Let’s talk about the judges for a moment before we launch into this week’s monkey business on American Idol , ‘kay?
<rant> What’s up with them? Every time one of them critiques a performer’s performance, I feel the soft, wooly warmth being pulled over me. Steven, JLo and Randy sure do come to that table with a whole lot of nicey-nice. I’m not looking for Simon Cowell nastiness to come spillin’ out, but I’m definitely not in the judge’s corner when it comes to quite a few of their comments. Randy (!!!) is the only one I’m on board with; at least he’s going against the grain and calling out the craptastickness on stage, not comforting them with feel-good gooey bubbles. </rant>
My comments are mostly short and sweet about the contestants this week, but I do have a words for a few.
Lauren Alaina (“Any Man of Mine”): Cutesy. Forgettable.
Casey Abrams (“With A Little Help From My Friends”): Interestingly, Casey struggled with it … or seemed to. There were a few moments when he stutter-stepped in the song but — even with the mini blunders — he still smoothed things over and put out a decent performance. Only goes to show you can’t be brilliant week in and week out.
Ashthon Jones (“When You Tell Me That You Love Me”): Not as bad as last week in the “put up or shut up” challenge that got her (inexplicably) into the Top 13, but a stinker nonetheless. I’m of the mind she’ll be one at the bottom of the heap come Thursday’s whittling.
Paul McDonald (“Come Pick Me Up”): Dude cracked me up. He’s The Scarecrow from “The Wizard Of Oz” up there prancing about on stage. His gravely goodness couldn’t cover the flaws, but Paul’s in no danger of going anywhere.
Pia Toscano (“All By Myself”): All I know is this chick’s got control, but she needs work. She needs improvement and some seasoning, but that’s about it. She puts on a good show.
James Durbin (“Maybe I’m Amazed”): Cleaned up pretty well and put out another spiffy performance. Controlled. Toned down. Subdued. James wasn’t really even screaming at all. He’s showing some range.
Haley Reinhart (“Blue”): Hmmmmmmmmmmm … if there was ever anyone too inexperienced to do this song, Haley was the one. No possible way she could master this piece. She gave it a try, but she failed at it.
Jacob Lusk (“I Believe I Can Fly”): And here we go with another performance heard differently by the judges as opposed to what I heard. Jacob’s effort seemed forced and desperate. The interesting thing about him is he can bring it sometimes, working it really well … and then there was this. Rather painful for me. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though. What’d I miss?
Thia Megia (“Smile”): Beautiful beginning to her performance. She was knocking it out of the park until the beat came in and destroyed everything she’d built up to that point. Whoever the bonehead was who decided to mess with the arrangement and add the “color” should be shot. Thia’s grown on me and in pretty short order. But … you can see and feel the “youngness” on her face: She doesn’t know how to react to any of the criticism tossed her way; and that’s a problem that looks like Thia might be contending with for a while. She has got to stop wearing her emotions on her sleeve. Otherwise it could get detrimental to her quickly. Proof was her exit interview. No confidence there at all.
Stefano Langone (“Lately”): Well … seems like Stefano’s got a little Captain in him, doesn’t he? Oh, sorry … I mean he’s got a little Stevie in him. At least he did at the beginning of his stint. Then, for me, I went from a bit of a smile watching him exude warmth to warping right into a grimace. I did not like it in the end and hated the dippy arrangement.
Karen Rodriguez (“I Could Fall In Love”): Was she in the wrong key? Was she still in the practice room? It sounded as if she started too low, but progressing into the song and going into the upper ranges, she struggled there, too. She didn’t cut it. Selena may be her thing, but she didn’t do her justice.
Scotty McCreery (“The River”): Scotty put it to bed. Again. All I know is there are a lot of girls out in the audience who were swooning for him. Dude’s got a fan base. …
Naima Adedapo (“Umbrella”): My take on Naima is: That may be the song for her and she might have fit it well, but it did nothing whatsoever for me. She can perform and put on a show, but I don’t like her. Naima is another one who will be in danger of leaving.
I’m uncertain if Idol is hosting a Bottom Three, but my picks for that group if it happens are Ashthon, Haley and Naima with Ashthon headed out the door.
Let’s see what happens.
(P.S. Somewhere down the line, I’m going to have nightmares about JLo’s severe, screaming blood-red lipstick and nails.)
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Mar 10, 2011 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Yay, I love that I can live each Idol experience twice — once by seeing it, and again by reading your reviews. :) Here are my thoughts:
Hayley — I liked her! I’ve had that song stuck in my head since last night, if that’s any indication. Even if she wasn’t strong enough for it, maybe America will remember the yodeling.
Naima — I was so confused. I don’t know whether I liked it or hated it. I appreciated the reggae interlude and dancing, but the rest of it (aka, the song choice itself, and her execution of it) was wrong.
James — I actually liked him today for the first time.
Jacob — I’m with you. I felt like I couldn’t breathe when he did those repeated runs at the end. Simmer down!
Paul — My favorite guy. I love the Scarecrow comparison — ha ha!
Stefano — I really liked him. I think he might have been going for a Taio Cruz / Usher thing with the upbeat version.
Thia — I totally agree with you about her not knowing how to react at all. Her backstage interview was painful.
My predictions … Bottom 3: Thia, Ashthon, and Naima, with Naima going home.
*POST AUTHOR*
. . . . .
Between the two of us, Rachel, I’m certain one of our selections will drop into the shoot.
*hums “Anticipation” quietly*
Well Mr. Noble, we’re definitely on the same page as far as the judges go. Personally, I believe Steven and J.Lo are way too happy to have been chosen as judges, and therefore everyone has a good performance and great potential as an artist…..NOT!! It’s almost like standing in the store scratching off your lottery ticket and hitting the jackpot. You’re so ecstatic and in shock that you turn around hug the person behind you (that you don’t even know) and say, “Keep playin’ man, it’ll happen for you too!”
I won’t attempt to comment on all the performances, but there are about five or six I’d like to knock off tonight….if not more. Niama isn’t in my bottom three but she reminds me of Lisa Bonet in Angel Heart….SPOOKY!!
Also, liked Paul in the beginning and he’s certainly good entertainment, but his vocals aren’t that strong and I have no idea exactly where he belongs.
Karen has got to go, I could tell if she was singing well or not last week because of the “I’ll sing this song in English….no wait…Spanish….no wait….English…no wait??” Well, this week it was all English and now I KNOW she can’t sing very well.
Lastly there’s Ashton….I don’t even know how this chick got a wild card?!? That’s all I have to say about her.
My personal bottom three…Ashton, Paul, and Karen, with Ashton leaving. Always look forward to reading your write ups….it’s just like oldin’ times~
I was embarrassed watching Paul flailing around the stage like a marrionette with a drunk puppeteer. Oh my.
Naima’s performance was the most fun. I had my doubts about her, but she surprised me with that rap! I wonder what else she can do.
Although Thia’s song arrangement was not great, she has the most beautiful voice. Hands down. If this was just about vocal quality, I would declare her the winner. But it’s not. I could listen to her singing the phonebook, but watching her perform is different. She doesn’t have the stage presence.
Well, now I don’t feel so all alone. There were several times last night when I wondered if the judges had watched the same performance that I just sat through. I didn’t care for Stefano’s performance at all, the arrangement sounded bad beginning in the middle and then on toward the end. I felt that he had started off strong, then crashed and burned, but all three judges were like.. Oh we love it.. yayyy. Give me a break. Towards the end I began wishing for WWSS (What Would Simon Say) The judges need to step it up.
I completely agree with your bottom three picks. I’m not so sure I like Paul. I just haven’t decided about him.
Good call, Rupe. Especially about the Judges. Randy does not have the personality to fill Simon’s shoes, but he does have good judgement. I hate to say this, but I really think Idol could gain from other “judged” shows and give us some numbers. On a 1-5 scale, sugar coat it all you want, a 5 is good, a 3 is average, and a 1 is (hopefully) out the door.