American Idol- Top 5

A couple more weeks and Idol will be over. Last night, I watched the show live (except for the final 15 minutes which I caught later) and am going to be recollecting my thoughts here on Monday night.

Two guest judges joined Luke Bryan at the Idol table, as he was apparently not invited to sing at Windsor Castle, unlike his fellow lame panel-mates Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. For this week,he was joined by Alanis Morrissette, a Canadian who is technically a subject of King Charles III. The eight remaining contestants would be mentored by her as they were preparing to sing her songs. I only like one of her songs and I was hoping to hear it, but was surprised by the circumstances it was performed under. Alanis also sang a song of her own. Instead of looking at either the studio audience or the camera, she spent the entire song wailing at the right wall of the building. Once again, I must add, isn't it Ironic, don't you think, that Englishman Ed Sheeran, fresh off successfully winning a plagiarism suit against him in an American courtroom also sat in, after having turned down an opportunity to perform at the Coronation concert. Even with the surprise cameo featuring Chuck and Camilla yukking it up with Lionel and Katy, Ed showed no visible reaction. He also brushed off a Seacrest comment about the British knowing how to party. Ed Sheeran must be staunchly anti-monarchy or knows he is Meghan Markle's second favo(u)rite ginger. The kinds did duets to his songs, and Ed also performed, not fixated on the side wall of the studio, but with his eyes closed. I find spelling Sheeran nearly impossible. Should't there be an h in there?

I was surprised to see the newly crowned King and Queen actually appear on an American Idol broadcast. I wonder if the show tried to get William and Kate instead. Frankly, George, Charlotte, and Louis would be the least boring out of any of them. This appearance though did represent the most self-important Brit to be on the show since Simon Cowell's last episode.

1. Warren Peay- "All I Really Want"

I do not know this Alanis Morrissette song. I feel bad for that young girl from last season (and her mother) who was named after the '90s hit-maker. 

Warren sounded alright.I like his voice but you can tell he really may not be that much into this kind of music. The performance was decent but not too exciting. I have forgotten most other details.

2. Zachariah Smith- "Ironic"

It is very ironic that two dudes from tiny Amory, Mississippi are in the Final 8 and may wind up in the Final 5 before night's end (no reason to spoil that here.) If they both advance to the Final Three and get to do a Homecoming, I hope Idol sends them on the same airplane.. for the sake of the planet of course.

Zachariah's outfit was definitely unusual but he continued to perform well vocally. While not a ballad, this was perhaps the lowest tempo song he has done so far and as such, tamped down the campiness a bit.Will that cause him to lose the attention of some of his fans? This song reminds me of my early days in college and the Clinton Administration and I have always sort of hated it.

3. Iam Tongi and Oliver Steele- "Photograph"

Now, we pivot away from the Alanis solos and into the Ed duets. This messes up the order whenever they do so. My standard practice has always been to judge the contestants against each other only based on their first performance each, or second, and so on.

Both gentlemen played guitar and this was a really good duet. Their voices complimented each other well and it seemed very right for them musically. As has been seen by their frequent hugging this season, Iam and Oliver are very close friends now. Oliver referred to Iam,a bit Ironic(ally) as his "little brother" and pretty much endorsed him to become the next American Idol once he was voted off. Oliver was also very happy to have his father in the audience for the first time and pointed out how great Iam has been in reaching out to his father, while Oliver's old man was in the hospital. Oliver would make a great campaign manager. Perhaps he had already been secretly inspired by James Carville earlier in the week.

4. Haven Madison- "You Learn"

It sounded like Haven was channeling how Alanis used to sing this song. In spite of that, I thought she sounded quite good on it. That is basically what I remember perhaps because a "storm warning" popped up on Chicago's local ABC affiliate for the folks well south of where I was at. Hopefully, there was not a lot of rain on anybody's wedding day. The background of the stage during Haven's number featured shades of green and yellow and pink and the graphical depiction of the radar for the storm warning matched the colors of the Idol stage. That was pretty Ironic.

5. We Ani and Warren Peay- "Perfect"

Idol continues to mess with me because We took the stage for the first time while Warren was not singing for the second and final time. We had yet to even hear from Megan and Colin.

Anyway, in spite of all that, this was a fantastic duet. It was close to "Perfect" for two singers whom you might not imagine blending so well together. Warren's countryish take sounded really good and We was amazing as usual. This big hit came out early on as a duet between Ed Sheeran and Beyonce and We has a lot of Beyonce in her singing voice. I learned some additional things about We today that I will talk about later.

6. Colin Stough- "Hand In My Pocket"

This song is so bad yet I would probably find it hard to change the station if it came on the radio. I remember when SNL had Dana Carvey in 1996 singing it as President George H.W. Bush in regards to something about Bob Dole's one good hand and how all it came down to was the delegates on his side.

Colin sang it just fine, just nothing that was going to blow anyone away with it's originality. He has a country voice and maybe should have changed the arrangement of this song a bit more. It seems to me like there are all sorts of country dudes who have decent voices like him performing all over Nashville and all over America.  However, for him all it comes down to in regards to the Idol vote are the Country Cougars on Colin's side.(Just do not spell any of that with a K.)

7. Haven Madison and Zachariah Smith- "Thinking Out Loud"

This was another good duet on an Ed Sheeran song although perhaps the least so of the evening. Haven handled this kind of tempo in the professional way she usually does and Zachariah proved he can pull off a ballad too. 

Considering the headlines of the past week though regarding this song's victory in court,they missed an opportunity to suddenly segue to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On", but that might have been a bad idea for the two singers for a variety of reasons.

8. Megan Danielle- "Head Over Feet"

The contestant dedicated this appreciative love song to her boyfriend. I am guessing Alanis did not write this particular tune about Dave Coulier.

It seems like Megan never hits a bum note at all. There is not really much more I can say except it was very impressive.

Now, that everyone has sang (at least) once, I can rank them based on the first time they appeared on stage only from worst to best:

 

8. Colin Stough (solo)

7. Warren Peay (solo)

6. Zachariah Smith (solo)

5. Haven Madison (solo)

4. Oliver Steele (duet)

3. Iam Tongi (duet)

2. Megan Danielle (solo)

1. We Ani (duet)

9. Iam Tongi- "Guardian"

I had never heard this song before. Apparently, Alanis wrote it about her son, but Iam flipped it to make it about his mother. What will he do next week for the Disney/Mother's Day Night?

It cannot be denied just how nice of a voice Iam has. There is something very soothing and resonant about it which is part of the reason why he seems so unbelievably popular among Idol voters and what we can hear with the studio audience chanting his name as if he were the late Jerry Springer, but there are other factors in play as well.

10. We Ani- "Uninvited"

As would be clear, We can basically do no wrong from my perspective this season. Earlier today, I saw and was unaware that she finished third place on "The Voice" back in 2016 when she was 17 and went by the name We McDonald. Only after seeing photos and some clips from her performance, did I sort of remember her.

I have watched "The Voice" since it's first season but needless to say pay far less attention to it than Idol and barely ever remember anyone's name. If an ex-Idol semifinalist or finalist pops up on "The Voice", I will remember them, but the reverse probably happens on Idol a lot and I am not even aware. The season she was on, she lost to older, beaded, hefty guitar player Sundance Head,who I remember as a short-lived Idol semifinalist some time We/Way back, and also finished behind Billy Gilman, a one-time celebrated child country singer,who made a reality tv comeback years later.

We looks a bit different now than she did back in 2016, in a good way. On Sunday, she resembled a current day Jordin Sparks. I was wondering if they were going to have her perform last and sing "You Oughta Know." She is the only contestant (maybe besides Zachariah) who is left that I can picture having the pipes to try that, but I am glad she did not sing that song. I could tell by the way she was dressed that she would not be singing it.  It probably would have hurt her image with the voters. I figured that most ironic of all Alanis songs would remain unsung on the evening and that was a bit Ironic.

Anyway,. We sang the emotional ballad "Uninvited" and it was haunting and ethereal, showing off her dynamic vocal range and phrasing. Another great job by We indeed. It is sad that like her time on "The Voice", she is probably not going to wind up finishing any better than third place.

11. Megan Danielle and Colin Stough- "Dive"

I do not know this Ed Sheeran song. They sounded good though and I was impressed, especially by Megan. Colin also did well, but started cracking up at one point. That has happened on Idol boy/girl duets on live television before or at least almost did.

12. Oliver Steele- "You Oughta Know"

Fresh off being saved by Katy Perry, Oliver tells the interview cameras that he hears the criticism that people find him boring and his song choices sleepy so he decided to really shake things up and take on this crazy ex-girlfriend anthem.

That was a surprise to me to say the least! I have to give him credit for being willing to try something bold and his electric guitar take was not horrible by any means but I cannot pretend this was the best song for him or that he was the best person to sing this song.

This particular number is a bit of a guilty pleasure. The lyrics are so corny in many ways but the anger and aggression that Alanis Morrissette put into the vocals are unforgettable.Also, it makes it extra special that we know that Mr. Duplicity himself is none other than "Joey"from Full House, the legendary (?) comedian Dave Coulier. He dated Alanis when she was pretty young and unknown and after leaving a mess when he went away, she had no choice but to bug him in the middle of dinner about the cross-eyed bear that he gave to her (or something that sounds similar) 

Oliver sang this song, without changing the gender but thankfully skipping over the least family friendly lyric in the song. A male even attempting this song is pretty ballsy but there is no way he could hit the high notes quite the way they needed to be hit. It was like a fun karaoke performance but I could not score it too highly. Afterwards, Oliver pulled off another surprise (that I feel in retrospect that I should have seen coming) by ripping off the beanie he had been wearing all night and showing that he had shaved his previously long hair bald. This might have been in solidarity with his father. Oliver looked a little scary with his new bald head and beard but still seems like a nice guy all around. This would have been a great thing for someone to do if there is ever a Britney Spears Night.

Rankings for second performances:

8. Oliver Steele (solo)

7. Haven Madison (duet)

6. Zachariah Smith (duet)

5. Colin Stough (duet)

4. Warren Peay (duet)

3. Megan Danielle (duet)

2. Iam Tongi (solo)

1. We Ani (solo)

Next, I  combined the two scores to get a cumulative total. Three were clearly the best of the night, but the others were bunched closely together, so I had to break some ties, putting more emphasis on the solos.

8. Colin Stough

7. Oliver Steele

6. Zachariah Smith

5. Haven Madison

4. Warren Peay

3. Iam Tongi

2. Megan Danielle

1. We Ani

Who should have been eliminated: Colin Stough, Oliver Steele, Zachariah Smith

Who I predicted would eliminated during the final commercial break: Oliver Steele, Zachariah Smith. Warren Peay

Who was eliminated: Oliver Steele, Warren Peay, Haven Madison

So, I miscalculated that Haven would have more fans based on her father's Christian music career than all of the senior citizens who must be voting for Zachariah hoping he will one day do Elvis or Chuck Berry. Did perhaps Haven go a bit too pop and got a bit too glamorous for some in the Evangelical crowd?

 

It was easier to predict that time was running out on Oliver and Warren also was splitting some votes with him.

 

Last week, I presented my theory about how the red states and blue states both have a male and female favorite and all are still around. The girls continue to be better but the guys probably have the edge.

 

Will it wind up an all male Final Three though? Zachariah is perhaps the one candidate who is bridging the red/blue divide, though I think he is taking more from the red. It would be beyond political comprehension if he and Colin, both from the same town,make the Finale together, but one of them will be probably get there, to my disappointment. Most likely Colin.

 

I would be thrilled if both Megan and We make the Finale but probably only one will, if even that. There were two females in the Final Three last year.

 

Colin is probably the favorite to win, despite being the least talented of the group, but Iam is a force. If he winds up losing to Colin as the Final Two, I could see that being a surprise to many and a national controversy.