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.