BITTER FOR BRILEY--AMERICAN IDOL RESULTS

BITTER FOR BRILEY—American Idol Results Recap

Irreverent, Cut-Up Country Boy A Little Too Out There for America

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. An overall terrific week of performances on American Idol meant anyone who was less-than-stellar was in danger, and America promptly did not provide the votes necessary for some-time favorites Sam Woolf, Majesty Rose and Ben Briley to make the Top Ten easily. Other than staying on the show to fight another day, making the Top Ten means being a part of this summer’s likely-to- be-sold-out Idol tour. The unhappy person who just missed that undoubtedly elating experience is 23-year-old Tennessee native Ben Briley.

Ben, who made the Top 15 courtesy of America’s first live vote of the season (he beat the undoubtedly smoother Neco Starr in that last-minute head-to-head), was certainly one of this season’s livelier contestants, but his performances were so raw and over-the-top, it was hard to view them without a certain amount of apprehension. It's true he was one of the few contestants this year who always sang with undeniable passion, and who always gave it his all, but he was just a little too awkward; other than one pretty cool speeded-up Johnny Cash rendition, Ben's rather nasal voice and tendency to start squalling instead of singing often made his performances cringeworthy. While he should be applauded for at least trying something different, his half-Elton John/half-Michael Jackson cover of Elton’s “Bennie and the Jets” Wednesday was pretty awful, and a slam-dunk for the Bottom Three. Though he was safe to this point, his ouster should surprise no one.

Reveling in the glory of an all-time great performance night, Thursday night’s results show was largely a breeze. Judge Harry Connick Jr. performed a medley of two of his hits, crooning the Sinatra-esque “One Fine Thing” before taking to the piano and pounding out the more uppity “Come By Me”. The contestants—who spent much of the past week pretending to audition to play each other—sent up all three judges, mocking Keith Urban’s accent and Guitar God aura, Jennifer Lopez’s high voice, excitable hair whips and use of the word “goosies” (that’s goosebumps, for the uninitiated), and HCJ’s high-falutin’ vocabulary. Then Ryan Seacrest cleared the air for anyone who wondered why a dude would want to go by Molly Music as his stage name—tonight’s welcome-to-the-world guest performer was a find of JLO’s, the intriguing reggae/soul artist Mali Music.

It’s easy to see the outline for these results shows now. Seacrest does the intro, he reminds us who the remaining contestants are, he introduces three or four of them to their fates, there’s a live performance by someone close to Idol’s heart (a previous winner/contestant or a judge), a few more fates are revealed, an unknown spotted by the judges or Dawgfather Randy Jackson gets thousands more Twitter followers after performing on the show, some final fates are dished out, one of the three is sent back to safety, the lowest vote-getter is revealed, and they sing for America while the judges pretend it’s hard to decide to use their One Save of the Season or not. They’ve got these shows down to a science—perhaps too exact of one, come to think of it; call me a glutton for other people’s pain, but I’ve always loved watching the departing contestant get teary-eyed hugs from the relief-and-guilt-ridden others as the show closes, but this year’s results shows usually formally eliminate the contestant at about 9:59:40, which barely gives Seacrest enough time to remind us our local news is next.

It’s entertaining enough, I guess. This week had a little more drama because Seacrest hinted, early on, that tonight’s result would shock some people (except those of us who knew a “shock” was coming). It was a surprise to see former front-runner Majesty in the Bottom Three; her up-and-down rendition of the Frozen showstopper “Let It Go” was not among last night’s best, but her jeopardy meant less-talented players like crooner MK Nobilette and country boy Dexter Roberts breathed freely all night. I wasn’t surprised to see Sam, another early front-runner, in the Bottom Three, either. Sam opened last night’s show with a forgettable performance—a performance that was revealed to be worse than I had previously thought when they did the obligatory recap of last night’s go-round. Sam’s a better singer, and probably has a better has more upside, than Ben, but I would still rather have heard Ben one more time. Oh well.

**Unless I missed something, Seacrest forgot to say what next week’s performance theme will be. And I can’t help wondering if they ought to get a tad more specific with these themes, because anyone who thinks Elton’s “Bennie and the Jets” or The Beatles’ “Come Together” are bonafide “Songs from the Cinema” is a moron.

***The judges’ save is a tricky thing. I thought it was a great idea back when it was first introduced, as it could have saved clearly-talented people like Constantine Maroulis and Jennifer Hudson from being voted off, in their seasons, in sixth and seventh place, and given them chances to go further with a re-energized fan base. However, one of these days when the judges save somebody and no one actually gets eliminated, it’s really going to suck, because this is a clearly a year in which the field needs to be trimmed a lot more for a real, true front-runner (or front-runners) to emerge.

Anyway, this week’s power rankings (which have been shuffled a bit after an eye-opening week):

1. Caleb Johnson-Caleb’s still sitting at the top after giving the judges what they wanted—something different—and doing it with style: singing a James Bond theme by Adele. He might be the year’s best pure musical talent, as well. I still think a few of the others could develop more of a Must-Watch X-Factor than Caleb has, but he’s been safe as can be.
2. Dexter Roberts-I’m not putting Dexter here because I want to, necessarily, but because he can clearly do no wrong. His job is pretty simple: do a half-decent rendition of something country that looks and sounds natural coming from him, and his performance practically votes for itself. The judges are waiting for something new, but country has taken people far on this show before.
3. Alex Preston-He’s still weird, but Alex showed this week just how good he can be with the right song. He could use a little more diversity to his performances, too, but he’s been raking in votes.
4. CJ Harris-From pleasant cover artist to bonafide contender? According to the judges, yes. CJ finally earned safe passage after a few merely passable performances, and, with Ben’s ouster and Sam’s struggles, happily moved off the bottom of the guys’ totem pole. He just needs a strong follow-up to persuade the skeptics.
5. Jena Irene-If she didn’t already know her place, she does now. The 17-year-old’s recipe for success = Sit at the piano and belt it out. Her Paramore cover was superb, and exactly what everyone’s picturing from a girl who dresses in dark, moody colors and has a natural rasp.
6. Malaya Watson-She let her tremendous voice do the talking/singing this week, rather than her nerves, her body language, or her braces. The judges think she needs time to grow, but there’s no time like the present, and if she can put soul and voice together again like she did this week, she could look more and more like a power player.
7. Majesty Rose-Quite a fall from grace for a girl who was #1 on my rankings two weeks ago. Majesty went with a song she loves and thinks could have been written for her, only to barely avoid being eliminated for singing it. She’s too talented to get bumped this early, but after a few subpar performances in a row, she’s not quite the sure thing some thought.
8. Jessica Meuse-She hasn’t sniffed danger yet, but, despite a fine-sounding country-rock voice, Jessica doesn’t BRING IT like a seasoned performer should. The judges tend to nitpick her performances; as good as she can sound, there’s a deadness to her eyes, and a lack of energy to her performances, that starts to creep in as her gravelly numbers proceed. Might wanna try something a little livelier.
9. Sam Woolf-Bland is not beautiful. Babe magnet Sam came dangerously close to ending the Cinderella story for girls everywhere, and with reason—he’s boring. Again, the tone of his voice is above reproach, but his performances are wooden and need serious life.
10. MK Nobilette-MK got a happy mulligan this week, but for how much longer? Crooning is clearly her thing, and lucky for her, she’ll be on the tour, but I’m wondering how much she has that she hasn’t already shown us. She and Sam are largely in the same You Need To Show Me Something boat.

Tune in next week!