It was kind of a rough night on IDOL. In a prelude to tonight's bloated 'Idol Gives Back' show, the contestants performed songs of inspiration... but, with an exception (maybe two), the only inspiring thing I saw was the hope of violin (and other string instrument) players able to get a gig on national television. Those inspirational songs need violins! (There's an SNL Emily Litella joke in there for you folks old enough to remember)
On a positive note, the show is back to being only an hour long which thankfully (at least for the next couple of weeks), means that Seacrest doesn't have to come up with filler material. The bad part was that we didn't see enough of last night's mentor Alicia Keys, who I think is stunning in most every way.
As I said, slim pickins' last night. Here are your top two... and I hope we keep on hearing/seeing that for the remainder of this season...
Crystal (“People Get Ready”) - It was nice to see Crystal break loose from a musical instrument (though it was pretty clear she didn't know what to do with her hands) and also show some emotion as I agree that while her singing is always filled with emotion, she has put up some sort of protective wall in a lot of her performances to date. But this was way, way, way beyond anything else from last night. While she is certainly an old soul, my wish would be to have her do a spin on something more current as I think she's only managed to make it up to the 1990s a couple of times with Alanis and Tracy Chapman.
Lee (“The Boxer”) - I put Lee at a distant, but solid second as he certainly felt the song more and was far better than anyone below. That said, I think the judges were a bit too overly enthusiastic with it as I thought it was good, not great. My problem was in the 2-minute edit of the song, Lee was "la,la,la-ing" too much.
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Siobhan (“When You Believe") - I am not sure Siobhan really deserves being ranked #3, but then again I don't think any of the next 3 folks do either (sorry Tim!). The song was pretty schlocky, but just feeling more sympathy for her than anything else, though her explanation / rationalization dragged on a bit too long nearing (or passing) the cringe-fest line. But I think Kara hit in on the head, I like her but at this point I am not sure I care about her music.
Aaron (“I Believe I Can Fly”)- Now talk about schlocky songs, this is the king of them. But if I was fair, I should have given Aaron the 3rd slot as of this "red" group he probably had the best vocal. It's just the same old, predictable stuff coming from him... and it did seem all high school talent contest material.
Casey (“Don't Stop”) - Continuing our segues, Casey is becoming the king of the same old, predictable stuff. Alas, the vocals here were quite good as well but it just seemed like another safe, auto-pilot performance from him... and in the big scheme of things it's not that he has this great or distinctive voice either... but, he is still pretty to look at.
Michael (“Hero”) - When I first heard Mike was singing this song, I thought it was the Mariah Carey one... and truthfully I think that one would have worked out better for him as this just didn't seem to be a good fit with his voice or him... and the non-electric guitar (which looks like a ukulele sometimes given his size), just didn't fit in either... maybe if he'd done an acoustic version of it. Hey, I should be a mentor! And ummm, Mike... unless they are editing out the mentors' request for you to do it, can you please stop bear-hugging and lifting them up?!
Tim (“Better Days”) - I'll start with my standard line: Tim is not going anywhere this week. I was a a bit disappointed that after a couple of "not bad" weeks, that this seemed to be a step back... but his singing really does not matter at this point now does it? He's entered the pantheon of Sanjaya, Nikki McKibben, and Jasmine Trias and I see him cracking at least the Top 5 at this point.
Elimination Prediction: We didn't have a Bottom 3 last week (remember they said Mike was not in the Bottom 3), and flubbed Aaron leaving... but did have the other two correct with Katie and Andrew.
Given what I just said above, I'll give Tim another pass this week and have him joined in safety with hopefully the secure for some time, Crystal and Lee. The remaining five I think are all in danger. Again, I'll give Siobhan a pass hoping that at least there is some grass roots "girl" support to not leave Crystal the only girl left this early in the competition. So that leaves my Bottom 3 as Casey, Aaron, and Mike. I'll send Casey back to the seats and... say the journey ends for... Aaron.
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