JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Hey Brian, Nashville Star?

Another week and another grand slam by Chris Young. There hasn't been a week in the show's history in my opinion where 1 contestant stood so far above all the others. It was literally a night and day difference on every level.

Let's start with performance:

1. Chris
2. Casey
3. Nicole
4. Matt
5. Jared

Chris was about a 9 out of 10 performance wise. Casey was probably a strong 7 along with Nicole. Matt was a weak 5 and Jared was frankly unlistenable. It was the worst performance of the entire show to date that I have seen.

Next the songs:

1. Chris
2. Jared
3. Casey
4. Matt
5. Nicole

As much as I hate to do it, Nicoles song really wasn't even a song. It was like an idea for a song that was never finished and that never had a chorus. (Where was ANY semblance of a hook Nicole?) Not only was the song weak, but it actually dragged down her performance to the worst of the season for her. Matt also had his worst performance of the entire season and the song was instantly forgettable. He sang a bad song badly. Casey's song was average. It could be better perhaps with a co-writer to take the essense of what worked and rework it. But as it stood, it was incomplete. Jared's song, though cliched and a bit tired (another redneck song?) was good enough that I could have heard Big and Rich tearing it up and making it enjoyable. Then there was Chris. I found it interesting that David Foster mentioned making people scream in the middle of a song and the fact that Chris did it twice. The energy of the audience was significantly higher that for anyone else and you could tell the girls in the audience were swooning. As a song, I thought it was clearly the strongest of the nigth without comparison. It was complete.. well arranged and well paced for the best emotional effect. I am not sure if that was the full version with the time limits, so I'd be curious to hear the entire thing. But what was clear was that it was the only pro level song of the night. The good news is that with him singing it, I think it came off perhaps even better than it really is. And that's what you want if you want to be a performer. If you can be better than a solid song, the sky is not even the limit.

I have to laugh in that Anastasia and the other male judge (dang.. totally spacing his name.. will think of it in a second probably) were slamming Chris Young both of the first two weeks but now have squarely jumped on his bandwagon, especially Anastasia. She was wrong wrong wrong the first two weeks, so I am glad she's come around to the obvious.

It will take a great injustice or a collapse of never before seen proportions for Chris not to win this. And frankly, it won't matter if he loses because he's going to get a big deal when this is over.. there's no possibility that he isn't. I hope they'll share that process with all of us here. I am guessing this will be a contract that might be a bit beyond my advice this time though! hahahah.

JPF should be very proud to have 2 of the final 5 finalists (including the lone female artist still standing) on the show. Jared should clearly be the next to go.. then I feel Nicole, Casey and Matt will battle it out for second place with Matt my odds on favorite to finish second. I found out tonight my brother in law actually knows Matt and told him last year to join JPF. If he did join, I am not aware of it. But we might actually have 3 of the top 5 still in the running.

Brian