PEER PRESSURE--AMERICAN IDOL REVIEW

PEER PRESSURE--AMERICAN IDOL REVIEW
With Little Margin For Error, Top Seven Sing Songs Chosen By Their Competitors

Whatever else this season of American Idol is--the show's swan-song, perhaps, given its dwindling ratings?--you can't say there's not great drama. A week after one of this season's best pure talents, 16-year-old Malaya Watson, was sent home in 8th place, the outcome of this show's 13th season remains as murky as ever. While this group of contestants doesn't feature any jump-out-and-grab-you talents like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry or Adam Lambert, it's telling that, with seven contestants left, it's entirely possible to picture the finale coming down to almost any two of them.

With judge Harry Connick Jr's antics dialed way down this week because of an apparent cold--and fellow judges Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez practically after-thoughts on a night full of celebrity cameos (Terry Bradshaw, Demi Lovato, Ronda Rousey)--ever-chipper host Ryan Seacrest introduced an interesting theme: the contestants picked songs for each other. All seven had to brainstorm what they thought the others could sing/would like to sing ("no sabotage" guest judge Randy Jackson half-joked in a video clip address to the group), and the contestant would sing their favorite suggestion. The performances were pretty quality overall, highlighting the front-runner's strengths and showing the other's weaknesses...

Caleb Johnson, 22
Opening with Caleb is always a good idea, because it makes this season's perpetual must-see contestant the center of attention right away. Caleb brought his typical passion and energy to a rendition of Kings of Leon's "Family Tree", picked for him by Alex Preston. Harry said he "dug it", JLO said "everybody else has to raise their game" and Keith spoke rightly when he said Caleb is a "consistently dynamic performer week after week". Grade: B+
Fortune Forecast: Probably safe. Caleb's in my personal Top Three, and he's in the potential Top Four I see rounding into shape. He went first on a long night, which is always a risk, but he's the one guy who can afford it, as his personality and musical chops make him hard to forget.

Jessica Meuse, 23
In the moments after Jessica sang Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead" (at the recommendation of Sam Woolf), Keith Urban mentioned Jessica's comparative lack of energy, noting how the attitudinal Miranda gets "really pissed off" singing that song and allows the audience to feel it. Well, as I've noted before, what gets Jessica hacked off is the judges not playing along. I don't think she thinks she's the best singer in the world, but she's definitely got self-confidence and some control issues. This song was right for her, as she has an accented voice not unlike Miranda's, but that issue with connecting--with looking a little stony no matter what she's singing--remains a problem. Grade: B-
Fortune Forecast: I thought this was Jessica's first stumble in a while, as, despite a lively vocal, it seemed rather dead. She's been safe all the way through the competition so far, but a lukewarm reception from the judges could be a harbinger of things to come...

CJ Harris, 23
CJ got to sing a John Mayer song, picked for him by Caleb Johnson, and his performance was introduced by Super Bowl-winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw, whom Ryan Seacrest allowed to read the teleprompter after his random appearance by the judges' table. We know what we're getting from CJ by now: a growly rasp, tons of soul and clenched facial expressions that let you know he's putting his absolute all into each performance, but it's never particularly great. That said, Harry called his performance of 'Gravity' "his best performance to date", while Keith and JLO praised the performance but still noted that they wanted more. Grade: B-
Fortune Forecast: Bottom Three/Two. High praise from Harry doesn't hurt, but CJ was standing next to Malaya at her elimination last week, and is clearly not in the upper tier of the remaining contestants. I won't say for sure he's getting voted off, but tomorrow will probably be a tense night for CJ.

Dexter Roberts, 23
Singing Luke Bryan's "Muckalee Creek Water"--chosen for him by fellow Alabama native CJ, Dexter earned an observation from Harry I've been making about Dexter all season: "I wanna hear you sing other things, other than singing along with the radio." Dexter's got a great, clear voice, but I hear country singers (including Luke Bryan) with great, clear voices on the radio every day. While the judges appreciated this darker, moodier turn from Dexter, it's clear by now his solid but unspectacular country-karaoke act isn't the way to go. Grade: C+
Fortune Forecast: Bottom Three/Two. He should be, anyway. Along with CJ, Dexter is, for me, among the least-interesting remaining contestants. He's a fine country singer, but the others are far more diverse and more consistently compelling.

Alex Preston, 20
We know what we're getting from Alex by now, but what we forget is how amazing it is in the moment. Dexter picked an Ed Sheeran song--"A Team"--for him, and Alex put his signature brilliant quiet passion, amazing musicality, slow-and-steady-wins-the-race spin on it, and hit it out of the park. JLO called it "perfect", Keith called it "natural", and Harry (temporarily) called it his favorite performance of the night. Grade: A
Fortune Forecast: No problems here. Alex has been in the safe zone all season, and that won't change after hitting another home run.

Sam Woolf, 17
Jessica Meuse picked a song for Sam--"Sail Away" by David Gray--hoping it would help him connect and "help him with the ladies". Well, it helped him connect, and, even if it somehow didn't help him with the ladies (an unlikely proposition, as they squeal at the very mention of his name even when he's absolutely awful, which he wasn't tonight), it helped him with me. This might have been Sam's best performance of the season, bringing real, undeniable passion and energy to the latter three-quarters of the song after a slow start. His eyes still dart around, but he sang it in a way that you could have believed he was singing it to somebody this week. It was terrific. Grade: A-
Fortune Forecast: Two weeks after being Saved, Sam delivered big-time. He's safe.

Jena Irene, 17
Jena got more than a chance to sing Radiohead's "Creep" out of this week--she also got a prom date. Her duet partner, Caleb Johnson (who also picked the song for her), sorta kinda jokingly said he would go with her...so I guess that's settled. What else is settled is that Jena is looking more and more like someone who could actually win this whole thing. I, personally, hesitate to call this performance her best, but she blew the doors off the building with a wonderful performance that had the judges gasping for superlatives ("unquestionably" JLO chanted as Harry called it the best performance of the night). Grade: A
Fortune Forecast: Safe. I think Jena's going to be in the Top Three this season, and probably competing with Alex or Caleb for a spot in the final. More than anyone else, she's consistently let us see what kind of artist she's going to be, and it's a beautiful thing.

Oh, by the way, the contestants also sang duets, which is clearly a thing now since the shows aren't naturally long enough with just eight people singing once. Buddies/prom dates Caleb and Jena impressed sorta-guest-judge Demi Lovato with their rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter", Alex and Sam had a chill coffeehouse vibe with The Passenger's "Let Her Go" and Alabama natives Jessica, CJ and Dexter sang together as a trio....and took a tongue-lashing from the judges (including Demi) for (apparently) butchering Lady Antebellum's "Compass". *I say 'apparently' because I've long since learned that, while I can tell a really good performance and a really bad one, I'm easily fooled by an upbeat-sounding song but am no Mozart when it comes to knowing how music is actually supposed to sound.*

So where do we stand? For weeks now, I've been seeing Jessica, Caleb, Alex and Jena as the Top Four (in no particular order). Dexter's solid fan support (just one stint in the bottom three despite being consistently average) has made him seem like a likely number 5, but Sam could crash that party if he does what he did tonight again. And CJ's just so darn likeable, it's hard to count him out.

Assuming they do merely a Bottom Two again, I'll say it's going to be CJ and Dexter, with CJ going home simply because he clearly hasn't been getting the votes needed lately.