Rock Star: Supernova - Week ten
Storm Large didn’t make it to the final round of Rock Star: Supernova. I figured there wouldn’t be more than one female left standing for the finale. I will miss Her Largeness, but – whatever. The show only has one week to go. I guess I’ll miss all of them after next Wednesday. Or almost all of them.
Like the other four contestants, Storm sang a cover song plus an original song on Tuesday’s performance show. First, she did David Bowie’s “Suffragette City”. Her vocal could have been better, but she had attitude to spare, and that made it entertaining. Attitude was the key word for her original song “What the What is Ladylike”. (In case you didn’t know, the second “what” was substituted for the “f’ word). It was fun to watch and hear, but Dave Navarro (who performed the Bowie song with her, and interacted well with her) must have been high when he said it was the best original song in the show’s history. It was good to hear Storm scale it down for her Wednesday performance of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, but it made no big impression, and it didn’t keep her on the show.
I’ve seen some of Storm’s non-TV performances on YouTube and at this site. There is plenty to say about her. She’s beautiful. She’s talented. She’s irreverent. She’s fearless. And she’s shameless. Storm is fun in small doses, but an entire CD (or an entire evening) of her foul-mouthed-beauty-queen act may be too much. We’ll see if the mainstream can handle her.
So, who kicked butt this week? Toby! Let’s get the trivial stuff out of the way first. He sang the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” and did a fine job, just as he did with “Somebody Told Me” earlier in the season. But his original song “Throw It Away” was a showstopper. I couldn’t sit still while he performed his immediately likable song. It won him the encore – and a new set of wheels.
Lukas gave his most riveting performances to date. First, he creatively rearranged Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”. The verses sounded good, but the choruses were anticlimactic. His original song “Headspin” had power. For his Wednesday night performance (he was in the bottom three! Finally!), he performed “Headspin” again. He’s a gutsy guy, I’ll give him that. But the song seemed less potent that time. Was his performance less potent, or is the song already getting old the second time?
Magni first did the Beatles’ “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, followed by his original song “When The Time Comes”. I enjoyed both. His phrasing was on-target in both cases. On Wednesday, he was selected to front Supernova for their original song. It was no great shakes, but I would say that it was the best SN original we’ve heard to date, and I think the reason is because Magni elevated it. Supernova is going to be making a mistake by not choosing him as the winner. But I’ll get back to that shortly.
Dilana the drama queen started off with a surprisingly pretty take on the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”, mostly eschewing her usual grit. But her original song “Supersoul” was adequate at best, and it certainly paled next to the other originals. As we all know by now, lyrics are not Dilana’s strong suit, and the lyrics of “Supersoul” were clichéd and forgettable. For her Wednesday night performance, she chose to rearrange Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” as a fitful punk-rock song. It got off to a shaky start, but it worked okay after it began to make sense. Supernova gave her a standing O, and let her stick around for the finale.
Next week is the end. Time to make the final predictions! Out of the four remaining contestants, Magni is my personal fave. He is technically the best vocalist, and he outshines them all in terms of consistency as well. But he won’t be the winner, because he is too refined for Supernova. Tommy Lee has been groping for most of the season to find ways to criticize Magni, and about all he can come up with is that Magni isn’t raw enough for his taste. By the way – I loved Magni’s snappy comeback to Tommy’s remark on Tuesday night. In any case, Magni will not be the one who fronts Supernova. I hope his Icelandic band A Moti Sol gets a U.S. distribution deal out of this.
Will it be Dilana? Nah. I know they were touting her as living proof that a woman can front Supernova. But they are not going to go that route. A rock band fronted by a woman is usually thought of as a backing band. (Examples range from Big Brother and the Holding Company all the way to No Doubt). Gilby and Jason might be able to live with that, but Tommy’s ego will never allow it. Besides, Dilana’s recent meltdown has got to make them uneasy. Gilby essentially wrote her off in the last webisode. She won’t be the one.
The smart money is on Lukas. I don’t claim to have inside information like Janet Charlton. Based on my observations, Tommy has been salivating over Lukas since week two, if not since the very beginning. Jason was critical of Lukas in the early going, but he seems to have warmed up to him somewhat. Lukas Rossi will probably be the lead singer of Supernova.
But we probably shouldn’t run the Dewey-defeats-Truman headline just yet. I won’t be surprised if Toby Rand turns out to be the man chosen for the job. I had him pegged early as a standout in the competition, but he lost his footing along the way, and has made some near-fatal missteps in the past. But he has really gotten back in the game these last few weeks. And Jason and Gilby both seem to be pulling for him. (Tommy seems to have a certain kind of affection for him, too – but we won’t go there). Toby just might edge Lukas out.
Whatever the case may be, Supernova aren’t taking any chances on the success of their upcoming tour. There will be at least two other attractions. Navarro’s new band Panic Channel (which is basically Jane’s Addiction without Perry Farrell) will be touring with them. And so will the House Band, along with some yet-to-be-named contestants.
Also, Brooke Burke mentioned something about viewers being able to vote for an eliminated contestant to perform on the show next week. I plan to vote for Matt Hoffer, just for the fun of it. Also, Brooke mentioned that next week will be the last chance that viewers will have to vote for their favorite rockers. Which raises the question: what will be the point of that?
Official site:
http://rockstar.msn.com/
Like the other four contestants, Storm sang a cover song plus an original song on Tuesday’s performance show. First, she did David Bowie’s “Suffragette City”. Her vocal could have been better, but she had attitude to spare, and that made it entertaining. Attitude was the key word for her original song “What the What is Ladylike”. (In case you didn’t know, the second “what” was substituted for the “f’ word). It was fun to watch and hear, but Dave Navarro (who performed the Bowie song with her, and interacted well with her) must have been high when he said it was the best original song in the show’s history. It was good to hear Storm scale it down for her Wednesday performance of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, but it made no big impression, and it didn’t keep her on the show.
I’ve seen some of Storm’s non-TV performances on YouTube and at this site. There is plenty to say about her. She’s beautiful. She’s talented. She’s irreverent. She’s fearless. And she’s shameless. Storm is fun in small doses, but an entire CD (or an entire evening) of her foul-mouthed-beauty-queen act may be too much. We’ll see if the mainstream can handle her.
So, who kicked butt this week? Toby! Let’s get the trivial stuff out of the way first. He sang the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” and did a fine job, just as he did with “Somebody Told Me” earlier in the season. But his original song “Throw It Away” was a showstopper. I couldn’t sit still while he performed his immediately likable song. It won him the encore – and a new set of wheels.
Lukas gave his most riveting performances to date. First, he creatively rearranged Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”. The verses sounded good, but the choruses were anticlimactic. His original song “Headspin” had power. For his Wednesday night performance (he was in the bottom three! Finally!), he performed “Headspin” again. He’s a gutsy guy, I’ll give him that. But the song seemed less potent that time. Was his performance less potent, or is the song already getting old the second time?
Magni first did the Beatles’ “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, followed by his original song “When The Time Comes”. I enjoyed both. His phrasing was on-target in both cases. On Wednesday, he was selected to front Supernova for their original song. It was no great shakes, but I would say that it was the best SN original we’ve heard to date, and I think the reason is because Magni elevated it. Supernova is going to be making a mistake by not choosing him as the winner. But I’ll get back to that shortly.
Dilana the drama queen started off with a surprisingly pretty take on the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”, mostly eschewing her usual grit. But her original song “Supersoul” was adequate at best, and it certainly paled next to the other originals. As we all know by now, lyrics are not Dilana’s strong suit, and the lyrics of “Supersoul” were clichéd and forgettable. For her Wednesday night performance, she chose to rearrange Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” as a fitful punk-rock song. It got off to a shaky start, but it worked okay after it began to make sense. Supernova gave her a standing O, and let her stick around for the finale.
Next week is the end. Time to make the final predictions! Out of the four remaining contestants, Magni is my personal fave. He is technically the best vocalist, and he outshines them all in terms of consistency as well. But he won’t be the winner, because he is too refined for Supernova. Tommy Lee has been groping for most of the season to find ways to criticize Magni, and about all he can come up with is that Magni isn’t raw enough for his taste. By the way – I loved Magni’s snappy comeback to Tommy’s remark on Tuesday night. In any case, Magni will not be the one who fronts Supernova. I hope his Icelandic band A Moti Sol gets a U.S. distribution deal out of this.
Will it be Dilana? Nah. I know they were touting her as living proof that a woman can front Supernova. But they are not going to go that route. A rock band fronted by a woman is usually thought of as a backing band. (Examples range from Big Brother and the Holding Company all the way to No Doubt). Gilby and Jason might be able to live with that, but Tommy’s ego will never allow it. Besides, Dilana’s recent meltdown has got to make them uneasy. Gilby essentially wrote her off in the last webisode. She won’t be the one.
The smart money is on Lukas. I don’t claim to have inside information like Janet Charlton. Based on my observations, Tommy has been salivating over Lukas since week two, if not since the very beginning. Jason was critical of Lukas in the early going, but he seems to have warmed up to him somewhat. Lukas Rossi will probably be the lead singer of Supernova.
But we probably shouldn’t run the Dewey-defeats-Truman headline just yet. I won’t be surprised if Toby Rand turns out to be the man chosen for the job. I had him pegged early as a standout in the competition, but he lost his footing along the way, and has made some near-fatal missteps in the past. But he has really gotten back in the game these last few weeks. And Jason and Gilby both seem to be pulling for him. (Tommy seems to have a certain kind of affection for him, too – but we won’t go there). Toby just might edge Lukas out.
Whatever the case may be, Supernova aren’t taking any chances on the success of their upcoming tour. There will be at least two other attractions. Navarro’s new band Panic Channel (which is basically Jane’s Addiction without Perry Farrell) will be touring with them. And so will the House Band, along with some yet-to-be-named contestants.
Also, Brooke Burke mentioned something about viewers being able to vote for an eliminated contestant to perform on the show next week. I plan to vote for Matt Hoffer, just for the fun of it. Also, Brooke mentioned that next week will be the last chance that viewers will have to vote for their favorite rockers. Which raises the question: what will be the point of that?
Official site:
http://rockstar.msn.com/
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