This Idol year has been underwhelming, to say the least. This week’s episode, frankly, did little to change my impression of the season so far. It wasn’t an awful episode, but to be honest I expected much better from the top 5. I will apologize in advance for the relative shortness and lack of detail of this recap, but honestly… it’s hard to write anything of length for the boredom-inducing show we all got. (And, coincidentally, gave both me and Michael Slezak of EW the same recap title. I swear, I didn’t know what he called his when I wrote mine.)
More than usual what separated the good from the bad tonight was the ability to sing well and convey emotion. The only one who really succeeded on both counts was Michael Lynche. Let’s not overpraise it: the vocals were good, but not great. The performance was… typical Big Mike over the top. Overall, though, it was a good performance, but not really a great one.
Next up was Crystal Bowersox. She sang the song well enough, but honestly… there was no magic to it. Any Crystal song will be done well, and sound pleasant. The trouble is, if she mails it in, it sounds… flat. Which she did today. There was no excitement. The notes were all in the right places, but there was no feeling to be had.
Thanks to the loose tie, Lee DeWyze looked like he’d been tossed out of a fancy nightclub for having one too many drinks. And, frankly, at points… he sounded like it, too. Seriously, though, this was one confusing performance: some were good, some were awful… all blended together into one confusing mix. I don’t get it.
And then we had the trainwrecks. Oy. Aaron Kelly lacked the one thing to pull off these songs: gravitas. He didn’t sing well, but more importantly he looked – and sounded like – a teenager trying to look like an adult. In short, it was awkward and unconvincing. Fail.
Not as big a fail as Casey James, though. The song choice was bad. Casey sang it with no range, no feeling, and as if he was reading it from a piece of paper. An absolute trainwreck with no redeeming value.
Splitting the votes: This week, again, with the exception of Big Mike no one really stood out. So it’ll be down to fanbases again, and last week already showed us the way.
Casey James has a serious fanbase problem. He’s splitting votes with Lee, and his dreadful outing won’t help him at all. True, his fanbase will rally, but he’ll win over no people outside that fanbase. I don’t think that’ll be enough.
TIG pick: Casey James to go home.
I understand now why Idol has standards theme each year. These songs were written in a time before synthesizers, vocoders, and multi-track recording. They were written to showcase the singer’s voice and phrasing, not to serve as a backdrop to dance routines and laser light shows. As a result, this is the week we get to see who can really sing, and who is just offering gimmicks.
I thought Harry Connick Jr. made a great mentor.
My rankings:
Lee and Michael – top 2
Crystal and Aaron – in the middle
Casey – way down at the bottom and going home
I agree that Casey is probably the one to go home, but I have an addendum to your final statement.
*He* may not have won over anyone outside his fanbase, but I’ll bet the disgracefully rude and cruel comments he got from Kara and Simon bought him some votes.
The Powers that be have released the track listing for the American Idol CD. Because Lee is listed before Crystal, I believe they expect Lee to win. With as little singing as the contestants do now, it’s no wonder that people vote on looks and the judges remarks rather than on talent. The last hour performance show had only 7.5 minutes of singing, around 12% of the hour. If they don’t sing duets or a second song, this week will be even worse at 10%.
The unlimited texting plans that are available now that weren’t available earlier have certainly had an impact on who gets through.
And I can’t describe how much I hate the judges’ save. Why in the world did they save a male? This is the second year in a row with only 1 female in the top 6. It might not have been without the save. It wouldn’t surprise me if Crystal doesn’t make the finals.
Of course in today’s environment, singing talent isn’t essential for commercial success. There are many commercially successful singers whose live performances are extremely disappointing.