American Idol- Top 7

 Once again, it is Disney Night, and this all feels very familiar.

It has been a yearly tradition, ever since Disney owned ABC took over the rights to American Idol and I see to always wind up watching the show live on that particular Sunday night at my parents' house. Katy Perry always wears a ridiculous outfit as well. The same songs each year seem to be chosen.

The kids always go to Disneyland where they are "surprised" by relatives or friends and go on rides while wearing mouse ears. There is always a mentor. Based on what was said on last Monday's live program and what was listed by the cable company, the mentor was supposed to be Ben Platt. However, there must have been a late replacement that went unmentioned. Derek Hough instead served as mentor, even though this is a singing show and not a dancing competition.

There are some important questions to ask during these times. Was this Disney-themed show allowed to be shown in Florida? Was Ted Cruz on the lookout (as he said recently) for evidence of "Mickey and Pluto going at it?" Some folks on the right have become effing Goofy.

Every year, I find myself starting off the two hour episode bored, especially due to the song choices. It also feels like as the show heads to its mid-point, I cannot help but be impressed by the vocal performances, even if I do not know or like the songs.

My family and I were surprised to hear that three people would be voted out tonight. That is one third of the entire remaining cast. America would have to be saying goodbye to some people they would otherwise want to see more of.

"We Don't Talk About Bruno"

I am not thrilled with the audience part of the show starting off with a pre-taped segment of all ten contestants singing a group number to this ghastly song from "Encanto" which somehow was atop the Billboard Hot 100 not long ago for a few weeks. They were joined by what I suppose are the voice actors from the animated feature. 

I will go on the record and say that no young schoolchildren in Florida or anywhere else, should talk about or learn about "Bruno", one of the gay alter egos of Sacha Baron Cohen.

The worst part for me was that all 10 of the Idol Finalists had a short solo. Based on past precedent, on a voting night, I had to rank them all on this as "Round 1". This really serves no purpose, but I feel like I am a stickler for my own rules. There is really no standard I had to judge this, so it basically fell into subconscious bias towards the contestants, and apparently I find the idea of the guys singing thing song even worse than the girls singing it. The only memory that really stands out was that Fritz tried to sing it as if he  were an actual Disney character.

10. Noah Thompson 9. Mike Parker 8. Christian Guardino 7. Fritz Hager 6. Jay 5. Leah Marlene 4. Emyrson Flora 3.HunterGirl 2. Nicolina 1. Lady K

Hopefully, I would find it easier to judge the solo performances.

 

1. Lady K- "How Far I'll Go"

 

How far she would go? I said somewhere between 10th and 7th place. This was before I knew that three would be eliminated tonight. After they made her over, Lady K looks a bit like Kimberly Locke from way back on Idol Season 2. Perhaps, there are some infomercials with Emeril in her future too.

 

I recall that LK sounded very nice singing this "Moana" ballad. There was a time where every little girl in America probably knew every word of it. The contestant was very emotional when the song was over and fairly subdued. It is as though Lady K sensed, after her Bottom two showing last week that this would be her final performance regardless.

2. Noah Thompson- "You've Got A Friend In Me"

Ugh, this song again? I think a country singer picks this every Disney Night. There as nothing bad about what Noah did with the song. I just remember that it was incredibly boring and on the corny side.

 

 However, Noah was not really in any danger of being voted out as the last remaining male country singer this season. Also, they showed him reuniting at Disneyland with his soon to be 1 year old son, which many people will find ultra adorable and will generate him a lot of votes.

3. Emyrson Flora- "Carried Me With You"

The youngest contestant of the season was the next to take the stage. I do not know this song at all or what movie it came from. I thought Emyrson showed she was a talented singer, but I found the performance sort of boring and since I cannot remember much about it three hours later, it obviously did not have an impact.

4. HunterGirl- "I See The Light"

We already know that platinum ticket winning HunterGirl is a very talented country singer who is already selling some of her music in large numbers online thanks to her Idol exposure. This performance was not very country at all, but it was an extremely impressive ballad vocal. 

HunterGirl showed that she could indeed have some Carrie Underwood crossover appeal. This time it was her grandparents who made the drive from Tennessee to California to watch her perform. There were definitely a lot of grandparents watching and voting, assuming they can figure out how to text those votes in or vote online.

5. Jay- "Remember Me"

I would not know this song from "Coco" if not for that I think has been done on Idol Disney Night before. On the heels of last week's impressive vocal performance, this was a similar strong ballad showing for Jay, where he showed off a lot of falsetto. I believe he is definitely appealing to older voters (my parents are very impressed with him) because he is giving off an old school Johnny Mathis type vibe with his voice. After not having gotten enough votes earlier in the season to avoid the need to be picked as a wildcard, this seems to be working for him now, despite the fact that I doubt this is the kind of artist he wants to be or the kind of songs he went into Idol season expecting to do.

As far as we know, there is not any effort to pass a "Don't Say Jay" bill anywhere, but suspicions will continue.

6. Leah Marlene- "When She Loved Me"

Also triggering for some may be Leah, who did not change the pronouns for this song from "Toy Story."

This was a very good vocal for Leah. When she sings upbeat songs with her guitar, I find her overly quirkly and missing melody. When she sings without an instrument (after first appearing to be prepared to start off at the piano tonight) and sings a sensitive ballad, her voice and vocal choices are extremely praiseworthy. The Belmont University dropout clearly knows a lot about music theory.

7. Nicolina- "Poor Unfortunate Souls"

When they said that Nicolina would sing the first ever "villains song" on Disney Night and I saw how she was made up, my initial thought was that she would not survive the cut tonight. Do people want to vote for princesses or villains? 

This was perhaps the most musical theater like vocal done on Idol in many years. It was also Broadway ready as far as I am concerned. As skeptical I was by this, I have to admit Nicolina's pure talent in both singing and acting was fully on display. This was not an easy vocal to do. There were a ton of words involved and Nicolina came across once again as a total pro and continues to be incredibly personable by her words and actions during the judges' comments. I was hoping that somehow there would enough votes to put the Canadian through.

8. Mike Parker- "You'll Be In My Heart"

I knew Mike would be in danger of not surviving the cut tonight, but was going to sing a fairly well known emotional song devoted to his mother who has been battling leukemia (and thankfully doing well at present.)

Katy has said she wanted him to wear a cowboy hat on stage again, but this was a very non-country performance. In what has been becoming a theme this season, I like the country singers better when they do not sing country. In the case of this Phil Collins song from "Hercules", I easily found it Mike's best performance. To re-use a cliche though, the competition is very stiff.

9. Christian Guardino- "Circle Of Life"

During the commercial break, I asked my mother, a one-time aspiring singer, what Disney song she would have done on Idol and she answered "Circle Of Life." This was just before we knew Christian

would be performing it tonight.

It is definitely a a bit risky to take on a song as big as this. Several on Idol have attempted it and failed to live up to what Jennifer Hudson once did. (I believe J Hud was a singer on a Disney Cruise ship before going on Idol.)

 

 Christian put a lot of emotion into his vocal and for the most part succeeded in sounding good. As is always the case with him though, not every note was perfect. My hunch is that his personality and underdog appeal are keeping him in the game, at least for now. 

10. Fritz Hager- "Go The Distance"

This song was from "Hercules" but I am pretty much convinced that Fritz Hager will "go the distance" and win this season's American Idol. This does not mean he has the best voice by any means this season, but past voting trends indicate he is as likely to win as the Republican Party is to take over the House this November.

Actually, this might have been Fritz's best vocal. I find him to be improving recently and less annoying than I feared he would be week after week. He put a fairly "modern" twist on the song and I imagine those who consider him their favorite will not have changed their minds.

 

Solo rankings:

 

10. Noah Thompson

 9. Emyrson Flora

 8. Mike Parker

 7. Lady K

 6. Christian Guardino

 5. Fritz Hager

 4. Jay

 3. Leah Marlene

 2. HunterGirl

 1. Nicolina

Now, this is basically unfair to do, but I also combined the solos with the Bruno nonsense. I will put more emphasis on the solo for breaking any ties:

10. Noah Thompson (20)

 9. Mike Parker (17)

 8. Christian Guardino (14)

     

  7.  Emyrson Flora (13)

  6.  Fritz Hager (12)

  5.  Jay (10)

  4   Lady K (8)

  3   Leah Marlene (8)

  2.  HunterGirl (5)

  1   Nicolina (3)

 

Who should have been eliminated: Noah Thompson, Mike Parker, Christian Guardino

 

Of course, I have to point out that both Emyrson and Lady K especially unfairly moved up because they sounded ok on a few lines of the group number and Christian unfairly went down in the rankings because of the group number.

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Emyrson Flora, Lady K, Nicolina

I was pretty sure about Lady K reaching the end of the road but very conflicted over other "predictions." I was hoping it would not be Nicolina. 

Who was eliminated: Mike Parker, Emyrson Flora, Lady K

With these results, I think Emyrson and Lady K had to leave too soon. They are different singers but I think show a lot of promise. Mike, as talented as he is, was not going to go much further anyway. At least he left on a good note. He should keep in mind that his hero Jimmie Allen, never even made it to the Idol live shows, as a contestant.

I wound up being correct about Lady K and Emyrson. Thankfully, my pessimism over Nicolina leaving was unfounded.

Looking ahead, I think that while Nicolina is the best singer remaining, the Top 3 are eventually going to be Fritz, Noah, and HunterGirl. The final two will be HunterGirl and Fritz, and Fritz will win (unlike the late Walter Mondale in 1984.)

Maybe though, there will be some more merit-based voting and Nicolina and Jay can last longer than I think they might.

Tomorrow night, Idol is going to be on for one hour and apparently no results, so no need to do a blog at all. It will be a "reunion" of past Idol favorites.

The winner of the 2019 season Laine Hardy was supposed to be appear, but I doubt that will be happening (even if something was pre-recorded) because he might be otherwise occupied or perhaps locked up down in Baton Rouge. Who knew that the one-time Elvis wannabe would become a stalking-ex and decide to play the role of a Watergate burglar, at a dorm room of all places.

Of course, all charged with crimes are innocent until proven guilty, but for the foreseeable future, American Idol will have to delay any plans to once again "party with a Hardy."

***Nevermind. This is a quick update. According to a published report I just read, the duet that Laine did with Laci Kay Booth was taped in early April and will still air on Monday night.*** This "tape" will work out better for Laine than his own attempt.

(I do not think last season's Caleb Kennedy, in jail now for vehicular homicide.. unlike others with the name Kennedy.... will ever be brought back.)

This will confuse a lot of people who saw the recent news. I feel the necessity to end on a lame joke, so since Laine won his season because he reminded senior citizens of a  young Elvis, there is always the possibility that one day he can return and perform "Jailhouse Rock."