More love for my #2 and more Gokey bashing.
written: 9:57 p.m. on Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009

I missed Andy in the Monte-Carlo tournament which he skipped 'cause he was busy getting married, though I doubt he was very much bummed about missing it (he hates clay - which I totally understand). He's not playing Rome and I don't know what his next tournament is, so in the meantime YouTube has been helping me get my Roddick fix.

1. Andy changes his shirt at Wimbledon, gets a few cat-calls, and wiggles his bum in response. CUTENESS OVERLOAD. TOTALLY HILARIOUS.

2. Andy goes for a between-the-leg shots and ends up hitting his own crotch (ouch), and he falls while going on stage during some charity event and recovered with the best one-liner ever.

3. Andy appears on the Weakest Link and proves why tennis is a great career option for him instead of something that actually requires his brains.

(No offence Andy. I still love you.)

The Negative

I don't check out the studio recordings from contestants I don't like. I have all of Kris', I have Adam's Mad World, and that's about it. I haven't heard a single one from Gokey and I don't intend to start.

But when I read this on TWoP, I really felt like checking it out just to laugh at the sheer hilarity of it:

Danny solemizing in the middle of "September" studio version:

"Sometimes you find yourself in difficult situations, sometimes even hurtfull (sic) ones, but you know what? I've been in those situations and it does get better, so look up, keep your chin up, look up it's gonna get better"

Seriously?

I suppose it's one way to solidify a base.

But then, I imagined actually having to listen to his voice, and then listen to his speaking voice, and then listen to his speaking voice say those stupid words, and I decided - it's not worth it. At all. In any case, the following responses to the above post proves it:

Response #1

Wow. Curiosity got the better of me and I listened to the studio recording of September on youtube. By the time it got to the mid-song sermon, followed by "Ow! Wooh!" I was having "some fun with this one" just as Danny promises at the beginning of the song. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Do you think Simon listened to this recording before he made his pronouncement about Danny in the final two? Because, seriously, he thinks that what the music world is looking for right now is a good disco sermon? God will need to wipe away my tears if Danny wins this thing.

So much for the argument that it's the judges and PTB that push the "inspirational" story of Danny and not Danny himself. He went there, and he went there to a disco beat.

Ow! Wooh!

Thanks, [person who posted Response #2]. I wondered about the lyrics because they didn't make sense. Also, looking at those lyric links, it looks like the spoken word sermon telling us about the troubles he's seen and to follow his example and keep our chin up is all Gokey.

Response #2:

If you want to listen to Danny's studio version of "September" without actually spending money or supporting him in any way, check here. The video may get pulled, but people constantly upload new ones.

After listening, I had to google the lyrics. And I found two versions: the Earth, Wind and Fire version about a guy remembering a night in September when he was dancing and in love, and a Kirk Franklin version about a guy reminding some other guy about a night in September when he was converted or found God or whatever. Now I'm not religious in the slightest, so the Franklin version definitely isn't my cuppa and I find it a bit weird that he remade a Disco song into gospelized Christian funk. But it is what it is and at least the lyrics are almost entirely changed so that the song makes sense and tells a story.

Danny's version, OTOH? Is seriously screwed up. He takes the first half of the EW&F version, switches to the Franklin version, and then smashes them together for a while. As a result, you have lyrics like 'Do you remember dancing in September?" and "Do you remember when God wiped all your tears away?" in the same song. He switches pronouns all over the place and seems to be picking lyrics at random. Overall? It's a hot mess that makes about zero sense.

ETA that I'm glad that I'm not the only one who spent part of my Sunday morning listening to Gokey's "disco sermon."

I'm too lazy to copy over the YouTube links.

Gokey isn't helping matters at all. He just isn't. I wish - so hard - he'd leave my TV sometime between the next second and the next results show of Idol (which is this Thursday Singapore time) because I'm almost convinced that he's going to unjustly rob my darling Kris of his finale spot. And that would be the worst finale in the history of Idol. If there was an option to vote off a contestant instead of voting FOR someone, I'd make damn sure I got up every Wednesday morning and do my part in helping Danny put the "Go" in Gokey and help him pack his bags.

He's been compared to Taylor Hicks, the joke winner of Season 5, but the difference between them is, I actually liked Taylor. I actually rooted for him. He was a joke, but he wasn't smarmy, he didn't take himself as seriously as Gokey is taking himself, he didn't wear stupid lesbian specs, and he didn't pimp his tragic sobstory ad nauseum. Now this whole disco sermon thing? Once again, I just don't get it. I don't get why he's like this and Kris is like that. I don't get why people gravitate towards a douchebag tool like Gokey but not someone as unassuming and genuine as Kris. Gokey was his church's music director, but Kris was a worship leader. You'd think a worship leader would attract more people, but no. And I blame this on Kris' virtually zero screentime before top 36, and his virtually zero backstory. I don't believe Idol ever told us about his missionary trips to Southeast Asia and his involvement with his church - which only pulls me towards believing some of TWoP's crazy (not so crazy?) conspiracy theories about how the whole Idol machine is rigged and how the producers have an agenda which they push by selecting what footage to show of what contestants and what not to show. Perhaps they're trying to downplay Kris' religious nature, so that the Christians that are behind Gokey because he's Christian, can keep voting for Gokey, because, for whatever reason that I really cannot comprehend, they STILL want a Gokey/Lambert final. Simon even went on record saying these two would reach the final (he also went on live TV saying Archuleta had won the competition in the final last year, but David Cook eventually won it).

I'm sorry if I have no interest in seeing a non-competitive final. We all know Adam has this in the bag, and I have no problem with that. What I really Do Not Want is a final where the other guy does something boring and predictable, does absolutely nothing to counteract Adam's, well, Adam-ness. Kris, being the musician that he is, while he will definitely not win in the belting contest, at least he'd give Adam a run for his money in the originality/freshness/unpredictability/re-interpretation head-to-head. At least he'd do something interesting with the song, unlike Gokey who...I don't know, to me he sounds the same every week. And I severely dislike what I hear. He's even more wedding singer than Taylor Hicks ever was, and he needs to leave. NOW.

I hope he's the Daughtry of this season. If he doesn't get the shock boot at #5, I wouldn't mind him being Daughtried and getting the shock boot at #4. Whatever it is, I hereby announce that I am taking it upon myself to take matters into my own hands and vote like mad for Kris, even if I have to wake up at 9 in the morning (which is freaking ungodly - uh, excuse the choice of word - for me) to do so. Because I WANT a Kradam final. I don't want Kris to win (I don't think he needs to win), but I want him in the final because he deserves it WAY more than Gokey, who has been coasting the past few weeks, while Kris is definitely the most improved contestant of the season, and he is the David Cook of the season in terms of his ability to re-interpret songs (Lambert is just in a category of his own - nothing I can say about that!).

I want my Kradam. And I will do whatever needs to be done to get it.

GO KRADAM. KRADAM FOR THE WIN.

*

Off to watch Harper's Island, but before that, I just bought four items from indiesin.com. LOVE. I hope they're nice! Can't wait for them to arrive. It's now my new favourite online shop!

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010