“How Often Can Someone Be In The Bottom Three Without Going Home?” by Guy Aoki

Thursday, April 21.  Fans of television’s #1 show cast more than 52 million votes last night and we heard some eyebrow-raising performances before learning the results.  Jacob Lusk, Stefano Langone, Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart teamed up to cover Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” with the two guys singing together then the two girls doing the same.  The Ford Music Video of the Week was for “World” which featured a memorable scene of Idols lassoing the clouds.

     The real surprise of the night was the great, textured vocal blend the remaining contestants generated for Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.”  Scotty McCreery’s country vocals actually fit in fine alongside Casey Abrams and James Durbin meaning he can sing in a higher range just fine if he only tried it once in a while.  Someone was a bit off key on the final “oooh.”

     Ryan Seacrest wanted to give Lusk a chance to defend himself against his fellow contestants jokingly calling him a diva the night before.  Oh, really, is it wise to bring attention to that?  Lusk said he assumed it was more about the notes he hit and not his personality.  No, man, it’s your personality.  Diva as in Elton John, your idol Luther Vandross, and skater Johnny Weir.  In other words, very gay.  Last night, Lusk himself warned his fellow competitors, “Let’s not go there.”  Oops.  Too late.

     Casey Abrams and Lusk were called to center stage to hear their fate.  Seacrest asked Abrams if he’d planned on kissing Jennifer Lopez at the end of his song last night.  Nah, he was “just gonna breath in her face,” but she gave him an opening.  Lopez said she liked the kisses better.  Lusk expounded upon the technical problem he faced last night:  At first, he heard music then it stopped.  Then he heard only drums and kept debating if he should stop or keep going; he continued singing.  Jacob was making a return to the bottom three.

     Season 7 winner David Cook returned to debut “The Last Goodbye,” the first single from his upcoming new album which will be released next week.  Surprisingly, his voice actually veered off track on the first verse.  Although the title of the song was given away too early in the verse (supposed to save it for the chorus, silly), it was upbeat and kinda catchy.  It might grow on me, meaning it was probably a good choice to lead off that important second post-Idol album.  Cook said his Mom wanted to see Steven Tyler, so she was given the chance to go over to the judge’s table to hug him.

     The host brought Lauren Alaina, James Durbin, and Stefano Langone up to hear their status.  Seacrest asked Randy Jackson if Stefano had performed well enough to stay out of the bottom three this week.  He said yes.  Oh well.  He was there for the fourth time.

     Haley Reinhart and Scotty McCreery were the last two standing.  Because the judges finally gave the country boy his first real (and long deserved) criticism last night, I was hoping the voters would acknowledge it by not supporting him as much as they’d done in the past.  Well, maybe that happened, but not enough to place him in the bottom three:  He was safe and Reinhart was back there for the third time.

     Seacrest almost immediately sent her back to safety on the couch, leaving Jacob Lusk and Stefano Langone.

     During the commercial break, we were treated to a cool one-minute long trailer for the Green Lantern movie.  I have hopes for this one because I’ve been collecting comics since June of 1972 and Hal Jordan has been one of my favorite superheroes of them all.  Just wish they hadn’t messed with his mask and let him keep the white gloves (it’s green in the film).  And that lantern doesn’t look right.

     Katy Perry and Kanye West took to the stage to sing their #1 hit “E.T.”  Perry was dressed in a white space-looking outfit with glowing pink trim and too much eye make-up.  Can’t believe this is what America likes these days.  It was a boring, dreary track.

     Before revealing who was going home, Seacrest asked Jennifer Lopes to summarize her feelings towards the two men in the bottom two.  She remembered Lusk fondly for his rendition of “A House Is Not A Home” and marveled at how far Langone—their wildcard save—had come.  Steven Tyler said that neither of them deserved to be up there.  Of course, he didn’t offer who should be either.  Going home?  After four appearances in the bottom three, time finally ran out for Stefano Langone.  James Durbin hid his face in his hands.

     Langone was eager to sing his swan song, Stevie Wonder’s “Lately.”  Did a pretty good job too.

     Next week, the Idols will sing hits written by Carole King.  At that point, fully half of the Top 6 will be in the bottom three no matter how well they perform.  Check in here Wednesday night to hear the blow by blow.  And remember:  Don’t try melisma at home.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could hurt yourself.