DWTS - Nick Carter & Sharna Burgess – ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ by Haley Reinhart

[ButterandBloom]

I replayed whoever that singer was and noticed that she did try her best to sing the Haley Reinhart version...with the little pause before the word "hand" and other nuances that Haley added. Now lets talk about the piano playing. I didn't realize how sensitive Casey's keystrokes were until I compared it to the clunky way the DWTS player banged down the keys.

Steve, put me in the camp of being super upset about the way this thing went down. Even my wife, who is very detached from the Halian world, was really pissed at the way Haley apparently got screwed in this endeavor. When I read the east coast (live) reports on the show I wasn't too upset, because I assumed all the competitors' music was in the background. But when I viewed the show here on the west coast and saw that the singer and piano player were the only musical accompaniment of the night to be seen and acknowledged, and that Haley's arrangement, which was almost exactly duplicated, wasn't mentioned on air although it was acknowledged previously in print, I was really pissed.

However, as to the piano player - he is Ray Chew, who was musical director on Idol during Haley and Casey's season (10). I believe he's helped several ex-Idols over the years. After Idol he was Jay Leno's music director, and, for example, I believe he was responsible for bringing Allison Iraheta over to do some fill in spots singing with the Tonight Show Band.

Going back to Idol, I remember well the story (I think Haley told this to Slezak) of Haley and Casey rehearsing a duet, I believe at the time to be "Fever", and it wasn't going too well. During a break Ray was fooling around on the piano, playing "Moanin", and Haley came over and started singing along with him. This evolved into Haley and Casey ditching the previous song and working up the now famous version of "Moanin" that brought the house down. It was this performance that turned me into a Halian.

So, although I have negative feelings about last night's performance, I appreciate Ray Chew's impact on Haley's career.