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Latin Night on ‘American Idol’ Turns Out to be Tribute to Gloria Estefan, I Think
As is often the case on ‘American Idol’ whenever there’s a musical theme week it turns into a cover of one artist’s greatest hits. For the most part that’s what happened last night on ‘American Idol’ as three of the eight competitors opted to recognize the influence of Latin music with a Gloria Estefan song. If that wasn’t bad enough, Santana was covered twice, Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony once each and of course Sanjaya Malakar went with “Besame Mucho” which gained more popularity from The Beatles than its original performer Emilio Tuero.
While the intentions of a theme week are good it almost never produces a thread of authenticity but rather does the genre a disservice. Anyone with a hint of knowledge about Latin music would have laughed at last night’s song selections and maybe at some of the artists covered. It’s true that most of the ‘Idol’ hopefuls aren’t capable (through no fault of their own) to perform a worthwhile song from specific genres, it would be nice to see them go out on a limb and try something a little less safe than a J.Lo tune or a song already covered by every musician under the sun.
That being said the contestants left behind one of the more forgettable night’s of ‘American Idol’ this season.
Melinda Doolittle finally did little with her performance of “Sway.” The song is the English version of “Quien Sera” and was recorded by Jennifer Lopez in both English and Spanish. Perhaps Jenny from the block should have suggested a different tune for Doolittle who finally received a negative response from Simon Cowell.
Doolittle was the lone female singer to perform a non Gloria Estefan song so she should earn a few points for that, but those are promptly taken away for going with a Jennifer Lopez tune.
The Estefan tribute began with LaKisha Jones who sang? “Conga.” Not exactly sure if that is a song or if its just talking really fast, either way it shouldn’t have been a song performed this late in the competition. When trying to really showcase her singing talents Jones should have gone with something else. Simon was on top of the ruse and called Jones out saying its “not a singer song, it’s a fun performance song.”
Haley Scarnato’s “Turn the Beat Around” probably caused more viewers to turn their seat around than anything else. Once again the pace of the song was just too much for Scarnato and may just cost her come elimination night.
Rounding out the Estefan catalog was Jordin Sparks who tried her hand at “Rhythm is Gonna Get You.” While Randy and Paula gave her props, Simon was unimpressed. Sparks probably handled the song better than the other ladies handled their songs and should have no problems getting through the vote.
For the guys, the performances were just as generic. Nothing wrong with Santana but at least cover something like “Oye Como Va” rather than something he did with Rob Thomas or The Product G&B.
Chris Richardson opted for the Santana/Rob Thomas “Smooth” track and while he did fine it just seems the song is on the outer cusp of Latin music. Richardson was rewarded with praise or at least acceptance from the judges, but they didn’t have much to compare it to so he was a bit lucky.
Phil Stacey went with the predictable “Maria, Maria” from the Santana archive and brings little emotion to a song packed with emotion. Stacey performed the song like he was at a book reading rather than a concert. If there’s money on the line, place your bets it Stacey singing his farewell song tonight.
How do you get in good with Jennifer Lopez? Try singing a song from her husband. So that’s what Blake Lewis did and contrary to the image Lewis carries he sang the song the way the song was intended to be sung. That doesn’t mean it’s a good song, it just means he sang it correctly. Across the board the judges felt this was the best song selection of the night and Blake has nothing to worry about.
And that was the way it ended for Latin night, oh wait, almost forgot, there was Sanjay Malakar doing his thing with “Besame Mucho.” No more words about Sanjaya, he’s on the show, he stays on the show, he’s probably not going anywhere in the next few weeks, and that’s just the way it is. No fault of his own, if he wants to sing a song covered by the likes of The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Paco de Lucia and Placido Domingo so be it, I think he has the immunity idol from “Survivor.”
