left to right: Karen Rodriguez, Naima Adedapo, Haley Reinhart.
Thursday, March 17. Viewers continued to separate the wheat from the chaff in another stretched out hour-long results show. At this point, the more marginal singers at least hope to make the Top 10 because that’s the line-up that’ll go on the annual “Idol” tour this summer, get more exposure, and hopefully pick up a recording contract, whereas the other two will soon be forgotten.
We were “treated” to this week’s group performance—Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild” with a little bit of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” (which rips off Madonna’s “Express Yourself”) thrown in as a mash-up perhaps inspired by what that other musical Fox show “Glee” often does: mesh two songs together. Worst singer of them all: Jacob Lusk whose microphone level was barely audible when he first attempted to sing his part. When his voice came out, it was a monotone read. Casey Abrams seemed to have the same problem with his mic, but he pulled it off.
The weekly obligatory Ford Music Video set to “Val Kilmer” was so forgettable the director should be fired. In what continues to be a new feature this year, we saw a montage of the contestants being silly while being interviewed in the studio. Thia Megia imitated the southern twang of Lauren Alaina, which was funny and thankfully showed that the 16 year old wonder, besides having a serene smile and grounded personality, has a sense of humor to go with it.
Host Ryan Seacrest asked Jacob Lusk, Lauren Alaina, and Casey Abrams to leave their seats on the couch and come to center stage to hear their fates. I knew they were all safe. They were.
Next up on the firing line: Haley Reinhart and Paul McDonald. We were told-- nauseatingly for the umpteenth time--that judge Randy Jackson’s confused about Reinhart’s musical identity. She explained that she wants to do a combination of rock, funk, and blues. I hoped that both would wind up in the bottom three, but only Reinhart did.
After coming back from the commercial break, Seacrest pointed out that rapper Pitbull was in the audience sitting next to Jennifer Lopez’s husband Marc Anthony. Pitbull was the guest rapper on JLo’s new single “On the Floor.” Last week, its music video debuted on the show, and the exposure helped it jump from #9 to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, giving the singer her first chart topper in eight years since “All I Have” with LL Cool J. All for a forgettable record where Lopez’s thin vocals were drowned out in the mix and her identity lost as Pitbull dominated from start to finish.
Seacrest made the amazingly daring (and ludicrous) claim that last year’s winner of “American Idol,” Lee DeWyze, “turned from salesman to superstar” on the show. Really? When it was released in November, his album only moved 39,000 copies, the lowest sales debut for not only any “Idol” winner but any runner-up! I’m surprised his record label didn’t drop him after that. Well, after hearing his boring new song, they will (Why not? They recently cut 2008 runner-up David Archuleta after his second album tanked).
The drill continued with Scotty McCreery, Pia Toscano, and James Durbin facing the music. There was no suspense: it was clear they were all safe. We at least got comic relief after Seacrest asked Steven Tyler, “Do you see a little of yourself when you watch James perform?” Tyler answered, “No…” After we all had a good laugh, he added, “Yes, of course I do.” It’s Durbin’s wail.
Next up, Stefano Langone and Naima Adedapo. I hoped both croaked with the voters, but only Adedapo was singled out. I worried when the final pair came up: Karen Rodriguez and Thia Megia. Although the judges unfairly criticized the latter contestant for singing ballads every week, I had a feeling the viewers liked and would support her based on her past performances and generally sweet nature. I hoped I wasn’t wrong. Thankfully, I wasn’t. Rodriguez was in the bottom three with Haley Reinhart and Naima Adedapo.
This demonstrated two things to me: One, the voters continue to be very much swayed by the comments of the judges (last night, based on their critiques, I predicted Reinhart and Adedapo would bottom out though I mistakenly picked Paul McDonald instead of Rodriguez). And two, those voters simply don’t care for Rodriguez and Reinhart because they’ve sent them into the bottom three two weeks in a row despite the fact that, last night, they weren’t the worst performers.
Before the loser was revealed, the Black Eyed Peas performed their latest single “Just Can’t Get Enough.” Will.i.am began by saying the group was going to “dedicate it to our friends in Japan.” A nice touch. The song started off fine with Fergie looking better than usual and sounding good. Then Will.i.am had to ruin it by singing through an auto-tuned mike. If that wasn’t enough, Fergie sang these stereotyped, cringe-worthy lyrics: “I love you long time so you know the meanin’.” Yeah. I bet you do his laundry too. Then the ugly guy (Taboo) started rapping. Eh, all in all, at least it wasn’t the usual disjoined, haphazard, noisy mess I’ve come to expect from these misfits.
Back to the main matter at hand. I was convinced Naima Adedapo was going to get the boot, but she was the first one sent back to safety on the couch. Despite giving a relatively OK version of “Love Will Lead You Back” last night, the voters wanted Karen Rodriguez sent home. Seacrest gave her the usual last chance to win over the judges (they can use their veto power to save only one contestant before we reach the Top Five). She chose to do Mariah Carey’s “Hero” weaving in and out of English and Spanish and pissing me off a final time. I’m certainly not going to miss bilingual performances. Good riddance.
I knew the judges weren’t going to save the singer, but Randy Jackson surprised me by saying the verdict wasn’t unanimous meaning one of them actually wanted to use the save! Obviously, it was Lopez. In fact, as the contestant watched the video package of the journey she’d taken up until this point, the judges, in a rare move, came up on stage and began hugging Rodriguez, led by… who else… Lopez.
Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer. Let’s think rationally here: At this point, the only singers all three judges would agree have to make the top five are Pia Toscano, James Durbin, Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk (ugh!), Lauren Alaina, and possibly Scotty McCreery. You wanted to waste your one and only vote on Karen Rodriguez? Really?
She’ll probably get offers from Spanish language record labels. As much as she irked me with her Spanglish versions of songs, the wrong contestant was sent home. It clearly should’ve been Adedapo. But her days are numbered. If this pattern holds up, next week, she may once again be in the bottom three with Haley Reinhart and a new “recruit.”
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