I can’t recall any American Idol show, in which the judges had almost all positive comments about the singers. With nine singers singing, that meant the judges commented on their singing 27 times.
The only negative comment was when Randy Jackson said that Stefano Langone wasn’t pausing long enough between lines of When a Man Loves a Woman, which I think he sang with great emotion.
The singers performed so well, it is almost impossible to predict the bottom three for tomorrow night’s elimination show.
Haley Reinhart had another strong night with her rendition of Piece of My Heart, a Janis Joplin song.
Jacob Lusk gave his usual outstanding performance, but I am wondering if has enough fans to be the American Idol in 2011.
James Durbin sang When My Guitar Weeps which was much slower than what he usually sings but he still was able to work in one of his famed high notes at the end of the song.
Casey James impressed the judges by his playing the upright bass while singing the Creedence Clearwater classic Have You Ever Seen The Rain.
Pia Toscano stepped up the tempo singing River Deep, Mountain High, after singing ballads for several weeks in a row. She clearly has the best voice among the female singers, but not sure if she has the popularity of Haley Reinhart and Lauren Alaina Suddeth.
As much as we like to think of American Idol as a talent contest, popularity will have a lot to do with the final vote next month. Sometimes, I wonder if the judges should give scores, like on Dancing With the Stars with their vote being counted while tallying the votes.
Scotty McCreery continues to turn in fine performances week after week. He has adapted his country music stylings to whatever the theme is for that week. He sang That’s All Right Mama as well as I have heard it sung this side of Elvis Presley.
After four weeks of females going home, we may see a male singer finally go home. I have an idea Paul McDonald will be in the bottom three, probably along with Stefano Langone and maybe Lauren Elaina Suddeth who sang You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, with very positive comments from the judges.
If a male singer doesn’t go home this week, that would leave six male singers and two female singers in the Top Eight next week.
I may have heard Folsom Prison Blues sang too many times by Johnny Cash, to really enjoy the jazzy version by Paul McDonald.
American Idol led us on last week at the first of the show when the words “You won’t believe who is going home” appeared on the piano keys. They made it sound like one of the top singers might be going home.
However, when the votes were announced, Thia Meghia and Naima Adedapo were sent packing. I don’t think anyone was shocked they went home, but we were led to believe someone much better was going home.
It is all about the drama and Ryan Seacrest is the best at it. They build the drama to a fever pitch thinking they are going to announce who is going home, then Seacrest says “after the commercial”. Then they have a guest singer sing while the singers are waiting to see if they are going home.
