April 10, 2019
You might not be watching "American Idol"... but check out Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon.
That's a duet from Monday night that got him through to the final 14 (the point where the audience starts voting). With him for the lovely song is Cynthia Erivo (who won the Best Actress in a Musical Tony in 2016 for her role in "The Color Purple").
Here's Harmon's original audition, with background about his life as a "PK" (Katy Perry's term for something she is too, a preacher's kid). There's some gentle, tasteful treatment of his sensitivity toward his parents over their difficulty with his sexual orientation. He is not estranged from them at all, it seems, as he works as a janitor in their church:
PLUS: He sang Bob Dylan. I'm just seeing this now, having skipped all the early weeks of the season.
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45 comments:
I gave up on this show after Carrie Underwear and the long blond haired dude.
Thank you so much for this highlight! This guy is brilliant!
If you want to do amateurs, try this girl.
Crap aimed at women. Susan Boyle Wild Horses was better.
For male high singers go to countertenors, like Andreas Scholl, Alfred Deller, Russell Oberlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdLCcQixNvg&feature=related
Why did they send home the guy who lost 130 pounds? He was terrific!
Andreas Scholl sings with his sister
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2zc0wTORSI&feature=related
"Why did they send home the guy who lost 130 pounds? He was terrific!"
They have one very fat singer in the final 14.
I only started watching this season this week. I couldn't handle learning a whole big set of characters when the critiques aren't interesting anymore. Now that they are whittled down to 14, I'm interesting. There are other good ones too.
Anyway, I don't know about why anyone before this week got the ax.
Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon is reminiscent of Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, and the guy in Simply Red.
Sister (Elizabeth) and Andreas Scholl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-0vRYQx2ME
link confusion
I never liked Rufus Wainwright but his mom was terrific.
"... I'm interesting."
I mean, I'm interested...
Mom's song about the birth of Rufus Wainwright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECj_AxGuaPo
I jam a log into the stove and hasten to shut the door
In the room upstairs sleeps a baby boy who wasn’t there before
Heart warming indeed. I have no doubt that he is a sincere Christian. It shows all over him.
The song is featured in Strictly Ballroom, Baz L's first film and now on stage in London. They do a nice version, but I was waiting for the dancing.
Complainte pour Ste Catherine, same mom, translated, showing she's religious too
We’ve been in politics for a long time
Twenty years of war against the mosquitos
Don’t believe that we’re not Christians
On Sundays we walk our dogs
The mom puts a personal ad in the paper seeking a husband
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB6-sH5jozA
Wow. Katy Perry looks so incredibly ugly with that haircut.
Harmon and Erivo, gorgeous voices! You can tell true talent in those that can harmonize so perfectly and make it look easy.
There's some gentle, tasteful treatment of his sensitivity toward his parents over their difficulty with his sexual orientation.
Uh-huh. I knew there had to be an angle in there somewhere.
I can't stand melisma!
Maybe from Aretha Franklin, but no one else.
AA modifies: "... I'm interesting."
I mean, I'm interested...
You're pretty interesting, too. ;-)
Meh. Time After Time is a straight cover of Lauper, and Lauper does it better.
The original noodles around for half an hour to go nowhere.
I have always said about Dylan that everyone does his songs better than he does, but I am here proven wrong.
Harry Nilsson. First name that came to mind when he auditioned. And, that's a compliment.
You should go back and watch the amazing Alejandro’s audition. He was spectacular in the top 20 show, but didn’t get to showcase his amazing guitar skills. (His voice is terrific too - not as dramatic as Jeremiah’s.)
Since the original audition, as reported during later episodes (Hollywood Week, if I recall correctly), Jeremiah has now become estranged from his parents and is no longer working at his father's church. His family is not attending the competition to support him.
It was mentioned that his coming out on Idol has estranged him from his parents. It’s so sad. He seems to genuinely not want to hurt his parents. I hope they come around.
Good stuff, thanks for making me aware of it.
Ann, you are interesting.
Remember all, this is a reality show, not a talent contest. The participants are chosen for superior story lines. The gay preacher's kid is a good one. What about Alenjando Aranda the seeming undiscovered musical genius whose guitar licks nearly killed one of the judges? He's a dishwasher who previously was so shy that he took to singing in the street to overcome his reticence. When the contestants go back home for an episode, he has no home. (cue tears)
He's not bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8YZeV9GttI
It has been a great season so far. Unfortunately, the cut from 20 to 14 sent a few really talented singers home. I suspect that Ryan Hammond (the formerly fat guy) was sent home because he did not have the stage presence required. He is a terrific singer but they had to cut people. I would have kept him and cut Eddy Island instead. Alejandro is a genius and Wade Coda has an incredible, deep, pain-filled voice. Its a shame that so few people are watching this competition.
Frankly, I'm not watching TV myself, so I've missed all this. Per Mark O's recommendation, I've watched Alejandro Aranda's performances on YouTube. 20 minutes later, I'm sitting in awe of his genius.
After watching the audition video, I thought that he didn't need to be on American Idol at all; his talent transcended the show. I would purchase any album he put out.
A little uncomfortable to watch. He sounds pretty good, with a nice "buzz" to the voice, but you can see when you watch how he much he uses his jaw while singing, which is a big no-no. It means that he is manufacturing and manipulating the sound, which will inevitably mean his voice will lose its brilliance as he ages. Not that the show cares about that, but he needs a good voice teacher to fix his technique.
Jeremiah is quite good, but hasn't chosen a song yet that you want to listen to a few times. Wade is very good, Ashley is quite good but has difficulty with song choice. Alejandro is very good as well. The rest are spotty.
He seems like a talented kid, but he'll still never have a soul.
My impression is that there are no good singers, just competent singers who once in a while sing a song they were meant to sing.
And when they do that it is the song not the singer, and the singer is loved for having the humility to not try and sing everything that can be sung.
Singing along to a song that someone else wrote is not a natural activity - unlike cooking well, painting what you see, making people laugh, farming, sailing, healing the sick.
So there are great cooks, great painters, great comedians, great gardeners, great sailers, great faith healers, et cetera but no great singers, and on this earth there probably never will be.
That is why I was entranced with American Idol in the early years - it was fun watching the judges and the competitors working together to find the right song, or absent the right song, the best way to sing the almost right song.
And except for Kelly Clarkson, they never really found a first-class singer, but it was really fun to watch them try.
And I still think she was a ringer.
Like a speckled song-bird... all flash and no soul... music should cover you in goosebumps, not make you cringe...
I'm with you. I cannot see what our host or so many commentators see. Maybe there are such things as cataracts that clouds ears.
The first guy is a lazy melismatic
The Alejandro guy is a warbler.
No great writers exist either.
Tolkien, for example, was very disappointed with Shakespeare who, in Tolkien's view, botched the mystical forest scenes in MacBeth.
I guess you could imagine a world in which Shakespeare was not only the guy who wrote the great lines he wrote but also a guy who did not botch the mystical forest scenes in MacBeth.
But that would not be our world.
well everybody likes Wodehouse and Jane Austen but they were more comedians than writers
Wikipedia cites Anthony Lilles on Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity as someone who was always a good friend.
Not sometimes, always.
and so, we live in a world where there are perhaps tens of thousands of people who are always great friends (I have never met one and if I did I wouldn't recognize their talent for what it is, probably) but nobody who is always a great singer.
Well maybe Karen Carpenter but she was not around long.
So if you're asking, "OK, smartypants, show us a GOOD amateur singer" here's a young lady who could go warbling melismatically like Ariana Grande, but pulls back to stay within the song.
Here doing The Supremes "Can't Hurry Love", Foxes and Fossils: Can't Hurry Love.
I rest my case. (and you should see them do "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", not an easy song!)
FWIW, the term "PK" has been around a lot longer than Katy Perry has. My mother used it to describe herself when I was a teen-ager. I'm 53. I suspect it's just "inside ball." Any PK will immediately know what's meant if someone refers to them that way; no one who isn't a PK will.
Remember all, this is a reality show, not a talent contest. The participants are chosen for superior story lines.
Thanks. The entire thing seems staged to me. Bad acting too. I predict am auto-tune or dubbing scandal before its all done.
Grumpy Fen
I predict am auto-tune or dubbing scandal before its all done.
Charles Van Doren died today.
He's special. I have never watched any of these shows or any reality TV show but, of course, people become popular out of those shows and I become aware of them. Almost Heaven is phenomenal but all three performances are impressive. I hope he is able to have a career in music..... Yes, Rufus Wainwright Jr. immediately came to mind which is synchronicitous as my FB timeline has been besieged, in the last three days, with announcements of his coming to DFW soon and I have been considering buying the tickets. Believe I will.
The narrative always gets in the way.
Can you just sing the damn song!
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