Case Summary S12-2013 Part 2: The First Half Recap – New York to Hollywood

The audition shows began in New York with Phil Phillips, last year's winner, singing his multi-platinum home song that ended up not being used as the going home song this season. The New York auditions featured sniping between the chick judges, a woman who lost 80 pounds, and Gurpreet Singh Sarin, who was nicknamed “The Turbanator” by Nicki because he had 50 turbans.

The Chicago auditions aired on the same night as the Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah and was not nearly as interesting, though for some unknown reason this post got the most hits of any that I posted this year. Keith lashed out at Nicki for rejecting a contestant because of the eye shadow she was wearing, and then after another Mariah-Nicki exchange Keith screamed that he felt like a scratching post. Season 10 contestant and Chicago native Haley Reinhardt showed up to remind everybody that she was on the show. Ryan constantly reminded us that another Chicago native, Jennifer Hudson, also was on the show. Janelle Arthur appeared on this audition show as well as eye candy Johnny Keyser.

The Charlotte auditions were the most memorable of the audition shows this season, perhaps in the entire history of the show. It was at these auditions that Nicki stormed off the set and told people that she wanted to shoot Mariah, which led Mariah to tell Barbara Walters on The View that she was considering quitting the show or hiring body guards to protect her from her fellow judge. Of course there was a big buildup to the blow up but except for Nicki storming off the set none of the rest of the circus was shown. It turned out that it was Randy who got Nicki upset to the point when she stormed off when they argued about their respective years in the business, something TMZ didn’t bother to mention on their show. Perhaps the best part was that the first contestant the next day begged the judges to stop fighting since it made her sad. She got put through as did the chick who the judges argued about, though neither of them made it to the live shows. One of the Charlotte auditioners did manage to do that of course, the contestant who eventually won. After Nicki told Candice Glover that she wanted to eat her I decided to nickname Nicki Jaws. Also in Charlotte Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery showed up and Ryan got to drive around the race track where the auditions were held, in a Ford of course.

Idol held their first auditions in Randy’s hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and not much happened there. Randy ended up going to Café du Monde in New Orleans to invite a street singer there to the auditions. Charlie Askew tried out in Baton Rouge as did a medical doctor who got cut in Hollywood. It was in Baton Rouge that we first learned that Mariah was a beauty school dropout, then saw her cry during Burnell Taylor’s audition.

The Oklahoma City auditions featured lots of references to Carrie Underwood, lots of name dropping of country singers by Keith, and lots of wine drinking by yours truly. Steven Tyler made an appearance in drag. Yes, the dude looked like a lady, albeit an ugly lady. One of the auditioners showed up with a ventriloquist dummy and still managed to get a ticket to Hollywood. Another auditioner claimed that God told her to try out, and then accused Nicki of being a devil worshiper when she was rejected. The star of the OKC show was Zoanette Johnson, who belted out the National Anthem as a tribute to Barack Obama that knocked Keith out of his chair. Who knew at the time that not only would she get a ticket to Hollywood but that she would make it all the way to the live shows?

The final audition show was a doubleheader featuring auditions from San Antonio, Texas and Long Beach, California. The San Antonio auditions were boring except for the brothers who argued with Mariah and Randy after being cut. The Long Beach auditions featured a teenager with blue hair who screamed at the top of her lungs and ran out declaring that “you only live once,” Ryan talking to fake ghosts, Nicki and Mariah both showing up late, Nicki (when she arrived) demanding that Randy put Papa Peachez through to Hollywood, a guy who faked a story about Iraq and impotence, and an on screen appearance by Nigel when the Queen Mary’s fire alarm went off.

Hollywood Week was held in some nondescript theater in the Valley instead of in Hollywood. I patted myself on the back for figuring this out from the one or two outdoor shots the producers showed through the four shows. That wasn’t the only change from previous seasons. There were separate Hollywood Weeks for the dudes and the chicks, there was no grouping in rooms, no chair show, and Nigel chose the groups for both Group Nights to try and play up the drama and to try and jury-rig the contestants to get a chick winner. Nicki ripped into a bunch of contestants but pleaded to save one group even though their performance was a disaster. Keith stopped one contestant cold by telling him he shouldn’t be in the business to chase a dream. Perhaps the highlight was Angela Miller singing her own composition and blowing away the competition in the process. Too bad her evil twin Angie Miller had to come in and screw things up.

The chair show was replaced with shows in Vegas taped before a live studio audience. Each performer did one song and then after everyone was done the judges had heated discussion inside a pit and then announced (while sitting in chairs) who was moving on. Jimmy Iovine made his first appearance of the season and was tasked with breaking any ties among the judges. 10 chicks went first. Amber Holcomb made her first appearance wearing the shortest skirt of all 10 contestants, a trend that would continue for the next 2 months. Adriana Lotorio, a 17 year old Pinay from Alaska, sang well enough to move on to the next round but was unable to capture the dedicated fan base that Jasmine Trias, a 19 year old Pinay from Hawaii, did several years before. Kree Harrison and Angela Miller both sang well enough to move on. One who didn’t was Shubha Vedula, who Nicki said sounded like a cross between Christina Aguilera and “that gangnam style guy.”

10 guys went the next night. Curtis Finch, Jr. cleansed us of our sins. Elijah Liu flirted with Nicki so much that she wanted to have his babies even though he was only 18 years old. Jda, a dude wearing a dress and a five o’clock shadow, performed an Adele song that Randy didn’t think was original enough. I guess in Randy’s mind all the dudes on Idol are in drag. Devin Valez sang the best vocal in not one but two languages. Johnny Keyser was sent home because he was a handsome white guy. Paul Jolley, another handsome white guy, would have been sent home too if Jimmy Iovine had not saved him. The star of the night was Charlie Askew, whose performance of “Rocket Man” was surrealistic theater, like a David Lynch movie or something, but still got him through to the next round.

The final 10 chicks performed the following week. Candice Glover made it past the Vegas barrier that she ran into last year, leaving Randy with trying to make excuses for why he cut her last year. Ryan bantered with Jett Hermano about cool places to hang out in the Philippines. Nicki was obsessed with Jessica Alba lookalike Aubrey Cleland. The two chicks who claimed God told them how to perform their songs were both sent home. Breanna Steer reminded Keith of an old girlfriend who could have taken a hammer to his car windows. Zoanette Johnson performed a Lion King song as only she could, and then shocked the world by being sent through to the live shows.

The last 10 dudes featured the return of The Turbanator from the New York auditions and Burnell Taylor from the Baton Rouge auditions, who went unrecognized during the Hollywood Week shows because he lost 40 pounds after his audition. Vincent Powell inspired Zoanette to call him Papa Smurf. Lazaro Argos got away with singing a Keith Urban song, after which Mariah lauded him for overcoming his obstacles for the first of about a billion times. The other dudes did nothing of note.

Two months after the season premiere we finally got to the first voting round. The judges suddenly turned on Zoanette, bashing her performance of a Tina Turner song. Aubrey did another boring ballad but looked great while doing it. Janelle Arthur bored me with an Elvis song, not an easy thing to do. Nicki talked about Teena Torres’ boobs after Teena complained that Nicki only talked about her hair the week before. Angela Miller was now Angie Miller. Nicki claimed that she and Kree were married. Candice’s performance reminded me of Melinda Doolittle. Charlie Askew almost had a nervous breakdown after all the judges, even Mariah, were critical of his performance of an obscure Genesis song. Ryan doomed Nick Boddington’s chances by getting him to admit that he had lost all of his hair, then bonded with Paul Jolley over their mutual affection for Carrie Underwood. Curtis brought everyone to tears with “I Believe I Can Fly”. Devin did the two language thing again. The results show announcing the Top 10 finalists was nothing special except for Lazaro arguing with the band about the key for the song he was to sing. The Top 10 were Curtis, Burnell, Paul, Lazaro, Devin, Janelle, Candice, Angie, Kree, and Amber.

Case Summary S12-2013 Part 1: The Rant - What The Hell Happened With The Ratings?

I've started assembling the recap of the year in review and realized I've got a lot to cover. So rather than make one huge post I've decided to break it up into 4 parts. This will not only make it easier for me to post, easier for Blogger to handle, and easier for the bots out there who are hitting my site. Hi guys!

Part 1: The Rant - What The Hell Happened With The Ratings?

The number one question asked about American Idol Season 12 is: what the hell happened with the ratings? Why did they tank so badly? Was it the judges? Was it the contestants? Was it the outdated themes? Actually, it was none of the above.

Yes, Glitter Girl babbled too much and could never say anything negative, but so did J-Lo and Jagger Lite before her, Chicken Little E before them, and Drunk Chick before her. Idol has always had a judge who did that, Mariah was just the latest. Jaws was another target of the critics with her stupid wigs, her stupid nicknames, and her stupid comments like wanting to eat the contestants, but does anybody except for me and the other Idol recappers out there really care what the judges have to say? No one has cared what Sole Survivor has said ever since the show began, and Mr. Kidman is just an Australian country version of Randy. So no, it wasn’t the judges.

It wasn’t the contestants either. There was the usual mix of good singers, good looking people, good ethnicities, and the one person who really doesn’t belong there (yes, I’m looking at you Lazaro). They have had the same mix every year, this year wasn't really much different from the years when the ratings were sky high. Indeed the mix was better this year than most. A good indicator of that is the fact that the contest was won by the best singer. So no, it wasn’t the contestants.

Some pundits thought the ratings decline was because of the outdated themes such as Burt Bacharach night and yet another Beatles night. But again, Idol has always had outdated theme nights. This year’s themes were much better than ones used in previous seasons like Disco Night, Gwen Stefani Night, and Latin Night when only one contestant sang a song in Spanish. Remember too that there was no Idol Gives Back lovefest this year. We could have probably lived without Burt Bacharach Night but the rest were not as terrible as what we have endured before. So no, it wasn’t the themes.

It was the producers who killed Idol this season, the producers who were determined not to have another white guy with a guitar win and did everything except banning dude contestants to make that happen. The problem is that by stacking the deck with chicks, non-white dudes, and some ambiguously gay dudes in between; forbidding the judges to use the save on a dude contestant; and reducing the number of voting rounds the producers managed to scare away their one remaining dedicated audience, tweener chicks and their cougar moms. I can understand why the producers did this since this group managed to scare away everybody else by dominating the voting the last several years, but they really should have done this years ago like I once suggested. Doing it now was too late; it was the proverbial closing the barn doors after the horses have escaped. Perhaps the producers were hoping that the rest of their audience will come back next season now that they have proved that a chick can win this competition. Maybe they will, but if they don’t then their overlords at Fox will have a decision to make, and it may not be pretty.

OK, that's my soapbox rant for the season. In the next few days I will posts Parts 2, 3, & 4. Part 2 will be a recap of the season including the final score, your three stars of the season, and the sob stories of the season. Part 3 will be a recap of all the things we learned from Idol this year, and Part 4 will be my fearless predictions of the future careers of the Top 12 contestants.

And here I thought I would have nothing to say...

Idol Gives Back - Final Edition

From the Charlotte auditions that aired on January 23, 2013, the same auditions that Nicki shut down and threatened to shoot Mariah, there was the last auditioner of the day:

Like last week there was another former contestant from last season who reappeared. While the producers showed footage of her being cut in Vegas by Jagger Lite, apparently Sole Survivor forgot all about her. He thought the audition was the best of the season so far and agreed with Nicki that there would be something wrong if she didn't make it to the last round. Yes, even though he was one of those who cut this same contestant last season before the live shows.

Nicki was also impressed by this contestant, saying to her, and I quote, "I want to skin you and eat you." So I've been thinking of a new nickname for the nickname chick and I think I'll try "Jaws." It originally came to me from thinking about how Idol jumped the shark by hiring her, but this sentence alone sealed the deal, at least until she says something even more worthy of a nickname.

That contestant was Candice Glover, your new American Idol.

Candice became the first chick winner of Idol since Jordin Sparks 6 years ago. Ironically, that was also the last year that I correctly predicted the winner. It is also the first time that the contestant that was my personal favorite going into the live shows actually won. I don't know if this means that I'm becoming more in tune with the musical tastes of the average Idol voter, or if they and I are all just getting old.

The finale was the usual bloated affair. The dudes had to sing with Frankie Valli while the chicks sang with Aretha Franklin. No offense to Frankie Valli but he's no Aretha Franklin. There was a video bit about a "conspiracy" to get all the dudes eliminated first that was actually funny in spots, especially Janelle changing Lazaro's key on "Close To You." The problem with Lazaro is that he probably thought Janelle really did that. The big payoff was revealing that it was Jordin Sparks who was the mastermind of the conspiracy, once again demonstrating that Nigel doesn't have a sense of humor. If he did then he would have been in the video instead of Jordin. Now that would have drawn a reaction.

There was a video tribute to Sole Survivor that featured dogs and some clips, but that was it. J-Lo was in the house but didn't acknowledge Randy's presence, and no other former judges showed up to pat the dawg on the back. However, like I said last night, I can't think of a better tribute to Randy's time on the show than for the winner to be the best singer in the competition since, as he so often said in between his dawgs, YOs and #inittowinits, Idol is a singing competition.

And so concludes another season of American Idol. I still have one more post to go, the season case summary that in years past has had more hits to than any other posts and features my fearless predictions of the future careers of the finalists. The jury is still out on whether or not I will recap Season 13. I do have 7 months to consider it so we shall see.

Yes, I too can feel the anticipation out there...LOL

Planets Exploding To Life

Well, here we are my friend. We have reached the end of another season of American Idol. Fox announced this week that there will be a Season 13 next year; perhaps to the surprise of some. I was originally surprised, until I realized that Fox probably has nothing waiting in the queue to replace Idol except for maybe another Gordon Ramsey show. Lord knows The X-Factor isn't ready to make the move, at least until Captain Jack can convince Trained Seal to make the jump over to the dark side and take Mario Lopez's spot.

Tonight's show was only an hour long so that Fox could promote Nigel's goofy dance show down the hall, so the show began without the traditional finale opening of Trained Seal standing in front of the audience in a sold out Nokia Theater. The entire theater was never shown so I wonder how full it really was. Trained Seal announced the attendance as 7,000 and the posted capacity of the Nokia is 7,100 so technically it was a sellout, but I don't know...

There was no big voice intro for the judges either so we don't know if either Glitter Girl or Jaws were wearing short skirts. Considering it was Kree and Candice performing I wondered if we would see any shorts at all tonight. Mr. Kidman dressed for the occasion with a T-shirt. Sole Survivor was in a purple sport coat, his traditional finale wardrobe.

Before the singing began Trained Seal asked the crowd for a voice vote on who should win. It sounded to me like Kree had more support, but Ryan didn't bother to say who he thought had a louder reaction. Tonight's themes were Simon Fuller's (aka "the other Simon") choice, the contestant's first single written by some unknown, and a reprise of their favorite song of the season. Unlike season's past the first single was inserted into Round Two instead of at the end, I guess so that the show didn't close on a down note like it did when the final two sang one of Horny Chick's songs or a song from a contest.

In the spirit of speeding up this recap to match the show's pace, I'll return to the old school style of recaps:

Kree Harrison, "Angel" by Sarah McLaughlin: Kree won the coin toss and elected to go first, a decision that she might regret later on. She and/or Andy Cap modified the song arrangement to make the song more country, which would have been OK had not Kree tried to rush through it as much as she did. This is not a song that a singer hoping to win would want to rush through. Her performance was OK pitch wise but the pace was off and it was lacking in emotion, another bad thing to do with a song like this. I wonder what Simon was thinking when he picked this song because it really didn't fit Kree very well.

Over the weekend I heard "I'm The Only One" by Melissa Etheridge on the radio. Now that song would have fit Kree well. Oh well, too late now...

Candice Glover, "Chasing Pavements" by Adele: I had to look up who sang this song since Trained Seal didn't bother to announce it. I guess Ryan forgot that not all of us are as in tune into pop culture as he is. Candice began the song mostly in her low register, which was OK but not her strong suit. It's like driving a Honda when you can afford a Porsche. She took it up a bit towards the second half of the song, turning it into a smooth jazz number with a run or two to get the crowd excited. It was a decent vocal but not very inspiring.

After Candice left the stage Trained Seal asked Glitter Girl and Sole Survivor for their comments. Mariah was speechless but still managed to babble on for 5 minutes about how proud of America she was for how they voted. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and gave Round 1 to Candice because Kree's performance was too sleepy. Randy also criticized the song choices of "the boss", which Trained Seal thought Sole Survivor could get away with since he was leaving.

Instead of a Coca Cola Treatment we were treated to Carly Rae Jepsen's Coca-Cola contest song that you all apparently helped write and choreograph. The song was a decent little number but the choreography was pretty weak, especially the fireworks that you apparently designed. Carly wore the first short skirt of the night, thank you to whomever of you voted for that. Towards the end of the song I could tell that Carly was lip syncing. I'd guess Nigel did too since there were no more close ups of Carly singing after that.

Trained Seal introduced Round 2 with a groupie named Gloria draped over his shoulder. He made the mistake of giving her a kiss on her forehead. Trained Seal also pimped Phillip Phillips' single from last season's finale, "Home", as the biggest selling Idol single of all time. I wonder how many people out there can name which song is #2 without looking it up on Wikipedia. No, neither can I.

Kree, "All Cried Out": Kree sang a country ballad for her first single, which you can download RIGHT NOW on the Idol web site. Don't worry, I'll wait...
This song was pretty sleepy too, but Kree clearly tried her best to make the most of it, even throwing in some runs and big notes to try and make it interesting. It wasn't memorable but it was technically better and more emotional than her first performance. Everybody but Jaws gave Kree a standing O.

Candice, "I am Beautiful": Whoever wrote this songs did their homework, giving Kree a country ballad and Candice a power ballad as their first singles. Simon should give that person a raise, especially since that person made Simon's song choices appear even more pathetic. Candice stayed in her mid-range throughout this song, staying out of the low register that she had trouble with in her first song. Towards the end I thought Candice was going to do a Jordin and start crying while she was singing, but she managed to hold it together until the end. It was well sung. She might even make some money for Andy Cap with that single. All the judges gave Candice a standing O, with her biggest fan Glitter Girl the first on her feet.

After Trained Seal shooed Candice off the stage he asked Mr. Kidman and Jaws for their comments. Mr. Kidman thought Candice's song "fit her like a glover" but still gave the round to Kree. Jaws thought Kree reached down into her gut like she never had before but still gave the round to Candice.

Kree, "Up To The Mountain": Kree first sang this song during the Vegas shows. Here's what I had to say then, from February 20:

Next was Kree Harrison, the chick whose parents died when she was a kid. She was the only chick who wore clothes that covered up her thighs but that didn’t seem to affect Nicki’s opinion of her. Indeed, Jaws declared that she thought Kree was “sexy”. Kree revealed that she has worked in the country music “industry” in Nashville, raising the antennas of all those plant watchers out there. Kree sang like a plant with a nice voice, though it didn’t blend well with the backup singers. The other judges all thought that Kree was a natural and heaped nothing but praise on her, even though Trained Seal beforehand warned Kree that the judges were being tough on the country singers.

I honestly don't remember how Kree sang this song the first time. I'm pretty sure that she didn't sing it like this because I would have remembered it if she had. This performance was a gospel ballad that was pretty inspiring actually. Her tone, pitch, and rhythm were all there, and unlike the first song there was plenty of emotion in this one. Kree sang the song like it would be her last. I actually felt a goose bump, the first time I felt one that wasn't during one of Candice's performances. This performance might very well have saved her from losing in a landslide and might even be enough to win. The judges all gave Kree a standing O and got to comment on the performance afterwards. Outside of a YO from Sole Survivor none of the comments were worth mentioning.

Candice, "I, Who Have Nothing": Personally I would have preferred to hear "Love Song" again but this was probably a wiser choice since there was no way Candice could have improved on her performance of the Cure song. Candice did this song on Top 10 week on March 13, when I had this to say:

Trained Seal Coca-Cola'd Candice Glover into talking about her family, who flew out from South Carolina on their first ever plane trip to see her sing. She sang "I, Who Have Nothing", the song that Trained Seal claimed Jordin Sparks won Season 6 by singing. Personally I still remember her performance of "You Never Walk Alone" as being the one that won her that season. I also remember Sole Survivor asking Jordin how a 16 year old who never had a boyfriend could possibly relate to that song. Candice assured us that she had no such trouble relating to this song, and then proved it by emoting big time during her performance. Wow it was good, not just best of the night but best of the season so far. No question I felt goosebumps this time. Mr. Kidman named dropped Shirley Bassey, who I discovered is originally from Wales. Jaws thought Candice sang it so well that no one should ever sing that song on Idol ever again because it would pale in comparison. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and fist pumped the air. Glitter Girl claimed that she would have given Candice a standing ovation but couldn't because her skirt was too tight to allow her to stand up. This revelation inspired the first "Is Trained Seal Gay" banter of the season when Mariah claimed that Ryan knew how to work a skirt.

Candice gave us two surprises with her second performance of this song. The first was that sang the first half a cappella without any accompaniment. The second was that she wore a short skirt for the first time all season. I'm not sure which of the two was a bigger roll of the dice but they both worked. What better way to show off a powerful voice than to sing without a band or backup singers to drown everything out? It was par excellence, even better than the first time she performed the song. 4 more standing O's from the judges, who all rose in unison this time. Mr. Kidman compared her performance to a "planet exploding to life." Jaws admired Candice's legs. Sole Survivor dropped 2 YOs and claimed Candice "shot the night to a whole 'nother level." Glitter Girl thanked Candice for letting her be part of the Candice experience.

Trained Seal signed off at 9:01 and promised lots of surprises for the finale tomorrow, when the results will likely be announced at 9:59.

Things We Learned Tonight: Don Cheadle likes nature shows with penguins. Erica had a rough day. Hyundai's cars can email you and tell you how they feel. There's yet another movie coming out that includes the White House getting blown up. Kree appeared on Rosie O'Donnell's show when she was a kid. Candice tried out in Seasons 9 and 11 but not Season 10 as I had thought. I still blame Sole Survivor for not putting her through though. Carly Rae Jepsen was a finalist on Canadian Idol in 2007. Trained Seal thinks AT&T is your lifeline. Glitter Girl is proud of America because of how they voted. Jaws likes Candice's legs. Mr. Kidman's idea of formal attire is a T shirt. Sole Survivor is now free to criticize "the boss" since he's leaving. What are they going to do, fire him?

Your Three Stars of the Night: Each performance was better than the last, so 2 stars go to Candice and 1 star goes to Kree. It seemed like both Kree and Candice upped their game each time to stay ahead of the other and it was fun to watch. This finale was probably the best since Ruben and Clay battled it out in Season 2, maybe even better. It was like a high scoring basketball game where the winning team would be the team that would have the ball last. I told you that Kree was going to regret choosing to go first and let Candice go last.

The Final Score: 6 ballads; 5 big notes; 2 short skirts; 4 YOs from Sole Survivor; no #POWs from Glitter Girl; 15 standing Os; 3 Nigel Lythgoe mentions; 3 Simon Fuller mentions; 1 Gordon Ramsey mention; 1 mention of a former Canadian Idol contestant, 1 mention of a former American Idol contestant; 2 mentions of former Idol winners; 2 mentions of a former Idol judge; 0 name drops, cute Asian back up singer sightings, or Andy Cap sightings; 1 Trained Seal groupie; 2 foreign phrases; 2 car references; 1 singer caught lip syncing; 7,000 in attendance; and 2 goose bumps.

The Fearless Prediction: I had Kree with a slight edge going into the final stretch, and while she didn't pull up lame Candice was still the better singer tonight. Candice has shown an innate ability to pull magic out of her hat when she had to and tonight was no exception. She's also been my favorite since the live shows so for those reasons, plus the fact that it would be appropriate for the best singer to actually win a singing competition on Sole Survivor's last night, my fearless prediction is that Candice is going to be crown the next American Idol tomorrow night.

Yes, tomorrow night. I love these one hour shows...

The Bottom 10

First a brief question: did anyone else notice during the cryfest that was Angie Miller's departure that they didn't do the coin toss to see who would sing first at the finale? Didn't they always used to do that on the Top 3 results shows? Or am I dreaming...

A couple of weeks ago I posted a list of my favorite Idol contestants. This time we travel to the depths of Idol hell and relive my least favorite Idol contestants ever since I started watching the show religiously in Season 5. Believe it or not, I would still watch the show if this group was the Top 10, only to be able to make fun of them all over again, or in the case of 2 dudes on this list, for the very first time. Let's start then with everybody's favorite Idol diva:

Katherine McPhee, Season 5

Katherine was the best singer that season, which is a complement to her since that same season featured perhaps the strongest Top 12 in the history of the show if the Nielsen ratings and the number of contestant record deals are any indication. The problem was that Katherine was so arrogant about it. She seemed to act as if it was her birthright to win. It was telling that during the season finale she didn’t participate in the chicks’ group number but Taylor Hicks participated in the dudes’ group number. The other dudes all talked about how much they liked to pal around with Taylor. The other chicks didn’t say anything about Katherine.

Michael Johns, Season 7

Michael is probably my all-time least favorite finalist. Katherine McPhee’s arrogance paled in comparison to Michael’s even though he wasn’t nearly as good a singer as she was. This dude used to brag about how he was an Olympic caliber swimmer and was supposedly considered to take over as lead singer of INXS after Michael Hutchence died. I thought it was so fitting that he was eliminated on the Idol Gives Back show after he was led to believe by Ryan that there would be no elimination that night as was the case the season before. It was also fitting that he was eliminated after he claimed that Aerosmith’s “Dream On” was inspirational.

David Archuleta, Season 7

David is on this list not because of anything he did but because of everything everybody around him did. The Idol producers kept pushing this kid as the greatest singer in the history of the show, which he wasn’t. The Idol judges kept praising this kid even when he once forgot the lyrics to a Beatles song. It took mentor Andrew Lloyd Webber to point out to David that his voice was thin and that he always sang with his eyes closed. Then of course there was his stage dad father who directed his every move and chose every one of his songs until the producers finally banned him from the studio. I also believe that it was David’s failure to win Season 7 that inspired the tweener chicks to start power texting their votes to insure that the next cute dude won, which influenced the results for the next 4 seasons.

Nick Mitchell (aka Norman Gentle), Season 8

I know his entire act was just that, and if he had only appeared on the audition shows I would have just laughed it off and awaited his appearance in the finale with the other freaks. However, this dude and his act made it all the way to the semi-finals and by then it had gotten real old real fast. Nick even promised to leave behind the Norman Gentle thing when he made the semis, only to go full bore with the act during his performance. I get annoyed by a contestant who doesn’t take the show seriously, that is supposed to be my job.

Tatiana Del Toro, Season 8

At the other end of the serious scale from Nick that season, there was Tatiana. She was the star of the Hollywood Week and semi-final shows that season, which is saying something considering Nick Mitchell was on the same shows. The reason she was the star was because the producers wanted to show more drama during the auditions rather than more talented contestants, and Tatiana was the perfect muse for the producers to work with. A lot was made over the fact that she had a hard time staying in a group during Group Night, then again she was prominently featured during the semi-final show when she sang “Saving All My Love For You” for the umpteenth million time. The nervous breakdown that Tatiana had when she learned that she was voted off was so dramatic that Ryan had to call in security to get her off the stage. Nobody before or since had gone psycho during the live shows since they usually get drummed out during the auditions. To her credit though Tatiana made it through. The fact that it was when Simon was still a judge makes her accomplishment even more impressive.

Scott McIntyre, Season 8

Lazaro Argos was not the first Idol contestant with “special powers” as Nicki liked to refer to his speech impediment. Scott was Idol’s first and thus far only blind contestant, which is what got him well into the finals even though he couldn’t sing all that well. Paula praised him every week for overcoming adversity rather than for any of his singing, much like Mariah did with Lazaro this season. The fact is though if the dude hadn’t been blind he would have never made it to the live shows. That fact didn’t bother me, it was the fact that he still acted as if he was entitled to be there even though his vocal abilities weren’t all that good. Again, kind of like Lazaro.

Danny Gokey, Season 8

Scott McIntyre wasn’t the only one in Season 8 with a sob story that was shoved down our throats. There was also Danny Gokey and the death of his wife just before the auditions. Every week we were reminded by somebody about his wife’s death, either by Danny, Ryan, one or more of the judges, the mentors, the person who produced the intro videos, and so on. I think Ricky Minor and the band may have done it one week. Danny was a decent singer so unlike Scott I think he earned his spot on the live shows, but it just got to be too much.

Yes, I was quite annoyed during Season 8, and not just because Paula was leaving the show after that season. That's what happens when you decide to feature the contestants' personalities rather than on the wacky judges and the celebrity tor-mentors, as Idol did that season. Can't blame Nigel though, he was working on the goofy dance show down the hall that year.

Casey James, Season 9

Casey is in the running with Michael Johns for the title of the biggest poser in the history of the show. This dude had a major ego that was unbearable to watch. He got his ticket to Hollywood because he took his shirt off, and next thing you know he’s parading around the stage as if he was the next Dave Matthews. It took several weeks for the judges to start pointing out to Casey how dull and boring his performances were, and even then it took a few more weeks before the tweener chick voters finally gave up on him and starting voting for Lee DeWyze. I still remember when during the semi-final shows that he promised to reveal his super-secret pre-show routine if he made the Top 10, then never mentioning it again.

James Durbin, Season 10

I think it’s fair to say that James wasn’t as much of a poser as either Michael Johns and Casey James, but he’s in the same conversation. I was on sabbatical from this blog that season so I didn’t get a chance to slam him as much as I did the other two. Perhaps he can take it as a compliment that I wasn’t annoyed with him enough to start writing again. Then again, there was no one in Season 10 that I felt that passionate about, either positively or negatively. The whole season was dull, dull, dull. So perhaps James can take it as a compliment that he is the only contestant from that season on either the good or bad list.

Colton Dixon, Season 11

Oh yes, the oh so saintly Colton with his Flock of Seagulls haircut who kept pretending to be humble, kept pretending to be thankful for the opportunity to be on the show, and kept claiming that his sister was the better singer even though she didn’t even make it past Hollywood Week. Why am I not surprised that he’s now supposedly a big star in the Christian music world? Fortunately he didn’t last long enough on the show for me to be really upset with him.

Angie Miller, Season 12

At the time I didn’t understand why Angie chose to sing a Colton Dixon song early in the live shows, but by the time she sang it again when she got eliminated it all made sense. Our little Disney Princess ranks in the top 5 of the all time posers on the show and is the only chick in that group. I will say in her defense that she sang much better than the dude posers, so it's harder for me to feel animosity towards Angie like I do to Michael Johns and Casey James. Like so many on this list I was hoping that she didn’t win the competition, but unlike most on this list it wouldn’t have kept me up at night if she had.

Lazaro Argos, Season 12

This dude would have kept me up at night if he won and I suspect that I wouldn't be the only one. What bothered me about Lazaro wasn’t the fact that the only reasons he made it as far as he did was because he looked handsome and had a serious speech impediment. What bothered me about him was that he wasn’t willing to show any respect to anybody, blamed everybody else for his bad performances, and just didn't seem to care how well he sang after he realized he was getting by on just his looks and his sob story. One week he would claim he forgot the lyrics because he wasn’t given enough time to learn them, the next he would claim that he sang bad because the band was playing in the wrong key, and then there was those awful group numbers that he kept flubbing the lyrics on and causing the other dudes to be sent home. Even when he was being introduced into the top 10 he was yelling at the band to get the key right before he sang his song. At that point why would anyone care what key the song was in? He should have just been thankful that he made it as far as he did. It sure as hell beats scooping ice cream for a living.

Idol Gives Back - Survivor Edition

A few weeks ago I had stated my belief that Kree Harrison and Candice Glover were the front runners in the competition, and just like my earlier prediction that Janelle Arthur and Amber Holcomb would be the first two chicks eliminated I once again made an accurate prediction that I subsequently reneged on just before it came to pass. Perhaps I need to trust my instincts more...

To be honest, even then I was pretty sure that Angie Miller would make the finale because of how favored she was by Nigel and the judges, especially after the Boston bombings became Angie's rallying cry. However, now she's out and I can enjoy the finale worry free. While Candice is still my favorite I would be fine with Kree winning, much more than I would be with the idea of Angie winning. No question Angie was an excellent singer and she's got a career on Broadway or with Disney waiting for her, but I just never could get comfortable with her theatrics or her constant staring at the camera.

As shocking as the result was, it was all drowned out in the social media world today with the news that Sole Survivor, Randy Jackson, announced that he was leaving Idol after this season. You know, I think that's the first time I've ever typed his full name on this blog, ever. It will be interesting to see if the producers give Randy the same kind of send off they gave Simon Cowell when he left. Maybe it'll just be like the year end montages, consisting of a video that we won't get to see because the camera will keep focusing on the singer of the accompanying song. Perhaps there'll be a Journey reunion, or maybe J-Lo and Mariah can team up on something. I can't say that I will miss Randy like I do Paula and Simon, though I'm sure I'll miss him more than Kara. I guess that means I will either need to retire the Sole Survivor nickname or transfer it over to Trained Seal.

Rumor has it that all of the judges and Nigel will all be fired after next week and be replaced with a whole new cast. Jimmy should be sticking around though since unlike the others he paid big bucks to be on the show and get the winner signed to his label with an iron clad contract. So his spot is guaranteed, unless Clive Davis wants it back.

Next week it's the finale and it will be at the Nokia Theater. We will see if the producers are able to fill all the seats. Could it be that the winner of a singing competition is in fact the best singer in the competition? We'll find out together. In the meantime, enjoy Randy's backup singing of this tribute to Simon from I believe Season 7:

I'm Here Because of Fox

Tissues were in short supply as there were lots of tears during the hometown visits, during the singing, during the judges' critiques (even Jimmy Iovine's); even Trained Seal was fighting tears though no one was crying for him.

I need to get up early for work tomorrow since I played hokey today for a family outing, so I'm going to try and limit my recaps of the judges' comments. They didn't say anything real outrageous or much different from what they've been saying for the last 5 months anyway.

As usual the chick judges both had short skirts tonight. Glitter Girl went a step further and bared her midriff, which Trained Seal noticed and called attention to during his intro. Perhaps Mariah felt that with Amber Holcomb gone someone had to step in and fill the fashion void created by her departure.

Tonight the Top 3 sang three songs all chosen by others, so there was a chance that the songs might actually be something besides ballads. The Round 1 songs were chosen by Andy Cap. Round 2 was the judges' choice. Yes, all 4 judges chose each song (or so we were led to believe), denying me all sorts of opportunities to make fun of the choices and the judges. The final round of songs were chosen by the "Idol production team" as Trained Seal identified them. For multiple reasons that should seem obvious by now I'm going to assume that "Idol production team" = "Nigel Lythgoe".

First up was Kree Harrison, who was asked to sing Pink's "Perfect" in the death spot because Andy Cap wanted to challenge Kree with a pop song. Her performance was solid but not spectacular. I did notice that Kree seemed to have fun on stage, especially when she sang the lyric "I'm still around." I also noticed that the cute Asian backup singer was back with her leather, lace and fancy hat. The judges basically thought it was OK. Jaws recommended that Kree wear flat cowboy boots instead of high heeled ones so that Kree would move around on stage more. Sole Survivor dropped a YO.

Candice Glover sang U2's "One" per the Mary J. Blige arrangement that Andy Cap recommended. I vaguely remember that Mary J. first sang this song on an Idol show some years ago. I have to admit that the original song is one of my very favorites so it was hard for me to adjust to the more up tempo, loud Mary J. version that Candice sang. It was just OK for me, not as emotional as the original. Janelle Arthur was in the house and loved Candice's performance. Lazaro Argos was sitting next to Janelle and didn't appear to be quite as excited. Jaws shouted out to her "secret husband" Jimmy Iovine for the song choice. Both chick judges name dropped Mary J. Sole Survivor dropped a YO. Trained Seal was amazed that Candice sang that song without ever hearing either the U2 version or the Mary J. Blige version of the song before this week and wanted to know Candice's secret. The "secret" was that Candice read the lyrics first.

Andy Cap selected Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" for Angie Miller because he wanted her to play the piano. Angie decided to have some other dude play it instead. Despite the fact that it is a dramatic song and the fog machine was on overdrive again Angie wasn't really that dramatic. She was actually pretty controlled and subdued. I was very surprised. The judges admired Angie's restraint but Mr. Kidman actually wanted just a little bit more. Give Keith an inch and he'll carefully ask for a mile. The judges all wondered why Angie didn't played the piano, as did Andy Cap when he reported from his bunker. I don't remember her answer. Nevertheless Jimmy thought Angie won Round 1.

Before their Round 2 performances each contestant's hometown visit was relived in special editions of the Coca-Cola Treatment.
Candice visited her old office, rode a moped, visited her family and a community center, had a parade, and performed a concert where the governor of South Carolina proclaimed it Candice Glover Day in the state.
Angie was interviewed by the Fox news anchors in Boston, visited her friends at a coffee shop, went to her home to see her cat, visited her elementary school, had a parade, and performed a concert at her former high school. The Boston bombings were mentioned often by Angie and by the Fox news anchors.
Kree had a crawfish boil with her family, visited the house that she grew up in which was not in the best of shape, went to a rodeo, had a parade, and performed a concert at a local arena. Her deceased parents were mentioned often by Kree and her sister who accompanied her for the entire weekend.

In honor of Round 2 being the traditional judges' choice, I'm going to recap the performances in the traditional style.

St. Helena Island, South Carolina's Candice Glover, "Next to Me" by Emeli Sande: A ballad to start but the tempo picked up as the song went along. The arrangement was similar to the first song but was a little more comfortable for me since I had never heard this song before. Candice sang this song with more emotion and less runs than the first song. It was good but not great but better than Round 1. Jaws was speechless again but was crying too, then finally got out how proud she was of Candice. Oh, now she's proud of Candice now that Amber's gone.

Beverly, Massachusetts's Angie Miller, "Try" by Pink: This song was a more up-tempo pop song than the melismatic ballads that Angie usually sings. Even so, Angie showed off the big notes and dramatic poses like she usually does with the ballads. It was a decent vocal, though. Mr. Kidman and Sole Survivor high-fived each other, making it obvious who chose this song. Jaws asked Mr. Kidman to stop reading her mind, then finally realized that Angie looks like Miley Cyrus. Glitter Girl called Angie a homecoming queen. Sole Survivor dropped a YO.

Woodville, Texas's Kree Harrison, "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts: The judges selected a country ballad, which Kree hasn't sang for a while to prove that she could sing more than country ballads. Other than 1 or 2 word slips her vocal was very good, her best in a number of weeks, showing why she should have been singing country ballads every week. There was a fair amount of real emotion too. All of the judges were crying as each one mentioned Kree's deceased parents. I guess because it hasn't been mentioned in several weeks as part of Nigel's plan to eliminate her, the judges forgot about the orphan thing until they saw the hometown video.

After the break, Andy Cap reported from the bunker that he was amazed that all three singers were able to sing after watching their emotional hometown videos, criticized the judges for their choice of Candice's song, and awarded Round 2 to Kree.

Round 3, Nigel's Choice, began at 20 minutes to 10 so once again the pressure was on Trained Seal to get this done on time. Once again I'll recap old school style.

Angie, "Maybe" by Emeli Sande: Before tonight I had never heard of Emeli Sande but two of her songs were featured tonight. Once again I learned about a current singer by watching this show. I was forced to look up Emeli Sande online because Trained Seal kept neglecting to announce the original singers. As promised, Angie was back at the piano but I don't think she actually played it much since she kept waving her left hand in a dramatic fashion. There was no subtlety to this performance, Angie poured on all the drama, emotion, and melisma that she could muster. So naturally the judges complimented Angie for not doing that. I will acknowledge that Angie has cut back on the drama and staring at the camera compared to what she was doing before, but it's still annoying.

Kree, "Better Dig Two" by The Band Perry: Kree stayed with the country for her final song tonight, following up her country ballad with a country pop song complete with a banjo and a fiddle. It was OK, not great or memorable but not really boring either. It was just there. Glitter Girl talked about her pain and sorrow to try and relate to Kree. The other judges criticized Nigel's song choice. Jaws went further and said that she wanted to stone the guy who picked the song. No word on whether or not Nigel will hire a bodyguard.

Candice, "Somewhere" from West Side Story: Candice closed the show with a show tune that Nigel might have chosen to make Angie jealous. The arrangement was very dramatic too, starting with a timpani drum roll and a full orchestra. After playing with pop songs for her first two performances Candice belted out a big note ballad like only she can, and in the process made both Kree and Angie sound like amateurs. To paraphrase Captain Jack after Jordin Sparks' performance of another show tune, I think Candice could have a hit record with that. I finally felt a goose bump and the judges finally gave someone a standing O. Sole Survivor finally dropped multiple YOs, 4 in total, and proclaimed that it was one of the best vocal performances in the history of the show. That's 2 for Candice this season. I don't think even Carrie Underwood had that many.

Andy Cap emerged from his bunker to declare that Candice's performance was the best of the night as well as the best of the round. Trained Seal cut 2 minutes out of our late local news for this, just to make it far for Candice.

Things We Learned Tonight: Levi's business is doing so well they could pay the San Francisco 49ers millions of mullah to slap their name on the new football stadium. Nationwide Insurance tails its customers with helicopters. Sole Survivor thinks Idol inspires people. Jaws still wants Mr. Kidman out of her head, secretly married Andy Cap after Kree broke off their engagement, and watches Angie's performances over and over at home. Glitter Girl has a lot of pain, prefers sorrow to anger, and can't come to terms with the fact that Candice was a travel agent. Trained Seal has been a victim of swatting and wonders how the performers can sing songs that they've never heard before. Andy Cap wonders how the performers can sing songs after watching emotional videos. I learned there was a singer named Emeli Sande.

Your Three Stars of the Night: Candice's final performance was indeed the best of the night. Angie's first performance and Kree's second performance were also star worthy. Interestingly, the three best performances were the last performance of each round and there was one from each contestant. There really is some magic to the closer spot. Even more interestingly, I actually agreed with Andy Cap's assessment of each round.

The Final Score: 6-1/2 ballads; 5 big notes; 3 short skirts; 10 YOs from Sole Survivor; no #POWs from Glitter Girl; 4 standing Os; 5 Nigel Lythgoe mentions; 3 mentions of former Idol contestants, 2 mentions of former Idol winners; 1 mention of a former Idol judge; 4 name drops: 2 by Jaws, plus 1 each by Sole Survivor and Glitter Girl; 4 cute Asian back up singer sightings; 4 Andy Cap sightings; 1 one-handed piano player; 1 governor sighting; 1 Fox News anchor sighting; 1 bare midriff sighting; 1 crawfish boil; 1 shout out to Fox's Connecticut affiliate from a sign waiving fan in the audience (I'd guess she won a contest); 2 performers who had multiple songs sung tonight; numerous mentions of the Boston bombings and Kree's deceased parents; numerous tears; and 1 goose bump. Props to everybody!

The Fearless Prediction: Angie Miller has been destined for the finale ever since Angela Miller sang at her audition. I don't see that train stopping yet. Candice Glover has needed knockout performances to stay in the competition because the tweeners and Nigel are not big fans of non-petite dress sizes, and once again she delivered one. I don't know how she has been able to keep this pace up but she has been. Kree Harrison's performances have been much better the last 2 weeks after she seemed to be tiring out. Tonight I think she was just as good as Angie, but because Angie is Nigel's it girl and Candice keeps pulling these outrageously good vocals from out of nowhere I believe it will be Kree who will be joining the other eliminated contestants for the group numbers next week and it'll be Angie versus Candice for the title next week, when I hope Nigel doesn't pull out the boxing analogies again.

The Judges Choice

I've often said that the Top 3 show, once known as the Semi-Finals, was traditionally my favorite Idol show of the year. One reason is because, I must admit, I enjoy the hometown visits. The contestants' reactions to the parades, the rallies, the TV appearances, and so on is just priceless and in some cases even genuine. We will see if that is the case this year. I'm sure it will be for Candice and Kree. Angie I'm not so sure about...

The other reason I like the Top 3 shows is because the judges get to select one of the songs that the contestants have to sing. It's always interesting to see which judge selects for which contestants and which song each judge selects. In past seasons the judge's selections have on occasion gave a hint on who might win the competition. Thanks to Wikipedia and the achieve to this blog the judge's selections in previous seasons have been:

In Season 1:
The judges selected "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles for Nikki McKibbin, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John for Justin Guarini, and "Without You" by Badfinger and later Mariah Carey for Kelly Clarkson.

In Season 2:
Simon selected "Smile" by Nat King Cole for Ruben Studdard
Paula selected "Mack the Knife" by Louis Armstrong for Clay Aiken
Randy selected "Anyone Who Had a Heart" by Dionne Warwick for Kimberley Locke

In Season 3:
Simon selected “Fool in Love” by Ike and Tina Turner for Fantasia Barrino
Paula selected “Mr. Melody” by Natalie Cole for Jasmine Trias
Randy selected “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion for Diana DeGarmo

In Season 4
Simon selected “On The Radio” by Donna Summer for Vonzell Solomon
Paula selected “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones for Bo Bice
Randy selected “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain for Carrie Underwood

In Season 5
Simon selected “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz for Katherine McPhee
Paula selected “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell for Elliott Yamin
Randy selected “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker for Taylor Hicks

In Season 6
Simon selected “Wishing on a Star” by Rolls Royce for Jordin Sparks
Paula selected “Roxanne” by The Police for Blake Lewis
Randy selected “I Believe in You and Me” by Whitney Houston for Melinda Doolittle

In Season 7:
Simon selected “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack for David Cook
Paula selected “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel for David Archuleta
Randy selected “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys for Syesha Mercado

In Season 8:
Simon selected “One” by U2 for Adam Lambert
Paula selected “Dance Little Sister” by Terence Trent D’Arby for Danny Gokey
Randy & Kara selected “Apologize” by One Republic for Kris Allen

In Season 9:
Simon selected "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen for Lee DeWyze
Ellen selected "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney & Wings for Crystal Bowersox
Randy & Kara selected "Daughters" by John Mayer for Casey James

In Season 10:
The judges selected "She Believes in Me" by Kenny Rodgers for Scotty McCreery, "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack for Lauren Alaina, and "You Outta Know" by Alanis Morissette for Haley Reinhart

In Season 11:
Steven selected "Beggin'" by The Four Seasons for Phillip Phillips
Jennifer selected "My All" by Mariah Carey for Jessica Sanchez
Randy selected "I'd Rather Go Blind" by Etta James for Joshua Ledet

This data strongly suggests that the 3 remaining contestants better hope that neither Nicki nor Mariah chose their song for them, since in all 11 seasons none of the winner's songs were solely selected by a chick judge. In 6 seasons Paula never selected the song for the eventual winner, earning her the nickname The Angel of Death. Even in 3 of the 4 seasons where a chick judge was claimed to be involved in the decision (Seasons 8 & 10) their involvement was, shall we say, suspect. Rumor has it that Jennifer Lopez selected Lauren Alaina's song in Season 10, and in Seasons 8 & 9 it was implied that Randy chose the songs instead of Kara. It's anyone's guess how much involvement Paula had in the Season 1 song choices.

Simon had a knack for selecting songs that challenged the contestants, except for perhaps "On The Radio". When the contestants rose to the challenge, like David Cook and Lee DeWyze did, then it would put them over the top. Paula's choices, on the other hand, were so bizarre that no contestant no matter how good could do anything with them. Randy's choices were, as usual, somewhere in between. Ellen and J-Lo's choices were fine, it wasn't because of them that their contestants didn't win.

So you may be asking, could you do any better, hot shot? Hey, thanks for asking. The songs that I would pick would be:

For Candice: "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding
Candice needs a song that she can really sink her interpretive chops into and it doesn't get more interpretive than Otis Redding, especially this song. Plus, she's already shown that she's not afraid to sing songs intended to be sung by dudes. I would ask the band to minimize their involvement like the Stax house band did with the original recording so that Candice could take the vocal and run with it. I was tempted to select "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker instead. I think that too would be a great song for her but "Try a Little Tenderness" could be even better. I get goose bumps just thinking of the possibilities.

For Kree: "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin
Kree's box is bluesy country, and when anyone thinks of bluesy country who doesn't think of Janis Joplin? Well, maybe fans of Bonnie Raitt don't, but the rest of you do. Since Kree already sang "Piece of My Heart" this season "Me and Bobby McGee" seems like a natural choice here. It would demand more emotion from Kree than what she's been delivering the last few weeks, but at this point she's going to have to do that anyway to make it to the final. She could instead do a Bonnie Raitt or Shaina Twain song, or even Etta James as long as it wasn't "At Last". The audience would likely only know the Beyoncé version of that song and Kree shouldn't be going there.

For Angie: "Beautiful Day" by U2
Angie has a definite flair for the dramatic and claims to like rock songs, so how about a dramatic rock song?  I considered "Pride (In the Name of Love)" but I don't know how that song could be shortened to 2-1/2 minutes, so I thought of this one instead. True, it doesn't include a piano but I'm assuming Jimmy would pick a piano song for her for his song choice. Besides, I've always thought Angie's best performance this season wasn't one of the piano songs but rather the Evanescence song "Bring Me to Life". If Angie chose a U2 song, really just about any from their catalog, I think she would knock it out of the park, perhaps even to the point where I might like her.

Idol Gives Back - Fashion Plate Edition

I really loved Amber's dress that she wore tonight. Indeed Amber has been The Fashion Plate for Idol this season. Too bad Amber's songs were not as interesting as her wardrobe. So despite all of the hype and all the smoke the judges blew up Amber's finely toned hind side she still ended up joining Janelle Arthur as the first two chicks to go home, just like I predicted 2 months ago. Just not last night though.

It was nice to see her dad on the stage; you could really see the pride on his face. Now that brought tears to my eyes.

So now with Amber gone who will the judges drool all over and try and pimp to victory? I guess we already know Glitter Girl's choice (which coincidentally also happens to be my choice) but what about the other three? What about Jimmy? More importantly, which judge will step up and take Paula's and J-Lo's place as the new Angel of Death and pick the song for the contestant that will be eliminated next week? And now that we're back to 4 judges which judge will have Sole Survivor pick her song for her like Kara always did? And will any judge do what Simon did and actually work with their contestant on the song rather than hit the beach and leave it to Jimmy?

Next week is the Top 3 show, traditionally my favorite, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. And neither should you.

Don't Sing Notes That Aren't in the Chords

This week's show began with a video showing everybody hugging last week after Trained Seal announced that no one was going home. I'm wondering, if everybody is so happy when no one gets sent home then why should anybody be sent home? Why don't we just have the top 10 or 12 or whatever just sing every week and have Trained Seal announce the winner at the finale? That way everybody's happy. Well, maybe not the bean counters at Fox, but who cares about them? At this point even they might be willing to give this idea a try.

I will say this, if Nigel does decide to do that next season, assuming that there is a next season, then I'm not going to recap it. Having to recap 12 performances every week for 3 months would be the end of me.

Tonight Nigel threw me a bone and presented a tor-mentor for me to pick on, Harry Connick, Jr. He was there to tor-mentor the contestants on tonight's themes, songs from 2013 and standards. No doubt Harry knows something about the latter but even he admitted that he knew nothing about the former.

First up was Angie Miller, who thought that Harry was the funniest person ever because of his dry sense of humor. She was back at the piano to sing an original arrangement of Rihanna's "Diamonds". Angie looked more at the audience than she did at the camera, likely because the director figured out that during Angie's performances he needs to pull the cameras way back so she can't stare at them. The soft first half was actually pretty good, but of course Angie had to pull out the dramatic big notes and runs because that's just who she is. Mr. Kidman likes the original song because of its "percussive muscular arrangement" so he didn't like how Angie changed the arrangement. He got booed for his efforts, as did Jaws who called the performance bland and lackluster and accused Angie of looking too much at the audience. Sole Survivor dropped a YO, agreed with Keith, and heard no boos as the audience started to figure things out. Glitter Girl thought Angie looked more at the camera than the usual "lost in the song Angie." then got interrupted by Jaws since she sensed that Mariah might actually be agreeing with her. I was left wondering if the judges had recently discovered my blog since I've been complaining about Angie's glaring at the camera ever since she changed her name from Angela.

Next was Amber Holcomb, who admitted during her Coca-Cola Treatment that she was surprised by last week's surprise that everyone was staying another week. I think she was the only person in America who was surprised; I'd bet even J-Lo wasn't surprised. She chose Pink's "Just Give Me A Reason" even though neither she nor Harry knew the words to the song. It's only the current Number 1 hit single on the Billboard charts so of course she wouldn't know the lyrics unless Nigel picked the song for her again. She managed to sing all of the words but Amber performed it as if she was afraid that she wouldn't. She sounded very tentative and her big notes sounded stiff. Jaws got booed because she thought Amber was more spirited in her video with Harry than she was on stage tonight. Sole Survivor also got booed because he didn't think that Amber had any fun. He also reminisced about all the contestants in Idol seasons past who suddenly got nervous at this stage in the competition, though he didn't name any names. Glitter Girl got cheered for excusing Amber because the song is new and thus it should be expected that she wouldn't know all the lyrics. Mr. Kidman also got cheered for excusing Amber because it's hard to get comfortable singing in front of cameras and a live audience.

Carol Bayer Sager and Babyface were in the house to hear Trained Seal pimp the summer tour. Andy Cap was conspicuously absent tonight though.

Candice Glover chose Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man" because she felt the emotional connection of the song even though it's sung by a dude. Because of that connection Candice chose to keep the male pronouns in the song even though Harry advised against it. Her performance was well styled and well sung; not her best performance but much better than the two that preceded hers. I think it would have been better if she had changed the pronouns though. Sole Survivor dropped 4 YOs and ranted about Idol being a singing competition for the umpteenth time. Mr. Kidman didn't care about the man thing and thought Candice could have sung "When I Was Your Giraffe." Jaws got all 4 judges to give Candice and standing O and then raved about how Candice listened to her advice last week about not being too old fashioned.

During her Coca-Cola Treatment Kree Harrison relived last week's criticisms from the judges about how she didn't connect enough. This week she promised to do that with Carrie Underwood's "See You Again". Since Carrie sang that song on Idol just a few weeks ago Kree had to really connect with the song or else the judges would play the comparison game with her and Carrie. Harry thought Kree sang it better in rehearsals than Carrie did, so that was promising. I didn't feel that much of a connection, but I did like how softly she sang the song. I don't think it was better than Carrie's but it was better than Kree's performances the last couple of weeks. Glitter Girl felt Kree, her words not mine. Mr. Kidman didn't feel connected because Carrie sang the song as a power ballad and Kree didn't. He ended up playing the comparison game after all. Jaws loved that Kree sang with her eyes. Again, her words not mine. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and felt Kree too. Harry was so inspired that he came out and gave Kree a hug. No, he didn't feel her up.

After the break it was back to Angie for the first of the four standards. She chose "Someone to Watch Over Me" because her mom sang it to her. In the rehearsals Harry thought Angie was oversinging the song and told her "don't sing notes that aren't in the chords." At first Angie paid heed to Harry's advice, signing the first half of the song nice and soft though a bit airy. Then like her first performance Angie burst out the big notes and got very dramatic for the second half of the song. It reminded me of a death scene in a Broadway musical even though it's supposed to be a love song. The song was in a musical though (Gershwin's Oh, Kay! in 1926) so I guess it sorta made sense, I guess. Mr. Kidman asked Angie why she chose the song even though she had said twice in her video that she chose it because her mom sang it to her. Jaws compared Angie to a Disney Princess and thought she could have a career on Broadway, and again I wondered if she has been reading my blog. I hadn't thought of the Disney Princess analogy though but it definitely worked here. Sole Survivor dropped 2 YOs and thought Angie got lost in the arrangement but it was still an amazing vocal. Glitter Girl revealed that her mom sang her that song too, and oh yeah she's in the audience tonight. She too thought Angie would be comfortable with the theatrical, which again prompted Jaws to jump in. This time Nicki claimed that Mariah wasn't listening to her critiques and pulled a Q-Tip out of her purse to clean Mariah's ears. Trained Seal had to pull the car over to break up the spat between the chicks.

Harry didn't think Amber understood the meaning of the lyrics of "My Funny Valentine" (from the 1937 musical Babes in Arms), so during her rehearsal Harry grilled her on the words, line by line. This despite the fact that Amber sang this same song during one of the Vegas shows. Her performance sounded like someone who knew the words cold but didn't know the meaning. Technically it was brilliant, perhaps from that standpoint the best that Amber has ever done. However, there was no emotional connection. It was basically a vocal exhibition, albeit a very good one. All four judges gave her a standing O and then proceeded to prop Amber up again, especially since she started crying and looking like someone who thought she was going home. I remember several shows back Jaws had blasted a dude contestant for acting the same way on stage, but of course since it was Amber it was all positives and rainbows instead.

Harry urged Candice to connect with her song, "You've Changed", even though 14 year olds might not get it. Perhaps Harry's been reading my blog too. The first half of the song was the usual Candice style with runs and such but not much emotion. It wasn't until the second half of the song where I felt that Candice was actually connecting to the anger and despair of the song. It was during that second half that Candice sang a big note and then immediately went to a soft note. I felt the need for a neck brace after that whiplash. All 4 judges gave Candice a standing O and this time Glitter Girl was the first one standing. I guess Mariah was wearing a different dress than usual or somebody finally fixed her chair so the dress wouldn't get caught if she stood. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and a #inittowinit and then name dropped Miles Davis who gave Randy some advice about singing. The rest of the judges all said positive things except for Jaws, who didn't saying anything at all but with a smile on her face.

Tonight's closer was Kree, who sang "Stormy Weather". She wanted to sing the Etta James version but Harry wanted her to sing the Lena Horne version instead since he was there to speak the truth and not blow smoke up Kree's keyhole. This included not singing any of those "crap" runs. Kree started out singing it without the runs and the audience was dead silent since they clearly like the runs, so Kree threw some in at the end to send them home happy. Much like Amber's performance, it was technically strong but emotionally flat. Glitter Girl tried to be critical but just couldn't do it, so instead she settled for saying that she would have rather heard Kree sing something bluesy like "God Bless The Child". Mr. Kidman wasn't crazy about the song choice but admired Kree's musical instincts. Jaws claimed that Kree and all the other chicks were thrown off emotionally from the songs because they were cooped up with Harry all week. Sole Survivor felt disconnected since he wanted Kree to sing the Etta James version of the song. This time it was Harry that butted in, claiming that Randy didn't make any sense by telling Kree to sing the song her way and at the same time to sing it like Etta James. Trained Seal had to pull the car over again, this time to deal with the LA boys.

Since there were no duets tonight the show ended with a group number filler that I won't bother to recap except to point out that it was the only song that wasn't a ballad and also featured Amber wearing some very short shorts. Instead of ending 10 minutes early Trained Seal signed off the show 1 minute late so he could pimp tomorrow's results show.

Things We Learned Tonight: JC Penney has learned from their mistakes. VMS has incompetent employees. In the pursuit of fabulous the savvy always win. Miles Davis gave Sole Survivor advice about singing even though Miles never sang on any of his recordings. Harry Connick Jr. wants to look like Candice if she were a man and wasn't there to blow smoke up the contestant's a**es. Trained Seal thinks we're officially in the home stretch and wasn't sure if 1 or 2 chicks were going home tomorrow. Jaws thinks we're all part of this diva game and expanded her military campaign to include Harry since Jimmy Iovine wasn't there. Glitter Girl can't get past Angie's piano situation. Mr. Kidman thinks it's pretty bizarre for people to sing in front of an audience, doesn't pay attention to the pre-performance videos, and is the stig, though nobody cares what the stig is.

Your Three Stars of the Night: Candice once again was the best of the night with her first song and with the whiplash moment in her second song. She has a knack for taking dude songs and making them her own. Amber was technically strong with her second performance so she gets the second star. The first half of both of Angie's songs were good enough for a half a star each, so she gets one full star for the night.

The Final Score: 8 ballads, a clean sweep; 7 big notes; 4 short skirts; 13 YOs from Sole Survivor; no #POWs from Glitter Girl; 12 standing Os; 4 Nigel Lythgoe mentions; 1 mention of a former Idol winner; 1 mention of a former Idol judge; 3 name drops: 1 by Sole Survivor and 2 by the tor-mentor; no cute Asian back up singer or Andy Cap sightings; 1 Q-Tip sighting; Sharks 3, Canucks 1; 1 animal reference; 3 spats at the judges table, 2 between the chick judges and 1 between a judge and the tor-mentor; and no goose bumps.

The Fearless Prediction: Nigel's little surprise makes this week's prediction much more difficult since I have to guess what the tweeners and cougars did last week and this week and do so while keeping the two weeks separate. It gave me a headache just typing that. Candice gave the best performances this week but was in the bottom 2 last week. Amber was in the bottom 2 last week but may have cried her way out of elimination this week. Kree and Angie were both in the top 2 last week but were not as good as either Candice or Amber this week, though Kree was better this week than last. I think I will stick with my prediction from last week and say that Kree will be going home tomorrow night. Amber has fluctuated between top 2 and bottom 2 and if the pattern holds then this week is an up week so I think she's staying for that reason alone. I don't want Candice to go home now. I would like to see Angie go home now but I don't see that happening. So by process of elimination that leaves Kree. I could go on but it's past my bedtime, though I did manage to beat the Ferguson deadline this week by 3 minutes.

P.S. The Stig is the faceless driver on the BBC show Top Gear. So now you know, though you probably still don't care.