Apologia Pauliana

-
Is it possible that Paula Abdul is actually the best judge on American Idol?

Hear me out.

Randy is solid. I almost always agree with him, and he manages to insert some musical commentary into his assessments.

The new woman is good, but undistinguished at this point.

Simon is worthless, in my opinion. There is no logic to what he thinks is fantastic versus rubbish, and he hates anything that is artistic. If it's outside the mainstream at all, it's "self-indulgent." He doesn't actually seem to like or know music very much; he just likes the music biz. He called the Beatles' "Blackbird" "a song about a bird."

Paula, on the other hand, is an artist. She started as a choreographer and songwriter, and only later became a singer herself. A lot of her commentaries are insipid or reaching (if you know what I mean) but then again, a lot of the performances are just okay; and how many times can you say that something is nice or fine or okay? She tries to see something unique or deeper into what each person has to offer, which is difficult when they don't have that much unique to offer.

But when a performance is unusual or actually artistic, Paula comes through. She gave the first review of Adam Lambert's rendition of Ring of Fire this week, and it was spot on. She said it was like a Kashmiri Led Zeppelin, and I thought, "Yes, that's exactly what it's like." Once a season or so, she has these very insightful comments, and you can see that she's actually much more astute and musical Simon.

She does, however, have Aging Star Syndrome. Women can have a hard time dressing themselves as they get older, and she needs help in this department. She's still really beautiful but is overstyled, which doesn't help the appreciation of her talents.
-