American Idol- Top 3

The show aired on Monday. I watched it on Tuesday and now here on Wednesday, I am here to say that I did not really find the episode all that entertaining. Maybe it was just the overloading of back to back Disney Nights with songs I really do not vibe with. Maybe it was the fact that Gabby Samone is no longer on the show. Maybe the kids just seemed to be somewhat physically and emotionally tired. I am sure they are working hard. They had to learn and perform four songs over the previous week, while also starting to prepare for the Finale. There were no disasters musically, but it all felt a little bit disjointed and overly corny at times. This has been a very strong season, but as often happens when the show gets to its final rounds, very few actually seem "hungry" for the belt.

This was supposed to be some sort of Disney "heroes and villains" theme, but I do not see how that applied. I also do not understand why out of the five contestants, they had the same person sing first and last in each round but then mixed up the others in the middle. They also interspersed the video packages between the rounds with one being another mentoring session with Lin-Manuel Miranda and the other being the contestants having a wholesome and sappy time at Disneyland with their families. Even though it was taped before it was known which of the Top 7 would become the Top 5, they had to speak to the cameras as if they already made it. That must make it even tougher for Gabby and Mattie Pruitt to think back about what they said to a producer on camera in what would become deleted footage.

 

Looking at this Final Five though, it sticks out that there are three contestants who are parents and they (now) have a combined six children between them. This is very unprecedented. Looking back, I am pretty sure that only Fantasia and Noah Thompson won Idol when they were already parents. Both of them were still teenagers at the time and single. The parents this season are in their 20s and two of them have had their spouses front and center since the auditions. We do not exactly know the relationship status of the third parent. In addition to the three parents, there are also two teenage southern boys, who appear to come from affluent families, and who most likely have not fathered any babies. They both have younger sisters though who have been very visible. All of this makes for a very family friendly and Disney friendly Idol homestretch. It all seems very stylistically different than "The Voice" where most of the finalists seem to look very much as if they come from "blue state America." I would not be able to name any of them. It is enough work to focus on Idol.

 

1. Slater Nally- "You've Got A Friend In Me"

 

I would ban this song from Idol. Every year, during the Disney portion of the competition, some dude has to sing this Randy Newman "Toy Story" monstrosity. On Monday, Slater had his hair all done up and was wearing some sort of goofy looking tuxedo and singing into an old-fashioned microphone for whatever reason.

 

This is a long way from the ballcap and jeans wearing gritty southern rock guitar player. This was the first time he did not play a guitar on the Idol stage and I think that might be a good thing, but this felt all sorts of corny. Apparently though, he sang this recently, while wearing a weird outfit, at some sort of High School performance. I really do not feel Slater is as "country" as might have been advertised. 

2. John Foster- "The Bare Necessities"

 

Oh great, another cringy song. When I was just a bit younger than John, I had a part time job working in a toy story of sorts that sold Disney music and this song used to play all the time over the speakers.

 

For what John is trying to do, he did well. His core audience are somewhat older ladies like my mother who really likes John and told me she would want to "adopt" him. Those are the exact same words she used to describe Laine Hardy, another Bayou teenager a few years ago. He would up getting arrested for something after wining Idol and we do not hear much from him anymore. In his audition, John said he was in college had ambitions of going to medical school and becoming an oncologist. Something tells me that he is probably not going back to school anytime soon.

 

Needless to say, this performance was very corny for me but John knows how to work a camera. It would have fit in very well as some sort of John Denver-ish 1970s variety show appearance, complete with the Muppets singing along.

 

 3. Thundesrstorm Artis- "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes"

 

Upon hearing the song choice, I was not excited. However, I have to give Thundestorm credit.  He sang this very well. It was a slow, almost lullaby like ballad, but his voice had a Nat King Cole quality to it. Unlike the first two performances, at least he was able to infuse some life into it and come across as a worthy vocal and not just playing dress-up and singing (although John basically wears the same thing every performance.)

 

4. Breanna Nix- "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)"

 

Ok, this is not exactly a Disney song, but I guess it qualifies since it was in a Disney movie. I wish more contestants would have tried to stretch the rules like that.

 

Breanna sounded decent but something felt off about her performance. She just seemed a little worn out and unsure. The thought occurred to me, especially as she seemed to be sitting on the couches at the times when her male competitors were standing up.... might she be pregnant?  Breanna responded to Carrie Underwod that the song "has a lot of words." It does seem like the judges are a bit more critical of her at times than they are on the others.

 

5. Jamal Roberts- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

 

This old Motown tune was in "Remember The Titans", a High School football movie that itself is probably not really thought of as being Disney. What could be a better choice for a soulful gym teacher?

 

I thought Jamal sang it very well. He definitely demonstrated the most vocal "tricks" out of anybody in this first round (poor Gabby) but it seemed like he could have done even more with the song. He did not directly sing the very memorable chorus, instead leaving it to the background singers, while he just did a bunch of vocal runs. He even mostly stood in one place. Back a few weeks ago, he was running all over the stage. Carrie made note of how he did not move around much either. Is Jamal, like the others, just tired? He also seems to be interacting a lot less verbally. He might not have a huge personality but he seems to be holding back more and mostly just sways back and forth while clutching the microphone during the judges' comments, while the other contestants try to interact with a panel a bit more, (or in some cases, such as Thunderstorm, a lot more.)

 

Round 1 Rankings... too bland for my tastes all around

 

5. Slater Nally

4. John Foster

3. Breanna Nix

2. Thunderstorm Artis

1. Jamal Roberts

 

1. Slater Nally- "Born To Be Wild"

 

Now, Slater was back with his electric guitar and at least trying to do something more "current" seeming, even though this song is close to 60 years old. Carrie, the wife of a hockey player, knew it was from a "Mighty Ducks" movie. Maybe John, who likes the movie "Cars" should have done "Life Is A Highway."

 

I liked this performance better than his first one but it still felt kind of restrained and "safe."

 

2. Thunderstorm Artis- "Find Yourself"

 

I do not know this song at all. Apparently, it is from "Cars." This was the second ballad of the night for T-Storm, who seems to do a lot of ballads. He might have benefited by being a bit more "fun" on stage.

 

From, what I remember though, he sang it well. This performance was heavy on the guitar playing though and he seemed to want people to pay attention to how well he was able to handle the instrument. It was maybe too much of a coffee shop sort of vibe than something for a huge stage. It seemed like Thunderstorm almost got very emotional when Luke Bryant started talking about the relationship the contestant had with his late father.

 

3. John Foster- "Rainbow Connection"

 

The song title alone seemed like more of a Thundestorm pick. Seriously though, in the last round, I was picturing John serenading a bunch of Muppets, and here we were, with him singing Kermit's song. I guess a guest appearance was either out of Idol's budget or Kermit realized that in Louisiana, they probably eat a lot of frogs.

 

What else can I say? John sang it well. Lin-Manuel had wanted him to try to sing it not so much like Willie Nelson and I guess John accomplished that but he still seems to be more of a tribute artist than an original musician. That has definitely not hurt the Idol victory chances of past contestants though such as Scotty McCreery. It seems like Carrie might be pulling to a John victory. Back in the auditions, she and Luke Bryant had cautioned him to try to be more original vocally and Luke stated he almost said "no" to a golden ticket for John. He has definitely come a long way in terms of perception, as he is now on the edge of ultimate victory, although his voice is probably the same as it was.

 

4. Breanna Nix- "You'll Be In My Heart"

 

Breanna dedicated this Tarzan song to her husband, whom handed off the kid to someone else in the audience while the cameras were on him for this. He was also mic'ed up in the crowd.

In this round, Breanna seemed more relaxed and likely had a somewhat better vocal performance for it. It just was not as impactful as what we have seen from other contestants, including Breanna herself, this season.

 

5. Jamal Roberts- "Beauty And The Beast"

 

Jamal stated in the video package that he did not know why he picked this song, which seems pretty odd. This is kind of a boring ballad, but Jamal is so talented vocally, he is able to make a listener appreciate his skills. Once again though, as was the case for everyone this evening, it just seemed sort of "safe." With Gabby and a couple others gone, Jamal (along with Breanna) have the best overall voices but this was kind of him coasting and then getting a lot of praise for that.

 

Frankly. he could have had a moment with "Circle Of Life."

 

Round Two Rankings:

 

5. John Foster

4, Slater Nally

3. Breanna Nix

2. Thunderstorm Artis

1. Jamal Roberts

 

 Combined rankings- just have to break a tie between 5 and 4

 

5. John Foster

4. Slater Nally

 

3. Breanna Nix

2. Thunderstorm Artis

1. Jamal Roberts

Who should have been eliminated: John Foster and Slater Nally

 

I managed to go over 24 hours without hearing any spoilers as to who was eliminated. So, my predictions were genuine. However, when I spoke on the phone to my mother, who wanted me to watch the show so we could discuss later, she did not seem at all upset, so that was perhaps my cue that her boy John went through.

 

As I had been saying, I thought Thunderstorm, who might be splitting some African-American voters with Jamal, and even more Evangelical voters with Breanna, might have run out of time. 

Then, I thought that the country music vote split between John and Slater would finally lead to one of them being cut. I have been saying from the start that I thought Slater might win the whole thing. Both Sunday and Monday though, I thought Slater came across as having "sold out" a bit, in contrast to John, who some might think "sold out" from the very beginning. John has been more consistently himself though and to those who decided he was "the one" early one, that is all that matters, more than the singing and the music. 

It is tough to say for sure, but even if I had watched live and not gotten indirect cues from my mother, I think I would have-

Predicted to be eliminated: Slater Nally and Thunderstorm Artis

 

Who was eliminated: Slater Nally and Thunderstorm Artis

 

While I thought Slater was perhaps the frontrunner to win, I did also have Breanna, John, and Jamal as going to the Final Four from the beginning. Now, one of those three will win American Idol next Sunday. Before that, they will make "homecoming trips" to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, red states all, although I think Jamal's town probably voted heavily for Kamala Harris.

Frankly, Thunderstorm and especially Slater may be better off not winning Idol and being under the thumb, at least for a short time, of that whole team. They seem to be songwriters deep down who want to do their own thing, while the other three are probably more malleable.

I can envision fans making the case for why either Breanna or Jamal will win. I will be surprised if I do not watch the show next week and think that one of them definitely deserved to win. They are better and more versatile singers.

However with Slater now out of the way, I will be pretty surprised if John does not win. I think Breanna will come in second, but that will wind up being secondary. For the present-day American Idol, young, cowboy hat wearing John is just a great "candidate." Young girls will like his jawline and their mothers and grandmothers will appreciate his 'aw shucks" persona and southern politeness (ie, "Miss Carrie, Mr. Luke", etc.)

It might be easy to forget that a few weeks ago, in an unguarded moment, it was John of all people who got caught reacting with a profanity on stage and having to be bleeped. Maybe that won him some votes too. It probably showed a more genuine side than the carefully crafted tv personality and Idol strategy,

American Idol- Top 5

It is Monday night. Idol has revealed its Finale participants, but I will be avoiding that news until tomorrow evening, when I hope to watch tonight's episode. Just imagine if this were the pre-VCR days. Back then, folks had no choice but to watch television by appointment. I did catch Sunday night's Mothers' Day/Disney Night episode live (perhaps ten minutes late on the DVR) and made my rankings then. Now I will recap that episode, which ended with a very unfair result, that sadly did not surprise me much. The plan will be to recap the Monday show on Wednesday night, as I did last week.

 

Every year, since moving to ABC, American Idol sends its contestants to Disneyland where they rehearse a Disney song, I always sort of dread this and these songs are not exactly "exciting" but I always come away impressed with the talent shown. This year Lin-Manuel Miranda was the guest mentor. He seemed very mainstream in all the video packages, but is probably as "left" politically as Idol might get this season in terms of on-air guests.

 

1. Gabby Samone- "How Far I'll Go"

 

It is near impossible for Gabby to have a bad performance and this was definitely not one of them. However, he take on this song from "Moana" was perhaps not quite at her usual level of excellence. It had a lot of words and felt very musical theater. Still, she managed to hit the notes she wanted to. Was there perhaps a better Disney song for Gabby though? She had not done much uptempo on the Idol stage and that could have been a good idea. She also could have done "Circle of Life" and probably nailed that, although it would have brought out many comparisons to Jennifer Hudson's memorable Idol moment.

 

2. Jamal Roberts- "Go The Distance"

Gee, these Disney song titles are sort of nods to the uncertainty of the Idol competition. What do I remember about this? I remember that Jamal sounded very,very good and infused it with the same sort of soulish intensity he brings to all of his performances. I cannot remember much more about it but at the time, it seemed like a better song choice than what Gabby had just done. At this point, I had already determined that one of them, if not both, were very much at risk for elimination on this evening, and that would be a great disservice.

 

3. Breanna Nix- "Reflection"

 

Idol had Breanna very much glammed up and she seemed a bit more confident.  Once again, a Disney ballad from an animated movie less than 30 years old was performed.

 

This was perhaps Breanna's strongest all-around vocal. She really captured the emotion in this song and delivered some powerful notes. Three performers in, it seemed like each one had gotten better. I do not think I had previously ever had Gabby any lower than second for a round.

 

4. John Foster- "Almost There"

 

They said he was singing a song inspired his home state of Louisiana and I thought it was going to be that dreadful ditty that Laine Hardy had one done. Thankfully, it was something different. 

I was watching this Mother's Day show with my parents, and similar to her thoughts on Laine, my mother really likes John and wanted very much for him to be kept in the competition. I tried to stress my point that while he is talented, the others are better singers. For this performance. John eschewed his guitar altogether which may be for the best, considering he had barely played a note in recent performances. The vocals were ok, but this was another example of a cheesy performance in a modern-day Heee Haw variety show sort of way. Part of the song was basically talking. Yes, he can pull that off, but it is hard to rank that up there with the other kids hitting crazy notes.

 

At least Josh King is gone this week. I wish Kobi Jordan were still around however.

 

5. Slater Nally- "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"

 

Slater took on the Elton John song from "The Lion King" which was not "Circle Of Life." I think Disney should be timely and make an animated film about 100 men trying to fight a silverback gorilla.

 

In the mentoring sessions, Slater always gushes about how he is a huge fan of whomever the mentor is, but this time, there was actual video evidence of him, just a few years back, loving the hell out of "Hamilton" and singing it with his sisters. That seemed a bit.. surprising. Anyways, right off the bat, Slater seemed to draw a blank on the how the song starts and missed the lyrics, Then, he recovered and sang it pretty well,  It was not his best though.The fact that he has a unique vocal style always makes it seem a little bit less like he is just dong cover songs.

 

6. Marrie Pruitt- "Remember Me"

Despite the song title, frankly I do not remember a whole lot about this performance a night later.  It was definitely another ballad though and in my mind, Mattie has definitely improved over the past couple of weeks but dome notes still sound kind of off to me.. She sang this well, although sometimes she needs to enunciate better.  I think that would be more important than the "sass" the judges keep wanting to bring out of her.  While 16 year old Mattie is talented, I cannot claim that she is anywhere near as "ready" as the her two older female competitors, Gabby and Breanna.

 

7. Thunderstorm Artis- "Colors Of The Wind"

This season, I have said that he resembles both Steve Urkel (perhaps from the episodes where he was the cooler alter ego) and a young Barack Obama. My father said that Thunderstorm looks like Denzel Washington and I think that might be true also.

 

Once again, T-Storm did a song referencing a weather phenomenon, this one from the movie "Pocahontas" which is most definitely not about Elizabeth Warren. I am not a fan of the song, but as is always the case, Thunderstorm sounded decent. He has his artsy sort of whisiperish delivery to the beginning verses of each song. I guess it is working for him up to this point.

 

Round 1 rankings:

 

7. John Foster

6, Mattie Pruitt

5. Slater Nally 

4. Thundestorm Artis

3. Gabby Samone

2. Jamal Roberts

1. Breanna Nix

 

Now, considering the holiday, it was time for the annual "Mother's Day Dedications." It seems though that the video pieces were not as drawn out and emotional as they usually are. Far less tears were shed as the contestants honored their mothers and less sappy letters were written. There were a couple of alterations to that format also, which we will get into. I also noted that while some of the mothers were their with their Idol child for a segment taping at Disneyland, they were not in the Hollywood studio for the live performance on Sunday. Maybe they had to work on Monday morning.

 

1. Breanna Nix- "Like My Mother Does"

 

This song was definitely suited for the occasion. First released by one-time Idol contestant and erstwhile horse-owner Kristy Lee Cook and then done as a part of an Idol finale by Lauren Alaina, I feel like this song has been done too much already on the Idol stage.

 

I will say though that Breanna sang it incredibly well. She was also smart enough to bring on the tears at the conclusion of the song, which I am sure was mostly genuine. This has to be quite a memorably Mother's Day for Breanna herself, whom apparently was not too active in the music world last year. she had a very strong night and might be in for an even bigger Sunday next week.

 

2. Gabby Samone- "Home"

 

Once again, another ballad for Gabby, but this is exactly what she excels at. I thought her first performance on Sunday was very good, but this was just an another level.  There is no way Diana Ross sang this nearly as well in "The Wiz" movie. Based on her vocals, Gabby deserves to be a star. I hoped people were voting for her, even though I myself do not vote, mostly because, when I do manage to watch it "live", I like to actually watch the show and judge and rank them all at the end on the merits.

 

My parents agreed though that Gabby was fantastic and deserved to be on tomorrow night. They seemed to dismiss my concert that she could go "home" that night.

 

3.  Slater Nally- "Don't Think Twice It's Alright"

Some dude sang this last season and I cannot remember his name. I cannot use the What Not to Sing website since it sadly has not been updated in years now with the recent season information, even after claiming they were going to do so.

 

Anyways, Slater said this Bob Dylan song reminded him of his mother, because she was reassuring, or something along those lines. This was a better fit of a song for Slater than the Disney one in the first round. He did the Bob Dylan thing by playing the harmonica as well as the guitar. Can Timothee Chalamet do that? I have yet to see that movie and since I am not a huge Dylan fan, do not really feel the need to. People who are true Slater fans, and I am sure there are many of them, would have definitely loved this.

 

4. Jamal Roberts- "A Change Is Gonna Come"

 

Jamal, whom has had at least one woman give birth to his children, dedicated this song to his step-mother, whom apparently died of Covid a few years back.

 

This song has been done a whole lot on Idol but it seemed tailor made for Jamal. I was very impressed by his version of it, including in the way he resisted the temptation and did not go over the top with his vocals. I thought Jamal was very much at risk of not getting enough votes to survive, but after I watched this, I really wondered how he could be voted off and did not really know who might be going home at least a round too early.

 

5. Mattie Pruitt- "Those Kind Of Women"

 

At Disneyland, Mattie was joined by both her mother and her step-mother and talked about being part of a blended family. The step-mom was the one in tears in the audience though and it comes across as if Mattie has mostly been raised in that household. 

Once again, I did not know this song, and I am really having a hard time recalling much about it. I think it was another attempt by Mattie to sing country, which could be strategic. I think her best performance was last week, when she sang what was a modern song by a non-country artist. By no means was this bad, but I think it was the one performance on the night that had the most spotty vocal moments. Mattie had to be saved by the judges last week after a bottom two performance and I was fairly sure she would run out of luck on Sunday.

 

6. Thunderstorm Artis- "Out Of The Blue"

 

An original song! Perhaps one that can be vaguely weather inspired, but this was one T-Storm wrote for his wife Faith. He dedicated this performance to her, the mother of his two children. I do not believe we have heard anything about Thunderstorm's mother this season, although he did talk about his father, whom I believe had passed away a while back,

 

I cannot recall how exactly this song went but it felt very natural for Thunderstorm and very much in line with what he has been having success with. He finished third on "The Voice" a few years ago and weeks ago, I might have been a bit surprised that he would get all the way to at least the Top Five on Idol.

 

7. John Foster- "Believe"

 

John was the one who broke down in tears with his mother in the pre-performance package. Now, that is smart politics. I am sure it was genuine.  My own mother is still rooting for him. She has always liked country music more than me though and knew this Brooks and Dunn song, which I did not. I just know "Only In America" from them because of awesome memories from the 2004 George W. Bush reelection campaign, a feeling I have sadly not gotten from politics since and probably never will again.

 

Anyways, this was a less corny performance from John. He definitely did his country thing well. If his style of country music is still popular in Nashville, I can see him having a career. I just cannot pretend that he is as good as Gabby, Breanna, Jamal, or Thunderstorm or typically Slater.

 

Round 2 rankings:

 

7. Mattie Pruitt

6. John Foster

5. Thunderstorm Artis

4. Slater Nally

3. Breanna Nix

2. Jamal Roberts

1. Gabby Samone

 

When it comes time to combine the two rounds, I already knew I had ties galore all over the place. For example,while I had Jamal second in both rounds, I had Breanna and Gabby swapped for first and third. Decisions would have to be made.

 

Overall rankings:

 

 7. Mattie Pruitt

 6. John Foster

 

 5. Slater Nally

 4. Thunderstorm Artis

 3. Jamal Roberts

 2. Breanna Nix

 1. Gabby Samone

 

Who should have been eliminated: Mattie Pruitt and John Foster

 

Prediction time. Let me start by telling the story of how last Wednesday evening, before the next Pope was even chosen, I had a dream, that the Pontiff came out on the balcony, as I have seen on television before, and had taken the Papal name of "Elo." When I woke up, I thought that it made no sense. Electric Light Orchestra? I do often have weird dreams.

 

Then, the next day, Catholics do get their new Pope.. amazingly enough, an American!, and from Chicago!, and he takes the name Leo. OMG, Leo and Elo have the exact same letters. I must be the Jewish Nostradamus. I should note though that the new Pope looked Filipino in my dream.

 

Would this prediction streak extend into the weekend for Idol though?

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Mattie Pruitt and Jamal Roberts

As I have mentioned, I was pretty sure Mattie would be cut. As for the other person? Nobody other than Slater or Breanna would have surprised me. It should have been John, but I thought he probably was going to survive. My hunch was that it would come down to Jamal or Gabby and whomever was getting the lesser of the amount of votes of African-Americans would be eliminated. Indeed that seems to be exactly what happened.

 

Who was eliminated: Mattie Pruitt and Gabby Samone

 

Perhaps, I was just hoping beyond hope that Gabby could stick around, but I think the black people who vote for Idol sided with Jamal more because he is somewhat more of a traditional black soul singer than baladeer Gabby, whom probably should have done something up-tempo in the latter rounds. I think she is good enough to have pulled it off.

 

 

My parents were surprised and upset about Gabby. Of course during the show, my mother was mostly focused on hoping John would survive. She prefers him way more than Slater. I have been saying from weeks ago that Slater is probably going to win the whole thing, whether he deserves to or not.

 

It is also true that at least since the days of Fantasia and Jordin Sparks, any African-American woman faces steep hurdles to even make it into the Finale. Recent years have seen a couple of extremely talented ones leave too soon and Gabby now joins that list. I said weeks ago that I thought she would probably fall short of the Finale, even if she was the best overall singer this year. A couple of black women have won since, but they were untypical seasons, such as the Covid/Zoom year of Just Sam or when Candice Glover won because Idol producers made sure that every male in the Finals that year was either gay and/or a horrible singer.

 

Yes. Gabby was robbed. Kolbi was last week also. It all felt inevitable though. Idol voting is about demographics.and whom people "relate" to the most for the whole season and not simply folks voting for the person whose voice sounded the best on that given night. 

One could look back and see that weeks ago, before the Finals even began, I offered an early prediction of a Final Four of Jamal (though I did sort of predict he would have been unfairly eliminated last night), Breanna, Slater, and John. That is what we have, with Thunderstorm, a black singer, whom appeals more to white fans, in the Top Five. 

 

The Top Five, for Disney Night Two (as if we needed another one) are two African-Americans and three white kids, which seems less outrageous than four males and one female. If anything, it should have probably been Jamal and three females, with Breanna the only white singer left.

When I watch tomorrow to see who the Final Three in the Finale will be I will judge on the merits, but I sort of fear that there might be some serious backlash in certain corners if Thunderstorm and Jamal are both gone and the Final Three are all white and from the South. That is the main demographic for this show. As it stands, all of them are from the South, with the exception of Hawaiian Thundestorm, whom mentioned last week that he had Texas roots.

 

To hold to my prediction of what a Final Four might be, I think Thunderstorm may be eliminated on the Monday show. Before I hear them sing tough, I really hope it is not Jamal joining him. Considering the vote splitting between the two country teenagers (of conflicting singing styles and somewhat so regarding personalities and looks) , one of Slater or John will be gone. Who has more fans? It may actually be John, but my hunch is that Slater will advance, and join Breanna and Jamal next Sunday in the Grand Finale.

 

Jamal will finish third and Breanna will be the runner-up to Slater even though I will probably think at the time the results should be reversed.

First though, I have to get through Tuesday without seeing any spoilers and then find out whom moves on.

American Idol- Top 7

In full disclosure, I did not see Monday's Idol episode until late Tuesday night. Now, it is late on Wednesday night and I am catching up with my recap. This may be a shorter one than usual.

 

As has become a recent tradition, it was the Judges' Song Contest, which is an interesting concept, in which the three judges each anonymously pick a song for each contestant. The one that gets picked wins a point for the judge, and then the kids try to guess afterwards, and this year Jelly Roll joined in the speculation, although he basically just agreed with the guesses. At the end of the night, the winner(s) would get to "save" one of the two contestants voted into the Bottom Two.

 

For one thing, I have to think that the judges already had a list of what songs had gotten picked and thus knew who had "won", but they went along with pretending to be so competitive about this. I believe Katy Perry won the last two years, and now this season, Carrie Underwood came across as perhaps too competitive. She seemed sort of in a down mood all night.As she said, she is only used to winning on American Idol. Gee, is she for real with all that? I think the night would probably wind up worse for one of the kids who was about to have their dreams of Idol victory dashed.

 

Nobody really had a bad performance on Monday, and in fact, I think that one contestant continued to show a good amount of growth. Some others though, I think probably had their least good round in terms of the solos. There were also a spattering of duo and trio performances throughout the night. One of those was really horrible too. While Idol tells us that they are not officially part of the competition, they did take place during the time where people were voting, so as I always do, I had to rank them, and the fair way to do so in my mind is to judge each contestant against the other in the order of which they sang. This always leads to some inconsistency in what is being compared, but there is really no other way. If I have to break ties, I put emphasis on the solo performances. I also imagine Kolbi and Canaan had also rehearsed their parts in these groups and I can speculate as to which song they would have done. I suppose all the rehearsals had to be re-arranged to take out the parts of the 9th and 10th place finishers (we will never know who was who) or perhaps they just learned those songs on Monday morning. Frankly, that would not shock me either.

 

1. Breanna Nix- "Independence Day"

 

Breanna picked perhaps the best known of her choices, and a song that used to be done on Idol a lot, including by Carrie, even though Ms. Underwood was not the judge who selected it. 

It seems like this was the most country oriented song Breanna has done this season. Towards the top, she forgot to sing some of the lyrics. Then, she caught her composure and sang very well once again, although it seemed like she was maybe singing louder than she needed to be. It is clear that Breanna is still dealing with her nerves, and like several other recent female performers, is basically shaking on stage when hearing the judges' comments. She should realize this set of judges are far "nicer" than what we used to get on Idol.

 

2. Mattie Pruitt- "Always Been You"

 

On Sunday, I thought Mattie easily had her best performance. In my view, she continued this momentum on Monday. While she certainly does not as great of a voice as some others in the competition, this kind of current song suited her better than anything else she had been doing.

 

I think I have heard this song somewhere, but am not really too familiar with it. Mattie did sort of an interesting vocal modulation a few times that at least made her stylistically stand out. I can envision that a lot of young girls especially would have been into this.

 

3. Gabby Samone, Josh King, and Jamal Roberts- "Dancing On The Ceiling"

 

Of course, Idol will use these group performances to pay tribute to their judges. I think Canaan probably would have been included in this group and might have been funny to hear him sing something with zero faith-basied connotations.

 

Nobody really bombed, but this seemed pretty haphazard all around. Gabby probably did her thing the best/ Jamal sounded a bit like Lionel at the beginning of his solo part and  Josh looked and sounded a little out of place with them both.

 

4. John Foster- "I Cross My Heart"

 

Well, I guess they are not trying to avoid John having a girlfriend on the show after all.  She was mic'ed up in the audience pit and everything.

 

George Strait is pretty much right up John's alley and he sang it professionally. I just find this kind of music sort of boring. John is quite competent in his genre, but I feel like he is no longer capable of doing anything on stage that would surprise me in an impressive manner. Once again, he had the guitar on him but barely played a chord.

 

5. Josh King- "Home"

 

OMG, they wanted him to sing "Great Balls Of Fire", that would have been on brand for his neo-"Vote For the Worst dot com" appeal. It also seems like Josh has a bit of a backstory that I did not know a lot about. It seems like he is somewhat of an experienced actor and was on Saturday Night Live as a child (obviously not as a cast member.) We had already heard that he once sang backup for Fantasia at a church and now we saw a clip of him singing this very song at a David Foster (brother in law of an Idol vocal coach) concert. Josh has also apparently been at a lot of Michael Buble concerts and sort of lamented the fact that the Canadian crooner is currently on "The Voice" this season, and not Idol. This was a bit of breaking the fourth wall. I think it even took Seacrest by surprise. He should have taken the opportunity to throw some shade at Carson Daly. So, what I am trying to say is that either Josh is the Forrest Gump of American Idol, or a lot of his sad sack positioning could be an act. I just wonder what the eliminated MKY thinks about Josh surviving round after round after having to basically carry him in their Hollywood duet performance.

 

Yes indeed, this Buble song does sort of have some ominous lyrics for someone trying to advance on a show, but it has been done on Idol before. Josh sang it somewhat decently, but nowhere near spectacular. The song choice itself was the "safest"and least entertaining of the the three options he had.

 

6. Gabby Samone- "Hero"

It seems like Gabby wanted to do the Celine Dion option, but realized she has already covered her this season. So, she went with Mariah Carey, whom apparently she has met professionally before. We also learned that Gabby has sung with Justin Timberlake. So, despite having apparently been homeless in the past few years, she is definitely not a complete novice in this business, even if she has not been on a show like "The Voice" previously.

 

Needless to say, Gabby sounded very good on this ballad. It is what she can do in her sleep.I just was not quite as wowed as some of the other things she has done.

 

7.  Thunderstorm Artis, Slater Nally, and John Foster- "Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Everyday"

 

My opening statement is that Luke Bryan's "Huntin', Fishin', and Lovin' Everyday" may legitimately be the worst song I have ever heard in my life. Seriously, people spend their money on that crap? Why not a country fan, I could at least understand why people liked past Idol judge Keith Urban. Luke Bryan? I just do not get it.

 

This was almost hard to watch, although, they naturally received no criticism. John sort of was best suited for this, but Slater sounded awful on his part. Thunderstorm, who as mentioned is from Hawa'i', and not the Deep South, seemed a bit out of his element also. It was also noted how since he is so much older than teenagers Slater and John, had to sing the lyric about whiskey. 

So, now that everyone has sang at least once, I have my first set of rankings:

 

8, Slater Nally- group

7. Joah King- group

6. Thunderstorm Artis- group

5. John Foster

4. Breanna Nix

3. Mattie Pruitt

2. Jamal Roberts- group

1. Gabby Samone- group

 

8. Jamal Roberts- "I Believe"

I think he made a mistake by not doing "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, which while a song from the last decade, would at least have made him seem a bit more current.

 

Next. we learn that Jamal just had a new baby daughter (named Gianna) born that day! Or on whatever day he filmed the interview. That is news and definitely an Idol first to have a contestant welcome a child during the actual voting round. (We have seen it happen in auditions and Hollywood Week.) Obviously, Jamal was not present for the birth of his third daughter, who unlike Harmony and Lyrik, does not have an overly musical name. While none of this should really deflect from his talent, there are some obvious questions raised. We have not heard anything about Jamal being married or still partnered with the mother of his other daughters. I doubt he is the new Nick Cannon or Elon Musk. Maybe they all still have the same baby mama and she just has not been shown because she has been pregnant in Misssissippi but it seems like he would have at least offered some sort of gratitude to the woman who just gave birth while he is on television. 

Anyways, on to the music, which is why this show exists I suppose. It is weird to sing Fantasia's winner singer, especially if you are a dude. Jamal has the vocal pipes to do it though and mostly succeeded. At first though, it seemed like he was content with letting the backup singers (including 2009 seminifinalist Felicia Barton) sing the chorus. Jamal was obviously going to get praised heaped on him for taking on Fantasia's anthem but it felt pageantry and kind of pointless to me.

 

9. Breanna Nix and Mattie Pruitt- "Something In The Water"

 

Finally, it was Carrie's turn to get one of her songs performed. I guess Kolbi would have joined in if she was around, but instead it was just the two. It did look like a much older sister and a younger sister and some might have even gotten a Judds mother-daughter vibe to the pairing.

 

They both did decent. Mattie definitely was trying to sound more country here than she has on her other performances. This was a better chance for Breanna to shine though.

 

10. Thunderstorm Artis- "Faithfully"

 

I cannot help but find it hard to believe that so many music fans hate on Journey and on songs like this. It is one of my absolutely favorites and I was instantly convinced that Carrie Underwood was the one who picked it for Thunderstorm.

 

I also knew he would not sing it anywhere like the way that Steve Perry or Arnel Pineda or past AI winner Caleb Johnson did. That is sort of too bad for me, but I think T-Storm largely succeeded with his acoustic version. There was one part where I did not like his musical choice, so I had to deduct some points there.. He said the lyrics about being on the road as a musician and away from his family spoke to him. Mrs. Artis (maybe we should call her Lightingstorm) is always there with a baby on her hip and the toddler being held by grandma or an aunt perhaps. After the performance, Seacrest walked him over to where she was standing and basically let the contestant profess his love for her. This seemed like blatant Idol manipulation. Is T-Storm the chosen one they want to win?

 

11. Slater Nally- "Atlantic City"

 

My first thought was that the good ol' boy (he is literally still a boy legally) from Georgia sand the night before about New England and now was singing a song about Atlantic City.  I do not know this Bruce Springsteen song, but was surprised it was available. I thought once Clive Davis had to go to great lengths to get The Boss to clear one of his songs for the show.

 

The fringed shirt Slater wore seemed a bit pointless for this. It would have made it seem like he was doing a more country number. I think Slater is actually better at this sort of Americana rock thing than pure country. The vocal itself maybe had some very good parts and some not as great parts, but I do find Slater impressive as a young musician and think that he has even greater potential as he gets older.

 

"Round Two" Rankings:

 

8  Josh King

7.  John Foster- group

6.. Mattie Pruitt- group

5. Jamal Roberts

4. Thunderstorm Artis

3.  Slater Nally

2.  Breanna Nix- group

1.  Gabby Samone

 

Combined Rankings:

 

8. Josh King

7. John Foster

 

6. Slater Nally

5. Thunderstorm Artis

4. Mattie Pruitt

3. Jamal Roberts

2. Breanna Nix

1. Gabby Samone

 

Who should have been the bottom two: Josh King and John Foster

As the show went to its final commercial break and we learned that Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie would share the contest trophy (which Carrie Underwood, wife of an NHL player who never got to hoist the Stanley Cup smarlly refused to touch), I figured that Josh had to be one of the bottom vote getters. I mean, it has to happen eventually, right?

 

As for the second slot, I was pretty sure it would not be John or Slater or Thunderstorm. It could have been any of the others, but I thought that Jamal might be the unlucky one. I had no doubt the judges would save him though and wisely sacrifice Josh.

 

Who I predicted would be the bottom two: Josh King and Jamal Roberts

 

Who was the bottom two: Josh King and Mattie Pruitt

Very interesting. I had thought Mattie had stuck around longer than she deserved and then in the past week, I thought she was greatly improved. America finally caught up to what I was once thinking in regards to what I thought was the bottom two headed into the entire Finals.

 

Who should not have been saved, who I predicted would not be saved, and who was not saved: Josh King

 

People would have lost their shiz if the judges saved Josh. I think he knew that too.  At first , I liked how he sort of subtly pointed his head towards Mattie while looking at the judges, asking them to save her, as if they were not already going to do so. Then, he made it way, way more obvious and it was clear he wanted everyone to think he has being magnanimous. That sort of made it look unfair for Mattie because on the merits, she deserved to be saved on Monday night.

 

Good luck to Josh, who outlasted a good number of better singers, even if he might be a nice guy. I wish him success, whether it is back to the airport lounge or perhaps on some television comedy set in the future.

American Idol- Top 8

The week has been busy and the Idol schedule has been a bit difficult to navigate in terms of watching a two hour episode in one sitting and then blogging about it. I watched Sunday night's episode after it aired on Sunday and now about 24 hours later, I am trying to extract specific memories to go with the rankings I composed on the spot. I have been doing this for the past couple of Monday episodes, but now am doing it for the Sunday show. Of course, there was also an episode of Idol that aired tonight, but I am doing first things first and will focus on my recap of the first show of the week. Tomorrow, I will watch the Monday show and then on Wednesday plan on doing another post. If this were still the days of the Bush or Obama Administration, it would be very difficult to avoid hearing spoilers on what happened tonight or who got cut. Somehow though, I think I will manage to go all day tomorrow without finding out. The franchise is just nowhere near the cultural phenomenon it once was.

 

Last night, aka Sunday, the then Top 12 took the stage to honor women in the music business,which might be considered "woke" to some. The mentor was Miranda Lambert, whom also took the stage and in my view sang pretty poorly. Nonetheless, she was the first Lambert to be on Idol since the most recent guest appearance of Adam. (Does anybody remember Season 10's Alex Lambert?) Miranda was on Idol for the first time ever. She used to appear occasionally on "The Voice" as her former husband Blake Shelton was a "coach" for about 29 seasons in a row. That is where Blake met his now wife Gwen Stefani somewhere along the way. While Miranda Lambert, like Idol judge Carrie Underwood, is a considered a huge female country star, this is a rare recent season without a true female country singer among the finalists. Two of the remaining males can definitely be considered country though. This all led to a bit of an odd episode, that learned pretty heavily on country and with a lot of cowboy hats. Perhaps, the non-country contestants were trying to appeal to whom they thought was watching and voting, which may have included people tuning in just to see Miranda Lambert.

 

From my perspective, a couple of the contestants last night had their best showing, though they still were not better than many of the others, while a couple had perhaps their weakest overall performance on the live Hollywood studio stage, and still deserved to advance.

 

Here is how Ladies' Night proceeded:

 

1. John Foster- "Something To Talk About"

 

I have no doubt that John is racking up tons of votes. I think perhaps some did not want him to mention his girlfriend on the show. He was sort of forced to do so though by Luke Bryan, when he acknowledged that he already knew her and a cousin or two among his fawning fans in the front row of the studio floor audience.

 

This was a vocally decent but once again fairly corny performance. This is the sort of thing though that got Scotty McCreery, who was maybe just a year younger than John all the way to victory several years ago. There just was not much of an impact by his voice itself though and it really seemed like the guitar served as nothing more than a prop. I would not be surprised if did not actually play a single note on this Bonnie Raitt song. I am not even sure if he even had a guitar pick in his hand. It also occurred to me that this was the song that once (finally) got Sanjaya Malakar eliminated.

 

2. Kolbi Jordan- "The Chain"

 

At the time, I thought this was a smart strategy by Kolbi. She said the audience might have just expected her to sing Aretha or her personal idol Patti LaBelle. Instead, the contestant sang a Fleetwood Mac song, and made it pretty country along the way, which is fairly different than the original. Kolbi was dressed in sort of a sparkly western outfit and a cowboy hat.

 

Some might think Kolbi acts a bit too cocky on the show, but I have really enjoyed her personality. If past Idol contestants like Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson can host syndicated daytime talk shows, I think Kolbi would be perfect for a job like that. I liked her vocals on this song, She always has a very strong voice, but this was perhaps not as impactful as some of the other songs she has done, because it was a bit out of her comfort zone, as she took a calculated risk to get country fan votes.

 

3.  Josh King- "Rolling In The Deep"

 

Really? This song? Josh? Good luck.

 

All things considered Josh might have had his best vocal performance, at least at the beginning, on this Adele number, as he tried to make it more "bluesy" while playing piano. In the context of a small lounge, it might have been considered quite good for what it was. Then, he got up, ran around stage, pulled out his harmonica, and it got pretty manic and amateurish.

 

There is definitely something going on wish Josh personality wise that is either beyond his control or quite calculating to appeal to a category of Idol voters. He is embracing the "awkward dork" image for all it is worth. There really should be a focus group study on who exactly is voting for Josh and why. It could be that his racking up huge numbers from his home state of North Carolina, which last year elected a Josh as Governor.

 

4. Breanna Nix- "Water Under The Bridge:

 

Back to back Adele on the Idol stage. For some reason, I am finding this one a bit more difficult to remember details than some of the other performances last night. I know that she showed up to her mentoring session in (ripped) jeans, which might have confused or angered some of her Fundamentalist fanbase.

 

I remember that Breanna sang this song very well, but she always sings well. I thought that perhaps that on some of the bigger notes towards the end, she lost some vocal control. Her young son is in the audience, being held by the dad, with giant earphones on, every week. It seems like Idol is pushing hard to get as many very young children or siblings in the crowd at all times. I also noticed that at the end of Kolbi's song, her mother started walking away from her seat, perhaps to some sort of waiting room, before the segment was even over.

 

5. Canaan James Hill- "Love Wins"

Seacrest tells us that after the break, CJH is taking on Carrie Underwood. Well, obviously, this was going to be "Jesus Take The Wheel." Alas though, no. For the first time ever, Canaan sang a song without overt religious themes on the Idol stage. Still though, it might as well have been a gospel song, based on the lyrics and the way he performed it.  I sort of have to give him credit for proving me wrong and doing something secular, but if he was going to cast aside those restraints, he might as well have just gone for it and done something completely unexpected. For this song, he had been worried about forgetting the words, and indeed he seemed to do just that at the end, and instead just did some of his well-established runs.

 

All things considered, I think this was maybe Canaan's best vocal. It is easy to forget he is only 17. He looks like he is old enough to run for the U.S. Senate. I think he has been even better over the past couple of weeks on the Idol stage, but there is a perpetual non-exciting Luther Vandross quality to his showmanship.

 

6.  Thunderstorm Artis- "When We Were Young" 

Adele is back again! Thunder said he wanted to play piano for the first time on the Idol stage because it was the first instrument he learned to play back when he "was young." Last night, he sort of looked like a young Barack Obama and some might think he has the self-sure attitude to match. When he was worn glasses before, I thought he looked like a grown-up Steve Urkel.

 

I was extremely impressed by T-Storm's vocal performance here. While I sometimes wish I could understand the lyrics a bit more when he sings, he has such a deep connection during his performances.This was very good and Thunderstorm is gaining a lot of momentum.

 

7. Slater Nally- "Whoever's In New England"

This was a Reba McEntire (also a Voice coach) song I do not know. One might almost assume that a country song that references New England might be some sort of red state smackdown of a bunch of blue states, but I do not think that is what this was about.

 

My views on this Slater performance were somewhat mixed, but lean more towards positive. Maybe I am crazy, but it sounds like his guitar was out of tune and I was wondering if the singer himself was distracted by that. It seems like he was doing a lot of thinking. I have come to appreciate the tone of Slater's voice, though his style of music is not necessarily my favorite. The drama was if he would attempt to sing the end of the song with a big note or play it more safely. Of course, he went for it. The judges said he nailed it. I might not be as sure.

 

8. Jamal Roberts- "Undo It"

 

Another Carrie Underwood song by a black dude, why not?  Jamal has been so good all season and has proven he can use his voice and stage persona to great effect. While Canaan wore a canary yellow suit for his take on Carrie, Jamal was decked all in black, including a cowboy hat. I wondered if some Idol voters might have been turned off by his appearance.

Also like Canaan, Jamal seemed to struggle a bit with the words, in his case at the top of the song. Besides for that though, he sang this fairly rockish country song very effectively. At the end, the hat was flung to the judges' table and ultimately wound up on Carrie's head, albert backwards.

 

9. Mattie Pruitt- "The House That Built Me"

 

For this performance, Mattie sang a Miranda Lambert ballad. During the mentoring session, Miranda encouraged Mattie to be bold and play guitar for the first time on the Idol stage. I am sure the producers would have made her do so otherwise.

 

All of this was set up for a "Mattie moment" and I will say, it was definitely her best performance. Mattie seemed more connected to this song than some others she had done and the somewhat gritty tone of her voice worked better for her. I will not say she is on the same level as some of the other kids on the show, but it was a clear improvement. Mattie was almost immediately in tears after she was done. Last night could have been a good opportunity for her to leave on a positive note.

 

10. Gabby Samone- "I Was Here"

 

When they said Gabby was singing Beyonce, I was really hoping it would be "Halo" which I personally said on here last week that I wanted to hear her do on Idol.

 

Instead, it was a Beyonce song I do not know. Nonetheless, Gabby is always Gabby and she continues to crush it. She can sing softly, she can sing loudly, and always sounds close to perfect. She definitely deserves comparison to a young Whitney Houston, and the hair last night seemed to resemble 1987 Whitney.  Many people will be quite disappointed and sad if Gabby is voted off before the Finale. I still fear that may happen, but for now, she is doing almost everything right.

 

Rankings:

 

10. Josh King

 9. John Foster

 

8. Mattie Pruitt

7. Slater Nally 

6. Breanna Nix

5. Jamal Roberts

4  Kolbi Jordan

3. Canaan James Hill

2. Thunderstorm Artis

1. Gabby Samone

 

It has to be acknowledged, I put every black singer ahead of every white singer. That is not something I consciously did, but as would have been the case if the roles were reversed, that is just how I saw it. So maybe I will not be invited to join Al Sharpton's National Action Network quite yet.

 

Who should have been eliminated: Josh King and John Foster

 

I have been like a broken record on this Josh thing. Somehow, someday, it has to end, right? I did find myself surprised having John ranked behind Mattie. When John is good, he is quite good, and when he is corny, it definitely approaches cringe-worthy. Overall, it might just be a style of musical taste. Regardless, I did not at all think John would actually be voted off last night.

 

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Josh King and Kolbi Jordan

 

It seemed like this was simply a math problem at this point for Kolbi who definitely did not deserve to be eliminated. She had perhaps not her best performance doing a song that was considered unorthodox for her and adding an additional country twist to the equation. With so many African-Americans, I knew vote splitting would cost one of them. Before we had a Top 14, I thought that Canaan might find himself on the outside looking in, but was thinking last night he had a big enough fanbase, even if he sang a song that did not have the words Jesus or G-d in it. It was possible that Jamal was at risk, but I figured it would most likely be a female and that Gabby was getting the votes that Kolbi needed.

Who was eliminated: Kolbi Jordan and Canaan James Hill

 

That is the way it ended up. Two African-Americans were suddenly voted off. I sort of wonder if they would have had better luck if they sang a "Ladies Night"song by a black artist. There would have been a lot to choose from. I had them ranked third and fourth so I definitely do not approve of this result, but it is perhaps not exactly shocking. Canaan seemed fairly surprised though. With the time ticking off, we barely got more than ten seconds of reaction from the two booted contestants. Long gone are the days of the elimination song, montage package, and tearful sing-off of the contestant(s) who just had their hopes and dreams crushed.

 

As I type this, there is already a Top 7, but I am going to try to not find out who is contains until tomorrow evening. I beg of all the massive amount of readers out there, do not say anything to spoil the suspense for me!

American Idol- Top 10

Idol season takes dedication when they are giving us four to five hours a week for a short period of time. I do not even know how I would handle it if the Bulls or Blackhawks were in the playoffs right now. Maybe one year soon, I will figure that out.

 

I watched Monday night's episode of American Idol somewhat late at night, while also trying to catch coverage of the Canadian election. How many people can claim that? I doubt Olivier Bergeron was watching either. Now, about 24 hours later, I am going to once again attempt to share what I remembered.

 

This was an evening of strong singing by a talented group of contestants, although one with a couple weak links. It was also a night of many cross necklaces, which is definitely a huge aesthetic theme this year. Many tears were shed by the contestants. Also, very notably there were five American Idols in the building. One at the judges table in Carrie Underwood (who wore the same dress she wore when she was crowned 20 years ago), and was briefly joined by some of her competitors from the 2004 season, whom she likely has not seen in years. Guest mentor Fantasia was also there. Apparently, Jelly Roll will only show up on occasion.. Recent winners, both out of California, Chayce Beckham and Abi Carter got a little time to talk onstage. Then, there was the 2025 Idol, whomever he or she may wind up to be.

 

Since all these contestants sang live on Sunday, it is a given that all of the rehearsal footage with Fantasia was shot earlier in the week and that they were working on two performances all along. That means, we will probably never see what Amanda Barise and Desmond Roberts had planned. For this round, the remaining 12 would sing "Idol moments" which meant either a song that someone had done on the Idol stage, whether as part of the official competition or not, or something a former Idol became associated with in their post reality tv competition career.

 

1. Slater Nally- "Angel From Montgomery"

 

I think I remember the older Idols from the Fox days far better. I had to think of a moment as to whom Megan Danielle was.  On Monday, Slater sang a song she had done on Idol a couple of years back. He also wore a cowboy hat (black in contrast to the lighter one favored by John Foster) for the first time. I actually think that sort of outfit looks less authentic on Slater. He seems like a kid from the suburbs more than anything.

 

Regardless, this was a very credible performance of a country ballad. Slater always has a grit to his voice that many people will love. He continues to be consistent and will likely be around until the Finale.

 

2. Che- "Dancing On My Own"

 

Che noted emotionally that his fiancee and three children just had to depart to return home to England. I assume that Tom Homan or Stephen Miller played no part in that. He will get to see them whenever he is eliminated.

I thought this was another solid vocal from Che. It fit with his somewhat smooth, soulful style. Clearly though, he does not have the biggest vocal range this season.

 

3. Thunderstorm Artis- "House Of The Rising Sun"

Yet, another song involving a weather component for Thunder. That seemed appropriate. 

T-storm has been consistently good throughout this competition but last night was the first time I could see him possibly winning. I still think that is somewhat of a longshot but this was a very impressive performance. It is clear how much experience he has on stage and he seems committed to trying to make each song somewhat unique to his voice.

 

4. Kolbi Jordan- "Over The Rainbow"

 

After a Thunderstorm sometimes comes a rainbow. We had already heard Slater perform this song, in a somewhat original way back in Hawai'i, but Kolbi said she was paying homage to Katharine McPhee's version, which I saw live back in the day on the Idols Pop Tart Tour. (Kat had been ill recently at the time and there was some drama over whether she would show up in Rosemont, Illinois.)

 

Kolbi's version of this Wizard of Oz classic was different though than the one sung by the future Mrs. David Foster. This particular song has never really been anything that did much for me, but Kolbi's version was perhaps the best one I have heard. She has such amazing control over her voice and managed not to go overboard on this song. From what I recall, some of her subtle vocal nuances were stellar. As Randy Jackson would say, "we have another one who is in this to win it!"

 

5. Filo- "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"

 

The very first song ever performed in an Idol voting round back, from back in the Season 1 semifinals made another appearance. My research confirms this song has been done close to 10 times in Idol history, but never by a male voice, with the exceptions of comedian Normund Gentle and drag queen Ada Vox. I note that he did not include the line "best man I ever knew."  Filo said this song selection was in tribute to the post-Idol movie performance that won Jennifer Hudson an Oscar.

Fantasia, who beat Hudson in 2004, was smart to tell Filo to not get too crazy with it. It is good he did not try to be Jennifer Hudson or Jennifer Holliday and thus it was really very good, at least for what the song is in the context of a reality competition show. He has a killer voice and is a natural performer. The judges love Filo, people in the audience seem to love to chant his name, and his mother is perpetually in tears of pride. How far this season might Filo go? This week, Filo's pastor or priest was amongst the family cheering him on. That seemed like an Idol first. 

 

6. Mattie Pruitt- "Because Of You"

 

This emotional Kelly Clarkson song is powerful and I think extremely hard to sing, considering all the words in it. Nobody can really sing it like Kelly and at least one past Idol hopeful has been tripped up by it. This was an extremely tall task for young Mattie.

 

When she began, I thought she was easily at her best in this competition. Then, there was a point where she seemed to mess up a bit and I was back to thinking that her voice just is not comparable to what others are bringing to the stage this year. Maybe she could have done an easier Kelly Clarkson song.

 

7. Canaan James Hill- "Goodness of God"

 

This was a song that a defeated contestant sang as part of their celebrity duet last year on the Finale. Idol tells us it has already become an "iconic moment" and perhaps it has online among Gospel fans.

 

 I think the question is settled. Just as Donald Trump will never stop claiming he won the 2020 election, Canaan is never not going to sing a religious song as part of his run on American Idol. CJH will take that dedication as far as it might take him and then prepare to be that sort of singer after the show. I guess that choice can be respected, but it is starting to make him a bit boring. As always, at least since he got over his allergies, he sounded very good. This was probably more of a restrained performance than others he has recently done.

 

8. Gabby Samone- "A Song For You"

 

Gabby said she was three years old when Fantasia won the Idol. That would have made her the same age as Tasia's daughter back then. Gabby also claimed to remember it and how it inspired her as a black girl. I am a bit skeptical she would have actually remembered it in such a way back then. 

In any event, Gabby is just so, so good. This was an interesting song choice, done years ago by Eliot Yamin on Idol, but perhaps not super well-known. It is also not really a song where someone belts out big notes. Gabby completely demonstrated her skills by the intimacy and phrasing she put into this. I will really look forward to hearing what she might do next in this competition.

 

9. Josh King- "All By Myself"

 

Almost everyone on Monday had been so great to this point, I thought perhaps Josh should just thank everyone and head to home. It almost seems unfair to make him have to follow these peers. Josh has to know that at some level, but I think he might have been doing some serious campaigning last night during the entire package. He claimed to be a fairly lonely guy who has become great friends with his fellow competitors and he fears as Kelly Clarkson sang (and perhaps he could have covered) that his life would suck without them, whenever he gets voted off.

 

This was the first time in the voting round that Josh played piano. I suppose it was also his strongest overall vocal, at least for most of it, but still, he is nowhere near the same level of anyone else, even Mattie I guess. As he concluded this sad song, Josh also was in tears. Will he tug at America's heartstrings or will voters find it manipulative?

 

10. Breanna Nix- "Tell Your Heart To Beat Again"

 

I had been thinking that Breanna has been getting very comfortable with the Idol experience, but maybe there is more going on. She is physically shaking after her performances. She pulled out the "being bullied online" card also. Apparently though, she is not being bullied by secular leftists but by her purported fellow Evangelical Christians who are upset at her for not doing what Canaan is doing and only singing religious songs. These folks seem to have gotten pissed off that she put on black nailpolish and sang Freddy Mercury last week, while also wearing pants!

 

Perhaps, I did not know how closely associated Breanna was with the religious side of this business. The whole thing about complaining about Idol haters feels a but put on by the producers, but that is another discussion. However, she chose to sing by Danny Gokey, whom during his 2009 run was extremely polarizing. Gokey, (who even I as a conservative thought was sorta unintentionally creepy) received TONS of misguided online hate back then, but by left-wing fans of Adam Lambert (and others) and not from religious Christians. Since leaving Idol, Gokey has made a name for himself as a Christian singer, and when I came across his social media a while back, I noted that he is definitely a huge fan of the current POTUS, who has practically written the book about being a jerk online.

 

I believe it was during her mentoring session with Breanna that Fantasia talked about how everything she ever sings is dedicated to Jesus. Fantasia also gave a very religious themed performance on the Idol stage last night. I completely and totally respect Fantasia's religious convictions, but cannot ever really forget that years after winning Idol, as a financially secure millionaire celebrity, she had an abortion after breaking up with the married man who impregnated her.

 

Anyways, from what I remember from this performance, Breanna sang it extremely well, but it did not have as much of an impact on me as the other songs she has done. I can perhaps blame that on Danny Gokey.

 

11. John Foster- "I Told You So"

No guitar for the first time for John on this song, which was performed as a guest duet by Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis.  The cowboy hat was of course on though, but then again, Fantasia was wearing one during her mentoring sessions also. Fantasia compered him to a "Ken doll" and I guess I can sort of see her point.

 

What else can be said about John? He is extremely consistent vocally and does country music like a true pro. He seems incredibly packaged as an Idol contestant, perhaps overly so, but his polite southern manners likely has won him a ton of fans. I am not a fan of this particular kind of music, but I thought this performance was better and less hokey than the semi-Elvis impersonation the night before. It also included the old Idol standard of the young male singer being presented as "flirting" with the glamorous pop star Idol female judge as he sang directly to her.

 

12. Jamal Roberts- "Heal"

 

From what I recall, quirky Leah Marlene sang this very late in the competition during her fairly recent season, and it got a lot of praise because it seemed so out of the box for her and she sang very well on what felt like a worship song. I wonder how exactly Jamal got the idea to sing this. Was he really watching the show back then?

 

Jamal has consistently great vocally since his first audition. A lot of what he has been doing on stage though has felt a bit formulaic. This was at least a bit different, as he sang sitting down for most of it and did not include all the physical moves he has been doing on stage. His voice sounded great once again and I like that it was a bit more restrained. It just happens to be that a couple of the ladies tonight had a bigger immediate impact with their vocal performances.

 

Rankings:

 

12. Josh King

11. Mattie Pruitt

 

10. Che

 9. Canaan James Hill

 8. Slater Nally

 7. John Foster

 6. Breanna Nix

 5. Thunderstorm Artis

 4. Filo

 3. Jamal Roberts

 2. Kolbi Jordan

 1. Gabby Samone

 

My bottom two came as absolutely no surprise. Even they though were not horrible on this very good night of Idol performances.

 

Two of the wildcard picks were voted off on Sunday and I figured the remaining two were most likely to go on Monday also

Who should have been eliminated: Josh King and Mattie Pruitt

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Josh King and Che

 

Who was eliminated: Che and Filo

 

Well, if the popularity of Mattie is questionable enough, I am basically at a loss to understand the staying power of Josh. I mean he cried and all, but still. My mother thinks it might even be rigged.

 

I predicted Che would go and was correct. Based on the evening, he deserved better, although I had him ranked a bit lower on Monday, because so many of the others I thought were bunched closely together.

 

Filo leaving was somewhat surprising. I thought he might have another week perhaps. Based on having him ranked fourth, I must have even been more impressed last night than I currently recall. I suppose he just did not have the fanbase going into the voting. 

Idol has had a lot of double eliminations before, especially in recent years, and I would wager this was the first time that two single named singers both got the boot.  I also think it is very possible the first time, outside of a Finale, where both eliminated contestants were guys.

 

Now, we have a Top 10. Che is from England and I believe Filo was either born in Egypt or is a first generation American. In what is an "America First" era for some, the remaining 10 were all born in the USA. Six are male and four are female, which is perhaps not that unusual at this stage. What seems culturally unique though is that the remaining finalists are five white kids and five black kids. I am pretty sure these are the largest amount of African-Americans ever in an Idol Top 10. 

The good news of course is that these black singers all deserve to be there, but there continues to be a risk that a few of them may get voted off in succession, perhaps losing out to the two white singers who are not on the same level.

 

 

American Idol- Top 12

It is Rock 'N Roll Night on American Idol with guest mentor... James Taylor? Not exactly the epitome of rock there, but I should enjoy the show.

 

On this Sunday night, I will be watching a recording of the broadcast and stopping to comment after each performance and before I hear what the judges have to say. I may or may not get to watch tomorrow's episode tomorrow. It is possible I will see it on Tuesday and do the blog entry on Wednesday.

 

Tonight, America is voting "coast to coast" in real time, which I always think is a bad idea. If they are doing a live show on Monday, why not just give the results for tonight then? In any event, the bottom two are being eliminated this evening, and I will offer a prediction before the last commercial break.

 

The evening starts suddenly with Carrie Underwood singing "Alone" by Heart. This is the song she sang 20 years ago on the Idol stage that had Simon Cowell and many others correctly predicting she would win the show and go on to become a star. This was pretty amazing. Carrie sang this even better in her 40s than she did in her 20s. I believe the old Idol back-up singer from that season is brought back as well. I think she loves being an Idol judge and may try to perform every week. The bar is low, but I certainly enjoy having her as a judge more than Katy Perry. America itself seems pretty anti-Katy these days for whatever reasons. Then, somehow, (perhaps the performance was pre-taped) Carrie shows up dressed up and moving like Axl Rose. Country and religious music aside, I think Ms. Underwood and I have always had similar tastes in music. Back in Fifth Grade, I was Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash for Halloween.

 

1. Filo- "With A Little Help From My Friends"

 

What would I do if he sang out of tune? Well, I would put him far down in my rankings I suppose.

 

Filo always seems to sing to tune and on this performance, hit a couple of very big notes. Still, I was not crazy about the song choice. This has been done on Idol before. Anybody other than Joe Cocker always looks sort of dumb trying to impersonate Joe Cocker (unless they were John Belushi on SNL.) This felt a little too loungey and not really what Filo does best.

 

2. Mattie Pruitt- "Piece of My Heart"

 

It was 16 year old Mattie's step-mother who suggested she sing this Janis Joplin song. It has been done a ton on Idol history, including by Carrie Underwood. Research shows that every lady who has ever attempted to sing this has gotten sort of mediocre rankings, including Carrie. The one singer who I thought might have tried this but did not was Allison Iraheta who was 16 herself in her season. Needless to say, I think Allison would have rocked this out better.

 

Mattie's take on this just felt a little amateurish. She has the makings of a very good singer, but I continue to feel she is not up to par for this portion of the competition. She just seemed off musically and in terms of focus for parts of the performance.

 

3. John Foster- "Jailhouse Rock"

Since John was doing Elvis, maybe he could have gone without the cowboy hat for this week. I assume he will never appear on stage without it. Anyway, this song choice was definitely designed to get people like my parents excited. This was sort of right out of the Laine Hardy playbook, who was also an 18 year old Louisianan when he won his season of Idol.

John sang and performed this well but frankly it was cheesy as hell. It was not exactly the most challenging song for his vocals but his fans probably loved it. It just seemed a bit hokey to me, but I guess considering the theme, it was smart strategy. Also, seriously, the lyrics of this song from 1957 should have been considered scandalous at the time.

4. Desmond Roberts- "Jesus Is Love"

 

Is it still Easter?  Desmond picked a more obviously religious song than the one he picked last week. That might be smart, if casual viewers from last week were tuning in again thinking this is a Gospel show.

 

I do not know this Commodores song and of course the big storyline was that Desmond sang it in front of its' writer Lionel Richie. Last week, Lionel really liked Desmond at the piano and keeping it "simple." This week, Desmond once again started off at the piano, and I thought he sounded good, but that it would perhaps be boring. Then, he stood up and went much more gospel. I have to give him credit for going for some huge falsetto notes.

 

Chubby Checker has been selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! This is an even bigger honor for my parents who love to tell the story about how they were once kicked off the stage by Chubby Checker at Disneyworld because he felt they were upstaging him by being too good at doing "The Twist." Back in my early childhood, when "The Twist" was already firmly an oldie, my parents won multiple Twist contests.

 Perhaps my most similar celebrity claim to fame happened a few weeks back when Flavor Flav Tweeted at me to correct me for misspelling his name during a correct guess I made on that platform during an episode of "The Masked Singer." My bad, Flavor.

5. Jamal Roberts- "Shout (Parts 1 & 2)

Can you really do two parts of a song in a minute and thirty seconds? Idol brought up back to back Roberts. I think this may be the first time finalists have shared a surname since David and Kristy Lee Cook.

In many ways, this was a typical high energy, vocally aggressive Jamal performance. He does that sort of thing extremely well. However, in what is becoming a bit of a theme this evening, it felt a little bit less serious and impactful than his past performances. This particular song has been dragged out for decades to get uincoordinated white people moving at numerous weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and national political conventions, That is sort of what this felt like, although Jamal still always delivers.

There is no way he is being voted off after Seacrest carries his young daughters to Jamal. Father and both daughters have the exact same hairstyle. How often does one see that?

6. Amanda Barise- "I Can't Help It"

Last Monday, I was extremely impressed by how Amanda performed on an Aretha Franklin song. I thought it was by far the best she sounded and looked also. For this round, she chose a somewhat obscure Michael Jackson song. I think there might have been other MJ songs to be found. It probably has to be said that Amanda's Italian-American father appears to be at least four shades darker than Michael Jackson in his final decades.

Like has been the case for a couple of her previous performances, I was a bit confused and a bit underwhelmed by this performance. It was definitely a jazzy kind of interpretation but that sort of number does not really translate to the big Idol stage, There was something very weird and disturbing about one of Amanda's eyes during the song's conclusion. The whole thing was perhaps too artsy, and not in a contemporary sort of way to get a lot of casual fans in her corner.7.

7. Cannan James Hill- "Mary, Don't You Weep"

They told us he would be taking on Aretha Franklin and I figured he might actually try to do a non-religious song, but alas that was not the case. Maybe he could have done Fats Domino, whom, I say with respect, he happens to look a lot like. Also, we found out the dude they keep showing in the audience, who appears to be somewhat close to my age, is Canaan's grandfather! I would have assumed that was his father.

CJH stayed in his lane, thematically and musically. I would like to see him try something different but I still have to keep it real. He sang this gospel number extremely well. It was perhaps the first time he did not even hit one bad note, so that is how I am judging it halfway through the show.

Carrie said Canaan hit a note that made her sneeze. The wannabe pastor missed an opportunity to reply "bless you."

8.  Josh King- "The Longest Time"

I am still a bit peeved that he was selected for a wildcard slot on Monday. It is nothing personal, but he just is not as good as the others. I think he knows that also. Josh's mentoring session with the James Taylor, who does not exactly seem to be Mr. Personality, revolved around chest voice vs. head voice.

Anyways, this type of Billy Joel doo-wop is probably the kind of small venue entertainment Josh is best suited for. It seemed like he might have messed a lyric or two up and was too early on one vocal entrance, but I will say that it was probably his best performance. Nonetheless, it was definitely well below average for Idol Top 14 standards.

9. Thunderstorm Artis- "First And Rain"

What is more appropriate than "Fire And Rain" for a guy named Thunderstorm? I suppose he also has to do "Stormy Weather" for Big Band Week, "Lightnin' Strikes" for the 1960s and "It's Raining Men" for Disco Week. It also happened to be the case this song belongs to this week's mentor, James Taylor, close personal friend of John Kerry.

This is kind of hard for me to judge. I really, really liked parts of it. Other parts I found myself wondering why I liked this. Does Thunderstorm really sing with that kind of gravelly voice or was he trying to imitate someone? It could genuinely go either way. For the most part though, I liked it, I guess in a James Taylor sort of way.

10. Gabby Samone- "Saving All My Love For You"

Whey they said Gabby was doing Whitney Houston, I thought it would probably be one of those monster ballads from "The Bodyguard" which have been done so, so many times on reality singing shows this millennium.  There would have been pros and cons to trying to do that. Instead though. Gabby sang something that I do not think has been done on Idol since the infamous Tatiana del Toro.

In what should be a surprise to nobody, Gabby sang the heck out of it. She sounded like Whitney in many parts, but there were also some deviations from the original which was probably a smart move to not come across as a mere imitation of an iconic voice. Gabby is very much an Idol and musical throwback though. She may resemble a young Beyonce but few viewers are going to make too much of a musical connection. (I would like to see her sing "Halo" though.) Finally, considering Gabby's identity on the show and whom she has been appealing to, perhaps she should consider losing the nose ring, as something like that could unfairly hold her back with some voters.

11. Breanna Nix- "Open Arms"

 

I am all for more Journey on American Idol. During her mentoring session, Breanna, who definitely seems very comfortable on camera these days, commisserated with James Taylor about their shared history of substance abuse. I suppose that is very Rock and Roll.

 

The beginning of this performance was stellar. I was already contemplating if I could possibly wind up ranking it higher than what Gabby had just done. All in all, it was very good, but to compare the two women, perhaps Breanna looked like she had to try a bit harder. A couple of the notes did not sound perfect, although Breanna's voice managed to soar when needed. It could just be that we are just used to this song being done by a male voice, albeit one that gets very high.

Wow, the judges give her some mild criticism, sort of in line with what I just wrote about the end, but that sort of thing is rare on present day Idol. This is sort of a peculiar development. They sure did not go out of their way to realistically critique Mattie for instance.

 

Off-topic observation.. Starting on Friday night and until just now, and between the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings, the teams of Los Angeles had some crushing playoff losses this weekend.

 

12.  Kolbi Jordan- "You're All I Need To Get By"

 

With some of the other extremely hyped African-American contestants this season, might some people be sleeping on Kolbi's talents? Besides for (at times at least) Desmond and Thunderstorm, all of them are old-school throwbacks instead of being considered "current." Among the ladies, Kolbi might be most popular among older black voters while Gabby probably has more fans among older white voters. Somewhere though, this is going to lead to some disappointing results with vote splitting. Kolbi seems like a lot of fun. I thought it was great last week when she was talking about walking around onstage and said something like, "as you all can see, I'm plus-sized."

 

This was another strong performance. I thought it started off great and then perhaps Kolbi lost be a little bit with some more the arrangement choices towards the end. There is no denying that she has a huge voice though and is doing the sort of thing that Amanda has not been able to do consistently.

 

13. Che- "It's a Man's Man's Man's World"

 

Che is a white guy from England who is definitely at his best singing soul music. It must may be that he somehow wound up on the wrong season of American Idol to get very far in terms of all the extremely good black contestants this year (as well as on a season where so many of his competitors are also parents and perhaps also plus-sized.)

 

This was easily Che's best vocal. He pointed out that this James Brown song has been done already this season, apparently back in Hollywood Week, by Amanda and Mattie. I do not remember hearing those versions offhand but I doubt the woman or the girl sang it as well as Che did tonight. If I had one minor criticism, it seems like Che cannot quite go low with his voice the way a few of the other guys can. The high notes he does very well though.

 

14, Slater Nally- "Your Song"

 

The "pimp slot" goes to the contestant who may be the "chosen one" by the producers. For this round, Slater put a country twist of on Elton John classic.

 

Will Elton John fans appreciate the way he made a fairly chlll ballad into something grittier and more intense? During the clips of the mentoring, I thought Slater might overdo it a bit in that regard but I think the actual performance cut the right kind of balance. I did not love every note of the vocal but Slater always seems very connected to the music he is performing and is taking musical risks in regards to song choices and arrangements in a way that just about nobody else has been doing at this point. In that regard, he is definitely playing the Idol game right.

 

Rankings:

 

14. Mattie Pruitt

13. Josh King

 

12. Amanda Barise

11. John Foster

10. Filo

 9. Thunderstorm Artis

 8. Jamal Roberts

 7. Desmond Roberts

 6. Canaan James Hill

 5. Kolbi Jordan

 4. Slater Nally

 3. Breanna Nix

 2. Che

 1. Gabby Samone

 

Who should have be eliminated: Mattie Pruitt and Josh King

 

Who I am predicting was eliminated even though it happened earlier tonight and I have no idea the result: Josh King and Amanda Barise

 

This show started off a bit so-so in my view and then got much better. However, I am still of the opinion that the two kids I thought were least deserving of making it in the Top 14 should be the first two to leave. I will note that this is the first time I did not have Josh at the very bottom, although it was pretty close.

While Josh was a wildcard and thus might not have the people to pull through again, I am mindful that Mattie was voted into the Top 10 a week ago. Thus, I think it is more likely that Amanda, who I have ranked 12th (despite thinking her "sing for your life" was the best performance on Monday) will also be eliminated.

I fear that I will be wrong though, on at least one of these. The truth is that anybody leaving after tonight, besides my Bottom Three will be a huge disappointment, but I am prepared to be disappointed.

Who was eliminated: Amanda Barise and Desmond Roberts

 I suppose my disappointment meter is only at a 7 out of 10. It could be worse, I guess.

 

People are definitely voting for Mattie,. Maybe they are giving her extra points because she is the youngest and by far the youngest female.

 

Then, there is Josh. I do not get it. Has the "Vote For the Worst" movement re-organized after being defunct for over 10 years? That website would definitely be supporting him in the efforts to keep him on the show.

 
I am not surprised by Amanda being eliminated. I had a feeling she would not connect with American Idol for a variety of reasons, including being an older female from New York City.

 

Sadly, this is the end of the road for Desmond. Only one Roberts remains, which ties Idol with the SCOTUS. I had predicted the very talented and fairly likable Desmond would be in serious trouble last week, but he had a great wildcard performance and was put into the Top 14. Ironically enough, I had Desmond, right in the middle of the pack, ranked just ahead of Jamal Roberts for tonight. A Jamal elimination would have been much more surprising and controversial.

 

Now, Josh and Che are the only two wildcards left. Out of the two, Che at least had a very good performance this week.