American Idol – The top 6 commit Queen

Something’s bothering me … and it has been for awhile.

It’s some of the strange things coming out of the judges on American Idol. On the one hand — and they’ve been doing this for quite sometime this season — they’re glad-handing as if there’s no tomorrow, praising performances that are substandard. Why in the world would you critique beyond a simple “That was beautiful and I loved it!” when that’s not what it needs? On the flip side you have critiques which seem to unnecessarily knock contestants down several pegs. It’s as if there’s psychological chicanery being played that’s meant to get inside a hopeful’s head and mess with them. There’s no need for that. Case in point: JLo’s overly critical grilling of Hollie Cavanagh. Cripes! Leave the poor girl alone! A majority of the time she’s doing just fine with no problems whatsoever, yet JLO in particular feels obligated to pick a perfectly good performance apart just because it appears to her Hollie isn’t enjoying the moment. Get off her already. Constructive criticism is one thing, attempting to heap your personal beliefs on someone needlessly is quite another. (Interestingly, the same thing is happening over at The Voice this season as well in different shades of gray.)

That being said, the business at hand is an evening featuring the songs of the great Queen …

Jessica Sanchez “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Huh. I don’t know. All that divaishness Jessica has been displaying the past weeks looks as if it’s beginning to show wear. There are cracks in its veneer. She could have really put this tune out there and did something notable with it given her strengths, but instead she struggled to get the words out. And it showed.

Skylar Laine “The Show Must Go On”
Interesting song for Skylar to try out and she put in a way better effort than Jessica before her … way more command, way more heart. Did you notice she was completely comfortable with it?

Joshua Ledet “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
This wasn’t anywhere near the best Queen song for Joshua to take on. He sounded strained and frantic and he never seemed to find a comfortable groove with it. What made it worse was the “four checks” approval commentary Randy kept pulling out of his ass, falsely providing support for Joshua’s performance where there was none.

Elise Testone “I Want It All”
Good song for Elise to sing. Of all the songs in the Queen catalog she could have done, I was very satisfied this was the one she pulled out of the hat. She put character — her character — into it and gave us a super performance. Steven was right: It was the  “just right song” for her.

Phillip Phillips “Fat Bottom Girls”
Whoa. Really like Phillip’s performance. Talk about singing with faith and feeling, Phillip was completely persuasive in offering us this tune. This one gave him the chance to project a little more than usual and he took the opportunity to do it. Dog dug it.

Hollie Cavanagh “Save Me”
I think Hollie did really well with the song. JLo didn’t. It felt she was trying to convince her otherwise, like she was trying to unconvince Hollie of her abilities. Was the song perfect? No. But it didn’t warrant the ass-chewing JLo gave her which seemed aimed at getting in Hollie’s head when there was no cause for it. Even Randy mentioned Hollie needed to step it up. (Side Note: With Hollie having made appearances in the Bottom 3 previously, it will be a bit ironic if she ends up there again having sung this song.)

For the second round of the evening, the Idols got to pick their own songs …

Jessica Sanchez Dance With My Father”
Yeah … that veneer is definitely starting to crack. Jessica tried pulling a heart-felt performance out of this song, but she pushed it down inside her instead. It didn’t “feel” right. However, the smart play she pulled off was discussing her father’s upcoming military deployment. That will garner some sympathy votes to keep her afloat in the competition. Still, I’m completely ready for her to pack her bags.

Skylar Laine “Tattoos On This Town”
I’ll admit to not being familiar with this song, but it really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things because it was right up Skylar’s alley. Of all the contestants of the evening, she’s the one who had a good two-for-two set.

Joshua Ledet “Ready For Love”
Yep. Another good one from Joshua, in his element this time, unlike the Queen track. Despite the fact I didn’t necessarily know the song going in until about halfway through, it’s not going to be something I (or anyone) remembers down the line. He gave it his all — as he usually does — but there was nothing dynamic about it.

Elise Testone “Bold As Love”
This is the kind of song Elise seems to perform best, right in her wheelhouse, but Steven was absolutely correct in stating at this stage of the game familiarity is key to garnering votes. Straining the audience’s mind in trying to come up with what the heck a song is is a big no-no right now. Unless you can do something utterly fantastic with it, it’s best you wow’em with something they’re familiar with. Still, Elise did a great job with the tune.

Phillip Phillips (A Dave Mathews song I don’t know the title to)
Phillip had a problem with Steven’s critique and he didn’t like JLo’s either. It was written all over his face. Randy was the opposite of the other two; he loved it. Phillip followed right in the footsteps of Elise — figuratively as well as literally — in that he committed a somewhat obscure song unknown to the general population. Not the wisest choice in the overall scheme of things. The difference here is he put an interesting twist on it and gave us something memorable and different. That won points in my book … but I’m not certain if it won enough points to keep him out of the Bottom 3, which may be his first appearance there.

Hollie Cavanagh “The Climb”
Hollie kicked this song Miley Cyrus at the end the evening. This was the “in your face” response to JLo’s earlier critique, as it should have been. Hollie definitely has got the chops and the charisma to pull things off like this and this song proved that. She was just as comfortable with it as she was commanding of it.

Based on the overall performances of the evening with everyone pretty well matched, it’s a very tough call trying to figure out who will wind up in the Bottom 3 … let alone who will get the boot. Something tells me it’s Hollie, Joshua and Elise, with it coming down to the two girls.

Notes:

• Look! It’s Little Steven Van Zandt in the audience watching the Idols perform!
• One of my all-time favorite drummers returns to Idol and the Idol stage, Roger Taylor. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed listening to him sing and drum. And I was (and still am) a huge fan of his initial solo release, Fun In Space.
• Look! Randy is talking out his ass … every … single … performance.

Quotes:

“Rock isn’t your forte, I wouldn’t say it was at all …” — Steven Tyler on Jessica Sanchez

“The bigger the cushion [pregnant pause] the bigger the cushion …” — Steven Tyler looking at JLo after Phillip Phillip’s first performance, “Fat Bottom Girls”
“What are you lookin’ at me for?!?” — JLo’s exasperated replied

“Very entertaining, very off the wall. Typical Phil Phillips. What am I going to say about it? I didn’t like the melody.” — Steven Tyler of Phillip Phillips’ second performance

“Honestly, true story. Phillip? We were back stage a few minutes ago. I think you ran by my girlfriend who’s here and she, like, sighed and blushed. And I think I heard her say ‘yummy’ …” — Ryan to Phil Phillips

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Apr 26, 2012 @ 11:15 EST5EDT