Rock Star: Supernova - Week five
Dana Andrews is the latest contestant to be eliminated from Rock Star: Supernova. She took it well, and went out with a smile on her face. The guys from Supernova chalked it up to maturity on the part of the 22-year-old. That may be true, but I also think that Dana was relieved. Even with her new dark-and-damaged look, Dana was much too nice to front Supernova, and everybody knew it. In order to stay on the show, Dana would have had to continuously (and increasingly) act like someone she wasn’t. And for what? I don’t think the girl was in this competition to win it. She has her own band (called Everything After) and now has had five weeks of TV exposure to use as a springboard. Her chances of getting a recording deal are good, and she’ll probably be quite the local hero when she returns to her hometown. Besides, she clearly wasn’t happy with the criticism she was getting from the other contestants in the mansion. I’ll bet she’s not sad to be leaving those trappings. Dana’s performance of the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” on Tuesday night was okay, but it didn’t save her from the bottom three. “House of the Rising Sun” was not a good song choice for her on elimination night, and her vocal timing was noticeably off. I knew then that she was going to get the axe.
On Tuesday night, I had originally predicted that Jill would be the one to go instead. Her overbaked performance of the Simple Minds classic “Don’t You Forget About Me” was just awful. Her shrill delivery had no feeling for the song whatsoever. But she saved herself (again) by choosing a song on Wednesday that played to her strengths: “Alone” by Heart. Considering that Gilby Clarke has played with Heart in the past, it meant something when he took part in Supernova’s standing ovation for Jill. She has redeemed herself – for now.
Patrice was the one who got to perform with a member of Supernova this week. On Tuesday, she sang “Higher Ground” (based more on the Chili Peppers than Stevie Wonder) with Tommy Lee banging away at the drums behind her. She sang it well, she had good rapport with Lee, and she looked sexy in a metal-chick get-up. But she still landed in the bottom three. I like Patrice, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before she became a bottom three regular. She’d better be prepared to perform every Wednesday night until she’s gone. This Wednesday, she saved her neck by choosing an unexpected song (“Eternal Life” by the late Jeff Buckley), and doing a good job of putting it across.
The once-unimpressive Ryan Star got the encore performance this week, allowing him to give us another helping of his solo piano rendition of REM’s “Losing My Religion”. His emotional vocals made it gripping both times. Based on this and the songs on his MySpace page, I think we are beginning to see the real Ryan Star, though I am now puzzled as to why he thought Dana was “too pop”.
And how about that Zayra! I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I voted for her this week! Her outlandish rethinking of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny” was horrific, hilarious, and creepy all at once. In short, it was exhilarating! They’d better eliminate her soon, because I’m starting to like her.
I have to say that Josh made a solid comeback this week. His soulful performance of Sublime’s “Santeria” was near-perfect, and was well-suited to his talents. He’s still no frontrunner, but it will be interesting to see what else he does.
I also enjoyed hearing Dilana’s Tina Turner-like vocal treatment of Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough”, and Storm’s restrained performance of David Bowie’s “Changes”. Both of them are still frontrunners. I’m not sure if Toby still is. Not that there was anything wrong with the way he sang “Pennyroyal Tea” (what’s with the constant use of Nirvana songs, anyway?), but he doesn’t stand out like he used to. Magni sang Coldplay’s “Clocks” with class, but class may not be what Supernova want. (It’s nice of Tommy Lee and company to have Magni’s wife and baby flown overseas to visit him).
Now it’s time for me to get ugly. What on earth is Lukas’ problem? Last week, I suggested closing your eyes during Lukas’ performances to hear how shallow he is without his stage presence. This week, you didn’t even have to do that. He dithered through his rendition of Hole’s “Celebrity Skin”, singing wispily, forgetting lyrics, pacing back and forth pointlessly on stage – what a mess! It sounded like Buster Poindexter doing Courtney Love, except that David Johansen’s alter ego would have been much more entertaining. Even the Supernova guys couldn’t think of anything good to say about this clown this week. Of course, this goofball has a following who keep voting to keep him out of the bottom three, so he’ll be around for a long time yet. Sheesh.
What did Gilby Clarke say just before Dana was eliminated? Each individual contestant is going to be asked to write lyrics and melodies for a Supernova song next week? This I’ve gotta see.
On Tuesday night, I had originally predicted that Jill would be the one to go instead. Her overbaked performance of the Simple Minds classic “Don’t You Forget About Me” was just awful. Her shrill delivery had no feeling for the song whatsoever. But she saved herself (again) by choosing a song on Wednesday that played to her strengths: “Alone” by Heart. Considering that Gilby Clarke has played with Heart in the past, it meant something when he took part in Supernova’s standing ovation for Jill. She has redeemed herself – for now.
Patrice was the one who got to perform with a member of Supernova this week. On Tuesday, she sang “Higher Ground” (based more on the Chili Peppers than Stevie Wonder) with Tommy Lee banging away at the drums behind her. She sang it well, she had good rapport with Lee, and she looked sexy in a metal-chick get-up. But she still landed in the bottom three. I like Patrice, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before she became a bottom three regular. She’d better be prepared to perform every Wednesday night until she’s gone. This Wednesday, she saved her neck by choosing an unexpected song (“Eternal Life” by the late Jeff Buckley), and doing a good job of putting it across.
The once-unimpressive Ryan Star got the encore performance this week, allowing him to give us another helping of his solo piano rendition of REM’s “Losing My Religion”. His emotional vocals made it gripping both times. Based on this and the songs on his MySpace page, I think we are beginning to see the real Ryan Star, though I am now puzzled as to why he thought Dana was “too pop”.
And how about that Zayra! I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I voted for her this week! Her outlandish rethinking of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny” was horrific, hilarious, and creepy all at once. In short, it was exhilarating! They’d better eliminate her soon, because I’m starting to like her.
I have to say that Josh made a solid comeback this week. His soulful performance of Sublime’s “Santeria” was near-perfect, and was well-suited to his talents. He’s still no frontrunner, but it will be interesting to see what else he does.
I also enjoyed hearing Dilana’s Tina Turner-like vocal treatment of Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough”, and Storm’s restrained performance of David Bowie’s “Changes”. Both of them are still frontrunners. I’m not sure if Toby still is. Not that there was anything wrong with the way he sang “Pennyroyal Tea” (what’s with the constant use of Nirvana songs, anyway?), but he doesn’t stand out like he used to. Magni sang Coldplay’s “Clocks” with class, but class may not be what Supernova want. (It’s nice of Tommy Lee and company to have Magni’s wife and baby flown overseas to visit him).
Now it’s time for me to get ugly. What on earth is Lukas’ problem? Last week, I suggested closing your eyes during Lukas’ performances to hear how shallow he is without his stage presence. This week, you didn’t even have to do that. He dithered through his rendition of Hole’s “Celebrity Skin”, singing wispily, forgetting lyrics, pacing back and forth pointlessly on stage – what a mess! It sounded like Buster Poindexter doing Courtney Love, except that David Johansen’s alter ego would have been much more entertaining. Even the Supernova guys couldn’t think of anything good to say about this clown this week. Of course, this goofball has a following who keep voting to keep him out of the bottom three, so he’ll be around for a long time yet. Sheesh.
What did Gilby Clarke say just before Dana was eliminated? Each individual contestant is going to be asked to write lyrics and melodies for a Supernova song next week? This I’ve gotta see.
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