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.

Idol Gives Back - Postponed due to Nigel

So the surprise twist that was going to shake up the competition forever was, well, the one that everybody and their grandmother who is still watching Idol predicted. Because Nigel wouldn't let the judges use their save on a dude and Janelle Arthur was deemed not worth saving another week was added to the show so that they'll still meet their reservations for the Nokia on May 15 & 16. Assuming that the finale will be back at the Nokia of course; given how the ratings have tanked this year Fox might force the producers to move the finale to that community theater in the Valley where the Hollywood Week auditions were held.

Perhaps Trained Seal was really referring to the surprise appearance of Season 10 contestant Stefano Langone. Seriously, is that the best they can do? Didn't he finish in like 12th place that season? Does anybody even remember that he was even a contestant? Aren't Taylor Hicks and Kris Allen looking for a paycheck, what about one of them? Was Sanjaya was too busy? At least a few members of the remaining audience would have remembered him. Maybe Stefano was the only former contestant left who returned Nigel's call.

So everybody gets to come back and do it again next week. This was such a "surprise" that I didn't even bother to watch. I read instead that Candace and Amber were in the Bottom 2. The judges must be going insane in their respective mansions about this. After all, how much more can they possibly do to convince America that Amber deserves to win this competition? Maybe Nicki can just shoot the other contestants like she threatened to do to Mariah during the auditions.

I used to like Amber but given how much the judges have been trying to blow smoke up her *** I've become less enthusiastic about her. It hasn't helped that her performances have been putting me to sleep.

This will give Kree and Candace a second chance and a week to rest up since next week they'll likely be forced to sing three songs again and then listen to the judges rave about Amber and Angie again. I'll try to rest up too since I'll need to write up all those songs again next week and listen to all that raving again. I hear next week's theme is "Now and Then", which means we'll get 4 old and boring ballads, 4 new and boring ballads, and a couple of middle aged and boring duets.

Stefano Langone? Really?

Everybody Can Blow Smoke Up Your...

I figured that I would generate some new hits to this blog by name dropping a bunch of former Idol contestants in my last post. Google, you are so predictable. Let's see how many of those who dropped by after Googling "William Hung" will be around to read one of my more regular offerings.

Trained Seal opened the show by promising lots of singing and an endurance test for the contestants. With all that singing and some of the more "colorful" comments from the judges tonight it'll be an endurance test all right, a test to see if I can make it through the day tomorrow after staying up past 2 am to write this.

Tonight there were two themes. The first was "contestant's choice", which meant it would be a bunch of ballads that I've never heard before. The second was the theme chosen by you in the AT&T contest, "One Hit Wonders", which meant it would be a bunch of ballads that I might have heard before. In between were two duets without a theme, likely chosen by Nigel.

The intro videos this week featured the 4 remaining contestants' visit to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Out of respect for the kids I'm going to refrain from making any snide comments on the videos, except to question Amber Holcomb's assertion to one kid that she is "camera shy." Amber took the death spot tonight to sing Celine Dion's "The Power of Love". Gee, another big note ballad, no surprise on the song choice there. I would have been surprised if Amber had chosen the Huey Lewis and the News version. I would have been annoyed too since that song always reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. While the song choice was predictable Amber did take a chance and sang the first verse without any accompaniment and standing on top of Trained Seal's entry stairs. It actually worked pretty well for Amber. Her performance didn't excite me but it was solid, controlled, and showed a wider range that the other songs that she has sung. Jaws thought Amber was current and looked like a "big sexy class of milk" because her full length pants suit was white in the front. Sole Survivor thought Amber was a big sexy "black and white cookie" since her dress was all black in the back. He also claimed that Amber had shown the most growth of any contestant this season. I would tend to agree. Glitter Girl dropped her one and only #POW of the night. Trained Seal asked Amber what statement she was trying to make tonight since she seemed to confident. Amber's meek response: "It showed my range." After the break Andy Cap, still in solitary confinement, said that he heard some straining in Amber's voice but that it would still be tough for the other chicks to do better.

Trained Seal introduced Candace Glover's Coca-Cola Treatment by claiming that she had the "eye of the tigress." During her treatment Candace talked about how she met the singer Drake on February 21 of last year, which if memory serves was around the time Sole Survivor kicked her out from last season's competition. Drake came up because Candace chose to sing his song "Find Your Love". It was another ballad but rather than just belt out the notes like Amber did Candace was much more stylish in her vocal, with lots of note runs to get the crowd excited. The judges weren't as excited. Indeed they thought Candace sang too many runs. Jaws led off by saying that she talked to Drake yesterday and that she couldn't comment on the vocals any more but would instead speak on "where I see you in the real world today." Nicki spent about 5 minutes complaining about the runs and about how Candace should think about what her potential market is. For good measure she name dropped Kanye West (who allegedly wrote this song) and Luther Vandross. Sole Survivor wasn't too crazy about the runs either, claiming that the vocal sounded too churchy. Glitter Girl, who has been Candace's defender all season, came to her rescue again by dismissing the other comments. Mr. Kidman agreed with Mariah. Andy Cap agreed with Jaws "this time."

Kree Harrison promised the kids that there would be some dancing during her performance of "Hurts So Bad", a blues ballad by someone nobody bothered to say. Apparently Kree considered occasionally shaking her hips as dancing because that was the only movement she made in the entire song. Her performance was a little more animated than what she's typically done but it just kind of fell a little flat for me. I'm beginning to suspect that Kree is losing her endurance as she sounded somewhat tired. Sole Survivor dropped 3 YOs and claimed Kree was "in her element," then got booed for saying that the song felt disconnected at times. Glitter Girl listened to the song in her car on the way to the studio because she had never heard it before and felt that Kree connected with the audience. Mr. Kidman poured his heart out to Kree, crying out for more "frickin emotion" that would break his heart and lamenting that Kree didn't do that with this song. Jaws all but told Kree that she is going home tomorrow night, saying that the performance was not Top 4 worthy. She then ripped into the other judges, Nigel, and everyone who's been pimping Kree all season (including the censor at Fox) with this little line: "Everybody can blow smoke up your (bleep, bleep, bleep) but that wasn't it." Trained Seal seemed dazed and confused about Nicki's censored comment. Andy Cap didn't want to "contribute to any smoke blowing around here" but agreed with Jaws and got booed again.

Angie Miller is a big fan of Jessie J so she chose her song "Who You Are". I had to Google Jessie J to find out who she is. According to Wikipedia "Jessie J is recognized for an unconventional musical and performance style that mixes soul vocals with contemporary R&B, pop, electropop, and hip-hop beats," basically everything Angie is not. What Angie is though is a performer and she was in full performance mode with this song. She was back at the piano, emoting and dramatizing so much that I wondered if she was actually playing the piano or just hitting the keys, and I mean literally hitting the keys. She was bouncing up and down pounding on those keys like Alex Van Halen on the drums. You can look Alex up on Wikipedia. If Mr. Kidman was looking for frickin emotion he found it here, but the singing was just OK. I'm sure Captain Jack would have described this performance as "self-indulgent" but sadly he's not in the house tonight. Instead we have judges that are suckers for emoting so of course Angie got 3 SOs. Glitter Girl didn't stand but claimed that it was because her dress got caught in the chair again. She apparently wanted Angie to chose an original song instead as she advised Angie that "songwriting is an asset that you have, and that can give you a career with longevity, TRUST ME." Mr. Kidman remembered that Angela Miller sang a Jessie J song at her audition and complimented Angie Miller for getting cooler and loser as the song went along, since "it's OK to not be OK." Jaws thought the performance was like a closing act of an awards show, though I think it was meant as a compliment. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and showed off his math skills by saying it was a "10 outta 10 outta 10." Trained Seal invited Angie's crying grandma to come on stage and receive some shout outs from the crowd. In true Angie fashion she still glared at the camera to flash her phone numbers while her crying grandma was hugging her.

OK, it was then duet time. First up was Amber and Kree trying Adele's "Rumor Has It". The two basically just stood there and sang in their usual style, which meant it was pitch perfect but boring. The only thing that got my attention was the camera finally spotting the cute Asian backup singer. Mr. Kidman wanted them to cut loose more and "throw a mic stand or something." Jaws pimped Amber and trashed Kree by telling Kree, and only Kree, that she should sing a duet like she's having a conversation with her favorite diva rather than just stand there and sing, even though both chicks were guilty of that offense. Trained Seal challenged Jaws on that comment, asking her how she would sing a duet with Glitter Girl. The response was the predictable fake attitude thing that we've come to expect from Nicki.

Candace and Angie sang the Rihanna ballad "Stay" featuring Mikky Ekko, another singer I had to look up on Wikipedia. I learned Mikky's a dude so I wondered which of the two chicks sang his part of the song. Apparently Candace and Angie were paying attention back stage because they looked at each other for most of the song, which became a real challenge at the end when the fog machine obscured their view of each other. There were lots of big notes and emoting in this song too, especially Angie who looked pissed off for most of it. If there had been a mic stand nearby Angie would have likely thrown it, especially after Keith's comment after the previous duet. Sole Survivor dropped 5 YOs and raved about how Angie had "come out." Take that for what you will. Glitter Girl backed Candace again by raving about how she respected the song and how she was able to sing it while at the same time deal with the fog machine and Angie.

With great fanfare Trained Seal announced that the winning theme selected by fans for the AT&T contest was "one hit wonders." One wonders why so many people voted for such a dull theme. Whatever happened to Disco Night anyway? An apropos question since Amber chose to sing the one hit wonder "MacArthur Park", which was so wonderful that it was a one-hit wonder twice, once by Richard Harris and once by Disco Queen and former Idol tor-mentor Donna Summer. Amber started the song as the Richard Harris ballad and then there was a somewhat awkward transition to the Donna Summer disco version. Amber sang both parts like she usually does, technically strong but lacking in emotion or depth. It was a fun little performance though, I'll give her that, and half of the song wasn't a ballad. The song choice was, well, interesting. Mr. Kidman thought that Amber was dominating tonight and that "summer had set in for you and it's here to stay." He stayed with the puns by trying a funny line about Richard Harris and disco music but that fell flat. Jaws loved that "Angie" "takes chances." I suspect it was a slip of the tongue, though in this case a Freudian slip would be a plausible explanation for Nicki's flub. Sole Survivor dropped 2 YOs and name dropped Rihanna. Trained Seal accused Amber of holding back until now, a charge that she didn't deny. Andy Cap, still hiding backstage, thought that the judges "missed the point" and that the song was too corny.

Candace selected the another two time one hit wonder, "Emotion" by Samantha Sang and by the Bee Gees. Not the Glitter Girl version, but then Mariah's not a one hit wonder. Her performance had a stylish start though the back up singers were out of tune. The rest of Candace's performance was OK, it was well sung and she stayed within the melody for the most part. Jaws was proud of Candace for sounding somewhat current while singing a 35 year old song, then ripped into Andy Cap for his comments about Amber. Sole Survivor dropped 5 yeses instead of YOs, loved how Candace marinated the vocals, then ripped into Andy Cap for his comments about Amber. Glitter Girl pimped up Candace yet again by pointing out that she sang that song with a bad cold. Mr. Kidman thought Candace could have selected a risker song and also wondered if there were any one-hit wonders in this past decade. Trained Seal stoked the fires by bringing Andy Cap out from exile to a chorus of boos. Jimmy accused the judges of smoking the green icing on Amber's cake and that they were afraid to admit that Candace was better this round than Amber. Jaws responded with "Candace was better!" "Then say it!" was Jimmy's retort. The judges then yell over each other so I had no idea if they were agreeing with Jimmy or still defending their comments about Amber. Jaws and Sole Survivor then both rushed the stage to get in Andy Cap's grill, only to do a group hug instead. Randy still tried to defend himself, but Trained Seal blew him off to read the phone numbers for Candace.

I'm exhausted just typing that paragraph out. So I'll try and abbreviate the summary of the final two performances. Kree sang Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale", an interesting song choice that I would bet Kree didn't mediate on very much like Jaws recommended, especially since Kree told Trained Seal afterwards that she heard Percy Sledge sing this song many times when she was little. Perhaps Kree thought she was singing "When A Man Loves A Woman", the Percy Sledge song that sounds a lot like "A Whiter Shade of Pale", at least according to Wikipedia. This is the kind of mistake that an exhausted person has been known to make. So is singing a decent but uninspiring vocal like Kree did. Sole Survivor dropped a YO and loved it. Glitter Girl also loved it and wanted to download her performance to her phone. Mr. Kidman didn't like the song choice because it was too "middle ground" and got no boos. Jaws thought it was pretty and angelic but also strongly suggested that Kree was in danger because "something inside of you is dimming." Andy Cap must have been exhausted too since he wasn't allowed to comment. Instead Trained Seal pimped the Idol app.

Angie Miller closed the show with the Julie London song "Cry Me A River", which was a one-hit wonder in 1955, one year before Sole Survivor was born. If Julie London's name sounds familiar perhaps it is because in addition to being a one-hit wonder during the Eisenhower administration she also played the nurse on Emergency in the 1970's, 5 years before Jaws was born. Yes, I looked all that up on Wikipedia too. Angie sang without the piano on this number, which meant the usual big notes, faux emoting, and constant staring at the camera. Glitter Girl wondered why the song wasn't a classic rather than just a one-hit wonder and praised Angie for her note selection. Mr. Kidman was told to limit his comments to 3 words, "mystical and celestially powerful." Yes, Jaws pointed out that it was 4 words, then used much more than 3 or 4 words in her critique, including accusing Angie of snatching some wigs tonight. Sole Survivor dropped 2 final YOs and declared Angie's performance to be the best of the night.

Somehow Trained Seal managed to send us off to our local news right at 10:00 and still find time to promise that a "surprise twist" will be announced tomorrow night. More on that in a moment.

Things We Learned Tonight: Patrick Willis' feelings are hurt. Togo's mission is to save the world, one sandwich at a time. Fake Vikings think Alec Baldwin can act. Trained Seal thinks Candace has the "eye of the tigress." Mr. Kidman thinks of Richard Harris whenever he thinks of disco and is looking for someone to throw a mic stand and show some "frickin emotion" that will break his heart. Jaws has resumed her wars with both Jimmy Iovine and the Fox censor. Glitter Girl believes that songwriting is the key to a long career and favors dress that don't allow her to stand up. Andy Cap believes Nicki is in love with him and thinks the other judges are favoring Amber. All the other judges disagree with Jimmy.

Your Three Stars of the Night: Amber's first performance was good, especially since she sang part of it without accompaniment and while standing on top of the stairs. Too bad it was wasted on the death spot. I'll still give her a star though. I liked Candace's runs in her first performance so she gets my second star. The third star gets split by Candace and Angie for their duet that was actually sung like a duet as opposed to two singers just standing there.

The Final Score: 8-1/2 ballads (Amber's "MacArthur Park" was 1/2 ballad, 1/2 disco); 7 big notes; 4 short skirts; 13 YOs & 5 Yeses from Sole Survivor; 1 #POW from Glitter Girl; 11 standing Os; 3 Nigel Lythgoe mentions; 7 mentions of former Idol contestants; I mention of a former Idol judge; 5 name drops: 2 by Jaws and 1 by Sole Survivor, plus 2 by me; 3 references to food; 2 singers I had to look up on Wikipedia; 3 other Wikipedia references; 2 Google references; 1 presidential reference; 2 cute Asian back up singer sightings; 1 app pimping; and no goose bumps.

The Fearless Prediction: Tamyra Gray. LaToya London. Chris Daughtry. Lakisha Jones. Michael Lynche. James Durbin. What do these former Idol contestants all have in common? They were all among the favorites to win coming out of the semi-finals in their respective seasons, and they were all eliminated at this point in the competition. There's a pattern here, and I have a feeling that it'll be repeated again this year with Kree Harrison. She was one of the pre-live show favorites, if not the favorite to win, and she's been slipping while the others have been gaining. On top of that, even though she was in the Bottom 2 last week the judges weren't trying to pimp her up this week. Instead they were focusing their love on Amber as if they were trying to save her. I have a feeling that Kree may be eliminated tomorrow night. I say may because the "surprise twist" that Trained Seal promised at the end of the show tonight likely has something to do with the fact that the Idol season will end one week early unless they do something since Nigel wouldn't let the judges use the save on a dude. That something could well be that no one gets eliminated tomorrow and instead they'll be eliminated next week. While Kree would no doubt be grateful I don't know if she has the stamina to last another week.

My Favorite Idols

I've been thinking (dangerous I know), who have been my favorite contestants on American Idol? Who would be in my Top 16 over all 12 seasons? Well, here's my all star lineup, and not all of them are here because of their vocals.

Christina Christian, Season 1

They say you never forget your first, and for me and Idol the first was Christina Christian. Though I only caught snippets of Idol in its first season I do remember this young lady with the cute voice and the even cuter look. I remember checking the Idol web site each week to see if she was still in the competition. I also remember that she was eliminated while in the hospital for exhaustion, which at the time made me sad because I thought she had a chance to win.

William Hung, Season 3

In 2004 I worked in an office with several engineers from Asia, and every one of them talked about this dude. Not in a derogatory fashion mind you, but rather out of admiration. William was living their dream. Even though he couldn’t sing a single note in key he still managed to gain fame and a record deal, just because he did his best. Only in America.

LaToya London, Season 3

Some of you cynics out there might not believe Idol’s promos about how much support the contestants get from the people in their hometowns. I can tell you from LaToya’s experience though that they really do. Even though she wasn’t a small town girl, everyone in her hometown of Oakland knew about LaToya while she was on the show. There were signs of support everywhere and she was the talk of every bar and restaurant in the city, whether you watched the show or not. Indeed, even Oaklanders who didn’t watch Idol were calling in and voting for her. I was living in Oakland at the time and I thought it was really fun to have one of our own do so well, even though I wasn’t watching the show at this point.

Kellie Pickler, Season 5

This blog and everything about it all exist because of this little ol’ car hop who lived in a trailer in North Carolina. It was her audition on the season premiere of Season 5, which I was only watching because I was cooped up at home cleaning my living room of ants, which got me hooked into watching this show. After seeing and hearing her audition I was inspired to watch the next show, and the next one, and… well, you know the rest of the story.

Chris Daughtry, Season 5

While Kellie was who first got me to watch Idol, it was Chris Daughtry that got me to watch it every week. Here was a guy who just had a natural voice for rock songs and wasn’t afraid to deviate from the Idol template of ballads, ballads, and more ballads. Even though he didn’t win Chris provided the template that David Cook followed to win Idol 2 seasons later. He proved to me that there was a place on Idol for singers that I would like. To this day Daughtry’s albums are the only ones recorded by a former Idol contestant that I have ever bought.

Elliott Yamin, Season 5

Elliott was the James Brown of American Idol, the hardest working man in the history of the show. Nobody worked on his singing during the season as much as he did, and it was that hard work that led to Chris Daughtry getting eliminated before him and almost led to Katherine McPhee getting eliminated one week later that would have put Elliott in the finale. Nobody gave this dude much of a chance to win and he came this close to pulling it off.

Melinda Doolittle, Season 6

I would argue that Melinda Doolittle was technically the best singer in the history of Idol. Key changes, chord changes, runs, flats, sharps, slow songs, dance songs, Melinda could sing them all and then some. I don’t think she missed a single note the entire season and I don’t remember any of the judges ever saying anything critical of her singing, even Simon. She was that good. As good as Jordin Sparks was that year, Melinda would have won it all if only she hadn’t been so afraid to show her personality.

Jordin Sparks, Season 6



How good was Jordin Sparks that year? This good. There is only one reason why Jordin is on this list. It's because her performance of "You Never Walk Alone" on the first Idol Gives Back show was my favorite single performance in the history of the show. I can't think of any other performance that not only gave me goosebumps but left me crying at the end. As long as this is still up on You Tube, just press play and hear for yourself just how good Jordin was.

Ramiele Malubay, Season 7

Speaking of chicks that were too shy, there was this cute little Pinay with a great voice that she was too afraid to show. However, that’s not why she is on this list. Well, cute is part of the reason why, but the main reason why she’s here is because she was the first person on the show that I gave a nickname to (Pinoy’s Lullaby, because she once said that she didn’t want to be known as “Ramiele Lullaby” by singing too many ballads). It worked so well that I started giving nicknames to the other contestants that season. Soon thereafter I started giving nicknames to the judges, the mentors, and Ryan, a practice that continues to this day.

Amanda Overmyer, Season 7

Ah yes, the rock and roll nurse, who sounded like Janis Joplin, rode a Harley, and called everyone “chiel.” She was only on the live shows for a short time but it was a fun time while it lasted. In a season full of oh so serious singers with prior record deals trying to get back in the biz, Amanda was an amateur that was off the cuff and just didn’t give a damn. It was really refreshing and a real shame that she was eliminated so early.

Jason Castro, Season 7

Speaking of contestants who didn’t give a damn, we have Exhibit A in the dreadlocked Jason Castro. I loved how he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He was relieved to be eliminated before he had to sing 2 songs, he laughed at Andrew Lloyd Webber because he wrote a musical about cats, and after butchering both “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Mister Tambourine Man” on the same night he admitted on the results show that he had read somewhere that he had “shot the tambourine man” and thought the comment was funny. He’s also the guy who inspired Paula Abdul’s infamous brain fart when she critiqued one of his performances before he had sung it, but more on that another day.

Allison Irahata, Season 8

I’m not sure what it was that I liked about Allison. Maybe it was her bright red hair, or her song choices that tended towards rock, or perhaps because she showed so much maturity for a 16 year old. Perhaps what drew me in the most was that she seemed so genuine and because she was the clear underdog that year compared to eye candy Kris Allen, Broadway Boy Adam Lambert, and the heavily pimped Danny Gokey. Allison was like the daughter I wished I had.

Siobhan Magnus, Season 9

She was quirky, she was shy, she had a large and strange tattoo on her shoulder and really odd tastes in hair styles, she argued with the judges, she chose to sing some strange songs, and she could scream like a banshee. Siobhan was one of the most unique finalists that Idol has ever had. Her glory notes were unlike anything Idol had ever heard either before or since; they were loud enough to break glass. I’ve liked the contestants that are distinctive and Siobhan was that alright, perhaps like none other. I always looked forward to her performances because I never knew what to expect. If I had to name my all-time Three Stars it would be Chris Daughtry, Melinda Doolittle, and Siobhan.

Crystal Bowersox, Season 9

With all due respect to Lee DeWyze, who was a decent singer and seemed like a cool guy, but Crystal really should have won that season. She was so consistent week in and week out and was a really good singer. She also filled a very unique niche; no one on this show has embodied the folk rock/chick rock genre like Crystal did. She never reached for the glory notes or tried to “perform” rather than sing. She just did her thing and did it well.

Joshua Ledet, Season 11

Like Crystal two seasons before, Joshua really should have won in Season 11. This kid held nothing back every time he performed. Every song was strong and passionate, it really did seem like he was singing for his life as Ryan so often claims Idol contestants do. He liked Ryan's comparisons to Mandisa from Season 5, but Joshua was actually better than her. Mandisa may have wanted to cleanse of our sins but Joshua’s performances actually did.

Candice Glover, Season 12

I believe technically Candice was the best singer on the show since Melinda Doolittle. There was nothing that this chick could not sing. I was worried that she would follow in Melinda's footsteps and be eliminated before the finale, but then she started showing some personality and creativity in her performances and my fears went away. I didn’t mind that she was shy and a little overweight. I am too so I could sympathize with Candice whereas I couldn't with anyone else on the show that season. I was so happy that she won Season 12, since for the first time in a long time the best singer actually won a singing competition rather than the best looking or most marketable contestant.