jlh | your soft and easy kinda soulful hits

Two years ago this was the night I got on the Cook train. He said "what you don't know about me is that I'm a word nerd!" and then he sang "All Right Now" and it was excellent. Tonight, well, there were some things that were actually quite good. I just wish there hadn't been so many mid-tempo adult contemporary songs.

Eh, the judges were boring, but Ellen's coming right along, isn't she?

Michael Lynche, "It's a Man's World." Wow, that was fantastic! He owned it, he sold it, and I bought it even though yeah, the lyrical content not so much. (Thank you, Ellen, for piping up about that.) I mean, it's a classic, but still.
John Park, "Gravity." zzzzzzz. I want to like him! But wow, snoozefest. See, the thing about John Mayer songs, especially ones that have a lot of blues guitar in them, is that the singing isn't really the point. So he was fine? But I forgot he'd sung it almost while he was still singing.
Casey James, "I Don't Wanna Be." I'm glad they laid out that like, 47 people have sung this song. To me, it belongs to Elliott, though the other men who sang it did excellent jobs on it as well. Casey did fine, but his voice isn't actually gritty enough to do it justice, if that makes sense. And he doesn't quite feel like a front man yet.
Alex Lambert, "Everybody Knows." Competent? I don't think if you're rocking the shag you can really wear a plaid jacket because it goes from being ironic to "I'm playing a 70s idol in a movie about someone else." But yeah, still boring.
Todrick Hall, "What's Love Got to Do With It." Hmm, he took an old song and changed it up to sound even older. The silver jacket, it was all too loungey for me. Ellen was right that the second half was better, because he was moving around and because the song livened up.
Jermaine Sellers, "What's Goin On." Just, stop. Please. Wrong Jermaine, and I will continue to hold that against you. And who needs a lounge version of this song? Also I didn't get the hair plus the bow tie; it was a little too Pee Wee Herman and the style actually undercut his delivery of the message of the song because I couldn't take him seriously.
Andrew Garcia, "You Give Me Something." Ali said he was off the rhythm for most of the song. It certainly didn't quite fit, and he doesn't know what to do with his arms when he's not playing guitar. But his voice sounded good, and it didn't suck. And even though it was mid tempo it wasn't quite as loungey.
Aaron Kelly, "My Girl." Really? So, when are you going to sing something young? Man that was some dullsville.
Tim Urban, "Come On Get Higher." I don't know, whatever? It was … fine? He never sang from his diaphragm so it all felt very forced and airless.
Lee Dewyze, "Lips of an Angel." God this song. But he sounded pretty great, and is definitely ready for radio as they said. I really liked it, even if I don't like this song much.