Country Week Concludes on American Idol
It started with Shania Twain and ended with Shakira, if that tells you anything about how country country week was on American Idol. Wednesday night's (April 28) show had Rascal Flatts doing "Unstoppable," Sons of Sylvia performing "Love Left to Lose," Lady Antebellum singing "Need You Now" and then Rascal Flatts and Shakira doing a duet of her song, "Gypsy." I'm sorry. But in all my wildest dreams, I cannot think of a worse singing partner for Gary LeVox than Shakira. It was a match made in hell. To see him with barefoot gypsy belly dancers all around him was bizarre enough, but then they barely allowed him to sing on that song. I mean, if you're going to bring one of the biggest country bands in the past decade onto your show to duet, at least give them more to sing than just "come along for the ride." LeVox belongs on lead vocals and not as a sideman. At the very end of the show, Siobhan Magnus was sent home.
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Robin says:
Not that I don’t like the current state of the pop country music industry, but last nights results show performances was horrible and barely representive of that.
First - note Allison’s comments above. But, to add to that, why was Shakira on country week? Could they not have saved that garbage for another week? They threw Gary in there to try to make it legit that they had her on there and it wasn’t. Gary isn’t a strong enough vocalist to pull that off anyway.
Lady A - why couldn’t you have sang your “more” country song and current single “American Honey”. I’m done with “Need You Know”. You’ve sung it on everything you’ve been on and it’s the least country song you have. Is that why they chose it?
Sons of Sylivia - I liked their Bluegrass flavored, rock tinged contemporary country sound of their days as The Clark Brothers. But, that mess they were singing was straight rock with a four four drum beat. They had a nice edge on their version of country before. Now they just aren’t country - period. Not any flavor of it.
Robin says:
And is there some reason Shania couldn’t have sang?
Tracy says:
Rascal Flatts sounded AMAZING last night!! I love the song Unstoppable. So glad it is one of their singles off the album. I hope maybe they will do the show again sometime.
DustinG says:
I was hoping
Shania would have sang. Also Carrie was there, could she have not sang too?
annie says:
I just thought it wasn’t good at all.
Do not like RFLatts and I could have done without them!
Bethany says:
RASCAL FLATTS ARE AMAZING!!!
Bethany says:
Oh and Robin did you just say Gary didn’t have a good enough voice? Are you deaf?? Because that is the craziest thing i have ever heard! Gary has one of the best and most distinct voices ever.
granna says:
Bethany, Robin said it and she is totally right!! Most anybody would agree with that if they can hear!! The review I read of their performance was not very good and Gary LeVox was singled out with his bad singing.
Robin says:
Bethany - Gary does has a distinct voice, but like Taylor Swift, he can’t sing in key to save his life and he sings straight from his nose and not from his diaphram. If you fix him up in the studio with pro tools (which they may use in concert as well), then his distinct voice stands out over the bad vocals. If he is singing live, the bad vocals stand out loud and clear.
If you like the “sound” of his voice (distintness), then that’s fine, but to compare his vocal ability (outside of the “sound” of his voice), artist like Toby Keith (who has a huge “in key” range), Trace Adkins, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, etc., etc., kill Gary. Even Brad and Keith who have a pretty small range, stay in key 95% of the time.
me says:
the Flatts fit there name “flat” off key.
and where the heck was the country on country night?
not on AI that’s for sure!
Ken says:
Two things: I read yesterday that Lady A’s song was pre-recorded and I seen Rascal Flatts at The Opry last year and they really are not that good. Their 4 songs drug on and on.
Idol has lost it says:
Shakira was a bad choice to sing with Gary LeVox. Carrie has already performed this season but it was stupid for Idol not to get another country Idol to sing with Gary on country night. Kellie Pickler would have been ideal, in fact she will be touring with Rascal Flatts soon and the show failed to mention this.
rodney says:
i agree rascal flatts are terrible. and the country music that they ever have on this show isn’t country it is pop. even if you listen to the contestants they dont do real contry songs i never hear george strait or alan jackson or waylon jennings or even brad paisley and he isnt even real country anymore . american only wants to sell thats it so when they do country stuff on there like they did and they make promos for it and you think that there going to be real contry artists on there you myswell forget it.
countryiscool says:
Love RF, I can’t believe Shania didn’t sing- should have had her instead of Shakira. I was kinda hoping Lady A would sing their new one too, but maybe the reason they chose their prior single was to hear Charles sing too. I think “The Screamer” ruined my fave Shania song anyway.
Idol has lost it says:
Rodney, Idol has a broad range of types of singers so they have them sing different genres or themes each week. Country, pop, classics, R&B, rock, and more. When Kellie Pickler was a contestant she sang real country songs every week possible and nailed them all. She even sang a Patsy Cline classic, Walkin’ After Midnight. Now that’s how you represent country music on the most-watched TV show in the world! They need to have her perform more often.
rich says:
lady a sang “need you now” because it just reached 3x platinum. give them a break. rascal flatts has always been sub-par, but so is taylor swift. yet, they are both praised as the best we have. i think instead of arguing about it on some silly message board, we should be out there supporting the artists we do like. :]
Ann says:
Rich, I agree! I am a hugh Toby Keith fan, support him in any way I can and I don’t knock other country singers. So if you have someone or group you like get out there and spread the good news!
Snookie Lanson says:
Hey, way cool Ann. I’d like to spread the good news on Ryan Bingham, Reckless Kelly, Carrie Rodriguez, Willie Nelson, The Texas Sapphires, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keen, and The Courtyard Hounds. All out of Texas, and all with new music to share.
musicality says:
Not a fan of he Flatts boys. They remind me of the country version of the Backstreet Boys (that nasal tone) which is just fine if you like that sort of thing. I too wondered why they didn’t have Shania sing. Maybe she’s just not performing these days. The Shakira thing was a little puzzling. Does anyone “get” her? Sons of Sylvia - not a country bone in their bodies, at least in that performance except for the fact the lead singer was holding a fiddle (which he barely played). Although they weren’t country sounding I did enjoy the performance. I think they’ve got talent. All in all country week was just so-so. Having Shania there was great and I was pleasantly surprised at some of the performances. I get the feeling though that country music is still viewed as the tolerated step-child. It’s dressed up and presented in what some would believe a more palatable way so as not to offend the majority of viewers.
TG says:
Gary LeVox just cant sing with Shakira, he can’t sing period. And leave Shakira alone already,she’s no less country than anyone else that was on that stage including Shania.All time cheesiest artsit in the history of music.
K says:
Sorry, but all you haters have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Gary has a fine voice, much better than anything Swift can do. Watch their acapella performances of the National Anthem, singing backstage to a fan, live at the CMT Awards or Oprah, or rehearsing “Take Me There” or “We Are” acapella.
Their song selection is above and beyond anything she will ever record- “These Days,” “I’m Movin On,” “Why” “Bless The Broken Road,” “My Worst Fear,” and dozens of their other songs aren’t even in the same leauge as anything she records.
They’re great stage performers and don’t rely on cheesy dancing or awkward hair flipping to grab the audience’s attention, either. They each play numerous insturements, produce their albums, and write great songs, and continue to give their fans everything they want to hear.
Let me know when Swift is able to still sell millions of albums, concert tickets, and downloads, for a DECADE and then I MIGHT consider the comparision credibile.
I would rather hear Gary sing slightly off-key with his distinictive and emotional delivery than the montone Chesney, Mcgraw, Swift, or Paisley any day.
D Trotter says:
That was a truly odd moment in the history of television. I kept waiting for the clowns to show up. Or maybe Brittney Spears as a snake charmer.
K says:
@Granna,
I just reading half-a-dozen reviews on the Idol country show, and I read very few comments that singled Gary out, as you seem to suggest.
If anything, the critics spent too much time critiquing Gary’s weight, clothes, look, boyband sound, and the quality of “Unstoppable” than the actual VOCAL performance.
Sure, a few reviewers said he was unenthusiastic and one claimed he wouldn’t make the Idol top 20, but what do they know? They are the biggest country band this decade, so I doubt they need to take any advice from amature music critics or snarky people who comment that they could probably do better when..oh wait, are you famous?
Gary and the Flatts give everything they have to their fans, and they are talented performers, musicans, capable enough singers. Obviously people like them enough to make them one of the most popular bands in any genre.
When you reach a level that allows you to sell out Wrigley Field, MSG, beat records set by Alabama, and play stadiums for thousands of screaming fans every night and consistently sell millions of records and garner new oppertunities given to few artists, a few lousy crtics or grouchy music fans don’t matter. Their fans control their career, and they’re not letting go of the wheel.
Jerrid says:
For all of you whom complain about one artist over another, Imagine if it were you up there on stage singing. The irony.. Some of you couldn’t handle the job and some of you should never be able to sing in the first place. I don’t understand why we have so many artists being blasted as “poor preformers” on a blog. An opinion is like an a–hole… everyone has one and obvisouly, yours on this blog really don’t matter. Have we as a country found something this pathetic to squabble about? I can find more things to complain about other than people singing for a living… Great example would be the bums that live in your city… In so many words, quit complainin and start changing.
OldGoat34 says:
Carrie was there she should have performed either with SOS or RF she has done duets with both previously this was the wrong show to have Shakira she’s more Latin Pop Rock.I’d have also like to see Shania perform with Carrie “Feel Like a Woman” Carrie did that when she was on AI as a contestant I’d love to have seen them Duet it its Shania’s song.Unfortuneately I missed the show but have seen a couple clips of it on You Tube.
Former Idol watcher says:
It’s just plain stupid that Fox had a country-themed night on American Idol and not a single one of the AI country alums sang.
This is Fox’s way of telling all of us that spent time voting for these people, buying concert tickets and albums, making requests to radio shows, etc., they don’t give a rat’s patoot if we watch their show or not.
So I didn’t.
Robin says:
rodney - this wasn’t “country” week. It was Shania week. So, while she is contemporary country, that’s the only artist they could choose from.
Last year Allison sang a Patty Loveless song and Adam Lambert sang a Johnny Cash song. And, Johnny’s been done before as well as Patsy Cline.
Susan says:
Jerrid: Unfortunately the internet has allowed people(who can remain essentially anonymous) the platform for saying anything they like without fear of retribution. They use this freedom to spread negativity wherever they can. I suspect that the majority of them aren’t focusing on just one artist; rather they aren’t really particular who the negativity is aimed at. Everyone is fair game. It just goes to show you that when there are no rules - no form of etiquette in place for how people should behave, they will behave badly. Their mission? To follow the fans and rain on their parade.
SR says:
Alison this is the best blog you’ve ever written. American Idol could be a LOT more country and getting the fans Nashville Star lost and millions of other country fans. Instead they’ve lost millions of viewers since season 5. Carrie and Kellie are the best country Idols and they were on seasons 4 and 5. Idol is no longer a family show like it used to be then. Now they have the latest “hot” rap and pop acts that can’t sing like Kanye and Lady Gaga doing S&M performances, so they’ve lost the country and family viewers. It’s odd that the judges call it a singing competition and we watch for the best singers, then they have pop acts that can’t sing on there. I’m a fan of country/pop/rock and have stopped watching because of these changes. The show no longer interests me and it’s more of a turn-off.
jodi331 says:
rascall flatts should never again sing our country’s national anthem when they show disrepect towards it by haveing there hands in there pockets