DWTS music has gotten progressively better with each passing week. Because of this I was incredibly excited about this week. Kate Gosselin is gone, finally. This was the best news of the season. The dancing is obviously going to improve so how will the music fare? I must say this was the best week yet. There were far more instrumentals this week with the DWTS band, though. Coincidence?
Don’t you just love it when there is no singing to butcher? I sure enjoyed the break from vocals that was the persistent theme this week. Jake and Chelsie’s samba was good and the piece was performed well. It felt the DWTS band’s rendition of Comanche by the Revels was just slightly slow but not off enough to affect the outcome or enjoyment of the music. I love this song and the movie connections from hearing it made me smile. Great start for the night, DWTS band!
Evan and Anna performed a samba to Hey Mama by the Black Eyed Peas. The music was excellent; I enjoy hearing the big band renditions of sampled and thoroughly produced music. However, the downside is the harmonies are not running through auto tuners to make sure they are 100% perfect. The harmonies were 95% perfect and the lead singer did a decent job. Not bad, however, it was one of the only songs the DWTS band did with lots of lyrics for the night.
Niecy and Louis were next and danced an Argentine Tango. The song, El Sonido De La Milonga by Campo was incredibly safe. The lyrics were repetitive and pretty much spoken. The music too was quite repetitive but well performed. I enjoyed both the DWTS music and the dancing.
Before I get to the music, I have to say this. I no longer have Kate Gosselin to pick on, as deserved as it was but now I have to vent somewhere and Erin is this week’s pet gripe tangent. I have noticed this before but I am just now mentioning it. Stop trying to look sexy. You look ridiculous. Her “sexy face” looks like a cross between her eating a lemon and preparing to walk into an MMA match. End of my off topic rant for the week and on to the DWTS music.
The music that Erin and Maks danced the samba to was decently performed. When I Get you Alone by Robin Thicke was well sung. There, I said it. However, there were so few songs with singing; the singers had more rehearsal time to devote to the few that had singing. There were a couple spots still that were a little sketchy vocally. The little vocal turn at the beginning and end were suspect from a pitch perspective. However, It makes me wonder if someone from ABC is reading these.
Chad and Cheryl did a great job dancing their Argentine Tango to Mas De Los Mismo by Tanghetto. The traditional music for an Argentine tango is devoid of singing and is one of the styles typically performed on Dancing with the Stars with music that is of the style and for the style. I enjoy the pieces performed that are in the style and this one was no different.
Nicole and Derek were up next with a Samba. They danced to Maria by Ricky Martin. The music was great, the singing was OK. The singing, from a perspective of intonation, was great. I detected way too much “English speaker” singing in a Spanish song for my liking though. The professional singers I know had diction classes as well as mandatory foreign language classes through their classical training in various schools of higher education. This was done to make sure they could sing anything and sound like they were native speakers as they sang. For professional singers, singing for 20 million people, the DWTS singers should be able to convince me they are from any country on the globe and tonight they failed to do so.
Pamela and Damian rounded out the individual performances dancing an Argentine Tango. The music was a very odd adaptation of Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode. The music began and my ears perked up. Could it be? I thought to myself, “An Argentine Tango to Depeche Mode?” I was partially right. The techno sound of the band was close but the accordion substitute felt out of place and forced. The melody isn’t right for the instrument and the accordion isn’t right for the style of music OR dancing, for that matter. It sounded like elevator music with a techno backbeat. However, this bit of DWTS music was not trying to emulate Depeche Mode but Tanghetto’s version of the song. For that, I think they got pretty close to it. It was just not my personal preference.
The swing dance marathon dance-off was set to a repetitive version of part of “In the Mood” by Ernie Fields and his Orchestra. It’s a timeless classic that everyone recognizes and was performed by the DWTS band aptly. It was repetitive but that is the nature of the beast when it comes to a dance off. I was hoping for at least something besides the first melodic phrase but what can you do?
All in all, the music this week was suspiciously absent of singing. Either it is coincidence or someone is listening to me. I will say one thing; I wish I was a singer in the band this week. No one would hate me and I would have pulled a full pay check for singing about a tenth of what I am normally expected to during an episode. Thank you ABC if you are listening – it seems as if you are. Keep up the good work!
