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No Sir Paul, but Plenty of Nostalgia on 'Idol'
By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; C07
Sixties British Invasion Week on American Idol. Was going to be Paul McCartney week, but he bowed out. Which was smart because his soon-to-be-ex-wife Heather Mills totally killed on the fourth-edition debut of "Dancing With the Stars" the night before.
Everything is '60s on "Idol" this week -- the songs, Paula Abdul's wig, the strobe lights, the coaches -- Lulu for the chicks, Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits for the guys. An adorable prepubescent pigtailed girl starts weeping uncontrollably, just like that time McCartney and fellow Beatles sang on "The Ed Sullivan Show" -- except this time it's Sanjaya Malakar (dressed in a Sgt. Pepper kinda jacket and Twiggy kinda sweater) singing the Kinks' "You Really Got Me."
Even the ads are '60s. Someone sings the Petula Clark song "Downtown" for Visa. In one a guy smokes pot and tries to get his dog to inhale.
The coaches do not have a lot to say, and what they do say is ignored by the competitors, but not until each singer looks at the camera earnestly and says that meeting the old folks was "amazing" because their advice was "so useful."
This is, in fact, the greatest coach-ignoring episode in the history of "American Idol."
Among the highlights:
? Lulu literally begs Lakisha Jones to sing "You Are My World" instead of "Diamonds Are Forever." She sings "Diamonds Are Forever." Judge Simon Cowell says she looked like Lakisha at 50. Lakisha shoots back that if she looks and sounds this good at 50, she'll be very happy. Snap!
? Noone tells Sanjaya he looks more like a Herman's Hermit than a Kink and if he wants to win the competition he should sing "I'm Into Something Good," only then he says maybe Sanjaya had better sing "You've Really Got Me" by the Kinks. Sanjaya sings the Kinks' song and, while we know saying this probably means we need to adjust our meds, Sanjaya's performance is one of the better ones of the evening.
? Haley Scarnato ignores Lulu's advice to sing "Tell Him" more staccato. In honor of '60s week, Haley wears hot pants, a shiny silk halter top and spectator pumps, which we think showed up later in a Payless ad. "You naughty little thing," says Simon approvingly.
? Chris Richardson says being able to work with Noone was great because he knew these songs -- like Chris has just watched Homer perform all the parts in "The Iliad." Simon, who is British and old, says he was not familiar with "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Yeah, right.
? Lulu puts the "You remind me of a young Beyonce" curse on Stephanie Edwards. Edwards's head blows up to the size of a dirigible and she blows "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me." The judges don't love and she begins to whine "the songs are so old!"
? Noone tells Chris Sligh he, Noone, got voted Sexiest Artist Alive by somebody or another back in the '60s by singing "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," which inspires Sligh to sing "She's Not There" while marching around the audience holding his microphone stand like a scepter and exuding the rhythm of Queen Elizabeth. And Melinda Doolittle, professional backup singer, delivers the night's best performance and has toned down her "golly, I can't believe I'm in an actual singing competition and you like me!" schtick, though she can't help but tell viewers that when she heard she had to sing an actual British song, and from the '60s, her response was "Oh, sweet Lord Jesus what am I going to do?"
* * *
Posted at 8:40 AM ET, 03/21/2007
Sanjaya's Big Night
Thousands of young girls across America are experiencing the sudden onset of puberty, older women are getting over scary Mrs. Robinson flashes, and at least one chick is doomed to starvation -- all because of Sanjaya Malakar deciding to grow into his big hair.
It starts off innocently enough on "Idol's" 60's Mishmash night. Sanjaya is trying to decide whether to sing The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" or the Herman's Hermits tune "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good."
Hermits lead Peter Noone, who is guest coaching the guys this week, tells Sanjaya it would be great for him if Sanjaya picks his sweet little tune and goes on to win "Idol," but maybe he should just go nuts with the Kinks tune because it would be totally out of character.
Apparently all Sanjaya has been waiting for all these weeks is for some aged 60's pop singer father figure to give him permission to get freaky. He does, starting with the tongue unfurling he gives the camera -- like Kiss only without the face paint.
Then, he starts to sing. It's like Carrie Underwood covering Courtney Love. For anyone who may have missed it, imagine little Sanjaya -- his eyes like two smoldering pools of diet coke -- head tossing, hair flinging, Prince-prancing, and Paula teasing his way through these lyrics:
Girl, you really got me goin'
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin'.
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night.
You really got me
You really got me
You really got me
See, don't ever set me free
I always wanna be by your side.
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night.
Little pig-tailed Ashley in the audience weeps hysterically during the performance, representing for all those pre-teen girls who have kept Sanjaya in the competition to date, god help 'em.
"Idol" judge Randy Jackson is so stunned he's had the dawg talk shocked out of him. Paula and Simon are practically speechless, though one in a good way and one not - extra points for correctly guessing which is which.
Then, when show host Ryan Seacrest gives the Sanjaya phone number blah blah, Sanjaya winks self-confidently at the camera like a guy who has just cheated death, and sticks out his tongue again. We start getting e-mails from women having those Mrs. Robinson flashes.
This is all bad news for that chick with the starvationforsanjaya campaign on her MySpace page and on YouTube; she's staging a hunger strike of one -- herself -- until Sanjaya gets booted off the show.
Before Sanjaya's breakout performance even airs she's reporting she doesn't know if she can keep up this non-food thing much longer. She later concedes Sanjaya came out of his shell a little bit with his Kinks number, but still thinks he'll get tossed. On the other hand, she's also blogging that she's starting to have "slight hallucinations."
Aren't we all.
Editor's note: For complete play-by-play of last night's "Idol," read Lisa's We Watch So You Don't Have To column.
Posted by Lisa de Moraes | Permalink | Comments: (21)
Other Blogs' Comments: Technorati talk bubble Technorati
Who will be the next contestant voted off of "American Idol"?
163 responses so far:
Melinda Doolittle Bar chart (4.9%), 8 votes
Stephanie Edwards Bar chart (11.0%), 18 votes
Gina Glocksen Bar chart (7.4%), 12 votes
Lakisha Jones Bar chart (2.5%), 4 votes
Blake Lewis Bar chart (1.8%), 3 votes
Sanjaya Malakar Bar chart (25.2%), 41 votes
Chris Richardson Bar chart (1.2%), 2 votes
Haley Scarnato Bar chart (8.0%), 13 votes
Chris Sligh Bar chart (3.1%), 5 votes
Jordin Sparks Bar chart (3.1%), 5 votes
Phil Stacey Bar chart (31.9%), 52 votes
Note: This is an unscientific survey of washingtonpost.com readers.
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