American Idol Rewind: Uh-mazing Top 4 Show
What a night, Idol fans! I think I can say without hyperbole that the second hour of last night’s show was perhaps the best hour the show has ever assembled. Three of the remaining four contestants were absolutely peaking. The theme of the hour was “songs you wish you had written,” or as further explained because that makes no sense, songs that inspire the contestants. For the record, I’m skipping the first hour, with the theme “song by bands from California, or about California,” which was fine but lackluster. On to that second hour:
Phillip Phillips got us started with a cover of “Volcano” by Damien Rice, a song and artist I didn’t know before last night, but who probably had the most profitable day of his life on iTunes today. It was sexy, bluesy, and understated. It fit him like a glove, and was by far his best performance of the season. Until this performance, I had written Phillip off. The other three remaining contestants can sing circles around him. His song choices were weak, his stage presence is static, and he really just seemed to stick around because he is the resident heartthrob this season. After “Volcano,” I’m back in his camp. If he can keep connecting with songs like he did last night, he could win an honest victory over the better singers.
Hollie Cavanagh was next up. She chose to sing a gut-wrenching song about a middle age woman coming to terms with the dissolution of her marriage (Bonnie Rait’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”). Bonnie sells it; Hollie doesn’t. It was just a strange song choice for a 16 year old and it ended up being the the weakest performance of an exceptional hour, but I’d still give it maybe an 8 out of 10. Sadly for her, even that perfectly competent performance should be enough to seal her doom tonight.
Joshua Ledet then took the judges out of their seats with a loud, passionate rendition of James Brown’s “A Man’s World.” Joshua is always very good, even if his song choices are suspect. Still, I feel comfortable calling this his best performance of the season also. That’s two for three.
Jessica Sanchez capped off the night performing the song “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” by Jennifer Holiday from Dreamgirls. Holy crap. If you want to see a musical prodigy in total control of her instrument, do yourself a favor and watch the video. The first 1:20 may come off as typical R&B ballad, but starting there and for the rest of the song, she goes toe-to-toe with the biggest voices in the business. It was a startling performance. The contrast between Hollie stumbling through a chorus of “I can’t make you love me,” and Jessica tearing the roof off with the chorus “you will love me,” provided a perfect summation of the two girls’ relative performances. Her best performance of the season – three for four!
Hollie should be packing her bags, but this is a voting show, so we can’t ignore crowd appeal. Philip has the power-texting teenage girl block locked, so I can’t imagine him going anywhere. Unfortunately for Joshua and Jessica, Hollie does have a better built-in fan base. It’s not that people are racist, but many people do identify with people who look and sound more like them. Jessica and Joshua both sing pretty black, and that is a small minority of AI’s viewership. Who knows. One of them may go home tonight for failing to connect to AI’s audience, but it would be a head-held-high dismissal, with a record contract waiting for them in the dressing room.
Posted on May 10th, 2012 Filed in: Entertainment
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