And to think I was excited when I heard the American Idol 2012 theme this week was going to be songs from this decade. It turned out to be anything but exciting. The Top 7 didn’t sing badly or anything, I just wasn’t into many of the song choices.
As soon as I wake up, I’ll review each performance and assign the letter grade I think each deserves, per usual.
In order of performance:
Skylar Laine, “Didn’t Know How Much I Loved You.” It was nice to see Sklyar with a guitar, but I wasn’t a fan of the song choice (you’ll be hearing this a lot in this recap). Does anyone even listen to Kellie Pickler besides that one time a year she returns to American Idol? I just don’t think it’s a very good idea to pick such an unknown song when you’ve been in the Bottom 3 before. If you’re not leading the pack, then you have to make popular song choices. That being said, Skylar still delivered. I still love her spunk and her old-school country queen sound. (A)
Colton Dixon, “Love The Way You Lie.” A lot more people will recognize parts of this song from the Eminem song featuring Rihanna. And while it’s a good song, I don’t think it was Colton’s best. For some reason no one but me can hear flaw’s in Colton’s performances. I think they’re often nasally, whiny and too early 2000s emo. The only great part of this performance was the bridge. The bridge gets an A+, but the rest of the song gets about a B-. So I’ll average the two. B+
Elise and Phillip duet, “Somebody That I Used to Know.” I love the duets with these two. I think they play very well off each other. Elise clearly loves the song and nailed it. Phillip adapted like he always does and did a fine job as well. Not the best thing in the world but there was nothing wrong with it either. (B+)
Jessica Sanchez, “Stuttering.” The past couple weeks I’ve seen more of a connection with Jessica and her songs. That was one of the issues I had with her. She’s technically a great singer, but I often don’t feel much when she sings. But this week she was into the song and I picked up on that. However, the song wasn’t a great song. It didn’t really go anywhere or show what she is made of. But there weren’t any technical flaws. (A-)
Joshua Ledet, “Runaway Baby.” Another meh song. It was nice to hear Joshua sing an upbeat song though. He was definitely channeling some classic R&B artists. He’s a fantastic vocalist, but he’s starting to border on boring. I wouldn’t be surprised if his votes start slipping. (B)
Skylar and Colton Duet, “Don’t You Wanna Stay.” Much like Elise and Phillip, these two have great chemistry as well. This song was right up Skylar’s alley. And Colton held his own as well. (A)
Hollie Cavanagh, “Perfect.” I thought the song took off very nicely. And I really liked the arrangement with just her and her guitar. It wasn’t a prefect performance (punny!), but it was way better than last week. But that doesn’t matter because she’s going home Thursday night because the judges made sure that would happen with their feedback. Seriously, what was up with their criticism. It was almost like they were eliminating her right then and there. Sure she wasn’t the best performance, but she didn’t need those looks. Steven and Jennifer both looked at her like she was dying. I think their attitudes were pretty disgusting. (B)
Phillip Phillips, “Give A Little More.” Phillip’s performance was smooth and I think he may have taken Jimmy’s advice with trying to get the female vote. Just add a sax and you’ve added a couple ounces of sex to your song. So Phillip gets points there. Phillip is starting to get a little predictable and maybe a tiny bit boring. And I LOVE his “so what” attitude, but that could start hurting him. He needs to step things up or what everyone else is saying will happen – Colton will pass him up and send him home. (B+)
Hollie, Jessica and Josua Trio, “Stronger.” OK, they were all flat. It was not a good performance. They’re all great singers but something just went wrong with this song. I’m not sure what it was. They all regained footing at the end of the song and I guess that’s the only part of the song the judges decided to comment on because I did not agree with their praise at all. I thought the performance was awful. (D)
Elise Testone, “You And I. ” I hate to quote Randy Jackson, but Elise is back. I loved the start of the song with her behind the piano. Elise is hands down the most exciting performer in the contest. I’m not saying she’s the best vocalists, but her presence and energy is untouchable. She did get a little shout-y at times, but I think it was my favorite performance of the night. There’s no way Elise should be anywhere near the Bottom 3. If she is, it’s a travesty. (A)
Now I’ll do what I always do and over-explain the next part of my blog post. I’m going to PREDICT what might happen tomorrow night based ONLY on how I think America’s votes MIGHT play out. These are not my personal opinions. I’m just going on about eight seasons of watching American Idol and learning voting patterns and trends and what not. So if I gave someone up there an A but still think they’re in the Bottom 3, don’t call me an idiot. These predictions have nothing to do with my grades. Got it?
- 100 Percent Safe: Jessica Sanchez, Colton Dixon
- Most Likely Safe: Phillip Phillips, Elise Testone
- Possibly the Bottom 3: Hollie Cavanagh, Skylar Laine, Joshua Ledet
- Possibly Going Home: Hollie Cavanagh
- Will the Judges Use The Save? On Hollie, No. On anyone else, yes.
My Thinking: Hollie has been in the bottom for a while now and since the judges kind of sealed the deal Wednesday night, she will almost definitely be going home. I don’t think they’ll save her. They’ll save it for next week since it’s the last chance. I think Skylar will probably find her way back down there, but the third spot in the bottom is tricky. It could still be Elise but they pimped her a bit Wednesday night, so it could be Joshua’s first trip to the Bottom.
I’ve also decided to stop placing Phillip in the 100 percent safe category. That’s because we’re down to only seven and pretty soon people who shouldn’t be in the bottom will start ending up there. And Phillip is kind of running in place right now, so he could start being at risk.
What did you think of the performances? Who do you think will get the least amount of votes?