American Idol, Episode 28: "Top 5 Perform"
It's no surprise that Idol has been on the downslide ratings-wise this year. Many have pointed to the judges offputting behavior, specifically the incessant bickering between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj, as the reason for the decline. So, leave it to Nicki to try to do something to boost ratings. Leave it to Nicki to think that her boobs were the way to do that. It was a nice try, Roman, but the only way your tits could right this sinking ship is if Mimi and Keith simultaneously motorboated you. I will say, it's too bad that people are tuning out, because now that Lazaro is gone, Idol has maybe the best top five that it ever has. Since we are down to five and it's a two hour show, the ladies tackled two themes. First, was the super depressing "Year of Your Birth" theme, since none of the remaining contestants were born before 1990. Then, there was the dim, not very original "Divas" theme. So, let's look at how each of the ladies did.
Candice Glover was up first. She surprised with a jazzy arrangment of original judge Paula Abdul's hit "Straight Up." It was another stellar performance from Candice. I loved that she decided to do this song. It was a great choice. The best thing about Candice is that she isn't too showy with her vocal. She picks the right places for runs and you can tell that everything is very thought out. The only bad thing about this performance is that it comes a week after Candice's transcendent performance of "Love Song." So, even though it was one of the best of the night, it is still a bit of a let down.
Janelle Arthur was up next with Vince Gill's "When I Call Your Name." Janelle could basically be called "the other country one" at this point. I'm a big fan of Vince and this song, so I was excited when I heard that Janelle was going to tackle it. It was an OK performance over all. She was a bit behind on the verses, so she was struggling to get back to where she needed to be when she hit the chorus. I think where Janelle missed the mark was the emotional connection to the song. She was smiling for part of it, when the lyrics are kind of gut wrenching. Keith hit the nail on the head with his critique of this very thing. It takes you totally out of the performance.
Kree Harrison brought a litt Black Crowes to the Idol stage with "She Talks to Angels." The judges were not a fan, but who cares what they think? No one, that's who. Kree is the exact opposite of Janelle in every way. Janelle is blonde. Kree is raven haired. Janelle can barely muster any emotion besides a mega watt smile, but Kree is all emotion and she brought that emotion to this song. This wasn't Kree's best performance, but it was amazing and I watched it three times. So...
Angie Miller sang The Pretenders "I'll Stand By You." Now, Angie's performance was good. I have mixed feelings about Angie, though. I felt like the dedication to Boston was kind of blatant audience manipulation. I'm not sure that it was totally genuine. I enjoy Angie at the piano. That is where she really shines. She is able to connect more when she is at the piano, I feel like she really is able to let go. I'm not sure this performance was her very best and I'm not sure it deserved the judges standing "o".
Amber Holcomb performed the Mariah Carey version of Badfinger's song, "Without You." I'm a big Amber fan, but this performance fell really flat for me. Amber really struggled when she was in her lower register. The whole performance was very boring. It was hard to pay attention to, and Amber showed zero personality. The most surprising thing was Nicki actually complimented Mariah, calling Mimi one of the world's greatest singers. She also said that the rendition failed to live up to Mariah's original. 'Nuff said.
Round one is over and now it's on to round two. Idol showed lots of originality by making the next theme, Divas!! Man. Could a theme have been more on the nose. Ugh.
Candice returned to the stage to perform the song "When You Believe" by Mariah Carey and the late, great, Whitney Houston. Candice has brass balls. She is singing a song that was originally sang by two of the greatest female singers of all time, in front of one of them. Candice killed it. I enjoyed the melody switch ups that she did. She tailored the song to fit her voice. She didn't try to to do a carbon copy of the original and that really worked to her advantage. I would say that this is maybe the best Mariah/Whitney cover ever on Idol.
Janelle's diva was Dolly Parton. I think Dolly is a great choice for Janelle, unfortunately the song she chose, "Dumb Blonde" was not great. It didn't do anything for her voice. I agree with the judges that Janelle has great stage presence, but every time she does up tempo songs her vocals struggle. She hasn't found the balance between moving around, breath control, and pitch.
Kree Harrison tackled Celine Dion's "Have You Ever Been In Love" by Celine Dion. Like Candice, this song choice bugged me a little bit. It's a little safe. It's been done to death by other contestants. It doesn't seem like a song that fits with who Kree is as an artist. That being said, Kree sounded gorgeous on the song. Kree's best asset is the way that she is able to interpret songs and really emote and that is what propelled this performance past karaoke and to something more.
Angie Miller's diva of choice was Mrs. Carter herself, Beyoncé. She sang "Halo", maybe on of my all time favorite Queen Bey jams. I'm not sure how I feel about this performance. It was sang well enough, but much like Angie's first performance, there didn't seem to be anything about it that was really authentic. I think that's the main issue when Angie steps away from the piano. It just doesn't seem natural, so she overcompensates and I think that's why she gets accused of being pageant-y.
Amber chose a surprisng diva, Barbra Streisand. In fact, I would have probably swapped Angie and Amber's divas. Amber sang "What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life." Ms. Holcomb had a lot to prove after her "meh" first performance and she was in the pimp spot, so expectations where high. She delivered. This sort of reminded me of "My Funny Valentine", the first song Amber sang that really made me stand up and take notice. Amber really excels with these older standards and she delivered the best performance of the night.
So, what did you guys think? Who gave your favorite performance? Let me know in the comments.
Round one is over and now it's on to round two. Idol showed lots of originality by making the next theme, Divas!! Man. Could a theme have been more on the nose. Ugh.
Candice returned to the stage to perform the song "When You Believe" by Mariah Carey and the late, great, Whitney Houston. Candice has brass balls. She is singing a song that was originally sang by two of the greatest female singers of all time, in front of one of them. Candice killed it. I enjoyed the melody switch ups that she did. She tailored the song to fit her voice. She didn't try to to do a carbon copy of the original and that really worked to her advantage. I would say that this is maybe the best Mariah/Whitney cover ever on Idol.
Janelle's diva was Dolly Parton. I think Dolly is a great choice for Janelle, unfortunately the song she chose, "Dumb Blonde" was not great. It didn't do anything for her voice. I agree with the judges that Janelle has great stage presence, but every time she does up tempo songs her vocals struggle. She hasn't found the balance between moving around, breath control, and pitch.
Kree Harrison tackled Celine Dion's "Have You Ever Been In Love" by Celine Dion. Like Candice, this song choice bugged me a little bit. It's a little safe. It's been done to death by other contestants. It doesn't seem like a song that fits with who Kree is as an artist. That being said, Kree sounded gorgeous on the song. Kree's best asset is the way that she is able to interpret songs and really emote and that is what propelled this performance past karaoke and to something more.
Angie Miller's diva of choice was Mrs. Carter herself, Beyoncé. She sang "Halo", maybe on of my all time favorite Queen Bey jams. I'm not sure how I feel about this performance. It was sang well enough, but much like Angie's first performance, there didn't seem to be anything about it that was really authentic. I think that's the main issue when Angie steps away from the piano. It just doesn't seem natural, so she overcompensates and I think that's why she gets accused of being pageant-y.
Amber chose a surprisng diva, Barbra Streisand. In fact, I would have probably swapped Angie and Amber's divas. Amber sang "What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life." Ms. Holcomb had a lot to prove after her "meh" first performance and she was in the pimp spot, so expectations where high. She delivered. This sort of reminded me of "My Funny Valentine", the first song Amber sang that really made me stand up and take notice. Amber really excels with these older standards and she delivered the best performance of the night.
So, what did you guys think? Who gave your favorite performance? Let me know in the comments.
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