American Idol: Are We There Yet?

I’m thankful for many things and today one of the things I’m thankful for is the end of American Idol season 10. I had decided last year, after my usual frustrating ups and downs, not to watch the show anymore but like all the plans of mice and men, here I am. Season 10 hasn’t been a bad season, the talent has been top notch, and maybe even better than any other season I remember, but what’s made this season of American Idol barely one step above meaningless for me is the lack of respectable judging. That’s it, rant over.

Two rounds of songs again this week. Four singers, about 20 minutes of actual singing and 90 minutes of show. Hold on.

Round One

James Durbin: One of the marks of a good American Idol singer for me is if they can take a popular song I know and dislike and make me like it and James did that last night. I don’t think this was any type of musical or vocal stretch for James, but when all relevant critique has been tossed out the window, does it matter?

Haley Reinhart: First, I loved it. Second, this is the moment I came to not just question American Idol as a legitimate reality/competition show, or even dislike American Idol as a legitimate reality/competition show, this is the moment I came to hate American Idol and realize it’s anything but a legitimate reality/competition show and the judging portion of the segments are totally irrelevant. Randy’s attack was uncalled for, but if he really felt he had to criticize Haley to such an extent then at least leave her with someplace she can go. Don’t give her, “You didn’t go there”.

And really, if we like her song choice or dislike her song choice it’s irrelevant because the theme for this round was songs that the singers found personally inspiring. If Haley had chosen Row, Row, Row Your Boat because her grandmother sang it to her as a child and she loves her grandmother then that’s her choice and as a subjective choice, not open to interpretation or criticism by us. Critique the performance and end it there.

Scotty McCreery: I’m not a huge fan of over-the-top, rah-rah patriotism and in light of one particular world event this past week I really thought this song choice was pretty much blatant pandering. The judges? Yeah, they loved it. Why? Who knows. Randy liked it because it was, in fact, pandering and J-Lo is simply in love with Scotty. Was Scotty on key or off key, was it his own arrangement or karaoke, was it original, who knows?

Lauren Alaina: Go ahead and hate me, but I thought this was another song that was pandering for votes. She sang it well enough and looked like a pop singer should look and that was about it for me. What did the judges think? Well, Steven like the buckles on her shoes so that’s very important feedback to know. Oh, and Relevant Randy believes that Lauren is in it to win it. Interesting how these last two singers can do songs close to their hearts and they’re regaled as musical monarchy, but Haley does a song that’s close to her heart and she’s a pariah.

My Round One Scores:
1. Haley
2. James
3. Lauren
4. Scotty

Round Two

Lady Gaga looked disturbing with that make-up.

Haley Reinhart: Look, the judges are on their feet applauding. Well, tell me, who didn’t see that coming? And Randy, after crucifying her in round one, has the nerve to tell her that she’s in it to win it. You know where you can shove your “in it to win it”, Randy?

Scotty McCreery: A good song but I didn’t like the performance at all. It was way too cheesy for me. There’s one defining version of Youngblood for me and that’s Leon Russell’s performance at The Concert for Bangladesh.

Lauren Alaina: Lauren doesn’t want to be evil, isn’t she cute. Who’s idea was it to lower the age limit this season anyway? Jacob Lusk didn’t want to do a sexually suggestive song and he didn’t, he changed his choice. So if this really bothered Lauren so much why didn’t she change the song? I would have liked her performance a little better if she had done it in tune.

James Durbin: Maybe the best arrangement and performance I’ve ever seen on American Idol.

My Round Two Scores:
1. James
2. Haley
3. Scotty
4. Lauren

Do they do a bottom three with only four singers left or will they just have them all stand there and send them back to the couch one by one until they give Haley the mic for her farewell song? Tonight’s boot should, in a real world, be Lauren, but I can’t see anyone but Haley going home tonight. The judges have wanted her gone for awhile and America has never taken a liking to her and the mysterious voting system that is American Idol might want to justify their decision to lower the age limit this season by having two young performers in the final two.