David Archuleta had a fantastic performance Tuesday night. My entire family was blown away by his unique take on John Lennon's Imagine. However, the arrangement was not his, according to this story:
David Archuleta's 'Imagine' wasn't just imagined up - IDOL BANTER - Los Angeles Times - calendarlive.com
I agree that copying another singer's style is perfectly acceptable, but he wanted it to look like he came up with that arrangement, instead of crediting the originator. I guess none of the other contestants in the past have done this, but usually they copy the arrangement from a more prominent artist.
Regardless, it was a very good performance, and he's easily the most 'American Idol'-ish contender, but I'm a little less enthusiastic about him knowing that his amazing rendition was not his own.
Friday, February 29, 2008
David Archuleta's 'Imagine'
3 comments:
Dude, get a grip. I read the criticism about not credting Eva Cassidy too-----but when have you ever heard ANY idol contestant finish a song and start mentioning credits? Common sense, man common sense that AI is a contest where singers perform cover songs and get rated by the judges and the fans vote. AI is not a show about coming up with original adaptations. Geez, he is just a 17-year-old kid---and seems like a pretty nice one at that----so you shouldn't bag on him.
I still think he's the best singer this season, by far. I was more disappointed than anything finding out he didn't create that arrangement. He still did a fantastic job, I just have to remember that he's a singer, not necessarily a song writer.
Maybe the issue is that when the judges went on and on about his take on the song, he had an opportunity to not take credit for this arrangement, but he didn't do that.
The contestants aren't just singers on Idol. They do "make songs their own" all of the time, and that's how they are not accused of sounding like karaoke. Arranging music is what separates the amazing contestants from the so-so ones.
In any case, the guy is definitely the front runner and extremely talented.
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