THERE'S NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ--AMERICAN IDOL REVIEW

THERE’S NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ—American Idol Review

Soundtrack-Centric Theme Livens Up Top 11 Contestants on Strong Overall Night

Yeah, yeah, we know: American Idol needed this. After a train wreck of a Top 12 performance week in which almost none of the contestants were even above average, the show resuscitated itself by asking the contestants to sing “Songs from the Cinema”. With the 11 remaining contestants singing songs “written directly for a movie, or heavily featured in one”, Idol went all out, providing old-fashioned movie-house marquee backdrops and clever visual puns for aesthetic entertainment, and even giving the contestants the chance to impersonate one another. The actual musical performances weren’t bad, either. Urged last week by judges Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban to bring their A-game and really WOW America, most of the contestants picked songs ideally suited to their musical whims, leading to an assembly line of uncommonly inspired performances. The judges raved, host Ryan Seacrest was in an even better mood than usual, and the finalists on the 13^th season of American Idol went from the group that couldn’t impress the judges to, in Harry’s words, maybe the "most diverse, quality group the show’s ever seen".

**In keeping with the Hollywoodized theme, right before each contestant performed, clips were shown of the other 10 finalists pretending to audition to play that person. It was an ingenious way to inject attitude and humor into the show, as the contestants broke out wigs, accents, musical instruments, fake braces, and even some slightly crass mimicry. This free-for-all gag especially gave more reserved performers like Sam Woolf, Alex Preston and MK Nobilette the chance to show some more color and personality. This ongoing gag (which NEEDS to be used every year) proved almost as entertaining as the performances themselves.**

The performers?

Sam Woolf, 17

-To “play” Sam, the other contestants donned his city-boy hats and talked incessantly about being a constant object of female worship

-He has the looks, he has the adoring fan base, and he has a solid voice, but does Sam actually have any flavor to his performances? He tried to bring some by singing The Beatles’ “Come Together”, circa the 2006 musical Across the Universe. It sort of worked. By necessity, it was a livelier vocal than some of his past performances, and he avoided remaining rooted in a single spot, but there’s a sameness to Sam’s voice and face that can’t be hidden even by a more upbeat number (a really plain karaoke number, at that), and no amount of stiffly touching hands with girls in the crowd can compensate for real energy. The judges said they could tell he was trying, and I could, too, but he’s got ways to go before anyone will say he’s actually an exciting performer. Grade: B-

Fortune Forecast: Hmmm. My knee-jerk reaction says safe, because he’s Sam Woolf, and he hasn’t sniffed danger yet. But this was one of the more lackluster performances on the night, and it was first. I wouldn’t bet on Bottom Three candidacy, but it wouldn’t shock me.

Jessica Meuse, 23

-The contestants sent up Jessica by playing on the name of her hometown (Slapout, Alabama), and wearing pink hair extensions. Quipped Alex Preston while in Jessica Mode: “I was born with pink hair. I actually dyed the rest of my hair to be normal and fit in.”

-Singing “The Sound of Silence”, a Simon & Garfunkel tune from 1967’s The Graduate, this year’s pink-haired, country/rock girl hit her sweet spot with a tune was part rock/part country/part rasp. In other words: It was almost perfect for her. On some nights, it could have been a standout, but, on this night, it proved merely a harbinger of good things to come. The judges thought something was off with the band, but there was no hint of the criticism Jessica endured last week. Grade: B+

Fortune Forecast: Safe. Jessica has cruised so far, and this was one of her most comfortable and natural performances.

CJ Harris, 23

-To impersonate CJ, the Top 11 contestants tried on hats, guitars, accents and dropped southern gentleman lines to try and capture his low-key, down home appeal.

-Ryan Seacrest said CJ was picking a song from a Johnny Depp movie, but does anybody really remember Blow, the drug-centric film Depp made a few years before his Pirates of the Caribbean renaissance? They might now, after CJ plucked a growly bit of southern soul called “Can’t You See” from its soundtrack and turned in what was easily his best performance yet on the show.  CJ sang with force and conviction, showing his rock, soul and country sides but especially playing up the rock for a more dramatic, memorable impression than he usually gives. The judges were enraptured. Grade: A

Fortune Forecast: Safe. “I think you just picked and sang your way back to the forefront of this competition”, Harry said. CJ’s been safe the last few weeks based on a lot less.

Dexter Roberts, 22

-Dawgs, puppies, tractors, bein’ from the south—their mouths twisted in various regional accents, the other contestants hit repeatedly on Dexter’s primary trait, his Southerness. In an absurd of hilarious/creative imagery, Caleb Johnson quipped: “I always wear hats because I don’t have a top to my skull.”

-Sweet Home Alabama, ever heard of that? It was a Reese Witherspoon movie, true, but Dexter apparently knows it more as one of the many songs featured in Forrest Gump. The Skynyrd classic was obviously right in the country boy’s wheelhouse, but he did enough with his heavily-accented diction and familiarity with the song to make sure it wasn’t an exact replica. The audience loved it, of course, but the judges said what they’ve been saying to Dexter week after week—how’s he going to really stand out? Grade: B

Fortune Forecast: Safe. Dexter’s stumbled performance-wise, but his fan base has remained strong and active. He hasn’t tasted the Bottom Three yet, and he won’t again after doing justice to an all-time classic.

Ben Briley, 24

-One of the more talkative and quirky contestants, Ben was obviously an easy one to parody. The other contestants were happy to imitate his accent, don his hats, try to copy his twisted facial expressions, and to rhapsodize about the perks of a loving wife, Tennessee, and deviled eggs. “Deviled eggs are like Southern sushi,” said MK Nobilette, while Sam Woolf quipped “I love my wife, and I love Tennessee. My wife is in Tennessee, so it’s like a double awesome.”

-As one of the show’s more colorful contestants, Ben’s been fun to watch these last few weeks while most of the performers have been middling. However, on an overall strong night, Ben took a step backward with his rendition of Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets”, which was used as drunken karaoke fodder in 27 Dresses. Wearing a shnazzy green and gray suit, with his hair slicked, Ben sat at the piano and crooned like Elton, then, halfway through, got up and started trying to belt out falsetto like Michael Jackson. The first half of his performance was better than the second half. He has a legitimately good voice when he’s not screaming, shouting or slurring, but the falsetto got a little weak. The judges didn’t love the performance, but the thing they harped on about was that he’s shown such a wide variety of sounds and styles that they’re not sure who he really is. Grade: C+

Fortune Forecast: Bottom Three. Ben’s been safe all the way thus far, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s safe, but this was arguably the night’s least interesting and least memorable performance, and Ben’s blandest so far.

Majesty Rose, 22

-Wearing scarves and hats and flowers (Lots and lots of flowers), the Top 11 did their best to look and sound like sweet lil things, just like Majesty. Ben Briley offered a bit of ‘backstory’ to her whopper of a name: “My name is Majesty, because the doctor who delivered me thought he was back in medieval times, and he said ‘your Majesty’!”

-Judge Harry called it "a song the whole world is singing". Majesty’s decision to sing “Let it Go” from Frozen, Idina Menzel’s power-packing, Oscar-winning, chart-topping hit, took guts. It's an amazing song everyone was glad to hear one more time, sure. That said, just last week, I was listening to the song and proclaimed no one on Idol this year could do it justice. But, I did also think that, of anyone, Majesty might have the chutzpah to make something out of it. She tried. No one will confuse Majesty with Idina Menzel, but Majesty really does have an above-average voice and considerable stage presence and energy--she could sing a real powerhouse number if she tried. Here, she appeared to try about halfway, going for a few big notes but softening others or going falsetto, leading to an uneven performance that read like a lack of total confidence.  It wasn’t horrible, but, it could’ve been a lot more impressive. Grade: B-

Fortune Forecast: Safe. Think people have heard of the song she picked? The judges were mostly pleasant in their remarks, and it’s Majesty. She’s fine.

Caleb Johnson, 22

-“Rock is the universal language. It should be, at least,” Majesty said, pretending to be Caleb. The contestants donned scraggly wigs, wrestled with mic stands and did their best screeching/falling-down rock concert routines. Added Jessica: “If Jack Black and Meatloaf had a baby, it would be Caleb.”

-For the first time, Resident Rocker Dude Caleb Johnson softened up his live-wire act as he crooned the opening bars of Adele’s Oscar-winner “Skyfall”, from the James Bond movie of the same name. Whatever else his lively, screamy performances have shown, Caleb has a legitimately strong, clear voice, and his more measured opening notes were sensational. He got into his yelling/howling act for the last few bars, which threatened to put a damper on what he’d created, but it was solid overall, and the judges raved.  Grade: A-

Fortune Forecast: Safe. Caleb’s been cruising, and he’s been consistent. No problems here.

MK Nobilette, 20

-If they were MK, the Top 11 contestants decided they would wear a lot of hats, and do a lot of chillin’. Quoted Alex Preston: “I chill. All day I chill. I chill 24/7, 25/7--I would invent an extra hour of the day just to chill.”

-After a few weeks spent trying to sing showstoppers that she just can't, MK returned to her crooning ways, singing “To Make You Feel My Love” from Hope Floats with conviction. There’s still an obvious disconnect, where she gets a little bored, and her performances get a little sleepy, but her voice is absolutely lovely. The judges said they could see her becoming a star based on this performance. Grade: B

Fortune Forecast: On the edge. Despite her inherent likeability and generally strong feedback from the judges, MK’s been in the Bottom Three two weeks in a row. This was the best she’s sung since the Top 15 Girls round, but was it the slam dunk she needed to stick around after barely surviving the last round?

Alex Preston, 20

-Music, music, music. All anyone needs to be Alex is a guitar, so the contestants modeled guitars and raved about music; CJ even broke out a cool double guitar just to drive the point home.

-Singing the night’s third Oscar winner, earnest, offbeat, dysfunctional Alex picked the perfect song for his unique style in “Falling Slowly”, from the indie Once. This cover was the perfect storm of all Alex’s best traits—subtlety, quiet strength, simmering passion, and a gentle, up and down, acoustic style—and his best performance on the show so far. Grade: A

Fortune Forecast: Safe. He hasn’t been in trouble yet, and I don’t expect him to be after that.

Jena Irene, 17

-It sounds like GINA, not Jenna! Some of the contestants adopted an exaggeratedly whiny voice to try and play Jena, but most just carried on and on about her constantly-mispronounced first name.

-Like Alex, Jena sang a song that was exactly what I picture her going on to sing, picking altRock Paramore’s “Decode”, from Twilight. She sat at the piano, she crooned, she belted, and she bellowed—all her best performance traits were rolled into what Jennifer Lopez called “the best performance of the night”. Grade: A

Fortune Forecast: Probably safe. Jena was in the Bottom Three last week, and one senses she’s not nearly among the frontrunners this year, but this was as good as she’s sounded.

Malaya Watson, 16

-I don’t know where they found fake braces, but, to capture the essence of Malaya, her fellow contestants found some, and they giggled, they snorted, they had the nonstop-energy jitters, and they even tried their hand at a certain brass instrument. “Where is my tuba?” Majesty crowed. “Where is that thing? I miss that thing!”
-Malaya brought a strong night to a rousing crescendo as the third-straight performer to, in my opinion, sing the perfect song, and to do it well. Her cover of Jennifer Hudson’s “I Am Changing”, from Dreamgirls, cancelled out all the weirdness and over-the-top voltage of her uneven previous performances—this was a soulful, confident, full-hearted R&B singer with a great pair of pipes, nearly in perfect control of her sound. She’s got incredible talent for a teen, and this performance made her seem like a real, strong, mature woman. It’s a tight race, but I might call this the best performance of the night. Grade: A

Fortune Forecast: Safe. She was safe last week, and, after blowing away the judges, she should be safe again.

Ahhhh, this could shake things up. From a night where no one stood out to a night where half the field gave their best performances to date, it's anybody's guess what Thursday night's results will look like. Harry called this a much-needed "sigh of relief" for the contestants, the viewers, and the show itself, and I'll be darned if it wasn't good enough that I would've watched another episode right away.

What will the results look like, though? The night's weakest, least memorable performances, in my opinion, came from Sam, Ben and Dexter, who've so far combined for a total of 0 Bottom Three appearances. MK just barely survived last week when Emily was eliminated, and she's been in the Bottom Three two weeks in a row, so she appears the incumbent to head home, one spot shy of this summer's Top 10 Tour. She was better this week, but... If I had to eliminate a contestant at this point, it would be MK or Sam, who have a lot of the same problems--nice-sounding voice, but lack of energy and explosiveness (and at least MK is more memorable than Sam). My dream Bottom Three this week would be MK, Sam and Ben, with one of the first two going home, but I can't quite picture that happening. So, this will probably be a queasy week for someone who doesn't deserve it...perhaps Jena or CJ or Caleb.