Amid a violent and sad weekend throughout America, and alternatively a plethora of professional sports post-season Games 7, fans of American Idol tuned in again. I watched a recording late last evening and am now getting around to blogging about it on Monday night. At the end of two hours, five had been whittled down to three finalists advancing to next Sunday's three house season finale.
Last night was a very entertaining episode filled with strong performances. The result surprised me more than anything on the show had in some time. I can only offer some analysis later on as to what might have happened. Two people went home, and I was surprised by just one of them, but disappointed at the elimination of the other. The ABC network has found a lot of talented singer over the past few seasons, and that has especially been true this year. The rules and the format of the show are so tremendously different though than what used to air on Fox, especially during the show's "Golden Era" during George W. Bush's second term. I really wonder what would have happened this season if not for "coast by coast" live voting with a very limited window and multiple people being eliminated each week.
One of the most memorable seasons in Idol history occurred back in 2004, when a young blonde country singer from small-town Oklahoma went on to win the title of American Idol. Carrie Underwood immediately found widespread success in the country music world. To her credit, she has never forgotten the show that sprung her to stardom. I believe she has returned at least once each subsequent season to perform in some way.
This week, the finalists, minus Noah who was still recovering from Covid, ventured out to see Carrie perform at her residency in Las Vegas. She would also mentor each contestant (Noah via video) as they prepared to sing one of her songs in the first round of the penultimate week of Season 20 competition.
1. HunterGirl- "Undo It"
While HG is a bit older than Carrie was during her season, and has been toiling around the music scene in Nashville, it is clear she has a good deal in common with this week's mentor. If victorious, she would join Carrie as the show's second true female country winner.
Underwood definitely owes much of her career success to crossover appeal, and this particular song has been one of her more pop-ish up tempo numbers. On Sunday, HunterGirl was in very good voice and made great use of the studio audience and stage as she performed "Undo It." There is no doubt that Hunter is as a former judge liked to say "in it to win it."
2. Leah Marlene- "I'll Stand By You"
This was not actually a Carrie Underwood original, though the past winner did record a cover of it back for an "Idol Gives Back" episode (remember those?) a few years after she won.
This ballad by The Pretenders has also been performed other times, often to great acclaim on the Idol stage. I saw Chrissie Hynde and company (as opening act) perform this song live at Wrigley Field a few years back (and that would become a theme this week for Leah's song choices.)
Hearing her duet during the session with Carrie, I was looking forward to hearing her take on this song, but she totally changed up the arrangement and I did not really like that. Her voice however was good. The interpretation though lost a bit of its melody and lyrical intensity, though of course she was heavily praised by the judges.
3. Fritz Hager- "I Wanna Remember"
Despite testing positive later than Noah, Fritz was the one who was recovered enough in time to meet with Carrie in Las Vegas. I did know this song, but that is not all the unusual for the ones Fritz has selected this season?
About 24 hours later, what do I remember about it? Not much except Fritz had some noticeable voice cracks and he was dressed up like a 12 year old boy. Otherwise, it was all pretty decent.
4. Noah Thompson- "So Small"
This somewhat schmaltzy ballad was right up Noah's alley. I am not much of a country music fan and I sometimes find Noah's performances a bit on the boring side, but he is definitely a good singer, and better technically than I found runaway winner Scotty McCreery to have been during his season.
5. Nicolina- "Blown Away"
This also felt like a somewhat obvious song choice for Nicolina who clearly has the pipes to give it justice. The song feels a bit more rock than country.
A wind machine was uses very liberally during this performance as Nicolina belted away in a cape. Perhaps all that wind might have left some to think her singing was moderately affected but I did not find it that way. I have enjoyed how Nicolina has sounded all season and this was no exception. Whatever bad stuff she has been through in recent years (as she often seems to allude to in a fairly non-annoying way) seemed to only bring out the feeling and intensity in this performance.
Round 1 Rankings:
5. Fritz Hager
4. Leah Marlene
3. Noah Thompson
2. HunterGirl
1. Nicolina
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The next round was billed as "show-enders" or songs that the contestants might one day do as an encore. It seems like a pretty weird way to say they were allowed to sing whatever they wanted (provided the songs were cleared for the air.) I have to say thought, this was a great round. All five of them had some of their very best performances. There were no "losers" in this round, but of course, this would be the final competition performance for two of these kids.
1. Leah Marlene- "Separate Ways (World Apart)
Wow, one of my favorite Journey songs performed on Idol for the first time. After The Pretenders took the stage at Wrigley Field a few weeks back and sang (to a mostly not yet arrived audience) the song that Leah did in the first round, Anel Pineda and the rest of the then Journey lineup (which did not include Randy Jackson) performed this song. It was their opener though, not their closer. I am sure the song they do last is obvious and has not changed for the past forty years or so.
Leah was terrific on this. She had to change the arrangement of course to fit her voice better and to meet the time requirements, so it was not exactly a vintage Steve Perry like vocal, but she sounded great.
2. HunterGirl- "Girl Crush"
Interesting song choice. Was HG making a direct ploy to the sapphic fans of Leah by doing this somewhat ambiguously messaged song? Would it lead to more fans to have a HunterGirl crush?
It started off a little slow and plodding but HG was really in the zone vocally and brought a great deal of intensity at the end. She is looking and sounding on stage like someone who has already made it.
3. Fritz Hager- "Youngblood"
For this round, Fritz was wearing some kind of junior Fonzie leather jacket and looked a bit weird, but this was one of his best performances and easily the most surprising.
I am not sure if this is the first time Fritz had sang without a guitar, but he did and even more so, moved around the stage and basically danced around like a pop star (or like guest performer Finneas who had already performed. I much preferred Fritz to Finneas actually. I do not know this song well, but Fritz looked extremely confident and proficient.
At this point, I was more convinced than ever that Fritz would win, even if all the other singers are better technically or more to my musical appreciation. I was giving him credit though for taking a chance and doing some performance versatility that so many past "white guys with guitars" had avoided thoughout recent Idol history. Would last year's winner Chayce Beckham ever tried something like that?
4. Nicolina- "All I Ask"
Seacrest said she would be doing an "Adele anthem" and I was really hoping for "Rolling In The Deep." Along with "Alone" by Heart, which she did last week, that seemed like the song she would be most likely to one day sing.
Instead it was one of Adele'e more recent ballads. Would the other song have made a difference? Probably not. On this, Nicolina sounded great once again. She is very much like an American.. er Canadian version of Adele and at just 18 years old now will probably get even better. Hopefully, Nicolina will have a great career. The theme of this song was "if this is the last time..." and I was pretty sure that would be prophetic. Also, for Nicolina's sake, I really hope she is not burdened by being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Things have to be rough for that fanbase.
5. Noah Thompson- "Working Man"'
The pimp spot would go to Noah, sitting on a stool and singing a simple sentimental country ballad. I could tell he was going to get a lot of votes. Vocally, like everyone else in this round, he sounded very good.
Of course, it was a very smart song choice. From Lee DeWyze to the aforementioned Chayce Beckham, blue collar white dudes who play guitar have had their narrative extensively pumped by Idol That Be and they rode all the way to the title. Other, unassuming underdog types have also won or done very well and Noah fits that bill extremely well. It is somewhat amazing to me that the same kind of people who are voting for Noah (and others before him on past seasons) are likely the same people who vote for someone with the personality of Donald Trump. Of course, that might have also said a lot about a Trump opponent or fears of the other political party. Those will be conversations I will delve into more in the months ahead, as I cover the 2022 midterms.
Round 2 rankings:
5. Fritz Hager
4. Noah Thompson
3. HunterGirl
2. Leah Marlene
1. Nicolina
Combined:
5. Fritz Hager (10)
4. Noah Thompson (7)
3. Leah Marlene (6)
2. HunterGirl (5)
1. Nicolina (2)
Again, this was a strong nigh all around, and especially for all five in the second round.
Who should have been eliminated: Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson
Who I predicted would be eliminated: Leah Marlene and Nicolina
I had predicted the Final Three and the order of their finish weeks ago and felt no reason to deviate from it, though on the merits I hoped to be wrong. Indeed I was, but in a half-sense that I could not feel too good about.
Who was eliminated: Fritz Hager and Nicolina
I was definitely surprised. I had pegged Fritz as the eventual winner pretty much from Hollywood Week, and even though I typically had him at or near the bottom of my rankings, it was somewhat of a shock to see him leave in 4th or 5th place. Of course, Nicolina deserved way better but I have been clear on that on a number of previous occasions.
Yes, this is all only a tv show, and I am not even able to vote based on the Voter Suppression of American Idol producers, but real fans get heavily invested. I had accepted that Fritz was going to win and I was not all that upset about it. I can see him having the chance to have a decent career and I defininitely think he is a better singer than an Alejandro for instance, and was more true to himself in the pursuit of winning votes than a Laine Hardy of that same season. Laine won however and Fritz did not. Of course, Lane has other pressing issues at the moment.
The pressing questions I have is why did Fritz lose and who exactly is voting heavily for Leah, whom I initially did not think would even break into the single digits of finishing order.
Were Fritz's fans overconfident? Are they mostly kids who are buying his music on I-Tunes but forgetting to vote? Were those hipsters watching the ridiculous Billboard Music Awards at the same time instead of Idol? Were people in Fritz's state of Texas more interested in the Game 7 performances of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars? Did his admitting to being a huge Dungeons and Dragons nerd after his first performance seal his fate?
In any event, Fritz is gone and I am sure I was not the only one quite surprised. Leah was definitely surprised when she heard her name called and reading into Fritz's face, while being totally gracious, you could tell how surprised he was. I can believe people had been telling him for weeks that he had it in the bag and he just needed to count down the days before going on the big media tour.
Now, the final three will do the "Hometown Visit" thing. Would they have gone to Toronto for Nicolina? Noah's Kentucky and HunterGirl's Tennessee are pretty close together. Maybe they can share a plane.
As for Leah, she will return to Normal, Illinois. That will be another Idol hometown that I have actually been to, even though it is not exactly my Chicagoland neighbors that hosted Lee DeWyze and Haley Reinhart (with Grace Kintsler from last year not very far away either.)
With Fritz out of the picture, I think HunterGirl has to be considered the favorite to win, and I think that is definitely what the Idol producers want to see happen, but there is also no way to discount the possibility of Noah winning, since he is a guy and all.
If Leah somehow wins, I will find that harder to explain via analysis than any season in Idol history, although it could give me and many others hope about an "out of nowhere" unconventional Presidential winner in 2024.
