TEN TOP TEN HITS—American Idol Review
“Chart-topper” Theme Dares Contestants To Rise Above Beloved Hits
For the first time this season, I wasn’t really in the mood for American Idol tonight. After a long day at work, some engaging episodes of Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory, and vacation/travel plans ready to assert themselves early Friday, I wasn’t glued to the couch/TV like I have been most of the past few months for Idol. That lack of interest meant the contestants needed to wow me, and now that the night’s over, I’m feeling only slightly more impressed than I was after the pretty terrible Top 12 performance night two weeks ago.
Tonight just felt off. Having the contestants sing popular songs (anything from the Billboard Top 10 in the past four years) meant this year’s largely-unspectacular crew was forced into unflattering comparisons and karaoke-esque renditions of songs everybody has heard, which made it hard for them to really rise above the material and prove especially memorable. Judges Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban had differing opinions on almost every performance throughout the course of the night, at one point getting into a fairly heated argument that ended with Harsh Harry giving one contestant some especially uncompromising feedback.
As for the contestants themselves—well, for some reason, a line from the modern-classic comedy A Knight’s Tale keeps coming to me. “You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have absolutely, positively been found wanting.” By now, we’ve seen each of the Top 10 performers give solo acts five weeks in a row, and, it’s clear by now, after their performances and the judges’ feedback, each has a strength, but each also has something dire they need to work on. Some need spunk, some need originality, some need to sing in tune, some need to be less cliché—all of them need something. And they need to find it, quick.
MK Nobilette, 20
Song: ‘Perfect’ by Pink
MK avoided the Bottom Three last week after getting back to her crooning ways, but expect her to be right back there after opening the show with a bad karaoke rendition of Pink’s hit. There was some spunk in her starting the performance by singing to her own reflection in a mirror, but, as soon as the song picked up, her voice was lost amidst those of the more talented background singers, not to mention everybody in the crowd singing along. Then, according to the judges, something went off with the band and the whole thing fell like a house of cards. As ever, MK does not have the voice or the energy to carry a big, showstopper hit, and this performance was running on fumes by the halfway point. It was telling when Harry openly doubted whether MK could put on a good full-length show and the crowd didn’t even bother to boo. Grade: C-
Fortune Forecast: Danger, Will Robinson! Last week’s mulligan is likely to be short-lived, as a poor performance, MK’s general lack of life, and the fact that she went first are likely to doom her to, at the very least, one of those three wretched stools the Bottom Three vote-getters are forced to sit on.
Dexter Roberts, 22
Song: “Cruise” by Florida/Georgia Line
Dexter’s a hard contestant to review, because he always picks songs that are right in his wheelhouse and everybody knows, so his performances always have an inherent entertainment factor. That said, I doubt anybody—even his biggest Southern-girl-fan—has been blown away by any of his performances, which reek of the cliché. I liked the fact that Dexter ditched his guitar this week, allowing him to move more easily, but he had a hard time enunciating the words in his thick ol’ accent, and, as the judges pointed out, if he’s going to keep singing songs everybody already knows, he at least has to bring above-average energy, which he didn’t quite do. Like most of his performances, this was nice, but so what? Grade: B-
Fortune Forecast: I can’t imagine Dexter being in trouble after another performance that fit the Dexter performance bill. His consistent fan base should carry him through yet another week.
Song: “Clarity” by Zedd and the Foxes
Much was made of the fact that Jena became one of the first Idol contestants to ever sing an Electronic song—so much that everybody in the crowd was given neon glowsticks to wave around in the dim light of the theater while Jena sang. Needless to say, the Electronic genre requires absolute explosive energy, which Idol does not tend to have a lot of. Caleb Johnson might have the requisite showstopper, light-up-the-stage skills for the genre, but Jena
Fortune Forecast: Hmmm. This wasn’t quite the great follow-up Jena Jena
Alex Preston, 20
Song: “Story of My Life” by One Direction
He still sang standing the middle of the stage with his guitar and a single spotlight on him, but Alex Preston ditched the heavy-handed awkwardness and most of his weird word pronunciations and gave a pretty fantastic rendition of the Brit boy band’s hit. With all the intangibles less distracting this week, it was easier to recognize Alex’s undeniable passion and sure-enough energy. The judges loved it, and so will Alex’s fans. Grade: A-
Fortune Forecast: Safe. Alex hasn’t been in trouble yet, and he won’t be—again—after a second-straight terrific performance.
Song: “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars
I know, I know, the very female Malaya Watson singing Bruno’s “When I Was Your Man” was the tiniest bit distracting, but that gender-bender song choice was easily looked past after another great overall performance from the teen. As the judges noted, she showed her most restraint so far, letting her full voice do the heavy lifting rather than her feet or her nerves, and I agreed with Harry when he said she sang the lyrics exactly as they are meant to be sung. Passion, voice—Malaya really has some amazing talent. Grade: B+
Fortune Forecast: Safe. Having recovered from her early struggles, Malaya may have officially become the most consistent and reliable of the women this year.
Caleb Johnson, 22
Song: “The Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
I’m not much of a music critic, so I’m usually easily persuaded by the judges’ comments, but I was positively shocked that all the judges had serious critiques to make of Caleb Johnson’s performance. I called the performance “perfect”: his slowing-down of the uber-uppity, almost techno-pop Gaga hit was just what the doctor ordered for his soulful rocker vibe. Between that soulful, raw musicality and his strong, clear voice, Caleb is probably the only contestant could have done that song any justice. The judges didn’t quite agree, though, knocking the performance for being “slow”, “lumbering” and lacking feeling. Hmmm. Grade: A
Fortune Forecast: Safe. Caleb’s been riding high, and the song is popular enough—and his rendition was good enough—to warrant an easy pass despite an apparent slight step backward (!?!?!).
CJ Harris, 23
Song: “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes
Where Caleb’s heavy, raw musicality suited the high-powered Gaga hit, CJ Harris’ raw rasp was all wrong for Hunter Hayes’ “Invisible”. It sounded weird coming from him, first of all, because a lot of the appeal of that song comes from Hayes’ pristine but uber-vulnerable voice, which sounds perfect for singing about feeling invisible and being imperfect. CJ didn’t quite have that. Again, I’m not the best music critic, but CJ was hammered by all three judges—Harry in particular—for getting out of tune and “singing sharp”. Grade: C+
Fortune Forecast: Tough one. If voting goes like it went last week, where 3 of last week’s legitimately worst performers ended up in the Bottom Three, CJ will be there, but he’s been safe ever since his selection as a Wild Card, so he’s probably okay even with a step down from last week’s impressive, giddy high.
Jessica Meuse, 23
Song: “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People
Pink-haired, nose-pierced drama queen Jessica remains a polarizing figure, as she has a great-sounding raspy voice that suits both country and rock, but her performances usually lack bite and energy. It is perhaps suitable, then, that she chose to sing “Pumped Up Kicks”, a “fun”, uppity song that’s all about the dark idea of outrunning bullets being fired from guns. She mentioned the song’s trippy self-contradiction in her pre-performance comments, but that very idiosyncratic appeal triggered a big-time fuss amongst the judges. Keith appropriately noted it was a bouncy step up from Jessica’s usual sleepy ballads, and JLO thought she did the song’s offbeat-ness justice, but Harry went full-froth in his reaction, dissing Jessica for having a smile on her face while singing such dark lyrics, and hinting that she’s a one-dimensional performer who lacks emotion. He went even further once host Ryan Seacrest tried to sort out the heavily-contradictory judge-panel feedback, by saying “as a singer, you sing lyrics, you need to sing lyrics”, meaning she needs to pay some heed to the words coming out her mouth and base her performance on them, which has to hurt a seasoned performer. In any case, I thought the performance was a legitimate step up from Jessica’s typical number, but I’ve never been a big fan of that song for that exact reason—its dark message is hidden by an addictive arrangement—and Jessica did nothing to change my perception of it. Grade: B-
Fortune Forecast: Safe. The judges squabbled, and Jessica’s feelings were probably hurt, but that song is super popular and Jessica has cruised thus far.
Majesty Rose, 22
Song: “Wake Me Up” by Avicii
Much was made after Majesty found herself just on this side of elimination last week after singing a chart-topping Disney princess ballad, so she returned to her gentler, more acoustic sound this week. It was definitely better, but her performance was perfectly indicative of her curious stage presence—Majesty either sings so low you can barely hear her and lose interest, or she sings loud and really wows you. To me, the good outweighed the bad, especially on this catchy folk number, but the judges disagreed again—this time, Harry really liked it, but Keith thought she compromised some artistic integrity to play it safe, and JLO thought she looked fearful. Grade: B
Fortune Forecast: Now it’s interesting. My instinct tells me safe, but she was second from the door last week, and now she gave a performance JLO and Keith didn’t love. I can’t her imagine her being voted off just yet, but could she see the Bottom Three again?
Sam Woolf, 17
Song: “We Are Young” by fun, featuring Janelle Monae
He went first last week, and paid for it. He went last this time, stepped up his game, and should be promptly rewarded for it. Super-composed, super-refined Sam Woolf gave his best performance since the finals began with “We Are Young”, strumming on his guitar and giving his vocals a little extra umph, which automatically made it the most energetic and likeable thing he’s done in at least a month. Harry still didn’t quite see the light, but it was an encouraging move in the right direction for the unseemly-talented teen. Grade: B
Fortune Forecast: Safe. It’s too early for babe-magnet Sam to be in serious trouble, no matter his Bottom Three appearance last week. This was a lot better, and he closed the show. He’s fine.
What will happen? I keep re-writing this paragraph, because the only thing I feel sure of is that MK will be and should be in the Bottom Three, and she should go home. Dexter’s overdue for a Bottom Three appearance because his nothin-but-country act is already stale, but his fan base has made itself heard time and again. CJ’s been lucky ever since he was selected as a Wild Card to make the Top 13, but he was pretty bad tonight. Jena’s made a Bottom Three appearance before, and we’ve already established singing “fun”, uppity numbers isn’t the way for a dark, moody girl to go—she’s much more convincing belting from the piano bench. And Majesty wasn’t wholly convincing in her attempt at redemption from the Bottom Two. Well, put it this way—I expect the Bottom Three to made up of some combination of these folks. Alex won’t be in the Bottom Three, Sam should be safe, and as Caleb and Malaya are two of my favorites, I don’t want either of them in danger, either. But I think MK’s ready to go.
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