American Idol: Songs of the Century

I guess ticket sales for the American Idol tour must be slow which is why they brought back all the losers to entertain us at the beginning of last night’s show. And I have to say it worked because there’s nothing I like better than being entertained by a group of singers I didn’t like enough the first time around (with the exception of Paul) to even toss a vote their way.

 ::cough::

You’d think when the final seven singers have songs from the entire century to choose from that I’d know at least one of them. But then you realize the century is only a little over 10 years old and the last time I listened to top 40 radio was sometime around the last quarter of the last century and it makes sense that I didn’t know any of the songs.

Scotty McCreery: It was another typical Scotty performance so I don’t know what I can say that I haven’t said before. I liked it well enough while he sang it and totally forgot it by the time the commercial was over. At this point I don’t think it matters what Scotty sings because I don’t think there’s a chance he’ll lose this competition barring a huge surge of Lauren Alaina fans mounting a final voting offensive, so the only thing I’d like to see Scotty do is just one time hold the microphone with one hand instead of fondling it like it’s his… well, you know. I can deal with the funky eyebrows that take on a life of their own once he starts singing, but the microphone thing is annoying. I didn’t understand J-Lo saying that she likes Scotty’s storytelling since he doesn’t write any of the songs.

James Durbin: I like James a lot but I didn’t like this performance. Because I like James so much I watched the original on Youtube and I’m happy to know that it wasn’t James I didn’t like last night but the original song. I’m not sure when bands like Muse became Rock music, but to each their own and for my own, I can safely say that I don’t consider Muse (at least based on that song) Rock and they won’t be sneaking their way into my record collection anytime soon. I didn’t notice this during James’ cover of the song, but I did on the band’s official video – the introduction to the song is an almost note for note copy of the original Doctor Who theme song. What’s up with that? Maybe their songs are being written by the Daleks and they’re simply serving as Robomen?

Haley Reinhart: I liked Haley’s song a lot and Randy and J-Lo’s comments confused me. Maybe it’s that ‘Simon Cowell/reverse psychology’ thing where they criticize harshly in the hopes of making viewers mad enough to vote? But in this Season of No Judging and Everyone’s Gooder Than Good. Dude, the critiques didn’t make sense.

Jacob Lusk: A touching and emotional performance. Unfortunately for me, Jacob is sort of a one hit wonder type of singer at this point, and as much as I liked him in the beginning is about as much as I’m finding him boring at this point. Jacob is a good enough singer to change my mind if he ever ventures outside of his comfort zone, but he hasn’t done that and last night he burrowed even further into that safe area.

Casey Abrams: And another week finds Casey’s beard has shrunk another notch. The beard is getting down there now and I don’t know that he can go much shorter without going to a goatee before he finally shaves it off altogether the week before the finals, should he make it that far. Aside from watching Casey’s beard shrink, I still love him as a performer and last night did nothing to change that. Again unfamiliar with the song, I liked his performance and I liked the choreography and I thought the vocals were great. The kiss was fun but I can’t help thinking it was staged. I still like “Jazz Casey” the best, but even “Rock Casey” is good. Casey can do it all and I think when he finally figures out what it is he wants to do he’ll be a chart-topper. Casey is the new Vote For The Worst choice and I don’t understand that.

Stefano Langone: I’ve pretty much learned to tune Stefano out at this point. Tune him out, you wonder? That high pitched wailing voice that soars to ear splitting volume, how do you do it? Well, to be honest, I lower the volume when his segment starts and pick up a book and don’t pay attention. Sorry, Stefano. On the positive side though, if I were a 16-year-old girl things would be different between us.

Lauren Alaina: Lauren has fallen a lot in my eyes in recent weeks but I loved her last night. She rounded out Songs I Don’t Know Night by singing a seventh song I didn’t know and I liked it. I’m a little afraid that she’ll take the judges suggestion of singing larger (or something like that) and challenging herself and wind up shooting herself in the foot and sitting on the sidelines like Pia. Lauren is doing fine just as she is and were she on a legitimate talent show with legitimate judges offering legitimate and constructive feedback she might be even better than she is now at this point in the competition, but considering she’s on American Idol, I think she’s doing just fine and I hope she doesn’t change and start screaming in the shower.

Bottom Three:
Casey
Stefano
Haley

Going home:
Part of me thinks that Casey is going to get the boot but I don’t want to put those thoughts out there, so I’m saying goodbye to Stefano.