American Idol- Top 3

I have returned from my annual tradition of watching the Mother's Day American Idol episode at my parents' house. And are they ever upset about the results. I told them though weeks ago and throughout the entire evening that their favorite was unlikely to reach next week's Finale. I wanted We Ani to make it too and even texted a number 10 times to try to affect the outcome. However, my influence on the Idol vote these days is about the same as my influence internally within the Republican Party.

Since ABC has taken over Idol, this has always also been the Disney theme. I wonder how much usual watchers were boycotting tonight's show in solidarity with Ron DeSantis, (or as someone else now calls him."Rob DeSanctimonius.) Usually, they do one round of Disney songs, and then an additional round of non-Disney schmaltzy ballads. Tonight, it was Disney for both rounds, with a whole lot ballads. Due to the Guardians of the Galaxy series (which I know nothing about), they are apparently able to count a lot of old non-Disney songs as being part of the Disney catalogue.

To start off the evening musically, the guest mentor (Sofia Carson I believe) sang a Disney song in a pre-taped segment and the Final Five joined in background towards the end. Thank goodness there were not any solos for that this year or I would have had to rank them.

1. We Ani- "Into The Unknown"

This is not a song I am that familiar with or really would be into, but We was impressive as usual. Her background seems to be sort of in the musical theater genre so she was very comfortable with a song like this. We has been relying heavily on her ballad skills in recent weeks.  So have several of the other contestants and one who has not really sung a solo ballad at all. Of those remaining, Colin has been the one who has mixed it up the most in regards to tempo. I wonder if it might have been better for We to have done something fast in the last few weeks. She has shown before that she is able to do that very well.

2. Zachariah Smith- "I Just Can't Wait To Be King"

This would have been very timely if it took place just after the Coronation.That ship has already sailed though as Zachariah sang this Disney movie song that I hate because it used to play incessantly on the speaker system when I worked at an educational toy store back in High School.

Not long ago on this blog, I predicted that before the season was over, Zachariah would sing "Eye Of the Tiger" while wearing a sparkly tiger stripe jacket. Indeed this week, he sang a song from "The Lion King" wearing a sparkly shirt featuring tigers and various other Big Cats. Did I call that or what?

Zachariah has a powerful voice and also likes to dance on stage.According to my mother, he was doing the "Mashed Potato" this evening. I cannot quite put my finger on my why I disliked this performance as much as I did, but I came away feeling personally offended. There was just far too much cheese on those mashed potatoes.

3. Colin Stough- "Real Gone"

I am just glad he did not pick "You've Got A Friend In Me" like every other country Idol bro has seemingly been doing for Disney Night the last several years.

This was decent enough in a sort of country rock kind of way. Colin chose to wear a black cowboy hat for this performance. I think he has worn a cowboy hat for every performance, joining a select group of Idol males (usually trying to conceal baldness insecurities) who have worn a hat for every performance, but I think Colin is the one to have gone the furthest and the only one to stick with a cowboy hat. There is also always some sort of bandana in his back pocket which has never been explained. Perhaps, that is for the best.

4. Megan Danielle- "You Can't Stop The Girl"

It has been very common for Idol voters to stop the girls before one wins. The last two female (non Zooms season) winners, Candice Glover and Maddie Poppe seem to have benefited only when the males have been relatively weak. So perhaps Megan was trying to send a subliminal message.

I do not know this song and perhaps not many knew this ballad either, but Megan sounded spectacular once again, Most of her performances have definitely had more of a "star singing at an awards show" than that of someone just trying to get a record deal.

5. Iam Tongi- "Lava"

For this performance, Iam chose a Hawaiian related volcano song from some Disney short that probably very few people have seen.

It worked out well though for the ukelele playing Hawaiian singer. He just always has such a nice and pleasant voice. What he does takes true talent. I just cannot envision anyone getting very excited by him musically. That is really all I can say about all of his performances.

Round 1 Rankings:

5. Zachariah Smith

4. Colin Stough

3,  Iam Tongi

2. We Ani

1. Megan Danielle

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1. We Ani- "The Climb"

 

Yes, I suppose Hannah Montana is Disney. This was another ballad selection for We though who like many other talented females singers in Idol history made the decision to sing almost exclusively ballads in sequined gowns in the latter rounds of the show and while they typically pull it off vocally, they wound up not getting rewarded by the voters.

Of course We sounded terrific once again. She could do a song like this in in her sleep. She also the ability to sing the verses in a way that keeps the listeners attention and along with the journey as she builds up to the chorus. The arrangement was a different spin though on this song and she did not really sing it in the overwrought that Miley Cyrus did and might be expected by anyone covering this song. I thought it was very strong vocally but wondered if perhaps people would think she was not demonstrating an emotional connection to the lyrics. Perhaps, she was sanguine about the fact that tonight was probably going to once again be the night she was "going to have to lose."

2. Zachariah Smith- "Life Is A Highway"

I am old enough to remember when this was a song was done by an original artist long before it got covered and put in the movie "Cars." 

Vocally, I thought this was a better fit for Zachariah although it was still cheesy as some Italian restaurants. He really was working hard and selling out vocally on the chorus. You can feel how badly he wanted this. I was afraid he might just stick around too especially after the video piece featuring the letter to his mother and the viewers learning for the first time about how he had to help raise a disabled younger brother. Then, Zachariah was very emotional after the performance. It was already going to be nearly impossible for both females to make it to the Finale, but I was concerned that if Zachariah was in, that would clearly mean neither of them made it.

3. Colin Stough- "Nobody Knows"

This time it was back to the white hat. Does anybody "know" this song? It was from "Pete's Dragon" which I believe is from the 1970s (unless it got remade.) These days a Pete's Dragon reference might have some people thinking about Pete Davidson.

Colin sang it well. Even my parents, who were horrified at my prediction from weeks ago that he would probably win, admit he has "gotten better", but I found it all just a bit boring and run of the mill.

4. Megan Danielle- "Carried Me With You"

Yeah, I do not know this song either, and I was reminded that Megan is another one who is doing nothing but ballads lately. Towards the middle though, this song kicked into a faster sort of bluegrass tempo, so it was at least somewhat different than the first song she sang. 

I am always impressed with Megan's voice. The more countrified part of this number sort of had her reminding me vocally of Reba McEntire. It was another very solid performance, but it did not have the same impact for me as the first ballad she did this evening.

 

5. Iam Tongi- "Father And Son"

While this was Mothers' Day and Iam's mom was around once again, his narrative this season has remained that he is mourning his recently deceased father, who taught him to love music and singing.

 

So, Iam was clearly playing to his strengths. He knows he is not someone who is going to do an uptempo song or work the stage physically. The voters certainly have not seemed to mind. Iam's songs all sort of sound the same. You know what you are going to get from him, but once again I cannot help but find what he did to be extremely good.

Round 2 rankings:

5. Colin Stough

4. Zachariah Smith

3. Iam Tongi

2. Megan Danielle

1. We Ani

In this round, I swapped my top two and bottom two, with Iam staying in the middle once again, so with two ties to break I had to make a final cumulative ranking.

5. Zachariah Smith

4. Colin Stough

3. Iam Tongi

2. Megan Danielle

1 We Ani

Who should have been the Top Three seemed quite obvious to me and my parents were in agreement. I thought it was extremely possible though all three guys would advance and both of the vocally superior females would be left on the outside.

Who should have been eliminated: Zachariah Smith and Colin Stough

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Zachariah Smith and We Ani

Ultimately, I decided that both Zachariah and Colin coming from Mississippi (the same town nonetheless) would FINALLY catch up with of them. I thought that Megan would make it into the Finale for that reason and because she is country.

Who was eliminated: Zachariah Smith and We Ani

I did call it correctly in my final prediction before the last commercial break. I suppose I should be somewhat relieved, but still We Ani deserved to go further. It seems more difficult than ever for an African-American performer to make it to the Final Three these days,unless they are from a southern state and have a very compelling backstory and narrative such as the now late Willie Spence did.  He would lose to a white guitar playing country guy too though.

I never thought Zachariah would get this far during the audition rounds. He would probably be very entertaining to see live in a small venue as long as he did enough '80's songs.

We Ani is a great singer who is probably leagues above where she was she finished in third place on "The Voice"as a teenager. Now, on Idol, she was either 4th or 5th. Probably fifth. Being from New Jersey originally and then living in New York City did not do much to help her. So, We Ani joins some of my recent favorite female belters like Grace Kinstler and Nicolina in not winning Idol. Hopefully, she will have other avenues to stardom. I can see her having a lot of potential.

Looking ahead to next week, Megan will probably "win" the night, though I will try to be objective when I watch and compile my rankings. Still, I give her no better than a 10 percent chance of winning and she will probably finish in third place.

I think the conventional wisdom is that it is all set up for Iam to win. That may happen, especially with a very split red-state vote, but I am going to give Colin about a 50 percent chance of winning with Iam having about a 40 percent chance. As I said in conclusion last week, if and when Colin beats Iam, there are going to be a lot of surprised and pissed off people wondering how that could ever happen, but nobody reading these entries can say they were surprised I suppose.