Friday, September 24, 2010

Idol 24 - Matt Giraud

24. Matt Giraud
Season 8, 5th Place

For all his talent and growing likability throughout his Idol run, this never really seemed like Matt's competition to win. I mean, Matt currently holds the record for the most times America has voted him off before he actually got eliminated. But yeah, to me, Matt was a wonderful Idol contestant. 

When Matt auditioned for Season 8, he immediately reminded me of Elliot Yamin. His vibrato down to the tone was eerily similar to Elliott's. I like that there's a lot of soul in his voice and that he has an impressive vocal inflection down. Now, although Matt's breathing was shaky and his phrasing was a bit off, I know that the potential was there. True enough, he showcased his full potential during Hollywood Week when he performed a phenomenal version of Georgia On My Mind on piano. By then, I knew coming into the Top 36 that he's someone to watch.

Unfotunately, his first live performance was a dud and he got rejected by America after performing a disappointing version of Viva La Vida in the semifinals. Sure, when I heard that he’ll sing this song, I really expected it to rock. Well, his performance was awful especially the middle section of the song.

Thank God! Matt got a second chance from the judges in the form of a Wild Card win where he performed a good - though a bit over the top - rendition of Who's Loving You. Soon after that performance, I got back to the Giraud train and started supporting him again. His first three Finals performances were pretty spectacular, especially So Small. I mean, Carrie Underwood never sold me that song, but Matt Giraud did - you get the picture. Haha.

Coming into the first few week of the Top 12, I definitely thought he'd win - or at least, a possibility. Sadly, he started slipping a bit after his performance of You Found Me and then eventually got booted - again - during Songs from the Cinema Week. But I guess, Matt was like a cat with nine lives as he received one more stay of execution in the form of the historic Judges' Save and I have to say, that was one good reality TV! Haha. The drama was unbelievable!

But, again, two weeks later, the Idol boat was all out of life rafts as Matt was eliminated - for real. Ha! But, the good news for Matt was that he left the show on a high note - nailing the falsetto ending and mostly everything else on his exit performance of My Funny Valentine. Also, he can at least be proud that he got booted after an evening of performances that were so uniformly solid. Heck, they even had Simon backtracking and declaring Rat Pack night the best Top 5 performance show in Idol history. That's not too shabby.

But, really, what I liked about Matt Giraud was his very current, soulful sound. He is like Justin Timberlake-Elliott Yamin rolled into one. Sure, he needed to work on his vocal control a bit but he riffs amazingly and his phrasing improved tremendously. I was even more glad that with his presence - together with Kris Allen, Anoop Desai and Allison Iraheta - they gave the "pimpage trifecta" - Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey and Lil Rounds - tougher competition that season. Ahh, the good times! Haha.

Favorite Performance(s): It's absolutely So Small. I mean, that performance instantly made him a front-runner! I liked that he was very authentic and very soulful. It sounded like a performance that I'd hear in a Finale episode because of the amazing build up of the song - it was that impressive. His performance of Who's Loving You and My Funny Valentine were equally good.

Check this out!  
Thank You - Matt Giraud


So Small


Who's Loving You


My Funny Valentine


#23 - Outback

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gusto ko ang So Small ni Matt Giraud. I like it better than Carrie's version, in fact. Pero mas panalo ang hirap ni Kara after Matt's performance. Haha.

- Chuck

Anonymous said...

I meant comment, not hirap. Ang layo ng comment sa hirap ha. LOL

DAM THE NATION said...

Chuck: Yeah. So Small was really good. And yeah, Kara's comments after that were hilarious. "Matt, there's nothing small about you". Haha. FAIL!

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