out young Scotty did just fine. He even hit some high notes. And Ashley did NOT break down last night. Instead, she got married. Yep, she and her boyfriend headed to the chapel -- the same one where Britney Spears got married, in case you didn't hear Ashley say that repeatedly -- and tied the knot. Their witness: An Idol cameraman named Dave.
But before she got married, Ashley seemed to take some charm school lessons from the vocal coach from hell. She basically threatened her boyfriend not to bail out on her. “If you have cold feet, I don’t care. You’re going through with it (the wedding),” she told him in the limo on the way to the chapel. ”Or I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
I’m pretty sure she was serious. I feel bad for the guy. He just came back from a tour of duty in Iraq, and now he has to deal with the psycho babe from hell.
BEATLES BOTCHERY
I’m not a huge Beatles fan, but I do like a lot of their songs. I figured it would be fun to hear the Idol contestants take a crack at singing all those classics.
Unfortunately, aside from a few good performances in which the singers put their own vocal spin on the Beatles tunes, most of the highly touted Vegas round was, in my humble opinion, just one big karaoke night.
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