American Idol: Season 14 - Top 8 Girls Perform

Hello everyone and welcome back to season 14 coverage of the show that just won't quit!  Well this week seems to be the opposite results of last week.  The boys were really good last week.  The girls were much better this week.  Results were a little surprising to me, but I at least mentioned 3 of the 4 booted contestants names as possibilities!  (Of course, when you name 6 of the 12 as possibles, you're giving yourself pretty good odds, but we won't talk about that.)   Let's dive right into the recap and figure out who's going home!

Recap

1. Tyanna Jones - "Rockin' Robin" by the Jackson 5 - So Michael Jackson and his family were the big choice of the night.  And, I certainly made the comparison of Tyanna last week to looking a little like the king of Pop.  My one note of feedback for her was that the night was already off to a better start than the guy's night.  She has a strong voice and stage presence.  She'll be fine. 
2. Loren Lott - "I Wanna Be Where You Are" by Michael Jackson - Surprisingly, I don't even think I've heard this MJ song before.  Maybe just not often.  But Loren sold it to me.  Very strong vocal and she still has the benefit of me knowing her name without having to look it up.  
3. Maddie Walker - "I'll Be There" by the Jackson 5 - I didn't think this was a very good performance.  Maybe the judges were trying to cushion the blow.  Nerves may have gotten the best of her too.  But the performance was kind of bland.  Harry brought up the dynamic range not existing.  It was kind of the same level the whole way through, and that can get old.  She might be in danger. 
4. Joey Cook - "Shop Around" by The Miracles - I was surprised to see Joey get through this week, but maybe being unique and weird made her stand out enough to get the unique/weird vote!  This performance was much better.  It's still a very niche market she's singing towards and I agree with Harry it may get old after awhile.  But, I think she'll be safe this week.  And who would've thought The Miracles would nab 2 slots on an Idol Motown night? 
5. Sarina-Joi Crowe - "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" by The Miracles - I keep forgetting about Sarina-Joi and her 4 audition story.  But wow, she impressed me with this performance.  Lots of control, lots of power in her voice.   And when she did one of these high note runs, it was reminiscent of a Steve Perry run (you know that band, Journey?  The Dawg used to play bass on tour with them.  Maybe you heard him refer to it.  Funny sidenote - SNL had been reairing classic episodes in honor of the 40th anniversary.  They showed Mariah Carey's debut on SNL back when she was like 20.  First of all, much better singer then.  But, there was some dude with a flat top in the back playing bass.  I joked that it might be Randy Jackson.  We rewound and paused the TV.  Yep, it was him!  Good for a laugh.)      Anyway, Sarina-Joi could be a favorite in this competition.  She certainly will be safe this week.     
6. Adanna Duru - "Hello" by Lionel Richie - Adanna was another pick for me to go home last week.  This week was a good performance.  Maybe I could've dealt with a few less constipation looks during her emotional presentation, but she was feeling the song and sang it well.  I didn't notice as much her being out of tune the entire performance as Harry did.  But, I certainly recognized the high note being a little scratchy.  We'll see what happens.  
7. Jax - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - Ahhh, she wore the dress.  My wife picked it up right away.  Guys, the picture that broke the internet clearly has a white and gold dress in it!  There are no ifs, ands or buts about it!   Even the picture Seacrest showed was white and gold!  This dress was clearly black and blue!   (Before we get into a heated debate, yes I know it's just that picture for some reason that is causing people to see it differently.  Something about the lighting and science with our eyes and pigments.  But it's white and gold!!)  So, Jax changed up a very familiar song.  I thought she did a decent job with it.  She even through in some fun scatting at the end.  She certainly is unique in this competition and I think that'll keep her around.    
8. Alexis Gomez - "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" by The Four Tops - First of all, the Mrs. and I agreed that she was channeling the one and only Minnie Mouse with her attire.  If that's considered a compliment, it's pretty much the only one I could think of.  This performance was really really really bad.  It was out of tune all the way through, manic from start to finish, and a bad song choice for her.   I'm sure getting picked last when you know you're either going home or are the last slot is an incredibly emotional situation, so that may have caused her to get all crazy on stage, but that won't really compute with the voters.    It does make me wonder how they're going to handle eliminations in the Top 12.  Are they going to make people wonder all night or have an elimination up front?  I think the elimination up front would put everyone at ease.  Or maybe it would make them all emotional for their friend that left.   I have no idea how they handle it on Dancing With the Stars, but I'm sure it will be similar.  

And of course this means we bid farewell to:

1. Lovey James
2. Katharine Winston
3. Shi Scott
4. Shannon Berthiaume

I'm sure it's sad for them that they're not moving on, but I'm just sad there won't be any more "Justine Guarini" jokes this season! Farewell ousted contestants! 

Elimination Pick

Okay, we have a job to do.  I think this week is pretty cut and dry for the girls.  There were 2 weak performances and it's too early for the audience to be too forgiving.  

Elimination Picks: Maddie Walker and Alexis Gomez

Wildcard: Adanna Duru

So that's it for this week.  I'm starting to worry that Idol's 1 episode per week show is going to air on Thursdays.  If it's a 2 hour show, they certainly are not going to move the growing Empire from it's 9:00 Wednesday slot.  They might stick with an hour show though since next Thursday's Top 12 episode is only an hour.  We'll just have to see what they have in mind, but I know fitting in 2 hours on Thursdays will be rough for yours truly!  For this week we're done.  If they're only revealing the top 12 next Wednesday, I probably won't recap it.  I'll just stick to performance nights.  So, hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!