Thursday, March 08, 2012

American Idol: Season 11 - Top 13 Perform

Hello everyone!  An episode filled with highlights medium-lights and low-lights.  It pitted the recently deceased Whitney Houston (RIP) for the girls against Stevie Wonder for the boys.  In a weird turn of events, it sounds like they're going all "X-Factor" on us for this results show.  We'll get a bottom girl and a bottom guy and the judges will pick who stays.  Weird, but whatever!  Pressed for time today, so let's get right into my commentary. 


Amazing
  • Joshua Ledet - "I Wish" - This dude will be with us for awhile. I don't even think him going first will harm him.  He is a seasoned performer and entertaining to watch.  Amazing voice, and amazing stage presence.  If he even was in the bottom this week, the judges would certainly keep him.
  • Hollie Cavanagh - "All The Man That I Need" - With Jen Hirch's ousting, this has to be my favorite female in the competition now.  You just never expect that voice to come out of this little girl.  She's outstanding.  Who would have thought J-Lo's advice to come back a year later "to win" the competition would be sound advice?  It might turn out being true!  That is, if a girl can ever win this thing again.
  • Jessica Sanchez - "I Will Always Love You" - Yes, I cringed when I heard the song she was going to do.  I even muttered "of course" to anyone who wanted to listen.  She is the diva of the group (even at her young teenage age).  And after an emotional tribute to Whitney by Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson (we're all still wondering how she didn't win season 3 now) at the Grammy's, it would be tough for Jessica to fill the shoes before her.  But darn it, if she didn't sing it amazingly!  I don't know if I'm a fan of Jessica's, but I certainly cannot deny her outstanding vocal ability. 
Good (but)
  • Phillip Phillips - "Superstition" -  Randy says, "Every week I am waiting to see how you will interpret the song."  Mike says, "Play any Dave Matthews album.  In particular a live one."  I don't want to take away from Phillip Squared (or x2 with one s?).  He's a great talent.  Yes, I'm still annoyed at his guitar filled audition.  I'm more annoyed that he's this year's "Okay looking guy, but he plays guitar and is a little quirky and that makes him 100% cooler so teenage girls will vote in droves for him....and you know what?  American Idol is okay with this.  Even more, they will push him into the limelight even further."   So that's my "GOOD-----BUT" explanation.  He's good, but I sure would like a few others to steal his spotlight this year.
  • Skylar Laine - "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" - No "BUT" for Skylar.  She was really good.  But I didn't think she was AS good as the top 3 I mentioned above.  At least she wasn't allowed to do anything Miranda-ish this week.   But she still found a way to bring out the country.  And the 2nd half of the song, once she hit the climactic moment, was amazing.  She was hitting notes none of us thought she could hit and in spectacular ways!
Decent/Okay
  • Jermaine Jones - "Knocks Me Off My Feet" - You just can't help but love this guy.  He just has a glowing personality and well, he's a big dude and that's always fun.  Not the best voice, but a unique voice for the competition.  Gotta love the ol' soothing baritone range.  I don't see him lasting forever, but it'll be fun while he's here.    
  • Erika Van Pelt - "I Believe in You and Me" - We can tell this girl has some amazing chops.  But she just seems a little hesitant on bringing her A game to the table.  Hopefully, she did enough to earn her keep this week so she can show it maybe next week.
  • Colton Dixon - "Lately" - I really want to be a Colton fan, but he has yet to impress me with these live shows.  The little clip of his original song showed potential of what he can be.  But, he'll have to find that emotional connection in this cover tunes.  I think he has a big enough fan base to be safe. 
  • Deandre Brackensick - "Master Blaster" - Ummm...what!?  Really weird performance with the reggae and what not.  But, the dude can sing really well.  I just get too distracted by that hair, even in a pony tail.   Heejun eating it as noodles was a pretty comical clip.   Speaking of comedy.
  • Heejun Han - "All in Love is Fair" - It's a shame that Heejun can't sing as well as he can tell a joke.  The guy is funny and we're all glad he's in the competition just for that.  But MAN is he a boring singer!  The performance was technically fine, but I wasn't feeling it at all.  He might be in trouble, unless people are voting for comedy.

Not Good Enough
  • Elise Testone - "I'm Your Baby Tonight" - When I was listening to this performance, I was just marveling at her tone.  She really has a nice voice.  But, like Heejun, the performance was a bit boring and she doesn't have much comedy to back it up!  She got the pimp spot last week, so maybe that will be enough to keep fans around.  But in comparison to some of the other girls this week, it was pretty sub-par.
  • Shannon Magrane - "I Have Nothing" - All you need to look at was the attempted high note that she missed with conviction!  She was all over the place in this performance.  All the motions and stage presence was there for a great show, but her voice was wavering and it just didn't work.   And if it wasn't enough to figure it out on our own, we needed all 3 judges to tell her that the nerves got to her.  You know what Simon would have said?  If you can't bring your A game every week, then get out!  I like these new critical judges, but they're still a little soft.
  • Jeremy Rosado - "Ribbon in the Sky" - I like Jeremy, but the majority of this performance fell flat.  Technically all there but not convincing enough.  The end was the highlight, as most of these performances usually are.  But, his performance may disappear behind some other ones.
THE PICKS

No idea how this will go down tonight.  I guess I'll do a bottom 2 for the boys and girls, then a bottom 2, then who the judges will save. 

Bottom 2 Girls:  Elise, Shannon (wildcard guess: Erika)
Bottom 2 Boys: Jeremy, Heejun (wilcard guess: Jermaine)

Bottom 2: Shannon Magrane, Heejun Han

Judges save - Heejun

Eliminated - Shannon Magrane - Sorry Shannon.  You seem nice enough, but you're in a competition for a record contract here.  There's no room for nerves!

If it comes down to those 2 and they get to sing for a save, maybe Shannon edges out someone else, especially Heejun.  But we'll see what happens!   That's all I have for now.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

not too bad on making the picks! Should have nailed the Jeremy ousting though, the kid just didnt stack up. Looking forward to more reviews, thanks for posting!

Mike V. said...

Thanks! Yeah, it was really tough because I didn't know if they were doing bottom 2s, bottom 3s...and then who would be there from there. Jeremy definitely made sense though.

If you read any of my past recaps, my track record isn't too impressive but when it is, I don't hesitate to go on and on about it! lol

I'm mainly in this for the entertainment value of it. :-) Thanks for reading!