Adam Lambert - Season 8

[Fooled Again]

SDL, I agree with some of what you say. When I listen to the radio, top 40, classic rock, pop or whatever, I don't need to feel a CONNECTION to the song. Music is for fun. People like to listen to a good voice, good lyrics or whatever. They're not really looking to CONNECT. Occassionaly you DO hear and singer/voice/song that you emotionally connect to, and that's great, but not really required.

Kris is a singer/songwriter, and Adam is a singer/entertainer. It's simply a matter of preference.

Also, I feel like Adam has shown vulnerability on the stage. Mad World was hauntingly beautiful because he DID connect to the words. They obviously meant something to him, and it showed. Maybe people that are predisposed not to like him didn't see it, but others did. The performance of "One" the other night is not one of my favorites, but again, I really felt that Adam connected with the words.

Kris or Adam in concert? Adam, DEFINITELY.

[the Ricker]

There is one thing that will determine whether Adam will win this thing, it's so simple but he hasn't caught on yet and I personally don't think he will.
It's what allowed Kris Allen, great musician but a nobody from Arkansas, to be within a million votes of him last week.
It's the scream. Even the people I know who love him are so sick of hearing it. It makes him irritating and one dimensional.
If he comes out with another Mad World, he will win. Another Axle Rose impersonation, and the kid from Arkansas will smoke him.

Totally agree. Adam is a great guy, and I love guys that rock, but for some reason when he screams it turns me off. I loved when Cook screamed because the tone was much lower..doesn't hurt the ears so much. For Allen to pull it off he has to use the guitar, and use those gorgeous eyes to lure the voter, not to mention that smile!

[pillbeam]

SDL, I agree with some of what you say. When I listen to the radio, top 40, classic rock, pop or whatever, I don't need to feel a CONNECTION to the song. Music is for fun. People like to listen to a good voice, good lyrics or whatever. They're not really looking to CONNECT. Occassionaly you DO hear and singer/voice/song that you emotionally connect to, and that's great, but not really required.

But a performer expressing a connection to his song's lyrics and being entertaining "for fun" are not mutually exclusive. Even in the most lighthearted songs, there is an emotion being represented. Maybe not a serious one, but an emotion nonetheless. Take the song, "Dont Worry, Be Happy." The guy who sang it sounded like he believed the sentiment of that song 100 percent, which helped to bring out the humor or entertainment value of that song.

--

[pillbeam]

There is one thing that will determine whether Adam will win this thing, it's so simple but he hasn't caught on yet and I personally don't think he will.
It's what allowed Kris Allen, great musician but a nobody from Arkansas, to be within a million votes of him last week.
It's the scream. Even the people I know who love him are so sick of hearing it. It makes him irritating and one dimensional.
If he comes out with another Mad World, he will win. Another Axle Rose impersonation, and the kid from Arkansas will smoke him.

Yet again, SDL, you and I agree. I was thinking exactly the same thing. If Adam can re-create the Mad World moment, which was artistic and showed emotional connection to the song, he will have a big chance of beating Kris. Also, Adam will need to avoid the gratuitous screeching, which could turn off regular and more recent viewers. On Finale night, there will be a lot of new viewers casting votes, and they won't necessarily appreciate the screeching.

[Kyle]

I don't get this whole "connecting with the music" clichè.
It's so vague, it's like the thing to say when the judges run out of specific comments.

When I watch a contestant sing on Idol, I'm looking for a real performance that could hold up on a regular show or event.
I don't want to get the feeling that I watch somebody on a goofy singing competition.
On the show with the last 4, that was the deal breaker for me, as far as Danny and Kriss.
They sounded like terrible amateurs on that show.
Beware that somebody has to pay money for that.

Kriss made a huge progress on the show with the last 3. While Danny was still in Idol Competition Mode.

That's what I liked about Allison on her last two shows.
She just appeared like a performer. If people like her or not, is another question.
And when I think of the duet with her and Adam... That was THE performance of the evening.
And if people don't reward that with votes, I have to question their hearing.

But it boils down to, people having made up their mind, long before a single show, anyway.

And if people make up their mind, to the point where a single show or performance doesn't matter that much....
That brings me to the conclusion, that a contestant who had an early impact on the viewers, built up a bigger fan base.
Hence, having a bigger reserve in votes.

[pillbeam]

I don't get this whole "connecting with the music" clichè.
It's so vague, it's like the thing to say when the judges run out of specific comments.

Okay, let me be specific about "emotional connection." In a rudimentary sense, it means that the singer seems to express the sentiment of the song or what the lyrics are conveying. You are a fan of Allison, whom I think failed at that "connection" many times. Take for example, the Bonnie Raitt classic, where she sings "I can't make you love me." That is an incredibly bitter-sad song, and Allison sang it with as much sadness as if she had been singing about losing her bobby pin at the mall. Singing is not just about exercising the vocal chords in tune. It takes acting ability, as well. While 16-year-old Allison couldn't sing the Raitt song with the necessary pathos, a 16-year-old Judy Garland could have, I'm sure. It has nothing to do with age or life experience. It is all about the acting part of singing.

Adam is a mixed bag. He brilliantly expressed the emotional meaning of the "Mad World" song. But in some other songs, he has only showed how impressive his vocal range is.
--

[TopCatDC]

I don't get this whole "connecting with the music" clichè.
It's so vague, it's like the thing to say when the judges run out of specific comments.

Note: Pillbeam - looks like we were responding at the same time! But I think we essentaily are saying the same thing.


I understand. So I'll spell out what that means for me. And before I do let me put out here that for some people this may not have any importance whatsoever - but it does to me.

A singer can take a lyric and deliver it to the audience as if it was something important they had to say right at that moment. In other words they are just speaking to you, or to their lover, or whoever the song is addressed to. But that conversation is heightened by the music, which adds its own emotional charge - but all if it is part of what the singer is compelled to communicate, personally.

This takes the performance out of the realm of show biz ("And for my next number..."), and back toward "reality" and soul-baring truth. Some examples from this season:

• To Make You Feel My Love (Kris)
• Papa Was a Rolling Stone (Allison)
• She Works Hard for the Money (Kris)
• Someone to Watch Over Me (Allison)
• Falling Slowly (Kris)
• Cry Baby (Allison - especially the version on the results show)

In each performance, you had an artist demand that the audience pay attention to the message they were passionatly trying to get across.

This is a skill that can be learned, but some singers just naturally come by it, which I'm sure is the case for Allison and Kris. I doubt that either of them has spent much time at an acting studio. Although here's the mystery - Adam has. And he has shown no ability to do this at all. Adam's performance is in his gestures, his stage movement, his attitude, his very carefully crafted vocal delivery... but it's never in his eyes. Heck, you can usually hardly see his eyes (Mad World, Tracks of My Tears) because the stage lighting is everywhere but his face.

But there are many other areas where Adam has no peer, so there you go - I guess God can't squeeze everything into one singer.

[bekalc]

For me phrasiing/connecting to the music is what makes music art. It what makes people think wow this singer is speaking to me, and what I'm feeling/thinking at this time.

I think a problem is that over singing has been so popularized that many singers feel the need to show how many notes they can hit, rather than first saying what are the lyrics saying and how can the way I sing, also interpert the music.

So you've have situations where perhaps because you can have singers with less of a range be better at the "connection to the music thing" than singers with the bigger range. It doesnt' mean that a singer with a big range, can't do both. It just the singer with the bigger range first needs to commit to expressing the music best first...

Adam's screaming bothers me because I feel at times it takes away from the music. What the lyrics are saying.. At times it's on necessary. Okay Adam we get that you can sing those notes. It was especially telling you with "One" That song started out brilliantly, and then he went to screaming and it took away from the song, and what the song is about, what the song freakin means. He then becomes one note.
An artist who started out doing all kinds of melisma and has learned to tone it down is Beyonce.... She's learning that it's more effective to not show how many notes she can hit at once, and tone it down. And I think it's shown in some of her biggest hits like "Halo" and Irreplaceable."

But the thing is when an artist gets away from hitting every note in the book, than there's a rawness that comes because they then have to focus on the meaning of the song.

While Adam is by far the better technical singer (It's not even close) there, Kris is way better at expressing the music than Adam is. I wonder if part of it is also because Kris comes from such an instrumental background. The guy made All State for viola, plays the guitar very well, and plays the piano. So I suspect he comes from more that background, than let's say the theater let's put on a show background Adam comes from.

[norealityhere]

I totally get the point that several have made about singers connecting with their audience. And I do think that's important. However, I just don't get that connection with Kris that some of you do. I just find him a very generic, vanilla, safe but extremely bland singer.

[bekalc]

I totally get the point that several have made about singers connecting with their audience. And I do think that's important. However, I just don't get that connection with Kris that some of you do. I just find him a very generic, vanilla, safe but extremely bland singer.

Its not connecting with the audience as much as connecting with the music. For Kris much more so than Adam, the strength of his songs, is going to be what makes or breaks him. I'm not sure about a singer/songwriter going on Idol because of that.