Music Fridays # 24: American Idol

 

Being a fan of the reality show genre, I can recognize the importance American Idol has to this genre. But that doesn't mean I like it.   Correction,  I admire as it was one of the first groundbreaking competition shows in this genre but I still don't enjoy all that much. I do get into the show but usually not until the season finale and admittedly one of my favorite Country Music artists got her start on Idol.  Now it should be no surprise with this being a music competition show that contestants would cover a Disney song. Sometimes they may even be brought in to sing a song for a Disney film rather it be a new song for a film or an official cover  for a re-release of a classic Disney film.  Today, I have decided to take a look at 4 Idols who have sung a Disney song, two of which were while they were on the show and the other two being official songs for a Disney film.  I'll be starting with the latter. By the way, I do know about The American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  From what I understand, it is a scaled down version of the actual show with the actual prize being a sort of Fastpass for the auditions for the actual show. This is something that I won't be doing the next time I go to that park as I can't sing to save my life. No, I'll just stick to talking about Disney songs.  By the way, any of you remember William Hung,  who had perhaps the most infamous audition on this show, he has actually released a cover of Can You Feel The Love Tonight and Circle of Life.  I won't be talking about those songs as I would rather focus on Idol contestants who have real talent. With that out of the way, let's begin.

Ever Ever After - Carrie Underwood

 

Ah, Miss Underwood. How lovely are thee? Oh. sorry! Yeah, I kind of have a thing for Carrie Underwood.  I'll just come out and say it, I think that she is the hottest girl to ever appear on Idol.  Anyways to the song, this song comes from the film, Enchanted and in my mind it is easily the best part of this entire film.  In may ways, this feels like a blend of classic Disney songs while adapting to Carrie Underwood's style.  If I were to pick a Carrie Underwood song that this one reminded me of the most, it would have to be All american Girl.   Admittedly compared to Ms. Underwood's other songs, this is perhaps one of her weaker performances.  Now she's not phoning in it but it seems to be lacking her personality that made me fall in lover with her.... and uh her  music.   Yeah, her music.  Though this song does something that I truly admire and that is that this is the perfect example of the evolution of the Disney Princess. I also enjoy the self-awareness of this song and how it states that in order for a happy ending  you have to work for it.  It doesn't always come to you.  Though this theory was better explored in The Princess and The Frog. It's a fun little song but something is missing, again part of me thinks it is Ms. Underwood's personality that shines through in most of her other songs and it also feels that they went light on the Disney magic in this song, if you get what I'm saying. It almost feels as though Disney wanted this to be the song that people remembered from the film but I don't think that happened as it wasn't played during the film but rather the credits and part of me believe that deters the song's longevity.  For those curious, my favorite Carrie Underwood song is The Night Before (Life Goes On).



Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson

Now our next song comes from season 1 winner, Kelly Clarkson and I honestly had no idea that this song was used for a Disney film. Low and behold, this song was first featured on the soundtrack for The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement. When I learned that I was shocked to say the least because this song while I wouldn't call it anti-Disney, it is not your typical Disney song. It is rather depressing.   One of the writers on this song was Avril  Lavigne and after listening to it, I  can see that as this sound like something Avril would sing. Perhaps one of my biggest problems with this song is that I don't see how it fits with the film that it was used for. I have seen both of The Princess Diaries films and they were lighthearted fluff films. While this song is rather depressing and sad. In some ways, this song feels like a follow up to Clarkson's song, Because of You.  In that sense it works but as a song for this film, I don't think so. This song works better on it's own and I think the video actually shows that as they really don't mention The Princess Diaries that much.  I mean sure, Kelly is going to the premiere of the second movie but other than that it doesn't really mention the film and honestly, the video would have been stronger if they had removed the references to the film as nothing really ties the film and song together.  Now let me clarify something on it's own, this song does not appear to be that depressing but when compared to the film that it is attached to, it kind of is in a  strange way.  Sure, it may be a little light to call a depressing song but it does give off that vibe and it is also a little moody. Which makes sense when you look at who wrote this as Avril Lavigne is known for moody songs.

A Whole New World - Ruben Studdard

Now as I said I was also going to showcase songs that were actually performed on the show as well. To kick things off, we have season 2 winner, Ruben Studdard singing A Whole New World from Aladdin.  Surprisingly, he was able to make this work because I have had heard solo covers of this song that didn't work too well and I think part of that is those people tried to sing both Aladdin and Jasmine's parts in this song.  Ruben just went for Aladdin's lyrics and it feels more genuine that way. Sure, it may be on the short side but they didn't have a whole lot of time when they were onstage but Ruben's voice complimented this song quite well. Again as with most other performances I have talked about, you can feel the emotion that he put into this song.

Reflection - Jordin Sparks

This song is what made me decide to showcase two Idol show performances as you see Jordin Sparks also did a cover of Beauty and The Beast but I feel that this is stronger than that cover.  I have always enjoyed this song and to me this shows why, a lady should be the one singing it as I feel a woman's voice is able to capture the spirit of this song better than a man.  I really enjoy this version, it literally sounds at certain times that Jordin is about to break down and cry from singing this song. That just goes to show how powerful a song this is. Sure, her voice did crack a bit at some points but for the most part, this was a good performance.

Join me next week for Music Fridays # 25, when I take a look at 4 songs from perhaps my favorite Disney show, when I take a look at 4 songs from House of Mouse