American Idol 2012

What's with all the damn crying? I'm a cynic and chalk it up to trying to win votes. I don't care if their mothers died just before the show went on air, it's not real.

And 80s week? We'll get the same tired songs they drag out year after year, like we do every week. I'm to the point where I'm about to stop watching. My final straw will be Skylar getting the boot. That's okay, because she'll cut a country album and it'll be out for Christmas.

 

Unless Joshua or Jessica somehow gets voted off tomorrow (and I write this before they perform tonight), I think we'll see Elise get the judge's save. She was not good at all tonight.

 

Jesus Christ, why do people insist on singing Whitney? Sanchez has a good voice, but good God. Will they never learn?

 

DeAndre Brackensick: Actually liked the song, and liked the presentation. But to me, there was no denying that he was flat on some of his money notes. Not enough. Oh, have I mentioned that the judges kind of make me sick? 4/10.

Elise Testone: I wasn't crazy for it, actually wish she had chosen "Hallelujah." Thought she started very sleepy, got stronger later. Tyler, IMHO, was right. It wasn't her song. 4/10.

Oh, please. Not duets. Please. Stop.

Phillip Phillips: He, too, could have found a better song for himself. He just seemed to be fighting himself. Yet, it was better than the first two ... by a hair. It was cool that his brother backed him. 5/10.

Hmmm. A two-girl duet. OK. (Hollie and DeAndre.)

Joshua Ledet: First performance of the night that was worthy of one of the five standing Os they gave last week. He got it and he deserved it. Beautiful pitch. Big voice. That big note gave me goosies. My only concern is that he needs to rein himself in just a little bit sometimes. 8/10.

Jessica Sanchez: She's just so pitch-perfect, I find myself looking hard for imperfections, which is kind of unfair. She was sublime. A star waiting to happen. Only thing that let her down was the particular arrangement forced by staying in the time window. There was one point where she was left hanging by an uncomfortable transition, and looked like a deer in headlights. 8/10.

Duet. Actually, pretty good ... Elise and Phillip hit the right song with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Hollie Cavanagh: Another great voice. But the difference is that she's just not quite comfortable in her own skin. She doesn't strut well. Don't know if she was all that pitchy. It just didn't feel like a victorious moment; Joshua and Jessica did. 5/10.

Can't say much bad about a Joshua-Jessica duet, either.

Colton Dixon: I could so picture him leading off his own concert with that song. A great choice, turning around a Lauper song. He showed some star quality there. And that pause before the final push ... nailed it. What, no standing O? 8/10.

Skylar Laine: Thank god she didn't do "Nine To Five." And she did "Wind" well; no finding fault in that. But I want to put this into perspective. a) She will be a country moneymaker. b) Carrie Underwood proved a country singer can win this competiton. c) I don't think a Grand Ol' Opry twang can win this competition. 7/10.

The best of the three 8s? I think I'll be in the minority in saying Colton.

I believe Hollie is most definitely in danger. And I agree with Steak; if Elise goes in the next week or two, she will get the save.

 

Bottom three: Elise, Hollie, Deandre

Elise is the low vote-getter, but she gets the judge's save and no one goes home.

 

Idol

So, last week sucked for me work-wise and I wasn’t able to get my review in. Sorry about that. I know you all wait with bated breathe for what I have to say so, without further ado, this … is American Idol! GOTTA HAVE IT!

Deandre Brackensick “I like it”—First off, I get why Gwen Stefani is here but why was that other dude here? It’s like having Mariah Carey and Mariah’s third-best backup dancer giving advice. He looked absolutely bored. As for Deandre, I kind of liked this. I feel like he took Gwen’s advice to heart and did a pretty good job avoiding looking nervous. I worry about the song choice in terms of whether or not it’s going to inspire people to actually vote for him but I would have bet he would’ve been gone weeks ago so what do I know? 6/10.

Elise Testone “I want to know what love is”— I’m not going to lie. As soon as Seacrest said “Foreigner”, I got some major wood. Love that song. It would take a really shitty performance for me not to download it. The problem is, everyone ever thinks they can sing this song and what makes Elise unique is that voice of hers. I feel like she didn’t utilize that enough here. This was good but not Elise-good. Definite step back from last week. And what the hell was she wearing? She looked like someone in one of those “Before and after” fat loss commericials who is wearing the shirt she used to wear when she was chunky. Not good at all. I think she’s safe as she’s had a strong run lately but this was just meh for me and that’s VERY disappointing. 4/10

Colton and Skylar duet “Islands in the stream”— To say Colton looked uncomfortable here is an understatement. It seriously appeared as if he had to drop a deuce from start to finish in this song. To her credit, I liked Skylar’s efforts here. She wasn’t overly showy, which I feel she’s bad for weeks now and she showed a different side of her voice. It was nice to listen to. I hope she keeps this up for a while. I can do with more of this and less of the Miranda Lambert wanna-be “power” country girl.

Phillip Phillips “That’s all”— Great song choice. Not going to lie though. I kind of wanted to hear more of that version of Usher’s “Nice and Slow” they were jamming to in the intro video. At least that’s what it sounded like to me. That would be amazing. As for this song, I liked it. This was the first real time I’ve like P2 this season. I liked the smiling and slight chuckle. Good stuff. And the non-Gwen Stefani member of No doubt gave some good advice here with the guitar bit. Liked that touch. One question though. Has Idol always allowed use of instruments for the whole season? I seem to remember a point last year when someone was clamoring for them to allow someone to bring a guitar on stage. Interesting. 7/10.

Hollie and Deandre duet “I’m so excited”— I feel like this pairing came about after everyone else was paired off and Hollie and Deandre were left alone. What an odd, odd pairing. Loved Hollie’s part here but that’s probably because I’m a Holly mark. Deandre? Meh. My only real complaint with Hollie is she looked incredibly uncomfortable the entire time. Like she was Chris Brown sitting in on a women’s kickboxing league practice. And it doesn’t help that her hair looked like someone forced it back at gunpoint. Just a meh performance overall. Nothing amazing.

Joshua Ledet “If you don’t know me by now”— Two things. One, there’s no way this guy is straight right? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing and I don’t personally care but he always looks like he’s 30 seconds away from crying during every song. Two, what a great song choice and performance. I was worried he was going to oversing this but he tamed it when he needed to and he really hit this one out of the park. If they’re going to have a Motown week this year, I might lose my mind waiting to see what Joshua brings to the table. Great stuff. Especially loved the way they brought him in with the backup singers starting the song. Great effort. 8/10.

Jessica Sanchez “How will I know?”—OK, first off, you can’t have an alter ego when you’re not even old enough to get into an R-rated movie. Sorry. That is dumb. The more I see of Jessica, I more I can already picture her being a complete and total diva. This week’s song choice was good for her and a nice departure from the slow power ballad that she’s stuck with. Liked the up-tempo nature she brought here and liked seeing her try to loosen up. Don’t think I’d like to see this each week but it’s nice to break things up. She can clearly sing and she’s going to make it far. But her attitude might cost her because I already have a hard time liking her and we’re only in the top eight. 6/10.

Phillip and Elise duet “Stop dragging my heart around”— Individually these two sounded kind of dull on this song but their harmony together was actually kind of interesting. It was a bit drowned out by the guy with the guitar but I liked what I could hear. Oh, and I just have to ask. What’s with Phillip’s facial expressions every time he sings? He might have the worst stage presence of anyone I’ve seen. He would definitely be the kind of performer whose album I listened to buy videos and concerts I would want no part of.

Hollie Cavanagh “What a feeling”—Hollie has a knack for picking songs I just flat out hate. Yet I love her voice and would listen to her sing a recipe for mac and cheese. So nice to see her try something new here. And it fit well with the 80s theme. Liked seeing her moving around the stage too. That was the first time she really appeared ready to put on a show instead of sitting there singing like she was in a studio. Great effort. Not as great as some of her other songs this season but a good step up from last week. Surprised the judges were so critical. I’m guessing they’re bored with her and want her gone. 7/10.

Joshua and Jessica duet “I knew you were waiting for me”—You’ve got the two best voices on the show and you pair them together for THIS song? There had to be something better to choose from from the 80s. Neither Joshua or Jessica came off particularly great here. I’ll be surprised if I remember this by the time I finish this review, let alone remember it much longer than just tonight and these two could have done something really, really great. Really don’t know why the judges were falling all over themselves for this. Talk about over-hyped.

Colton Dixon “Time after time”—Funny Ryan started this performance next to a group of seven teenage girls because that’s likely who is voting for Colton at this point. That being said, Colton made me feel like a teenage girl this week. This was awesome. I could have done without the skinny jeans but otherwise this was some great stuff. I am definitely going to have to download this. Just a pleasant track, a fun cover version. Exactly why I watch Idol. 8/10.

Skylar Laine “Wind beneath my wings”— Who the hell is this girl and can we get her on the show instead of the Skylar we’ve seen this season? This was, simply, beautiful. So understated, so soft, so perfect. I never realized Skylar had such a nice voice. Now I see why she belongs on this show. For once, she’s not the token country girl. This was a breakthrough performance. I had freaking goosebumps. This was AWESOME. If she goes back to high-speed, high-energy country, Ryan should just punch her in the face. 9/10.

Rankings:
1. Skylar Laine
2. Colton Dixon
3. Joshua Ledet
4. Phillip Phillips
5. Hollie Cavanagh
6. Jessica Sanchez
7. Deandre Brakensick
8. Elise Testone

Overall, I am just floored by Skylar and Colton this week. Great, great efforts. I think Elise, Deandre and Hollie end up in the bottom three and, sadly, I think my girl Hollie is gone. I hope she’s not as I think it’s not her time and she’s substantially better than at least Deandre but she’s been on a bit of a losing streak and, well, I think it’s going to cost her.

Until next time, folks.

 

Oh, and one other note. "Free" by Haley Reinhart is a fantastic song. I'm resisting the urge to download it right now and put it on my iPod. May 22nd can't come soon enough. I can not wait for that album to drop.

 

I'm rolling with Shotty on this one ... pretty spot on. Let's face it, unless the teenage vote completely takes over, and there's a very, very good chance of that happening, this is Jessica's to lose. But man, cut that alter ego crap out now.

If the teenage vote takes over, Colton has this thing locked up. Right now, everyone is fighting for third, which likely belongs to Phillip. This was his second Phil Collins song this season, and I wasn't overly impressed. He needs to just get the DMB out of the way so everyone can see what we've been waiting for. I wonder if copyright infringement is the only reason he hasn't thus far.

 

If I drank every time I wanted to punch Seacrest, I'd be comatose. Or Brian Dunkleman.

 

Who win? Who win? Who lose?

 

Deandre. He's gone.

And of course J-Lo wanted to save him, but thank goodness Steven and Randy held the line. He was the least-talented performer left.

Once again, Phil Phil says he doesn't give a shit what Jimmy Iovine says. If he's not careful, Colton's going to steal the tween heartthrob ticket to the finals right out of his pocket.

But if AI doesn't work out for him, Phil Phil's got a great career as an Auburn frat boy ahead of him.

 

I don't mind that happening either with DeAndre. Hollie or Elise can both get some buzz started again with a big performance. It wasn't happening for the Falsetto Kid.