Last night Lil Rounds sang ‘Love is like a Heatwave’, by Martha and the Vandellas. The Supremes also covered this song which is probably the most popular version.
It was Motown Night last night on American Idol. Each contestant had to pick a song from the Motown era for this weeks show. There were 2 special guests this week, Berry Goody who is the founder of Motown records and a legend in the Motown music seen. The second guest was Smokey Robinson who help the contestants get ready for the show. Once again Danny Gokey put on a great show.
Lil Rounds received a bit of criticism from the judges last night. She certainly didn’t have a bad performance, however it wasn’t her best performance. The judges on American Idol have a long history of criticising contestants when the contestant is singing their genre of music. Lil Rounds does have a voice and feel which is perfect for Motown music, however she didn’t steal the show.
The judges did make some valid points. Lil does have a big, powerful voice and it can be difficult for a singer to use that voice in a fast, up-tempo song like ‘Heatwave’. However, Lil Rounds is such a talented singer that she still put on a great show.
Listen to it (no video - copyright issues)
Here is what the judges had to say about it:
Randy Jackson said, “Yo. All right listen to this. Lil Rounds. Lil Rounds what’s going down baby? How you been, good? All right listen to this. That wasn’t the right song for me, for you, I mean you’ve got mad, crazy vocals. You got that big ol’ voice. By the time you get to the end of the song “yeah, yeah, yeah” it was cool right, but the front of the song was a little bit tortured for me. You’ve got unbelievable vocals. It just wasn’t the right song for me, for you, and I fell like you were rushing through the whole song because when you got that big ol’ voice you need a little bit more space in the bars, for that up-tempo thing. Up-tempo things are a little bit different for someone with a big voice, because you wanna feel it. So it just wasn’t my best performance for me, for you.”
Kara DioGuardi said, “Yeah, you know Lil you look great. You really do. It’s a beautiful dress. You’re beautiful girl, but I Gotta say you were the diva tonight. This is what everyone was waiting to hear. This was your week. This was your week and if you don’t nail this week… I gotta tell you I don’t think this was the right song. We all know Lil can sing. You’ve got this voice that if you had melodies that breathed more you could have interpreted more, but you didn’t. You stayed kind of true to what the song was and we need more from you, right now. And you were screaming at certain points, and I don’t ever want to hear you screaming. You’re an effortless singer, and I didn’t get that from you.”
Paul Abdul said, “I disagree! I disagree completely with these two! I do agree with the fact that you look unbelievable. Your classic throwback mixed with catour chic. It’s amazing because you didn’t change anything musically, but it’s what you do vocally that feels fresh and like I heard classic song for the very first time and I think you owned that song.”
“Look Lil we could all see from the film why you got emotional and how much this all means to you. I think what you did tonight was kind of tribute to the authentic sound of Motown. However, I wouldn’t have chosen the song because I don’t believe it gives you a moment. I agree with Randy, it sounded like it was too fast. If you had chosen something like “I heard it through the Grapevine” and done something incredible. You could’ve had a moment tonight. It was authentic Lil, but you are, let me remind everybody, that you are one of the best singers we’ve got in this competition. So, all we want, I’m just dying for you to do what you did a couple weeks ago where you just blow everybody away. You can’t do with a song like that though.”
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Randy Jackson said, “Yo. All right listen to this. Lil Rounds. Lil Rounds what’s going down baby? How you been, good? All right listen to this. That wasn’t the right song for me, for you, I mean you’ve got mad, crazy vocals. You got that big ol’ voice. By the time you get to the end of the song “yeah, yeah, yeah” it was cool right, but the front of the song was a little bit tortured for me. You’ve got unbelievable vocals. It just wasn’t the right song for me, for you, and I fell like you were rushing through the whole song because when you got that big ol’ voice you need a little bit more space in the bars, for that up-tempo thing. Up-tempo things are a little bit different for someone with a big voice, because you wanna feel it. So it just wasn’t my best performance for me, for you.”
Kara DioGuardi said, “Yeah, you know Lil you look great. You really do. It’s a beautiful dress. You’re beautiful girl, but I Gotta say you were the diva tonight. This is what everyone was waiting to hear. This was your week. This was your week and if you don’t nail this week… I gotta tell you I don’t think this was the right song. We all know Lil can sing. You’ve got this voice that if you had melodies that breathed more you could have interpreted more, but you didn’t. You stayed kind of true to what the song was and we need more from you, right now. And you were screaming at certain points, and I don’t ever want to hear you screaming. You’re an effortless singer, and I didn’t get that from you.”
Paul Abdul said, “I disagree! I disagree completely with these two! I do agree with the fact that you look unbelievable. Your classic throwback mixed with catour chic. It’s amazing because you didn’t change anything musically, but it’s what you do vocally that feels fresh and like I heard classic song for the very first time and I think you owned that song.”
“Look Lil we could all see from the film why you got emotional and how much this all means to you. I think what you did tonight was kind of tribute to the authentic sound of Motown. However, I wouldn’t have chosen the song because I don’t believe it gives you a moment. I agree with Randy, it sounded like it was too fast. If you had chosen something like “I heard it through the Grapevine” and done something incredible. You could’ve had a moment tonight. It was authentic Lil, but you are, let me remind everybody, that you are one of the best singers we’ve got in this competition. So, all we want, I’m just dying for you to do what you did a couple weeks ago where you just blow everybody away. You can’t do with a song like that though.”