American Idol- Top 5

On Sunday night, I watched the Mothers' Day edition of American Idol live and am just getting to blog about it two days later. So, my memory is even somewhat more distant than usual but I have always had a good memory, so at least there is that.

The last episode of Idol saw some unprecedented circumstances in regards to the competition and the cutting of two contestants of the male gender, leaving three females surviving to advance, (and two other surviving males stashed away with Covid.) This victory for the ladies on one particular evening seems unusual in recent Idol history. 

The season is rolling right along though. Now, there are just five, and after next Sunday, there will be three Finale-ists. A week after that, it will all be over. I miss the days when an Idol season would last longer and they would cut people one by one and send them off in tears to a goodbye song and video package.

Sunday saw two rounds. The first was something like "Songs That Are Used in Tik Toks" and the second round was "Songs Inspired By Their Mother or Mother-Like Figure" Based on these two themes, it was perhaps a victory for the Chinese Communist Party over the abortion lobby.

 

Round 1 would see will.i.am return for the first time in a few years to mentor the contestants. Back in the day, it seemed like Jimmy Iovine would bring him back week after week to help him mentor the kids.

1. Leah Marlene- "Electric Love"

What I remember is that this was a somewhat uptempo modern song and I really did not like it much. There was nothing horrible about it, but it felt somewhat lacking in star power on behalf of Leah. This was probably the only performance of the entire evening that was not at least above-average.

2. Jay- "I Have Nothing"

Based on my research, this is at least the 11th time this Whitney Houston ballad has been done on Idol, which is probably a record. Jay became the first male contestant to ever attempt it. He said something about how this song is played along animal video and he prefers to watch those on Tik Tok because he has problems with human interaction. Would that cost him some votes? People can get offended at the oddest things.

My father really likes how Jay sings though and was very impressed with this performance. I remember thinking that he sang the diva song very well but was it really a wise move to win over voters? Also, it seemed a bit unusual that he started in a higher key and went down as opposed to building up in the other direction.

3. Fritz Hager- "All My Friends"

This evening, Fritz would become the first of two contestants in Idol history to not make it to the stage on contestant night. He got Covid. A lot of people are still getting it but thankfully, it is no longer considered as horrible as it might be. I still am trying to extend my streak in not getting it.

They showed what they said was Fritz performing at dress rehearsal the day before. I guess he tested positive for the Rona on Sunday. Fritz was standing by in his hotel room for judges' comments and looked a little rough, but assuming he did not have any make-up applied, he probably looked fairly normal.

Anyways, this was the first of two original songs Fritz would perform on the evening. I am more convinced than ever he will win, though I like other singers a good deal more. I remember thinking he did well on what was an uptempo song, as he played electric guitar. At least, I think that is how I remembered it. My brother was also over at our parents' house listening in the background and he was convinced he had heard the song before, but since Fritz wrote it himself, that would have been impossible. It did feel a bit like Fritz was not going at full speed in this rehearsal video. Lionel Richie will now have to admit that sometimes the audience will see rehearsal.

4. Christian Guardino- "Lonely"

What I remember is that Christian sang this lousy Justin Bieber song better than Biebs himself probably could. He seemed very emotionally connected and he plays the "look at me, I cannot believe I am really doing this here" very well, week after week, and the judges eat the humility up. Christian also has probably mentioned the word "Jesus" more than any other Idol contestant in recent memory.

5. HunterGirl- "you broke me first"

 

I do not know this song but from what was explained, it was a pop song (the kind without capital letters), that HG put her own country spin on. I think she was very impressive once again. This seems to be the thing for all the country singers, to pick songs outside of their style. My mother is predicting HunterGirl will be the Season 20 winner.

 

6. Noah Thompson- "Painted Blue"

Noah also has Covid. To the best of my knowledge, there are not reports on TMZ linking him in a certain way to Fritz. He must have gotten his negative result at least a day earlier because he sang what we were told was "live" from his hotel room and not from a pre-recorded rehearsal as Fritz did with a small audience of staffers or whomever they were. Which is a better circumstance?

I recall that Noah sounded pretty good as usual, but the way he sang the song was sort of boring, as usual. Also, the audio and video was pretty spot-on. How were they able to do that? There must have been production staff in the hotel room with him. Yes, Idol did a whole quarantine season "from home" where the kids had all sorts of professional equipment and people helping them, but Noah literally had Covid. People were apparently in the room with him to help him with this performance, even though there was not a band.

7. Nicolina- "Alone"

We were told that Nicolina is big on Tik Tok and apparently has been posting videos on there a long time. I do not understand how that became a more popular platform for musicians than YouTube.

I predicted weeks ago she would eventually sing a Heart song, and based on Idol history, this was the most obvious selection. I was excited to see what she would do with it.

All in all, I really liked it. It was effective and surprising that she went soft on the first chorus when singers always get very belty. Afterwards she showed off her range a bit more, but did hold back vocally a bit more than could be expected for this song, and considering what she is known to be able to do. Would it have the same effect as when Carrie Underwood or Allison Iraheta sang "Alone" on Idol? I was hoping that this would not be the night that Nicolina ran out of voters.

Rankings for Round 1:

7. Leah Marlene

6. Fritz Hager

5. Noah Thompson

4. Christian Guardino

3. HunterGirl

2. Jay

1. Nicolina

Next would be the annual Mothers' Day Round, always an emotional time. Thankfully, all of these contestants, along with all of us who are around to discuss current events or controversial issues, were given the opportunity to be born.

1. Jay- "A Song For Mama"

I guess he took the theme literally in the song choice. Jay always sings well but this felt like it was missing something. It was probably just not a very interesting or memorable song. I think attempting Boys II Men has typically gone bad for contestants on Idol.

One thing I was confused by is why Jay's mother was not in the studio audience for this performance. She has not been there at any point, although for the last two weeks, she was featured in the per-performance alongside with her son and they seem to have a great relationship.

2. Fritz Hager- "The Ocean"

 

There was some activity in the household this point of the evening, so I might not have been able to pay as close attention as I should have. That is the risk of watching live and not wanting to bother to rewind the DVR.

 

This was another original song they showed Fritz sing from rehearsal and I know it was a ballad that was somehow devoted to the memory of his grandmother and there were tears shed between Fritz and his mother in the video package. Hopefully, she has tested negative.

From what I heard, it was a very pretty ballad sang in the usual somewhat emo Fritzy style. The judges went nuts over it. I am sure that Fritz's fans who are already buying up his original music online, will have loved it just as much. His victory seems inevitable. Hopefully, nobody gets Covid before the Finale.

3. Leah Marlene- "Sanctuary"

Now, this was apparently a country song done by a non-country singer. This ballad was so much better than what she did in the first round. She really does have a great voice on things like that, which she showed a few weeks back. Who was going to go home? It was getting hard to predict.

I believe this was the first time we saw Leah's mother. Both of her parents sound very Canadian. I wonder how they wound up in Normal, Illinois.

4. HunterGirl- "Like My Mother Does"

Ugh, this is a ridiculous song but I guess perfect for Mothers' Day. The tears were flowing of course between HunterDaughter and HunterMother on some sort of beach during the video. At least they are not reading letters this year.

This song was done by Lauren Alaina back during her Finale loss in a previous Idol season and Ms. Suddeth is listed as the artist, but interestingly enough, this song was first recorded by an even earlier Idol finalist Kristy Lee Cook. It is possible that KLC used any money she made for the record to buy her horse back.

From what I recall, HunterGirl sounded just fine. This was sort of a song she could coast on. After she finishes singing, she always immediately goes into brief some spoken banter with the audience or herself.

5. Noah Thompson- "Landslide"

 

We had not heard anything about Noah's mother before and he mentioned that his grandmother basically raised him, so she was the one to join her grandson and infant great grandson for the video on Sunday.  I really hope nobody else got Covid, including those in the hotel room with Noah. I think he probably had someone do his hair as well.

This song is best known as being done by Fleetwood Mac, but of course the Dixie Chicks had a country version as well. The rationale is that his grandmother likes the song. In any event, I thought Noah probably sounded the best he ever sounded, and being alone in a room for a remote performance instead of being nervous in front of a studio audience might have helped him even more. There was some serious side mouth singing going on, but this was a very effective vocal.

6. Nicolina- "Light In The Hallway"

It has been mentioned a few times that Nicolina has an estranged relationship with her mother, so it made sense for her to once again feature her "Nonna" 

This is another song I do not know. It is by Penatonix, which I know is a multi-person a capella group, It seems weird that they could have a song covered on Idol.

Vocally, this was another strong showing for Nicolina. She has amazing control and conveys emotion extremely well. This was not a song that very many people would have ever heard though and Nicolina is basically expected to be technically great every time she sings.

7. Christian Guardino- "Dear God"

For the final performance of the evening, Christian would go full on Gospel. First though, they showed him making pizza with his mother in a home scene, which was meant to indicate they were at home somehow. I am not sure if Idols said "New York" in the graphic, but there is literally no way that he and his mother flew home to New York during the week to make pizza at home and then back to Hollywood for the live show. Either this was some manufactured domestic moment or Idol filmed this several weeks ago, which would lead me to fear that the entire season is scripted after all. InfoWars should get on this.

There is no denying that this was a pretty big moment for Christian. He sounded great and poured his heart and soul into the song. I did not detect much in the way of bum notes here. While I did not rank him first in this round, he came very close.

Speaking of those rankings, they were in some places very different from the first round:

7. Jay

6. HunterGirl

5. Fritz Hager

4. Noah Thompson

3. Leah Marlene

2. Christian Guardino

1. Nicolina

 

Now, to combine the two rounds, I had a three way tie to break:

 

 7. Fritz Hager (11)

 6. Leah Marlene (10)

 5. Jay (9)

 4. Noah Thompson (9)

 3. HunterGirl (9)

 2. Christian Guardino (6)

 1. Nicolina (1)

Who should have been eliminated: Fritz Hager and Leah Marlene

This was probably the opinion shared by the vast majority of Idol fans who are even older than me.

However, I was convinced that virus or not, there was no way that inevitable winner Fritz would get cut. Nor would inevitable runner up HunterGirl or inevitable third place finisher Noah.

So, that left four others and a tough prediction. I was most convinced that Jay, having had a bit of a letdown night, would be one of the two to go, leaving Idol with an all-white Final Five for the first time in a long time.

Next, between Leah, who should have gotten the next cut, and perma-underdog Christian, I feared that Nicolina would unfairly be cast aside.

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Jay and Nicolina

Who was eliminated: Jay and Christian Guardino

A sigh of relief on behalf of Nicolina. I also think Jay and Christian deserved better, and it was probably jarring for many to see Christian have to go home on a night where he was so lauded by the judges and had two very emotional vocal performances. They seemed to take it in stride though.

Yes, there were two guitar playing white dudes locked away in (I think) separate hotel rooms on the screen, but it was pretty surprising to see two guys get voted off on a stage where three females (who were all dressed similarly and none of whom would fit the category of looking like a typical pop star) were applauding on the Couches of Safety.

The only thing that could have resembled was the all female Final Five from the anti-male rigged season of 2013 when Lazaro Arbos of all people beat out every other guy.