Barbara McDowell

Famous last words – I thought last week was a snoozefest.  The performances this week are a random blend of nothingness.  I think this is in part due to the lack of natural spark in Carole King’s songs (our theme this week).  Many of her pieces, in melody and lyrics, are thinker songs versus having an immediate hook or steady beat to move them along.  The beauty in their crafting comes when being paired with singers that understand and tap into those nuances. 

The batch we have left for finalists have proven themselves (save one) to have issues with understanding the emotional level of material and still fighting nerves, while one refuses to deviate from their one-track pony ride (hi Scotty).

Here are my thoughts as the episode plodded along:

• The theme night is Carole King and Babyface is the mentor.  Nothing about those two facts makes me all smiley.  The contestants will butcher her classic pieces.  As for Babyface, back in the day I wasn’t a fan and thought all his music (songs he performed as well as those given to others) sounded the same, and that signature sound bored me.
• Jacob starts the show looking like a checkered banana.  I’ll give him that he showed energy and spark (“character” as the judges like to say).  However I’m not standing up and clapping.  Nor am I inclined to reach for the phone.  The outfit, beaming and spark felt overdone for me—as if his nerves are shot and he’s grabbing for a lifeline of love and trying to please the voters.  For him, “Oh No, Not My Baby” is going to turn into “oh no, not the bottom three again.”
• Lauren sings her song choice, “Where You Lead,” with a country vibe.  Predictable.  The judges babble about her growth and conquering her fears.  Growth here people would be not twisting everything into your genre of music.  Can you imagine a dance music wannabe adding a techno beat to their song choice each week?
• Even the producers have lost their creative spark.  We get Haley and Casey paired up AGAIN for a duet.  They ramble through “I Feel the Earth Move.”  Yes, innuendo and giggly jokes about their rumored relationship are in their set-up video and spouted by Ryan and Steven post song.  Give it a rest people.  As for their singing, it doesn’t work for me.  They are each hunching over and putting their regular runs and growls on the notes and it comes off more as soloists singing parts versus a blended, warm duet.
• Scotty does what he does with “You’ve Got a Friend.”  I’m not going to repeat my predictable rant here.  I will say that Scotty is showing growth in terms of where he is pushing his voice to go.  He isn’t only using that low base anymore.  Voters already love him and growing in the competition will make many feel he is even more worthy.  Look out remaining finalists.
• James sings “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and nails it.  Best performance of the night for me.  Like Adam Lambert before him, I appreciate his voice so much more when not strained to reach the farthest corner of the ceiling.  The a capella he starts with shows off the control and rich tone he is capable of, and the clean sock-hop feel brought in by the instruments makes it a delight for the ears.
• Lauren and Scotty doing “Up on the Roof” is just another way for Idol to feed country to me.  How do we get nine seasons of Idol demanding for the contestants to be able to sing anything (read – any genre) well.  The idea is, if you are a good singer and performer, you can change it up, bring some creativity and succeed.  This year, we get the reverse and constant praise for stagnation.  I don’t think it is okay to give Scotty a pass each week (the comments last week weren’t as negative as they should have been) and hearing the two teens muttering through this made me want to go up on the roof, in the wind storm, and jump.
• Why did I instinctively brace myself when Ryan announced James and Jacob had a duet coming up?
• Casey does a jazzy solo number, but I’m not paying attention.
• J-Lo says that Haley has one of the best voices in the competition.  No she did not just say that.  What the?  Maybe she gets a bonus for providing the most bizarre level of pimping tonight.
• The Jacob/James duet is as painful and awkward as I imagined.  Steven told it straight “that wasn’t the most award winning performance.”  Not at all.  It is another instance of soloists doing their thing and not blending.  If this was their idea of “taking it to church,” then it needs an exorcism.
• Watching the replay clips back at the end, let’s just give the contract and Ford car to James and call it done.
• Crystal Bowersox will be performing on the results show tomorrow.  The revolving door of past Idol has-beens is becoming sad.  New single after new single is shared, though nothing is catchy enough to stick.
• Shout out to me for noting Jacob could be a wildcard in the bottom last week.  This week, my bottom three guess is Jacob, Haley and Casey with Jacob waving goodbye.  I think James and the two country crooners either performed well (James) or received enough pimping to pair with their voting blocks (Lauren and Scotty) to survive.

Flickr image by futureatlas

Last night’s show was just “uh” to me.  As usual, I wrote my first reactions as I watched the contestants wallow through the theme of Songs from the 21^st Century.  With such an open option of great song choices, you’d think we would be in for some spectacular performances.  Instead, at the end as the recap and voting numbers rolled, it felt as if we hadn’t seen anything.  All one hazy blur of nothingness.  I wish we could change the rules and say that no one gets crowned champ if they keep phoning it in like scared little school kids.  Step it up and sing (read: not scream James)!

Random Thoughts:

• I wish the judges would go back to saying when something sucked versus the weekly pimping after each performance.  It isn’t all roses and butterflies up on that stage.
• They had two blond Fembots as background singers.  I wigged out a little each time they did a close up on them.
• I kept my promise and voted for little Stefano.  I still think he’s in trouble due to how easy it was for me to get through each time.  The crap he left on the stage last night won’t do him any favors either.

Scotty – He went first.  He sang a country song from LeAnn Rimes.  He did the same weird smile face, mic hold and wiggly poses.  I’m done.

James – What?  Huh?  Sorry I lost my hearing from his progressively higher screech wails.  Everything is now a muted buzz.

Haley – She sang a current Adele song, “Rolling in the Deep.”  It was quite pitchy.  At least she had more clothes on.

Jacob – He sang Luther’s “Dance with My Father” and shared during the package that he lost his father when he was 12 years old.  During rehearsal footage, we saw him break down into tears at one point in the song.  I immediately thought, uh oh, what if diva man—who we already know is prone to getting amped up and shooting for distant universes—loses it on stage only to collapse into an ugly mound of high-pitch whimpers? 

At the beginning of the performance, he seemed unsteady, lost a few words and made a face while turning towards his right.  He then pulled out the right earpiece and kept going.  Good save Jacob!  He then delivered an understated performance that was emotional, but lacked the feel I thought he’d embed into it.  I do wonder if his mention of blame on the track playing wrong in his ear will hurt him.  Some might read that as prima donna behavior or excuses. 

Speaking of excuses, I also can’t ignore the recent news that posted on TMZ regarding his citation and subsequent escalated trouble, including arrest, for failure to make the court date.  In fact, I had some questions myself:

• What’s up with church boy hopping the train for free?
• Is church boy’s more-superior-than-thee attitude what made him think it was okay to skip his court date?
• Since church boy likes to speak about mirrors, should he not have looked in one before wandering out of the house in that wife beater seen in the mug shot?
• Will the breaking news hurt him?
• Was his tweet about going through so much stuff referring to this incident?  Because his self-induced drama doesn’t really gain any sympathy points.

See?  I’m an excellent example of constant viewers who haven’t gotten the taste of his attitude out of their mouths.  If others are still giving him the side-eye like me, he could be toast.

Casey – It was supposed to be a performance of a Maroon 5 song, but he sounded like Animal from the Muppets.  I was waiting for him to just start screaming, “Animal.  Animal!”  The best part was Steven Tyler’s curse filled rant review.  He carried on like an unhinged trucker.  Good stuff.

Stefano – He sang Neyo’s “Closer.”  Ugh.  I’m not a fan of that song or really any Neo.  Stefano’s performance did nothing to change my mind.  It was herky and jerky mania with possible singing in between.  His song choice was a mistake.  At the end of the performance, he ran around stage like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.  The judges called that sexy dancing.  Yeah, right.

Lauren – She performed, wait for it, up-tempo country that wasn’t at all challenging.  She is also now playing like she lacks confidence.  We’ve got a crafty contestant here folks.  I’m sure Lauren realizes that the voters seem to have a harder standard on humility for the girls and that she needs to head down that road pronto.  I do not believe for one second that she’s unsure of herself.  That killer instinct brewing below is savvy indeed.

Based on performances alone, I think the bottom three will be Stefano, Casey and Haley with my little Stefano going home.  The only wild card would be if Jacob still faces any voter hate.