Tonight, American Idol reaches another hand in the "cliche theme week" bag, coming out with Songs from the Movies. Tonight's was a show where 7/8 of the contestants were showered with praise like never before, because when the judges say it's the best year ever, it so is.
Before the show began:
"What's the over/under on Bryan Adams songs tonight? #idol"
"Another week, another week of will.i.am appearance. Whyyyyyyyyy. #idol"
Paul - That Old Kind of Rock 'n' Roll - Bob Seger
"Paul doing Bob Seger. This is not starting off well. #idol"
"Paul does messy karaoke! Ruh roh. That was a mess. #idol"
"Randy, JLo and Steven, apparently watching a COMPLETELY different performance than what I saw.... #idol"
That's more or less it. Paul follows up his absolutely masterful "Folsom Prison Blues" with a exceedingly mediocre performance. Incredibly disappointing.... but not the worst of the night. The judges creaming their pants over his performance was the beginning of a trend.
Lauren - The Climb - Miley Cyrus
"Lauren doing Miley? Oh boy. This is going to be a long night.#idol"
"Jimmy Iovine telling Lauren she needs to steal Pia's votes is actually GREAT advice.... #idol"
"Somewhat of a lame song choice... but that performance was awesome. Agree with Randy 100%, Lauren made it seem like it was her song. #idol"
I absolutely loved Jimmy Iovine's last word here, saying that Lauren needed to kill this song or she'll be killed by America.... and she did. I'm going to have to rewatch, but I think this might be my favorite performance of Lauren's.
Stefano - End of the Road - Boyz II Men
"Stefano apparently missed his styling session, instead performing in street clothes. Nice choice. #idol"
"Another song, another awkward arrangement. #idol"
"I'm usually warm to Stefano's vocals.... but I wasn't feeling it tonight. The connection was there more than usual... but meh. #idol"
Nothing really else to say. Given how much trouble he's in, votes-wise, I'm not sure this was enough to save poor Stefano.
Scotty - Cross My Heart - George Strait
"George Strait is ALWAYS a good song choice for Scotty. #idol"
"Not Scotty's best performance... but not bad at all. Another strong week for Scotty. #idol"
Scotty returns to "old time" country after a short trip to "country rock"... if this performance was 4 or 5 weeks ago, I'd be more excited about it... but we've seen it before. Good stuff, but old news.
Casey - Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
"I admire Casey sticking to his guns..... but I think I agree with Jimmy Iovine.... #idol"
"Now having seen the performance.... I still agree with Jimmy Iovine. But what the heck, cue the OTT Casey reaction. Go for it. #idol"
Iovine wanted Casey to do his other choice, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. I am not a fan of that song... but it'd beat this. What got me was Casey's shout-out to Esperanza Spalding. Remember the public's reaction to Spalding winning best new artist at the Grammy's? Yeah....
Haley - Call Me - Blondie
"Is it weird that the past few weeks, the #Idol related thing I've been looking forward to the most is what Haley was going to do?"
"On paper.... LOVING this song choice by Haley. #idol"
"Not quite up to par with Haley's performances the past couple weeks (what is?), but a fun performance by Haley. #idol"
"NOW the judges decide to be critical? What a joke. #idol #booooooooo"
I have a mini-rant about this, coming up. Haley set the bar VERY high the past couple weeks for herself, and this performance didn't live up to it.... but it is FAR from her worst performance. In all, I enjoyed this performance because of it's "fun factor" (if you will).
Jacob - Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Simon & Garfunkle
"Wait, Jacob is preachy? This is news to me! #idol"
"If you are going to use the arrangement from one of the more memorable performances in #Idol history.... you have to NAIL it. Jacob didn't."
"Sure, said performance was 8 years ago now.... but still. And sorry, Jimmy, that song was JUST as cheesy and corny as Jacob's choices. #idol"
Kinda loved Jimmy Iovine almost scolding Jacob for being preachy and incredibly cheesy. But to suggest this song for him? And this arrangement? Ugh (though it's a better choice than either of Jacob's....). Not to sound like a crazed Claymate here, but Clay Aiken OWNED this arrangement in Season 2.... Jacob's absolutely paled in comparison.
James - Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar
"Oh man. FIGHT! #idol"
"I can't decide who I want to win that debate, Jimmy or James.#idol"
"Um, sorry Jimmy Iovine.... James was right. And hey, look! James used his Russell Brand move! #idol"
James and Jimmy argued over this song choice, with James refusing to change it.... and well done. James is back, as this performance is exactly what he should be doing. Very entertaining performance, great vocals, great song choice... everything it should be. Good stuff.
Mixed bag tonight. Some contestants (Lauren, James) bounced back in style, some were slightly better or just as good as last week, and still others came crashing down and have to start worrying (Jacob, Paul, Stefano...). But funny, you wouldn't know that from listening to the judges. I can tolerate a bit of embellishment on the producers favorites here and there. But for every single contestant? The heaping praise is getting very frustrating - where's the constructive criticism? Annoying. And when they don't cream their pants, as they failed to do with Haley, it becomes GLARING. I mean, they gave Haley very fair criticism (don't rely on just the chorus, not the best choice, etc), but when compared to out and out raves for everyone else, it comes across as a flat-out panning of her performance. This is especially frustrating because of how good Haley has been of late. Where's the criticism of Jacob's pitch and melodramatic delivery? Or Casey's outlandish choices? Or even James's penchant for well rehearsed performances? I guess it comes down to.... where's the replacement for Simon?
Anyhoo... wrap it up, Timm.
Winner of the Night: Tough call.... but I'll go with James (by virtue of Lauren's arrangement of "The Climb" being super awkward).
Loser of the Night: Another tough call.... but I'll go with Jacob. He looked completely lost after Iovine told him to not be so preachy, like he didn't know how to do such a thing. Then.... he got all preachy. Of course.
My Prediction: I already named my personal bottom three at the top of my rant.... Stefano, Paul and Jacob. I'm going to stick with that, but Haley or Casey being there wouldn't surprise me. I predicted Stefano going home last week.... and I'll continue that now.
