Tuesday 21 April 2009

The Run-Up to Top 7 (Part II) - Disco Week


I must say, I've been very nervous for Adam this week.  We've all put him on a pedestal that's so high and I'm so afraid that he might spectacularly fall off.  How can he even meet our expectations when our expectations are now so astronomically high?  How can he meet the expectation that he's supposed to exceed our expectations?  I want to be surprised and thrilled by him but I'm not sure how he can do that.

There were some warning signs last week that perhaps momentum was starting to fizzle.  'Born to be Wild' was great, but I've heard grumbles that it wasn't surprising or inspired enough.  How can we be disappointed in a performance like that?  We're obviously judging him by different standards and using his own yardstick to beat him with.  I mean, are there any contestants who whould have been able to pull off anything close to what he did?  He just skipped onto the stage and gave a high octane performance using unbelievable vocals that have been improving week by week.  Charisma was exploding out of him and the crowd was in a frenzy.  I mean seriously, how can anyone find that disappointing?

Adam is well aware that he might be seen to be turning into a two-trick pony with performances and looks that fall into the category of being OTT or very toned down which have been occurring during alternating weeks.  During disco week, the expectation is that he will give yet another great performance and add to that the pressure that Cowell has put on him by stating that it would suit him better than any of the others.  So what are his options?

He could do a stripped down version of a disco song.  This would seem to keep him in his alternating week pattern.  Would most of the other contestants choose something uptempo and do it very badly so he'd be the breath of fresh air in amongst the mediocrity?  He could avoid being really cheesy by doing this, and perhaps be more popular, but it could signal him falling into a predicatable pattern and losing his edge.

He could go all-out glam on a disco classic and give us a great, exciting performance.  I think it's a bit of a waste if he doesn't go uptempo because I'd like to see it and he should be able to beat everyone else at it.  The problem is that it might not be that popular as slow songs usually seem to do much better.  The question though, is will it be enough for us, or will we grumble about it not having the surprise factor that we expect?

How would he Adamise the song?  He could find a song that's definitely not disco and give it a disco beat and arrangement.  Or conversely, he could take a disco classic and turn it into something else such as electro-pop, punk rock or a even a ballad.  I suspect that drastic changes would be polarising though, and perhaps not provide him with winning votes.

He could give a performance somewhere between the two extremes.  This is kind of risky because he could just end up having a middle-of-the-road performance, but then again, what is Adam without risk?  I'd like to hear him sing something vocally mid-range but still use some of his signature high notes to great effect.  If he did this well, he would break the pattern and maybe give us an element of surprise.

It is Adam I'm talking about though, and my simple mind is nowhere near as creative as his.  So I'm kind of thinking that he'll do none of the above and wow us with something unexpected.  All I know for sure is that it's been a very long week and I can't wait to see what he's going to do next.  I need to satisfy my Adam Lambert obsession, and soon!

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