April 9

American Idol Top 8 Week

Looking back at the week past, the Final 8 took on the music of the 1980s, a decade in which I am pretty sure that all but just one of them have no real memory of whatsoever.

1. DeAndre Brackensick- “I Like It”

If he was going to take on a DeBarge song, I would have maybe preferred “Rhythm of the Night.” I remember when that was really big back in 1985. Is it true that it was written by Greg Brady aka Barry Williams?

Anyway, it's always the same thing for me as far as DeAndre is concerned. I just cannot get into his falsetto vibe but when he sings with his “full voice”, it's not bad. That was kind of the dichotomy for this performance. All in all, it felt like one of his better efforts.Grade: B

2. Elise Testone-”I Want To Know What Love Is”

She is that one contestant who can actually remember anything that happened during the Reagan Presidency. I do not think Idol has ever had such a wide gap in age between one person and the rest of the pack. I am quite glad she choose to do this song instead of “Hallelujah” which has been done to death on singing shows the past four years.

I thought it started out very good for Elise, as this song should be right up her ally, but when it got to the first chorus, something seemed a bit off and it became a bit too tedious and hard to really keep interest in. The judges would deem it as pitchy, but it was hard for me to detect that. While I liked it more than the responses she got, it was clearly a step back for her in the eyes of many after the previous week. Grade: B

3. Colton Dixon & Skylar Laine- “Islands in the Stream”

The first duet of the night saw these two take on a well known number made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. On the surface, this was far more up Skylar's alley than Colton, but I think they both did a very credible job. I do not know what was up with the faces that Colton was making when he was singing though. He seemed pained about something. Colton's grade: B, Skylar's grade: B+

4. Phillip Phillips- “That's All”

Apparently, the new trend for American Idol is to have a relative performing onstage along with a contestant. We saw that with Haley Reinhart's father last year, and last Wednesday. P2 jammed along with his brother in law on a somewhat odd song choice.

Few could be surprised though that Phillip could take a bit of an unlikely song and rearrange it to suit his gruff guitar driven style. For the most part I liked it, although it seemed as if he might have messed up the words a couple times. Perhaps it was a problem of trying to keep up with the band, and parts of it felt a little too weird.Grade: B

5. DeAndre Brackensick and Hollie Cavanagh- “I'm So Excited”

Another duet, and these youngsters drew the Pointer Sisters and a song that has been performed in the '80s (and since) at countless weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. It was not horrible, but seemed a bit too under rehearsed to me, and I thought DeAndre struggled a bit vocally. It was good to see Hollie do something a bit more uptempo but she also seemed a little uncomfortable. DeAndre's grade: B-, Hollie's grade: B

6. Joshua Ledet- “If You Don't Know Me By Now”

Here is an example of a '60s song, redone in the '80s, allowing it to fit into the category. It is also one that has previously been sung several times in Idol history, including as recently as last season.

There is absolutely no doubt that Joshua can sing his face off when he wants to and this was very good, although perhaps a tad overwrought here and there. He did try to make the interpretation a bit more original. Grade: B+

7. Jessica Sanchez- “How Will I Know”

Back on Whitney Houston week, I had said this would have been a good song choice for one of the young contestants instead of doing a ballad that they would not be able to pull off as well as Jessica. So, it was very interesting that “Bebe Chez” would take on her second Whitney classic of the season, but this one being a much more youthful uptempo number.

It was good, but I felt it was not as great as it could have been or what I assume Jessica's studio version probably sounded like. Maybe it was due to the fact that was running around a bit on stage, but some notes felt a little flat or something to my ear. I also am unsure about some of the corny hand gestures Jessica (or her alter ego) does to go with the lyrics, but I definitely do not want to see her get eliminated any time soon. Grade: B

Round 1:

8. DeAndre Brackensick (solo)
7. Hollie Cavanagh (duet) 
6. Colton Dixon (duet) 
5. Phillip Phillips (solo) 
4. Elise Testone (solo) 
3. Jessica Sanchez (solo) 
2. Skylar Laine (duet) 
1. Joshua Ledet (solo)

8. Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips- “Stop Dragging My Heart Around”

I will pass on a Dick Cheney joke to instead solely focus on this performance of a Tom Petty song I have heard somewhere but was not too familiar with. On it, Elise was clearly better than Phillip. The style seemed a good match for her raspy-ish voice while Phillip seemed a bit more out of place and a whole lot uncomfortable. I just do not think duets or singing without his guitar are what he is all about, and his message this season, as discussed on the results show, is that he is just going to be true to himself. He gives off the vibe that maybe he really does not care if he wins or not, and while I think that might actually be sort of true in his case, we will have to see how the power-voting audience responds. Elise's grade: B+, Phillip's grade: B-

9. Hollie Cavanagh- “Flashdance...What a Feeling”

I am pretty sure this song has not been attempted on the Idol stage since way back in Season 2 when Julia DeMato was sent back to relative obscurity.

Needless to say, the pressure was on for Hollie to do something uptempo. In that regard, she maybe she should have changed the lyrics to “now, I'm singing for my life.” I respect her effort and voice but it seems like the pressure might be getting to her a bit. Perhaps though, I liked it more than the judges who said she was “thinking” too much. It seems as if Idol is trying to get her out of the way sooner, rather than later. Grade: B

10. Jessica Sanchez & Joshua Ledet- “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”

Now, this was really good. Quite an enjoyable performance from two extremely good singers, whose talent should be appreciated, regardless of which musical genres one happens to be a fan of. One day, I will have to watch this again. On talent alone, those two probably deserve to compete against each other in the Finale. However, I know that Joshua is on borrowed time (what was up with him being all ready to pass out on Thursday during the results... so dramatic...) and I just hope that Jessica might somehow be a contender at the end. There will be a ton of backlash if the Final 2 wind up being Colton and Phillip; the two white dudes. Jessica's grade: A-, Joshua's grade: A-

11. Colton Dixon- “Time After Time”

While it has been covered on numerous television shows, I still like this Cyndi Lauper song, and think it was probably Colton's strongest solo performance. Did he start off playing the piano? I forgot, so probably not. He was still making the weird faces and I still find a hitch in his voice to be a little annoying, but vocally, this was decent.Grade: B

12. Skylar Laine- “Wind Beneath My Wings”

Has this infamous tearjerker ever been done on Idol before? I will have to look it up. Anyways, I read on a blog that southern girl Skylar is sort of new to country and used to be mostly a ballad singer. If so, this pimp slot performance would have been right in her comfort zone. She certainly did what she needed to do, as I had remarked last week that she needed to show competence singing a vulnerable ballad. It was definitely a better choice than her other option of “9 to 5”, which would have made the evening a Dolly Parton Doubleheader for her.

There was still a bit of a country twang in Skylar's rendition of the song and while I did not love everything about it, I could imagine it being successful as a cover song on the radio. Grade: B+

Round 2:

8. DeAndre Brackensick (duet) 
7. Phillip Phillips (duet) 
6. Hollie Cavanagh (solo) 
5. Colton Dixon (solo) 
4. Elise Testone (duet) 
3. Skylar Laine (solo) 
2. Jessica Sanchez (duet) 
1. Joshua Ledet (duet)

Combo scores:

8. DeAndre Brackensick
7. Hollie Cavanagh
6. Phillip Phillips
5. Colton Dixon
4. Elise Testone
3. Skylar Laine
2. Jessica Sanchez
1. Joshua Ledet

Who should have been eliminated: DeAndre Brackensick

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Hollie Cavanagh

Who was eliminated: DeAndre Brackensick

So, this is two weeks running now that I predicted a Hollie elimination and subsequent save, but both times, an inferior male singer was voted off instead, so I cannot complain about that. At this point of the season, the girls are at least having a bit of a better run than they did last year.

Singing for the save, DeAndre reprised “Master Blaster”, after he implored his sister to stop crying. It was decent enough and kind of weird, just like the first time he did it. Despite all the massive love he got from the judges on Wednesday night, J Lo was unable to convince the others to save him (as if that is really what was going down), and it seemed pretty obvious they would save the save for another week. Grade: B

Good luck to DeAndre moving forward. While I find it a bit difficult to envision future stardom for him, there is sort of a niche market where he could find himself a few years down the road along with Eric Benet and Maxwell or if the Bee Gees need a new member.

This week will be songs from the current decade. I might like a couple of the ones I hear, but musically and Presidentially, I would have to cast my vote for the 1980s over the present-day.