Ugh, Skylar. Gone too soon. I get why (she was pretty meh last week, while Hollie shined), but still not good. Too bad.
- Phillip Phillips - Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (by CCR) - As I stated last week, I love Phil's style, and I enjoyed this performance. But I'm not blind or deaf: Phil does basically the same thing week in and week out, and this performance is no exception for the most part. I'm not saying he's coasting, because I don't think that's the case... I just wonder if Phil's style doesn't really have that extra gear you sometimes see from contestants at the end of the competition (see: Kris Allen, Haley Reinhart, even Hollie this season). Perhaps he's just shown everything he has to show?
- Hollie Cavanagh - Faithfully (by Journey) - This performance is exactly why I can't fully get behind Hollie. Sure, she sang this song well... but she didn't bring anything new or different to the song. You're told Hollie is doing "Faithfully", and you can already hear the entire performance in your head. Girl has come a long, long way in this competition... but I'm just not seeing anything consistently special in her performances.
- Joshua Ledet - You Raise Me Up (by Josh Groban) - Oh, come on. Why this song? Of everything Josh could pick... this song? Nothing new here. In fact, I'd put this song towards the bottom of the "Josh highlight" reel, if you will. I got the whole gospel approach to the song, but the arrangement came off a bit weird, the performance shaky. Not really up to Josh's high level. I think the best part of this performance was afterwards when the judges were reacting, the camera was clearly aimed for the ubiquitous standing ovation from the judges that didn't happen. I'm shocked the judges didn't stand anyway.
- Jessica Sanchez - Steal Away (by Etta James) - Again, nothing new. Like Phil, I'm pretty sure we've seen everything there is to see from Jessica. Unlike Phil, I wasn't ever enamored with Jessica. Big talent, sure, but never drew me in.
- Phil & Josh - This Love (by Maroon 5) - Good stuff. I hate Idol duets.
- Hollie & Jessica - Eternal Flame (by The Bangles) - LOL, swings. Oh, Idol 2012. Keeping you guessing even when the contestants typically don't shock.
- All Four of Them - Waiting for a Girl Like You (by Foreigner) - Oh goodie. Group number. I didn't pay attention to this, sorry. I'm a bad wannabe Idol blogger.
- Phil - Volcano (by Damian Rice) - I don't know this song at all... but perhaps I was wrong about Phil not having another gear. This performance was, quite simply, Phil's best of the competition. It's easy to see that this is the type of music Phil is going to be making, and he has a chance to be as successful as this genre allows. Great stuff. Now see, I knew I could effect the show with my idle musings that don't get posted until after the show.
- Hollie - I Can't Make You Love Me (by Bonnie Raitt) - before the song: If Hollie doesn't feel this song, like she did with her Leona Lewis song last week, this will fall completely flat. after the performance: Yep! There were moments where Hollie connected, but they were fleeting, almost artificial feeling.
- Josh - It's a Man's World (by James Brown) & Jessica - And I'm Telling You (from Dreamgirls) - these songs, to me, go hand and hand (along with other some other songs you see EVERY year). These songs are what you could call 'judge bait': meaning, do them capably, and the judges of whatever show you are on will go NUTS. You don't have to do anything new to them, either. Just perform them as written, swing your arms around, add in some growls if they are in your repertoire, emphasize the changes to the dynamics of the songs... and bam, pant tents in all of the judges, standing ovation, and statements like "best singer ever on this show" or "best singer of the last 50 years" (both statements used by Jennifer Lopez in the past two weeks). Formulaic, really. As for tonight, Josh and Jessica were both solid tonight with their songs. Neither brought anything revolutionary to the pieces, but as noted, who needs to? Both received standing ovations. Josh even moved JLo to yelling in Spanish. Neither performance deserved the ridiculousness, but they sure got them.
Damn it, do I miss Simon Cowell.
Winner of the night... I'll go with Phil, mostly for his second song. I know the judges will insist on Josh or Jessica, but they can't be trusted with anything, they've shown. While the two Js screamed through their judge bait songs, Phil did a somewhat off-the-map tune and showed once again what kind of artist he is.
Better watch out... Hollie. I'm writing this line at 10:41PM, just 41 minutes after the show ended. Maybe it's because the other three got me worked up... but I don't remember much about Hollie tonight (which is another reason why I blog, incidentally). That doesn't bode well at this stage in the competition. But who knows, maybe she has legions of fans that I don't understand.
