“Who Was In The Bottom Three? We Still Don’t Know!” by Guy Aoki

Thursday, April 28.  It was another surprising results show.  And for the first time this season, we weren’t even told which of the remaining contestants were in the bottom three!  First, we saw tape of the Top 6 going to the British Counsul in honor of the impending marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton with Scotty McCreery and Casey Abrams offering their best British accents. 

     On stage, the “Idols” appeared one by one to perform a medley of five songs written by Carole King.  Haley Reinhart started it off with King’s first hit as an artist, 1962’s “It Might As Well Rain Until September.”  James Durbin joined her then did his version of “Take Good Care Of My Baby” with Scotty McCreery.  Casey Abrams and Jacob Lusk added their voices to the old Bobby Vee classic and surprisingly, Durbin hit his first sour note that I can remember.  Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart paired up for “One Fine Day,” McCreery handled “Go Away Little Girl” all by himself, and everyone came together and blended well on “It’s Too Late.”

     The Ford Music Video of the Week was “Our House” by Madness.  This was actually the first short I actually wanted to see more of.  The Idols drew furniture with black magic markers, the insides were quickly colored then transformed into the actual 3D objects.  Neat.

     Last year’s runner-up, Crystal Bowersox, with darker, browner hair, returned for “Ridin’ With the Rainbow,” an uptempo rootsy track with harmonica played by some fat, nerdy guy that was (thankfully) buried in the mix.  She sure looked happy.  Too bad (like most songs done by artists on this show) I’ve already forgotten the song.

     Ryan Seacrest talked to the contestants, who were sitting on the couch.  The Q&A from fans feature was back with various comments appearing and disappearing on the screen behind him.  They were really distracting.  The host asked the singers various questions from their fans.  Laura Alaina sent out well-wishes to those in the south who were affected by the hurricanes.  Seacrest said he’d be pulling up the singers on stage in random order, whatever that meant.

1.  Haley Reinhart was the first one brought up to hear the results.  For the first time in the history of the show, instead of Seacrest quoting what the judges had said the night before about a performance, we actually saw video of it.  It was probably an improvement.  Then, on tape, Jimmy Iovine gave his own take on how the previous night went and of each singer’s standing with the voters.  He agreed with Jennifer Lopez’s assertion that Reinhart had one of the best voices in the competition, but he believed the contestant still doesn’t really know who she is as an artist.  He sensed the audience felt that as well, so if she went home tonight it’d be because of that.

     The singer must’ve swore because the sound went out for a few seconds!  The 20 year old expressed frustration at the record executive’s opinion because she felt she knew who she was by this point.  Reinhart was safe.

2.  Scotty McCreery.  Iovine says the singer “has a subtly that’s magnificent,” but he’s worried that in this competition, that can get lost and he could be in trouble tonight.  “After the nationwide vote,” Seacreast said, building the suspense… then he sent McCreery back to the couch not indicating whether or not he was safe.  What?!

3.  Lauren Alaina.  Iovine says she “only hears the negative in the critique.”  Still, “My prediction’s she’s here for the long run.”  Seacrest also asked her to take a seat.  OK, this is annoying.  Why bother going through all the feedback from last night then not tell us how it panned out?

4.  Casey Abrams.  Iovine admitted, “I was disappointed because he was on, but he felt that he had to growl.   Casey’s got to realize that the family dog does not vote on this show!”  Great line.  Still, Iovine thought Abrams would be safe tonight.  Seacrest wasn’t letting us know one way or the other.  Like the previous two contestants, he told the bearded one to relax on the couch.  Then, he teased before going to commercial, “More results!”  Pfft!  If you mean more like you gave the last three people, I’ll go watch something else instead.

5.  James Durbin.  Iovine asserted that singing heavy metal (as Durbin loves to do) is not believable and that the rocker will do better when he matches great melodies with a rock feel.  “If he picks the right songs, he can win.”

6.  Jacob Lusk.  Iovine joked (as I did yesterday) about what Lusk wore.  Noting “Idol” is right next to where “Dancing With The Stars” tapes, he said Lusk must’ve gone into the wrong dressing room.  Iovine felt the singer could go home:  “He’s on banana peel status.”  Seacrest asked the other three who were in limbo to join Lusk on stage.  Alaina was safe.  Left on stage were:  Jacob Luski, Casey Abrams, and Scotty McCreery.  Then the host went to commercial.

     I thought it was anti-climatic that after all of his shenanigans, Seacrest didn’t make it clear that these three people were in trouble, in the bottom three.  However, after Bruno Mars and his band performed his current hit, “The Lazy Song,” a reggae-inflected lightweight puff piece (another forgettable song), Seacrest repeated that the results were in random order, meaning, for all we knew, two of the three could’ve received the most number of votes last night.  Why not just reveal to the contestants and the audience where everyone stood?

     I was salivating at the thought that Lusk would finally be sent packing.  Crap.  He was sent to safety.  Really?  Scotty McCreery, who’s never been in the bottom three before could go home?  Had to be Casey.  It was.  Looking back on it, it was telling that he received the only negative feedback from Iovine (as I thought he would), and it was because Abrams became a scatting caricature again as he did five weeks ago on “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” which would’ve gotten him booted weeks ago had the judges not saved him with their one-time-only veto power.

     Still, he was in high spirits, reprising “I Put A Spell On You,” growling his way into the studio audience, kissing girls, even rolling back onto the stage to sing to his fellow competitors.  Tellingly, he looked into Haley Reinhart’s eyes, grabbed her by the shoulder, and delivered the last words:  “You’re mine!”

     All in all, a confusing and unsatisfactory night because all we got out of it was that Abrams received the lowest amount of votes, and there was no inkling of how the others had fared with voters (embarrassingly, in his recap, the reporter for Billboard Magazine failed to understand this, believing McCreery was in the bottom two).  Ah well.  Maybe next week they’ll at least reinstate the bottom two.  Check in here Wednesday as we zero in on the Top 5.