American Idol 2012

You've never heard "Ready for Love?" I love India.Arie.

This is my favorite India.Arie song:

 

Phillips's "Stone" was the best performance Wednesday. Stunningly beautiful.
But the best performance of the week was the Queen Extravaganza opening the show tonight.

 

If Phillip couldn't get voted into the bottom 3 after this week, there's no way in hell he's losing this thing. It's all over, folks.

 

Unlike last week, when I was surprised but not disappointed when Colton left, I'm disappointed but not surprised by Elise's dismissal. To me, she was the most seasoned performer, and I do think she had the best tone among the remaining contestants.

But Stabler is right ... This is Phillips' to lose.

One more thing about these judges. Elise sings a Jimi Hendrix song and does a great job. Steven says, 'At this point in the competition, you need to sing songs everyone knows." J-Lo, on the other hand, says she slayed it.

Then Phillip follows her, sings a DMB song I've never heard and Steven (who had never heard "She's Got a Way" by Billy Joel, so you know he's never heard "Stone") loves it. J-Lo then says it was a bit obscure. Huh?

 

That's a daffodil, dipshit.

 

Skylar's version of "Fortunate Son" was a My Lai-level atrocity, turning a Vietnam War protest song into an "Up With People"-esque crowd-pleaser. But she blew it out on the Dusty Springfield song. That was probably enough to keep her out of the Bottom 3 (or 2, or whatever it is this week).

Joshua was made for Motown. He was born 50 years too late, unfortunately. He was merely very, very, very good on the second song, but his "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" was legendary.

Phillip was boring and predictable both times, but he's a lock for the finals (probably against Joshua, maybe Skylar). Hollie was better, but not Top 3 worthy.

I think Jessica might be going home, even though she was outstanding on "You Are So Beautiful." Maybe Hollie.

 

I kept waiting for the judges to lay into Skylar for turning a protest song into shitty pop-country, but, of course, they won't. Ever.

CCR has scads of songs in the 1960s that would have fit much better.

 

Kinda surprised Skylar went home and not Hollie, but whatever. Phillip skating to safety after a second straight totally underwhelming week is further proof he's gonna win it all.

 

I told my wife P-Squared was singing Watchtower or Time of the Season - both songs DMB has covered.
Still cannot believe what I just saw though with the results.

 

Skylar is gone, and so am I. See ya next year, Idol. Seriously, something about this show has got to change. This will be the fifth year straight in which a handsome white boy with a guitar wins. It's getting boring.

 

Busy work week so I just got around to Idol tonight. Here’s my recap (written without seeing any spoilers).

Hollie Cavanagh “River Deep and Mountain High”—Before this week’s show started, I thought for sure Hollie was gone and I don’t think this helped any. This song couldn’t save Pia Toscano from getting the ax last year, why Hollie thought this was going to save her baffles me. Yes, she looked looser but this song blows ass. I understand why some people might like it but, for me, it bored the crap out of me. 4/10.

Phil Phillips “The Letter”— I was going to bash Phillip for picking a song no one has ever heard of and then, about midway through, I figured out what song he was actually doing and it floored me. Holy crap. It’s one thing to change up a song but he made it completely unrecognizable and it was terrific. Phil is on a different level here and I’m finally starting to get it. And unlike the other remaining contestants, Phillip is showcasing himself as an artist here, not just a singer. Quite impressive. 8/10.

Skylar Laine “The fortunate one”— Bless Skylar’s heart. She tried so hard here and, no, I’m not saying this like a Little League parent who just watched his son strike out. I just think Skylar did everything she could with this and it still wasn’t very good. What makes this song so good is the gravelly voice of CCR and the imagery that voice conveys. The original singer sounds like he’s rebelling and he’s angry. Skylar just sounds like she’s singing some words. Her performance didn’t fit this song. Shame. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t right here. 5/10.

Philip Phillips and Joshua Ledet “You’ve lost that loving feeling”—Could Phillip have looked any more bored doing this? Seriously. It’s a TV show, not a strip club. Just because you’re putting on a performance you might not be into doesn’t mean you need to look like Debbie Downer. Sound-wise, I liked this. Most duets on this show (and group numbers period) are awful but this kind of worked. This would have been terrific as a radio performance. Having to watch these two suffer through this was tough to watch. So, song-wise, I’d put it at a 7/10 but because Josh and Phil looked like they just woke up in a bathroom with Ben Roethilsburger, I’m knocking it down to a 4/10.

Jessica Sanchez “Proud Mary”— First off, someone needs to give this girl a cheeseburger. Seriously. That corset made her look like she weighs 12 pounds. That being said, little miss Jessica brought her ‘A’ game in a big way here. This was fantastic. She looked, for the first time ever really, like she was actually having fun here and this was the first time she wasn’t a complete boring mess. So, so good. Second-best effort by her this season and only because her version of “I will always love you” will likely always be her benchmark moment on this show. 8/10.

Joshua Ledet “Ain’t too proud to beg”— Is there any doubt Joshua was supposed to be born in the 60s? This song was right in his wheelhouse and, as he has done most of the season, he crushed it. I’d actually be intrigued to see what Joshua could do with original material. Having him sing a lot of these covers actually limits what he can do and he’s got a ton of potential, which he showed off in a big way with this. 7/10

Hollie Cavanagh “Bleeding Love”—As soon as I heard Hollie announce what song she was singing, I perked right up. This, in my opinion, is one of the best songs of the past couple years and I saw a lot of potential from Hollie here. She delivered. While I wish she would have really embraced the original version of this track and showcased a little more emotion in the power notes, I started to really dig her interpretation as it went on. So soft, so understated. It was actually a pretty solid choice not to go crazy high like she’s able to and while it was surprising, it was a pleasant surprise. Best effort from Hollie in a long, long time and one of the first times I’ve known right from hearing it that I would be buying a track on iTunes from this show. 9/10.

Phillip Phillips “Time of the Season”—Interesting choice by Phil here. Yet another song that I hadn’t heard of but then was like ‘Oh, that song!’. I kind of liked what he did here. This was very relaxed and had a very good vibe to it. I could see myself closing my eyes and pretending I was on a beach somewhere listening to a band by the campfire. Good stuff. He has a strong control over his abilities and I kind of like that he’s just doing his own thing here now. 8/10.

Skylar Laine, Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavangh “Your love is lifting me higher and higher”—And this is an example of a group number gone bad. These three girls have three distinct and unique voices and while any one of them could have been fun to listen to on this track, the three combined sounded off and a bit jumbled. I like the idea of this but the execution was only meh. 5/10.

Skylar Laine “You don’t have to say you love me”— While this is a good song and a true classic, something was just missing here. I can’t pinpoint what it was. I think it may have been the composition that they chose for this song. Dropping the guitar out to emphasize Skylar’s lyrics at the start of each line really took away from this. And having a slow song in this spot, in my opinion, might just hurt Skylar. 4/10.

Jessica Sanchez “You are so beautiful”—Holy god, this is an incredibly slow and boring choice for a song on Idol. It’s not like this is a bad song by any stretch but an Idol song? I don’t know about that. It kind of makes me want to go to sleep. That being said, this song was a great choice for Jessica’s voice. Perhaps moreso than any other song she’s done recently, this really showcased the pure quality of this girl’s voice. She is clearly the best pure singer on this show, and maybe always has been, and hopefully the Idol voters recognize that because, if you’re basing your vote on talent, there is no one better. Vocally. 7/10.

Joshua Ledet “To Love Somebody”— My wife questioned whether or not Joshua was ‘happy’ to be singing this song. I don’t care if he was or wasn’t. This was very, very, very good. I repeat that I can’t wait to see Joshua with original material but I’ll listen to this type of performance, which I felt was impassioned, soulful and emotion, each and every week. 8/10.


My rankings:
1. Phillip Phillips
2. Jessica Sanchez
3. Joshua Ledet
4. Skylar Laine
5. Hollie Cavanagh


My prediction (which I know is meaningless at this point) is that Skylar goes home after getting into the bottom three with Hollie and Phillip.

Results show:

Just watched the results show. Not surprised. I thought Skylar was the weakest of the five this week, though it’s so clear Phillip has checked out that it’s not even funny. I fully expect him to show up in a grey t-shirt that says “F**k this show. Vote me off!”

 

Phillip may have checked out because of his kidney issues. Jimmy has made reference at least twice.

I thought Jessica was horrible on Proud Mary. She looks like she has the weight of her entire family on her shoulders.