You're Lookin' at Country

[jlh]

By the way, the titles of the songs of Martina McBride were so boring that I'm using Loretta Lynn for all the titles.

1. Phil, "Where the Blacktop Ends." Even when he's really good, he's kinda boring. Poor third-wheel Phil.
   
2. Jordin, "Broken Wing." She sounded great though she was the tiniest touch shouty at the end. I'm not sure who styled her to look like Crystal Gayle at the Opry in 1977 by way of New Delhi, but whatever.
   
3. Sanjaya, "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About." Okay, this is a huge disappointment. I mean, it's way too literal, and if he wanted to keep being campy there was so much more to choose from. Man. Also, is Bonnie Raitt country? Just for the record, I agree with Simon to a point—see more below.
   
4. Lakisha, "Jesus Take the Wheel." Hmm, that was a little shrieky honey. And those were some ugly fucking boots. Simon gave her some really solid constructive criticism that she can use for next week, and frankly, she needs the reality check. He clearly still thinks she's a big contender as he's still giving her that level 2 crit, and aww, Ryan adores her so.
   
5. Chris, "Mayberry." So he sounded great but I feel like he could have been moving around a lot more. There was a weird lack of energy, as Randy said. I'm worried for Chris this week, because he really should have knocked it out of the park.
   
6. Melinda, "Trouble Is a Woman." Wow, it was all about her tits tonight, wasn't it? That t-shirt in the rehearsal, and that strapless top for performance? She looked quite young and she was singing a recent song and it was fun and she sounded great and strong and all those things.
   
7. Blake, "When the Stars Go Blue." So Chris Daughtry, as this isn't really a country song; though Tim McGraw did cover it, it's by Ryan Adams. Have we seen him standing up with a mike before? His stage work was a little too coy, and he didn't seem to quite know what he wanted to do with the song, but I don't think he'll be in any trouble.

Now I'm pretty sure the producers sent Ryan out to interrupt Simon because he was just fueling more sympathy votes for Sanjaya, and I was thinking "shut up Simon!" because Sanjaya had been both bad and not that entertaining, and since Phil was so good, it could have been the week. But noooooo, Simon had to draw a line in the sand implying that Sanjaya was as bad as like, William Hung or something, which was really way more than he needed to say. Sanjaya's inexplicable durability has clearly gotten under Simon's skin in a way that he can't deal with because he's usually a lot better at figuring out how to get rid of these folks, but he was sounding downright angry there. At least he mostly took it out on Ryan, who really can take it, as opposed to continuing to go after Sanjaya. Which may well be why they sent Ryan out there, or Ryan went out of his own accord, to take one for the team. However, I enjoyed that Ryan and Simon were clearly still pissy when Ryan was down behind the judges introducing LaKisha and gave Simon a pretty dirty look out of the corner of his eye.

That said, I cannot believe that Simon rolled his eyes when Chris said something about VT. I mean, seriously. Again, I think the producers might have got Simon to say something later when Blake sang, or he realized he looked bad, or something, because that little mention was kinda weird.

For the record, I voted 4x Chris R, 3x Melinda, 2x Jordin, 2x Blake

[Poll #968592]

Comments

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

I was *cough* doing our taxes last night, so the only part I saw was the end of Sanjaya's song (bleh), and Simon's rant at him, when I went downstairs to get food. I agree with you - I thought, wow, he's REALLY pissed that this kid is still on the show. I was surprised that Ryan stepped in, though, because I thought the show was supposed to be about Simon losing his shit at people and thus that was okay. :)) On the other hand, yeah, way to keep up the sympathy for the kid, there...

I would totally read hot make-up sex. *sigh* I swore I was done with RPS, but noooooo. It's like, the redeemable evil bad guy and the sweet, funny hero dynamic, except in real people. Irresistable.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

While Simon's role is definitely to be the overly harsh, grouchy critic, he isn't supposed to spectacularly lose his shit the way he did last night. And when he goes after Ryan himself, Ryan usually jabs back, but last night he just deflected him, which makes me think even more that he went out/was sent out to take the hit from Simon and keep him from really going after Sanjaya. It's funny how much time Ryan spends keeping people from saying something they really don't want to say, which means that when he does something idiotic there's no one to stop him, most of the time.

It's funny you say that about their dynamic, as I was talking to someone else yesterday and musing about why that crowd Cassie always referred to as the Random Militant Slashers haven't come down like a ton of bricks on Ryan/Simon since it's their preferred dynamic, the misanthropic yet sexy genius intrigued by the prettier, younger, more impulsive hero-type. I think it's the RPS prejudice that keeps them away—it's like, most RPS'ers are all about the pretty and so slash the singers (see also popslash), while those who would appreciate the Simon can't deal with the RPS—but I'll take it, because I love my little Rymon circle.