American Idol has decided that proceeds from the iTunes downloads will go to benefit the Red Cross to help with the relief effort in Japan. Classy as always.
The contestants will be choosing a song from the year they were born, continuing the trend of allowing the contestants to basically pick a song in their wheelhouse. So no excuses on song choice contestants!
Naima -1984: “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” by Tina Turner. Naima is like a walking craft project and unfortunately her flat and boring song only highlights just how bizarre her outfits are. The song was clunky and lousy. Yet Steven loves it. He’s worthless. So is Naima. I don’t even need to see the other 11 to know she’ll be in the bottom.
Paul McDonald - 1984: “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” by Elton John. I think we’ll just have to get over the fact that he’s going to talk to the audience before he starts. Paul looks like he constantly has to go to the bathroom as he wanders arounds the stage. Paul’s voice is so unique that he just sounds strange singing any song I’m familiar with. This performance was as aimless as his meanderings. Another week performance. He needs to breakout the guitar and rock a power ballad and soon! Though I think the judges would use their save on this guy.
Thia Migia - 1995: “Colors of the Wind” by Vanessa “Pocahontas” Williams. Sorry Thia. Can’t take you seriously based on song choice alone. However, the song really does allow the singer to showcase their voice. If I were 15, I wouldn’t want to hang out with Thia. She seems like she’d always be doing homework. It’s really quite impressive how boring these first three singers have been. Ugh. Someone give me something good!
Kate Hudson was double fisting Cheetos. Good on her.
James Durbin - 1989: “I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi. Fun Fact: this is my brothers go to karaoke song so he has a lot to live up to. I like to think that instead of losing the tail altogether, it just matured in the 80s and now has moved to a side tail. James’s performance on the whole, was ok. He blew the final note, but it was worlds better than the first three. I wonder if he studied any Ashton Kutcher tape from A Lot Like Love?
Haley Reinhart - 1990: “I’m You Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston. JImmy reminds us that there really are no losers in American Idol because really everybody can get a record contract. I think whoever did J-Lo’s lipstick last week did Hailey’s this week. Haley is always good for some unique vocal runs. In those she is successful, but when she’s just singing regular, she falls flat for me. Though with the weak talent this week, I figure her to be safe.
Stefano Langone - 1989: “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” by Simply Red. Here we are, Stefano really showing off the meat of his voice! Best performance so far. It’s easy to be the person who nails all the big notes, but it takes skill to hit the quiet parts too and Stefano does that with ease. Aside from his moon boots with suit look, I don’t have any negatives.
Pia Toscano - 1988: “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” by Whitney Houston. Pia reminds me of a little ethnic Rachel Bilson. I need to have a conversation with the wardrobe supervisor as I always need a shot of Pia in glasses, and I never need to see her in a classy jumper/powe pants suit again. Look we all know Pia has a great voice. She’s the only real shot the girls have at winning this thing. The singing was good, but it wreaked of a cheesy 80’s vibe. She’s safe and will be for a while.
Scotty McCreery - 1993: “Can I Trust You With My Heart” by Travis Tritt. Hey look, both Scotty’s parents can sing a little bit. I can only hope that we get Scotty as Elvis on some performance episode. Scotty could cut a country album today. He has the most professional voice out of any of the contestants. Whether that translates to votes is yet to be seen, but Scotty is my dark horse to win the whole thing. Scotty is safe, and even if by some weird twist he is voted out, the judges would assuredly save him.
Karen Rodriguez - 1989: “Love Will Lead You Back” by Taylor Dayne. Karen is wearing the ultimate bump it tonight. Her vocals this week are decent, but a little boring and thin. If she’s in any danger from previous weeks, I don’t think this week will save her. Ugh. The Spanish singing strikes again. It just feels out of place and cheap. Look for Karen to possibly be in the bottom. Nothing special here besides the height of her hair. Move on.
Casey Abrams - 1991: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Casey has made it out of the hospital to grace the stage and slap the bass for us. Throughout the entire song, I feared that Casey was going to leap through the screen and eat my face off. He did a lot of screaming in this song, which doesn’t bother me, but it clearly did bother J-Lo and I trust that it will some of the public. Since they don’t announce who was the top vote getter, I don’t think we’ll see how much it effects him, but I look for a much more “pleasant” song from him next week.
Lauren Alaina - 1994: “I’m the Only One” by Melissa Ethridge. This song is clearly right in Lauren’s range. It fits her personality and she does a great job with it. This is a note to all the contestants: stay away from audience participation! It doesn’t read on television. Though I think she may have cut her final note short, she crushed the song and will be safe for a long time to come.
Jacob Lusk - 1987: “Alone” by Heart. Jacob was slaying the song until he slipped going into a high note. This mess up was highlighted by the camera being on J-Lo who made a face and went to make a note. Look, Jacob is a great singer with a great personality, but he oversings like crazy. He’s a great performer and he’ll be around for a while, but I don’t think he’s a *real* threat to win it all.
Bottom Line: Not the strongest set of performances due largely in fact to the age of contestants. Their years of birth all fell between 1984 and 1995 which doesn’t allow for great song choice. This being said, someone could have made giant leaps by really modernizing a retro tune. I don’t think the landscape of Idol was altered at all tonight, except for Stefano solidifying himself.
Favorite: Stefano Langone
Last One Safe: Thia Migia
Bottom Three:
Naima
Paul McDonald
Karen Rodriguez
Pick to Go Home: Naima (which would make the first 2 eliminated wild card choices.)
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