American Idol: Season 14 - Top 6 Perform, 5 Move on

Hello everyone and welcome back to the show where we consider songs from Dido as "Stadium Anthems"! That's right folks, we are continuing this mixed bag of a season of American Idol (in truth, they've all been mixed bags for probably the past 7 years).   It seems like a foregone conclusion who is going to win this season.  Maybe the bigger question is who will be standing next to him?  But, we have a job to do and we'll do it briefly!  Jump ahead for the recap.

1. Jax - "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" and "White Flag" - Jax was OK on the first song.  Though I thought it was funny how she changed the chorus to "be my guy" but still left in a lyric about "you were with another man".  She must be hanging out with interesting folk!  She was much better on the Dido tune.  I love that song, but as mentioned, how does that qualify as a stadium anthem?  Yes, it's one of Dido's biggest hits but has Dido ever rocked a stadium?  Anyway, that performance probably solidified Jax as a top 3 finalist.  May depend on how popular this next guy really is.    
2. Nick - "Harder to Breathe" and "Maggie May"  - I'm being repetitive with this, I know.  But, I just don't see it.  Can he sing?  Yes.  Can he perform with a band?  Yes.  Is he entertaining?  Sure, I would probably have a drink at a bar and enjoy listening to that in the background.  Is he doing anything to stand out from the crowd and show that he deserves a record contract and a huge fan base?  I say absolutely not.  He's picking good songs, I'll give him credit there.   I felt that he was drowned out on the Maroon 5 tune by the band.  I thought he was a little too manic on "Maggie May" not really connecting with the lyrics.   The band sounded really good, and he just kinda kept with them as best he could.  But, I don't see him as a star.  I don't see him as even deserving to be in this competition.   He is a poor man's Chris Daughtry.  He sounds like he's going for the same sound in his voice, but it isn't as good.  The thing is.  You can hear the fans screaming for him after he performs.  I think that's due to popular song choices and the band sounding good more than him bringing anything unique to it.   Let's add his Billy Joel attempt from last week as proving that he's not even ABLE to bring anything unique to it worth listening to.  But, maybe I'm in a minority with him.  I know he has a defender in the comments of this blog, but I just don't see it. 
3. Clark - "Yesterday" and "Boyfriend" - Just far and above the favorite of the competition.  Smooth vocals, great talent, believing in himself a little more each week.  The judges came down on him with his Bieber take.  Again, is it really a stadium anthem?  I dunno.  But, I thought his jazzed up version worked really well.  He's just a delight to listen to, whatever he sings and he has mad skills on any instruments he plays.  I guess strange things could happen, but it's still his competition to lose.   
4. Tyanna - "Party in the U.S.A." and "Heaven" - Singing Miley Cyrus was a nice tie-in to the pre-performance clip where she wanted to meet her.  The braided look was better than the blue fro.  It's a catchy song, but it probably wasn't her best performance.   I knew the moment I heard she was doing Bryan Adams that she probably never heard of the song before she sang it.   That said, she still did a good job with it.  There were some issues, but she still has one of the best voices in the competition.  My wife went ahead and predicted she'll be in the final 2.  I'm not sure if I"m there yet.  But looking at the competition, it's entirely possible. 
5. Quentin - "Light My Fire" and "Shake it Out" - Should I even bother commenting at this point?  The judges gave him a lot more credit for his performances than I could.  I was falling asleep on both of them. And I like both tunes.   
6. Rayvon - "I'm Not the Only One" and "Go Your Own Way" -  Rayvon has been in that hot seat for 4 weeks now and it seems to have helped him grow in the competition.  As tired as I am of Sam Smith songs, it certainly is his wheelhouse.   He sounded great on it.  The Fleetwood Mac tune was a bit of a mess.  Now that the Twitter Save has ended, it seems like Rayvon's presence on the show will end too.  Maybe he's earned enough credit to be in the bottom 2 and not be eliminated.  But then it's a tough call who would go before him.   

Eliminations: 

Eliminated from Top 6: Quentin - Well, we've already discussed it.  As predicted last week, Quentin certainly did end up going home.  I'd venture to say even without the twitter save, he probably got the lowest votes.   Farewell Quentin and may you find a good PR agent!  

Top 5 Elimination Prediction:
Okay, well the safe pick here is Rayvon.  But who else could be in that bottom 2?   I know I'd pick Nick, but it doesn't seem like that's what America will do.   I guess we have to do a ranking based on last night's performances.

1.) Clark
2.) Jax (for the dido tune)
3.) Tyanna
4.) Nick
5.) Rayvon

Elimination pick: Rayvon - I just still think he's slightly on a level below the other contestants.  Even if he's probably a better singer than Nick, I think Nick is still doing some good song selections to keep him alive.

Tyanna, I could see going either way.  Either she's going to be standing in that finale, or going home in the next 2 weeks.  (That was probably by best obvious John Madden quote of the year "if you're going to win the game, you need to score more points than the other team!")   What I mean is, when she's on she's really on.  But, when she has a bad week, she's sometimes the worst of the crop.

But, I've overthought this enough for one week.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!