Wednesday, April 20. With the “Idol” contestants cut to seven, some of the judges (thankfully) finally began expecting more from singers who’ve been coasting through from week to week. In order to fill an hour-and-a-half, the producers stretched it out by showing us pre-taped footage of the Top 7 making fun of each other and bringing back “the bottom six” to sing Lady Gaga’s “Rock Star.” Once again, we were reminded of the also rans: Naima Adedapo, Karen Rodriguez, Ashton Jones, Thia Megia, Pia Toscano, and Paul McDonald. It was clear how biased the voting has been this year when five women appeared on stage then McDonald joined them with a shredded voice that sounded like the cat dragged it in. He could barely keep up with the song’s upbeat tempo. The ever-animated Adedapo made such a big jump on the stage she almost crashed into the back of Megia.
Tonight, the contestants had to choose songs from the 21st century—anything from 2000 on. 1. Scotty McCreery: “Swinging”/LeAnn Rimes. Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine encouraged the 17 year old to move around the stage more so he would get the non-country fans in his corner in addition to his country base. The music sounded great with horns bringing more excitement than a typically arranged country track, but as usual, our boy wasn’t singing any differently, at times not seeming to keep up with the beat. His ridiculous, corny expressions with his eyebrows were increasingly getting on my nerves. I guessed the judges would once again be fooled into thinking McCreery actually changed it up when, in fact, he actually did the same vocal just with a different instrumental dressing.
I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t fall for it. Steven Tyler said the singer should run around the stage more. Jennifer Lopez said that at this point in the competition, they had to push past their comfort zone. Randy Jackson agreed, saying it was “so safe, it was actually kind of boring for me from you (God, I hate when he does that! He avoided that unnecessary phrase for most of the season but couldn’t help himself tonight. As opposed to “for everyone from you?” When he starts using the totally redundant “for me personally,” I’ll throw something at the TV).
But hallelujah! The judges, who constantly gave this guy a pass with all this bull about him staying true to his (boring and never changing or challenging) country roots, finally held him to the same standard they applied to Pia Toscano and Thia Megia, whom they criticized for doing too many ballads. At this point, if we know McCreery’s going to do another traditional sounding country song—and he does—how is that a good thing?
2. James Durbin: “Uprising”/Muse. Before going to the break, Ryan Seacrest said for the first time, a contestant was going to sing an original song. So how cum this one’s already been recorded by Muse? The best rock singer on the show began performing by walking through the audience, but his first few notes were too low or unintelligible. Eventually, he wound up to a screaming range them seamlessly dropped down to his regular range, which was quite impressive. It wasn’t as smooth the second time he attempted it, but he’s clearly the best singer left in the competition and should win this contest.
Lopez exclaimed, “I think that was the highest we ever heard you sing--or anybody on the show!” Jackson called it “unbelievable,” even going as far as saying “I think this is probably gonna be the best performance of the night.” Actually, it was.
3. Haley Reinhart: “Rolling In The Deep”/Adele. Apparently, the 20-year old was singing the song but—once again—not really thinking about what the lyrics were about because Iovine asked her—as he’s done in past weeks--what the person in the song was feeling. She’s supposed to be pissed off, and he wanted her to convey that. Of course, Reinhart smiled throughout most of her performance (she takes direction real well, that kid!). The selection allowed her to display quite a range including a brief falsetto, but her upper range sounded limited as if she had a slight cold.
Jackson said in addition to determining who sang the best, he was also interested in what kind of record a contestant was going to make, and he felt she chose a perfect direction for herself. He did feel her falsetto was a little sharp (glad he didn’t rely on his usual, too-generic “pitchy”). Tyler felt she had a slow start but made up for it. Lopez said there were moments where Reinhart brought her own personality into it.
4. Jacob Lusk: “Dance With My Father”/Luther Vandross. When Seacrest teased that Lusk was going to sing a something by the man he’s always being compared to, I immediately thought: Luther Vandross and “Dance With My Father.” I was right. In his pre-taped video package, Lusk revealed that his Dad died when he was 12, so he related to the song about a son wanting to see his dead father reunited with his mother. He cried during rehearsals, and Iovine told him he could understand how he felt because he lost his Dad when he was young too.
Shortly after he began singing on stage, Lusk looked to his right as if he couldn’t hear the band, lowered his mike, and didn’t quite bring it back up to his mouth in time for his next word. Weird (he later explained he could only hear drums). Ironically, the original record had the most annoyingly, mundane but loud drum beat, so I knew this arrangement would have to sound better, but Lusk’s performance was entirely forgettable.
Tyler mentioned his stumble, praising him for continuing on. Lopez recognized it was hard to sing an emotional song and stay in control and that “emotionally, it was a beautiful performance.” Jackson said his vocals were good “but it didn’t make me jump up and down.” He felt he was holding back and wanted the restraints off so he could hit the glory (high) notes again to make it more exciting. First of all, if you have an interesting tone to your voice (as Karen Carpenter, Basia, or Ronald Isley did), you don’t have to throw in vocal calisthenics to impress us. So Lusk’s voice is basically boring.
5. Casey Abrams: “Harder To Breathe”/Maroon 5. Taking to the stage with his guitar, the bearded one delivered a fast vocal against a relatively laidback musical backdrop until the rest of the band kicked in. He didn’t quite hit the upper notes with his growl, but he ended the song memorably by going up to the judge’s table, getting in Lopez’s face, and kissing her.
Lopez swooned (I hate to think what Paula Abdul would’ve done had Abrams done that to her; she might’ve gotten undressed right then and there. You know, out of force of habit). “See, now, Casey’s not playing fair! OK?” she protested. “Casey’s got soft lips!” Tyler joked, to roars of laughter from the audience, “You did what I’ve been trying to do for four months!” Lopez continued: “I loved it!” Then she clarified: “The performance!” Jackson appreciated that Abrams was always full of surprises and that he’s become a “jazz, indie rock guy.” Tyler must’ve swore because the sounded dropped out for quite a while. Getting into the spirit of things, Jackson joined in and was also “bleeped.” That’s greaaaat, Randy.
After the commercial break, Tyler’s mouth was taped shut.
6. Stefano Langone: “Closer”/Ne-Yo. When the singer began pleading during rehearsals, Iovine told him to be more confident instead. During tonight’s performance, Langone went off key on the first verse, and although he stalked the stage and the back of the judges’ table, once again, I wasn’t sure who he was performing to because he was closing his eyes a lot or looking more towards the ceiling than at the audience. He was back to disconnecting himself from the crowd.
Jackson was worried how this was going to go but he praised Langone for taking his time singing the verses, feeling he did a “very good job.” Lopez said, “Speaking for the girls in the audience, I thought it was very, very good. You really had your swag going on” and that it felt like she was at his concert.
7. Lauren Alaina: “Born To Fly”/Sara Evans. In taped footage, the 16 year old said that after hearing herself on TV, she realized she had “a little bit of an accent.” Pfft! Once again, she mumbled the song she was going to do. I had to look it up just to be certain. Iovine talked about her confidence problem and how she held back. After he brought in Rock Mafia, the team which produces Miley Cyrus, he felt her confidence drop again and had to build her back up. I can’t remember how the song went. Just another country track with a fiddle.
Tyler said he’d love to hear her do more Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, and Shania Twain. In other words, probably something that’s actually melodic. Lopez praised her for having so much color and character in her voice (again, what the hell is she talking about?). But she wanted the big boned singer to at least practice those big long notes in private to see if she could do them or she’ll fall behind the others just as Alaina earlier said she feared doing. Jackson reiterated a tired line he’s used throughout the season: The singer doesn’t know how good she is. Uh, I think she does, Randy, because she’s really not that great!
After seeing a montage of practice footage of tonight’s performances (they’re never the actual performances because unlike the football people, the producers of “Idol” apparently can’t do instant replay fast enough), Seacrest asked the judges for their perspective on the remaining contestants. Lopez and Jackson said they were all so good that any of them could win the contest. Jackson, proving how little he thinks about what he says, called all of them, “Dude.” Not “dudes” but as if they were just one person: “Dude, come on, please! Bring it hard. Be all you can be—every time!”
Predictions for who’ll be in tomorrow night’s bottom three: Scotty McCreery (finally!), Jacob Lusk, and Stefano Langone (three times in the bottom three—including the bottom two last week-- more than anyone else). Going home: Stefano.
Check in here tomorrow night to see who winds up going home.
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