Personally, I thought Missy from North Central went WAYYYYY overboard in finals. In prelims she amazed me. I think maybe she tried a bit too hard in finals and ended up straining her voice.
I loved the Waubonsie Valley ballad soloist. Her voice was controlled, powerful, and very emotional. I could feel the emotion coming from deep inside her, while I thought the North Central soloist "acted" a bit more.
You know who else was amazing? Please don't stop the music.... LOVED her solo!
In prelims, I thought the male ballad soloist from South Jones had a chance to win it all. I seriously cried during his solo. His voice was very tender and lovely. Unfortunately in finals he just didn't bring his A-game... oh well God, FAME Chicago was way too much fun!!!
I have been meaning to touch on this for a while now... How does everyone feel about the Best Male and Best Female soloist awards given out at FAME Chicago?
I personally would have had Best Male going to the North Central soloist in "Flying Home" instead of the "Fake Your Way To The Top" soloist. The boy in the ballad was technically worlds apart from the soloist who received it.
Now... for Best Female Soloist; I will admit the contest is much closer. The two that I thought deserved it was the "Flying Home" soloist from North Central (she did end up getting it) and the fantastic soloist from Waubonsie Valley's ballad, "Listen". What makes me think that the "Listen" soloist should have received it over "Flying Home" girl was the scripted "diva" act that the "Flying Home" soloist did. The entire ballad was beautiful... sitting there live, you could really feel the entire group was connected in one unified message. This was shattered at the very end by the girl soloist making the song out to be something that it hadn't been... about ONE person. This was very scripted, because she did the same exact thing both prelims AND finals (although she was vocally much better in the prelims). It wasn't spontaneous emotion on stage; it was very phony. She even went beyond her inaccurate runs with the lifting of her hands at the end to bring even more of the focus on her. The wonderful feeling that the entire choir had built was suddenly thrown out the window by one person's actions. The Waubonsie Valley girl would have received my vote. Her vocals were superb, she complimented what the choir had created already, and she was very authentic.
So yeah... I know I will upset people by this post (Bo? lol)... but like we've been discussing... we all have different opinions. This one was just pretty apparent to me. I'll also get the "You're beating a dead horse" argument. Whatevs... at least I am getting us back to something FAME Chicago related.
Absolutely correct on every count. I was flabbergasted at the Best Male Soloist Award. He was not even close. I was in full agreement with the Best Female Stage Presence Award. yessireebob!
i can't believe people are still talking about this! haha. max is an awesome singer, there's no doubt about it, but isaiah had so much fun up on stage and really got into the character. they're both amazing either way. and i have to say i disagree about mesie's solo. it was different every single time, from when she tried out initially to the end of the year performance.
I have been meaning to touch on this for a while now... How does everyone feel about the Best Male and Best Female soloist awards given out at FAME Chicago?
I personally would have had Best Male going to the North Central soloist in "Flying Home" instead of the "Fake Your Way To The Top" soloist. The boy in the ballad was technically worlds apart from the soloist who received it.
Now... for Best Female Soloist; I will admit the contest is much closer. The two that I thought deserved it was the "Flying Home" soloist from North Central (she did end up getting it) and the fantastic soloist from Waubonsie Valley's ballad, "Listen". What makes me think that the "Listen" soloist should have received it over "Flying Home" girl was the scripted "diva" act that the "Flying Home" soloist did. The entire ballad was beautiful... sitting there live, you could really feel the entire group was connected in one unified message. This was shattered at the very end by the girl soloist making the song out to be something that it hadn't been... about ONE person. This was very scripted, because she did the same exact thing both prelims AND finals (although she was vocally much better in the prelims). It wasn't spontaneous emotion on stage; it was very phony. She even went beyond her inaccurate runs with the lifting of her hands at the end to bring even more of the focus on her. The wonderful feeling that the entire choir had built was suddenly thrown out the window by one person's actions. The Waubonsie Valley girl would have received my vote. Her vocals were superb, she complimented what the choir had created already, and she was very authentic.
So yeah... I know I will upset people by this post (Bo? lol)... but like we've been discussing... we all have different opinions. This one was just pretty apparent to me. I'll also get the "You're beating a dead horse" argument. Whatevs... at least I am getting us back to something FAME Chicago related.
I actually could not agree with you more about the male soloist, Max should have received this caption.
Missy however, was amazing. Though she did go a bit too crazy on the riffs at Fame Chicago, but at state she was superb. I LOVE the listen girl.
Maybe I am remembering wrongly, but I could have sworn that Missy's vocal performance in prelims was TOTALLY different from her performance in finals. From what I understood was that her performance of that solo was completely different at every comeptition NC performed at, and she really just felt out the song in that moment and sang it as she felt it.
I don't know. Maybe I completely made that up. But I really remember it being like that. Not scripted. Not the exact same in both Prelims in Finals.
Her emotion in the ballad had me choosing her as the rightful winner, although Waubonsie Valley's ballad soloist was just as talented/amazing.
I also chose NC's ballad soloist to win the male soloist award, but I can understand why the judges chose the "Fake Your Way to the Top" soloist - he had a ton of fun onstage and performed with a really admirable level of energy. Apparently the judges wanted to see that kind of energy in their best male soloist. Congrats to him .
You totally made that up, sir. You don't remember because you chose to sit two seats away from me instead of by my side.
Maybe I am remembering wrongly, but I could have sworn that Missy's vocal performance in prelims was TOTALLY different from her performance in finals. From what I understood was that her performance of that solo was completely different at every comeptition NC performed at, and she really just felt out the song in that moment and sang it as she felt it.
I don't know. Maybe I completely made that up. But I really remember it being like that. Not scripted. Not the exact same in both Prelims in Finals.
Her emotion in the ballad had me choosing her as the rightful winner, although Waubonsie Valley's ballad soloist was just as talented/amazing.
I also chose NC's ballad soloist to win the male soloist award, but I can understand why the judges chose the "Fake Your Way to the Top" soloist - he had a ton of fun onstage and performed with a really admirable level of energy. Apparently the judges wanted to see that kind of energy in their best male soloist. Congrats to him .
The shows of all the finalists, except for that of John Burroughs "Sound Sensations," are up on YouTube. Here's a link to the profile of the YouTube user that posted three of the six finals shows.
The shows of all the finalists, except for that of John Burroughs "Sound Sensations," are up on YouTube. Here's a link to the profile of the YouTube user that posted three of the six finals shows.
Im really bummed that my sister got married this weeeknd in Florida. I wanted to be at this contest SOOOOO bad. Hopefully there will be a rematch in New York this next year?! Are some of these on you tube? Just curious.
I was quite disappointed the NC ballad soloist didn't win the award- I thought he had much more depth and subtle maturity in his performance, and vocally he was wonderful.
As for the Best Female Soloist, I thought the NC ballad soloist was absolutely the rightful winner. Yes, the WV soloist was lovely and talented, and sounded scarily like Beyonce with less show- thank god, but I found the NC soloist to be transcendent.
"Flying Home" is a really powerful song that deals with a pretty major life issue- and I think the performance North Central gave, in particular how they ended the song with that solo, showed not only understanding of the meaning, but also a true connection to the joyful acceptant tone originally intended by Jason Robert Brown. I can't say I've seen anyone perform that song the way I've always felt it should be until I saw NC do it at FAME Chicago, and I think Missy was a big part of the reason why it finally clicked for me. I actually wanted this song performed at a funeral I helped plan a few years ago, and decided against it because it IS such a hard song to pull off emotionally... I would have been honored to have this choir sing it, with these soloists, because I feel that strongly about their understanding of the song, in particular the journey that they go through from beginning to end.
As one of the judges, I'll just say that each of the soloists you're discussing was given SERIOUS consideration, plus a few more. With the incredible level of the competition also came an incredible array of breath-taking soloists. I thought to myself at one point between groups, "this is like American Idol, only with better singers!"
Honestly, there were no clear cut winners, because so many were so outstanding. It basically came down to a decision of which "5-star restaurant" was your favorite. The vocal judges did the selecting and those were the decisions they came up with. They could've made several excellent choices either in the ladies or the gentlemen.
I was quite disappointed the NC ballad soloist didn't win the award- I thought he had much more depth and subtle maturity in his performance, and vocally he was wonderful.
As for the Best Female Soloist, I thought the NC ballad soloist was absolutely the rightful winner. Yes, the WV soloist was lovely and talented, and sounded scarily like Beyonce with less show- thank god, but I found the NC soloist to be transcendent.
"Flying Home" is a really powerful song that deals with a pretty major life issue- and I think the performance North Central gave, in particular how they ended the song with that solo, showed not only understanding of the meaning, but also a true connection to the joyful acceptant tone originally intended by Jason Robert Brown. I can't say I've seen anyone perform that song the way I've always felt it should be until I saw NC do it at FAME Chicago, and I think Missy was a big part of the reason why it finally clicked for me. I actually wanted this song performed at a funeral I helped plan a few years ago, and decided against it because it IS such a hard song to pull off emotionally... I would have been honored to have this choir sing it, with these soloists, because I feel that strongly about their understanding of the song, in particular the journey that they go through from beginning to end.
I have been meaning to touch on this for a while now... How does everyone feel about the Best Male and Best Female soloist awards given out at FAME Chicago?
I personally would have had Best Male going to the North Central soloist in "Flying Home" instead of the "Fake Your Way To The Top" soloist. The boy in the ballad was technically worlds apart from the soloist who received it.
Now... for Best Female Soloist; I will admit the contest is much closer. The two that I thought deserved it was the "Flying Home" soloist from North Central (she did end up getting it) and the fantastic soloist from Waubonsie Valley's ballad, "Listen". What makes me think that the "Listen" soloist should have received it over "Flying Home" girl was the scripted "diva" act that the "Flying Home" soloist did. The entire ballad was beautiful... sitting there live, you could really feel the entire group was connected in one unified message. This was shattered at the very end by the girl soloist making the song out to be something that it hadn't been... about ONE person. This was very scripted, because she did the same exact thing both prelims AND finals (although she was vocally much better in the prelims). It wasn't spontaneous emotion on stage; it was very phony. She even went beyond her inaccurate runs with the lifting of her hands at the end to bring even more of the focus on her. The wonderful feeling that the entire choir had built was suddenly thrown out the window by one person's actions. The Waubonsie Valley girl would have received my vote. Her vocals were superb, she complimented what the choir had created already, and she was very authentic.
So yeah... I know I will upset people by this post (Bo? lol)... but like we've been discussing... we all have different opinions. This one was just pretty apparent to me. I'll also get the "You're beating a dead horse" argument. Whatevs... at least I am getting us back to something FAME Chicago related.
Adam, I really have to agree with you on this one. I definitely thought Max should have taken the male soloist award instead of Isaiah. As soon as the MC said that the award was going to a guy from North Central, I automatically assumed it was Max (especially since he had won a best male soloist award previously in the season). I liked Isaiah's solo fine, but Max was definitely the one that stole my heart. As for Missy... I agree with your statement as well. I know they wanted a big finish to this powerful ballad, but as you said, her very scripted solo just wasn't the best solution for that. I'm not trying to bash either Isaiah or Missy. They're both very good. I just... mmm, was a little surprised by the decision.
Adam, you know I usually agree with you. However, I gotta say, that North Central's female ballad soloist made me think about the message of the song more than Waubonsie Valley's ballad soloist did. Of course, in a field like that, there are 3 or 4 best female soloists, but I do think that North Central's gave us more. In your eyes she clearly "over-acted", but I felt more like she was just letting loose and finally pouring it all out there. Yes, her prelims and finals performances were much the same, but to me, that just shows that she understood her feelings of the song and message before finals. I'm not saying that the others didn't, but that that was more apparent to me in NC's soloist.
I also can see why you felt that she made it more about herself and more of a one-on-one message. For my personal taste, I felt like it wrapped up the entire song's original message. It started with one guy's thoughts, moved slowly into a group's feelings, and then ended with a more deeply personal feeling of the song. To me, that was more inspiring than the other female soloists who happened to sound the same as the original artist. While sounding like Beyonce or Christina is ungodly amazing for a high school performer, and both were amazing, I was just more drawn to the stage by NC's soloist.
P.S. Someone please tell me North Central's female ballad soloist's name so I can stop referring to her as "NC's soloist"!
FAME Chicago 2008
God, FAME Chicago was way too much fun!!!
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