The American Idol judges had to cut down the Top 15 girls to just ten contestants to sing for the voters on Tuesday night. After the performance by just turned 18-year-old Emily Piriz, we were left wondering if Harry Connick Jr. wished he could have gone back and chosen someone else for her spot.
American Idol 2014 contestant Emily Piriz chose a very racy song for her performance on Tuesday. She chose to sing “Paris (Ooh La La)” by Grace Potter, which includes some seriously adult-themed lyrics. In case you missed it, Harry Connick Jr. is was not fond of hearing this song out of the mouth of a teenage girl in the auditions round, and he wasn’t pleased with listening to it again from barely legal Emily either.
After her performance, Harry confronted Emily about what kind of an image she wanted to give her audience in singing this kind of song. He made her speak the first few lines of the song out loud and drilled her on whether this was really the type of thing she wanted to be singing.
Emily pretty much brushed it off like Harry was being a total prude and of course she wanted to have people think of her as some sexpot on stage. (Just check out the midriff bearing top and leather pants to back that up.) She said the song was all about “empowerment” and women getting what they want.
Apparently it’s empowering for a woman to want to “shave you smooth” and get “down on the floor” and get “up on your swing” so you can “shake that thing.” We’re not sure about that but… moving on.
Whether or not the song was maybe a bit too hot for someone Emily’s age to be shaking her thing to, we question why Harry Connick Jr. went after her so hard about it on live television. Obviously he’s not a fan of young girls singing about sex, and we can kind of understand his feelings. However, he basically shamed Emily Piriz in front of millions of viewers over her performance.
Do you think Harry went too far in calling Emily out on her song choice? Or do you feel he had every right to chastise her over her sexy song selection?
I for one think it was just fine Harry said something. American Idol is suppose to be a show where it has influence over young girls (and boys). I’m very happy he is standing up to what’s appropriate in this program meant for ALL ages. WAY TO GO HARRY!! Keep up the awesome work! You’re the best judge so far! (although I do like Keith too)
Emily Piriz has presented herself as one who hopes to be idolized by America. There are some responsibilities that go with assuming such a role. I believe Harry was right to speak to that issue. And while I would not wish to shame anyone, there are also a thousand other Emily’s out there watching, and so Harry was also speaking to them the only way he could, through the use of their surrogate, Emily Piriz, who had elected to place herself in that position. Hopefully a few of them listened to what Harry had to say, even if Emily Piriz, herself, did not.
Simon Cowell didn’t attack people personally, he critiqued their performance. Harry didn’t have a problem with her performance, just the racy song choice. If Harry was really concerned about the image Emily performance supposedly gave her, he would have spoke to her about the consequences of the song choice off camera. Like I said earlier, this stunt was done to show the nation that Harry is a good daddy. Emily was the stone he chose to step on to boost his ego.
I think Harry was right in what he said, he is instructing them to think about song choices because they need votes. She did not get my vote. When you look like a a little girl, singing such is out of place, she did not look comfortable, she looked like she was trying to be something/someone else and was copying another artist. Based on her performance, I did not vote for her for her. He called her on it, to think about her decisions, he was right. I thought Jennifer Lopez’s dress was ridiculous.
Harry needs to lighten up! You hear many, many gross songs on the radio Harry. But you don’t listen to that chanel. Give the girl a break! The young people these days do not sing the sort of songs you might think they do.Thats why I have an Ipod!
her performance also left a lot to be desires
It’s about time someone starts to stand up for the degradation of music.
Harry was basically saying to Emily, “Do you want to be the next Miley Cyrus — champion of soft-porn under the guise of women’s empowerment?” I applaud the fact that he did that. I thought Emily’s performance was entirely inappropriate, both for her age and for this type of show. WAY TO GO, HARRY!!!
Harry obviously doesn’t like young girls acting tarty on stage, and more power to him for that. But I don’t think that is the only reason he questioned Emily’s choice of song. Her performance was very awkward and Harry honed in quite nicely on why it was awkward — because she hadn’t actually given much consideration to what she was singing. “Singing from the heart” isn’t just a cliche, it’s also good advice. If Emily truly wants to be a slutty stage performer, she’s going to have to get her heart into it a great deal more than that “little girl playing dress up in sexy clothes” performance that she gave that night.
Fans were not paying attention to the lyrics of the song… They were watching her performance and judging her voice as should have Harry.
Harry would have never done that to a guy. Just because of this incident I hope Harry is NOT back again next season. It does not matter what Emily sings Emily CAN sing and proves she is very talented.