Hey, maybe it’s because I’m becoming a softie in my old age, or perhaps that I’m just too indolent to spelunk my own ghosts of AI:X Report Cards past, but if I was a gaming man, I’d bet that this was the most enjoyable night yet this season.
Okay, listen, I know authenticity is an aimless objectivity, blah blah blah – that’s the understood median, the accepted permutation from the original concept. And it’s pained me for years, but a fact is a fact – Idol will never return to the halcyon days of even the phoniest gesture of great singers singing great songs (that it found some in greats like Kelly, Fantasia, Adam, Melinda just to name a few is/was a bonus).
That there hasn’t even been an attempt at such a hierarchy is almost comical. And this year’s crop has been dissected far more intimately than I’ll ever muster the want to explore.
Sometimes, though, you have to deflect the kvetching, forgo the whining and you just have to accept that what is/was is what is/was (got that?) – and absorb it all on that plane. And what avenue is more perfect to route as such than American Idol Season 10?
Despite two major clunkers, the rest of the night was enjoyable for, again, what it is/was. Deficiencies aside, I kinda enjoyed myself. That’s winning…Idol style!
Speaking of deficiencies, it’s time, America, to send Jacob Lusk home. His hubris matched only by his monolithically shrill instrument, no one’s ever accused Lusk of understatement. While I can respect the un-obviousness of his song choice (most of the contestants actually can be commended for not picking Carole King standards that have been beaten to death), his “Oh No Not My Baby” was an exercise in self-indulgence. He occasionally finds the gumption to restrain the ostentation – as he did at the opening of the song – but it quickly deteriorated into a rococo nightmare. It was so bloated, so gaseous, so regurgitated that when Randy proclaimed, “that scatting was incredible…” I went running for the Imodium. His later duet with James Durbin proved only two major points that are undeniable: One, neither should ever – ever – wear white. And two? Neither should ever – ever – duet again.
You can save you’re a trip to the periodontist, because Lauren’s “Where You Lead (I Will Follow)” was as sweet as can be without promoting cavities. Absolutely innocuous, sure, but with a competence – and conviction – she’s lacked for months. That extended to an otherwise rote, uninspired Scotty McCreery “Up On The Roof” duet, where Alaina clearly one-upped McCreery’s unsure harmonies and uninspired tics.
Casey Abrams & Haley Reinhart’s routine of the Idol-cursed “I Feel The Earth Move” was pure corn on the cob with cotija cheese, but the chemistry was infectious and Haley was delicious. Abrams is clearly the most musically accomplished of the Idols this year, and, Vote For The Worst notwithstanding, and love him or loathe him, he is a purely niche recitalist. His polarizing snarls and grunts were perfectly suited, though, for Kings’ “Hi De Ho” and with a fairly faithful form of Blood Sweat & Tears’ version, Abrams – for the nonce, anyway – proved that perhaps his oft-maligned “judges save” wasn’t in (total) vain.
“Beautiful”, from TAPESTRY, is a great King composition with an intricate, fluctuating melody that a lesser soloist could easily succumb to, but Haley – after a dazzling “Rolling In The Deep” last week and a vibrant duet earlier in the night – inhales, swallows and gestates – swooping from a marshmallow-dunked-in-honey croon to an fervent, feverish howl, with the words pouncing and fluttering like a fistful of flowers burst forward in a dizzying clarion call. This girl is on fire – and, despite what the panel says – gives the performance of the night. Again.
I won’t be so foolhardy as to suggest that there isn’t a cohesive talent floundering within Durbin’s ego, and his “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” was a nice diversification from his usual pretentions (that jarring and unnecessary banshee fail wail notwithstanding). But it was far from the momentous occasion that Randy (whose hyperbolic ramblings are an Idol norm) decreed – hell, it wasn’t even top 4 of the night. And just when I defend Scotty’s authenticity, comes his pretty strange – and strangely pretty – take on “You’ve Got A Friend”. Parts of his affectations were inadvertently comical (I actually laughed out loud at his force-fed “I’ll be there, I’ll be there, I’ll be there…” that finishes the song), and his discomfort was palpable (he’s never been so de-compartmentalized) but in an unorthodox way, this was his most endearing performance yet.
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In order of performance:
Jacob Lusk
Song: Oh No Not My Baby
My grade: C
Lauren Alaina
Song: Where You Lead (I Will Follow)
My grade: B+
Casey & Haley
Song: I Feel The Earth Move
My grade: B+
Scotty McCreery
Song: You’ve Got A Friend
My grade: B+
James Durbin
Song: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
My grade: B+
Scotty & Lauren
Song: Up On The Roof
My grade: B
Casey Abrams
Song: Hi De Ho
My grade: B+
Haley Reinhart
Song: Beautiful
My grade: A-
Jacob & James
Song: I’m Into Something Good
My grade: C+
Oh, and don’t forget Carrie Underwood
I agree about Haley, she really flourished tonight despite a “technical difficulty.” Maybe I’ve grown cynical with the show and the producers’ agendas, but it almost seemed…produced to happen? Eh, maybe I’m thinking too much into it. Granted, they still don’t give Haley the credit she rightfully deserves. Her critiques still remain to be rather lukewarm or mixed to me. Let’s hope freaking Lusky Stank goes home tomorrow…
We somewhat agree, although I am one of the people at a loss to figure out the charm of Casey, whose talent I fail to see.But Haley was clearly the performer of the evening, something I never thought I would say at all, let alone two weeks in a row!
If you would have told me 6 weeks ago that Haley would deliver the best performance of the night for two weeks in a row (let alone be in the top 6) I would have laughed…
Hayley is the best of the bunch, James will probably win, Lauren has lost her spark (no more Steven Tyler lap dances), Scotty has plateaued, and Jacob is the worst; but has the black vote.