ABDC S5 - Ep 5 : The Music Video Challenge (Submitted by LEY)

Here we are in week 2 of the Nationals and it’s the music video challenge. Let’s get right into the performances…

Poreotix – After clinching the first safe spot by viewer votes they performed to “Umbrella” by Rihanna. It was an OK performance, but not up to par with their last two.

Jungle Boogie – Second safe and dancing to Shakira’s “Give It Up to Me”. Good performance, but nothing that WOW’d me.

Static Noyze – They had the video for Little Boots “New in Town”. Frankly I’ve never even heard this song till today, much less seen the video (like MTV plays those anyway), but the judges gave them a good review.

Saltare – Unfortunately they were the 4th safe crew (again, WTF!). They had to perform to Metro Station’s “Shake It”, a song that I like and just got knocked down a peg because this crew danced to it. I’ll give them props for the fact that the sections that mirrored the video were executed perfectly, but there were problems. The judges only pointed out one instance where they got tangled in the ropes, but I counted 3. It was only a matter of time before this would happen. Can we say “Hello bottom votes”?

Heavy Impact – Completely astounded that they were not in the top four safe crews, but hopefully this performance puts them there. They had Colby O’Donis “What You Got” and naturally they had a good performance. They may not be the cleanest crew on the show, but their groove style makes them one of the most enjoyable to watch every week.

Hype 5-0 – I mentioned last week that they would be somewhere in the bottom three (actually my bottom predictions from last week where all correct, go me!). For their performance to Britney Spears “Three” they had some good ideas and some lousy ones. I liked the opening use of the stage where the girls were on the rails and the one guy member doing the split to create the dance pole was pretty ingenious. However, there were several moment when the girls were out of sync with each other and the kiss at the end was unnecessary. Not that I’m against some lez action! I know they did it to pay homage to the infamous Madonna/Britney/Christina VMA kiss, but I’ve seen it before (note Team Millennium’s last performance in season three, from the Britney Spears challenge no less).

And the Bottom 2 are…

Royal Flush – Performed first to Cascada’s “Evacuate the Dancefloor” and they did a good job. Lots of “moments” and good chore-o, but PLEASE get rid of the corny card stuff!

Blueprint – They had Omarion’s “I Get It In” and aside from the headstand part, they too did a good job.

Elimination – Both crews gave good performances, I my opinion some of the best performances of the night came from the bottom two. I really thought that Blueprint was going to be sent home since they messed up on the headstand, but they must have had a higher viewer vote rating from the previous week, cuz Royal Flush got sent packin’ (There ya go Tylia! Your WTF crew was sent home!)

Overall, the music video challenge was weak. I think it stifles the crews’ creativity when half of their performance has to match the video. My bottom three predictions for the week are Saltare, Hype 5-0 and Blueprint. Both Blueprint and Saltare had noticeable screw-ups in their performances and Hype’s kiss scene may be a ploy to get more votes, and it just may work, but not enough to beat out the fan base of the other crews. All-in-all a ho-hum week in performances and I’m looking forward to everyone raising the bar next week. Each season has an “insert-iconic-artist-name-here” challenge and next week (love her or hate her) the Lady Gaga Challenge should provide some interesting results.