Monday, April 18, 2005
Best China
It's week three of Hit Me Baby One More Time and Vernon Kay's boundless enthusiasm is beginning to get somewhat grating. Just once we'd like him to come on stage after an act's performance and, rather than saying "Wow! That was quite literally the best thing I have ever seen in my entire life! Truly that was the best live performance of all time!" You'll have to excuse me, I actually came while watching that!", he'd come on and say "You know what, that was a bit ropey. You definitely did a better job in rehearsal. Still, never mind, you've got your cover to come, maybe you'll hit the right notes then". Certainly a bit of honesty wouldn't have gone amiss when it came to the Baccara performance, who's singing ability was roughly on a par with that of someone doing karaoke at 11PM. Were this actually Pop Idol, the only reason their performance would have been included would be so that we could have a cheap laugh during the audition stage. Apparently they can boogie, but judging by the lack of dancing ability that was displayed, they certainly weren't playing that certain song. For their cover they plumped for Enrique Iglesias' Hero and proved that their bad vocal performance for their first song wasn't a one-off, although it was still a more pleasurable experience than listening to Enrique's version. Baccara Fact: "Baccara are big in Khazakstan!"
Mica Paris is one of those artists that you don't actually remember unless someone specifically mentions her. She's got a good voice and had some not bad tunes, but lacked the necessary star quality required for people to actually care that much about her. Much like Beverly Knight today, in fact. Mica did My One Temptation before choosing Robbie Williams' Angels for her cover which is, lest we forget, the greatest song of the last 25 years, as long as any records not called Angels or that were released by someone who wasn't a member of Take That are excluded. She got in a gospel choir for this, which we believe is known as over-egging the pudding. Mica Fact: "Mica owns 500 DVDs!"
So, where do we go from here? Is it down to the lake we fear? Well, no, but it was to Nick Heyward, formally of Haircut 100, who did Fantastic Day which is a great slice of euphoro-pop but doesn't seem to have received the status or respect it deserves. His version tonight was, admittedly, a bit lack lustre, but we still backed him to win on the basis that we know he can do better. He chose Busted's Crashed the Wedding for his cover, giving it a slow first verse before launching into the chorus with a a blast of energy, even if he didn't do any Busted jumps. Nick Fact: "Nick used to have a fear of flying!"
The Pasadenas, for reasons best known to known to themselves, didn't do I'm Doing Fine Now, instead doing their debut single, Tribute. For their cover they did Will Young's Leave Right Now, but we didn't really pay much attention to it as we were still trying to work out what possessed them not to do I'm Doing Fine Now. Pasadenas Fact: "Mikey crashed the tour bus in 1989"
After last week's Belinda Carlisle related disappointment, we were somewhat disillusioned with the talents of ginger girls, but our faith has been reasserted thanks to T'Pau's Carol Decker who won over both the audience in the studio and at home to win a place in the final with her versions of China in your Hand and Jamelia's Superstar. She's still rocking the barmaid chic look - which is a good thing, by the way - and still sounded great. Her version of Superstar had added guitars and was rocked up a bit, sounding better than the Jamelia version. Though, to be fair, that's not in itself any great feat. Carol Fact: "Carol dreamt of being a journalist as a child!"
Next week Sinitta and Hue and Cry are on the show. Oh dear.
Mica Paris is one of those artists that you don't actually remember unless someone specifically mentions her. She's got a good voice and had some not bad tunes, but lacked the necessary star quality required for people to actually care that much about her. Much like Beverly Knight today, in fact. Mica did My One Temptation before choosing Robbie Williams' Angels for her cover which is, lest we forget, the greatest song of the last 25 years, as long as any records not called Angels or that were released by someone who wasn't a member of Take That are excluded. She got in a gospel choir for this, which we believe is known as over-egging the pudding. Mica Fact: "Mica owns 500 DVDs!"
So, where do we go from here? Is it down to the lake we fear? Well, no, but it was to Nick Heyward, formally of Haircut 100, who did Fantastic Day which is a great slice of euphoro-pop but doesn't seem to have received the status or respect it deserves. His version tonight was, admittedly, a bit lack lustre, but we still backed him to win on the basis that we know he can do better. He chose Busted's Crashed the Wedding for his cover, giving it a slow first verse before launching into the chorus with a a blast of energy, even if he didn't do any Busted jumps. Nick Fact: "Nick used to have a fear of flying!"
The Pasadenas, for reasons best known to known to themselves, didn't do I'm Doing Fine Now, instead doing their debut single, Tribute. For their cover they did Will Young's Leave Right Now, but we didn't really pay much attention to it as we were still trying to work out what possessed them not to do I'm Doing Fine Now. Pasadenas Fact: "Mikey crashed the tour bus in 1989"
After last week's Belinda Carlisle related disappointment, we were somewhat disillusioned with the talents of ginger girls, but our faith has been reasserted thanks to T'Pau's Carol Decker who won over both the audience in the studio and at home to win a place in the final with her versions of China in your Hand and Jamelia's Superstar. She's still rocking the barmaid chic look - which is a good thing, by the way - and still sounded great. Her version of Superstar had added guitars and was rocked up a bit, sounding better than the Jamelia version. Though, to be fair, that's not in itself any great feat. Carol Fact: "Carol dreamt of being a journalist as a child!"
Next week Sinitta and Hue and Cry are on the show. Oh dear.
