Tonight was all about hair. I don’t know why, but the subject came up quite frequently. I think the guys were back to week one, quality-wise. There were a few standouts, but overall it was pretty weak. Ryan did tease us about one of the most important Idol events of all time, which will be announced on Thursday.
Speaking of secrets, that was the theme tonight for the guys’ video clips. Blake Lewis started off the night by letting us know that he likes improv comedy and introducing us to one of his “characters”. Blake performed the song “All Mixed Up” by the band 311, his favorite band, and became the first performer in my memory to perform a song that not one of the judges had ever heard. I liked the song, and I liked the performance. The whole reggae/hip hop thing is not really my favorite style of music, but at least it wasn’t boring. Randy liked the performance, as did Paula. Simon said he couldn’t understand a word Blake was saying, but it wasn’t karaoke and it was individual and unique. Not karaoke? Wow, high praise, indeed, from the Brit.
The producers must really be ready to get rid of Sanjaya Malakar, as they seem to consistently place him immediately behind strong performances. Tonight was no exception. I did think that Sanjaya picked a MUCH better song to sing tonight, with John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”. It was much better suited to his voice and his age. Unfortunately for Sanjaya, it didn’t go over any better with the judges. All three of them were less than enthusiastic, although Simon did at least say it was “not as ghastly today”.
Speaking of song choices, Sundance Head’s choice was, um, interesting. He chose to sing Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”. It was a decent performance, good energy, although a bit pitchy— to borrow a phrase from Randy. Randy liked the Southern rock spin that he put on the song (personally, I completely didn’t notice that there was any spin on the song, but maybe that’s just me). Paula felt like he kicked into his groove about halfway through. Simon didn’t like it as much as last week and gave it his dreaded “indulgent” comment. By the way, Sundance’s secret was hysterical. “I’m actually thin in real life. I just wear the fat suit on tv, so that when I’m not on America Idol, I can live my normal life as the super sexy thin guy that I really am. However, I have no pictures to prove it.” Pretty funny stuff.
For whatever reason, the judges continued their love affair with Chris Richardson. I still didn’t care for his wavering, quivering version of Keith Urban’s “Tonight I Want to Cry”, but Randy and Paula ate it up with a spoon. Simon said it was “cutesy”, and he wasn’t jumping out of his chair. I am just WAITING for the performance that has him jumping out of his chair. I mean it. I’ll pay good money (well, at least $5) for anyone that has video of Simon jumping out of his chair and doing a little dance after an American Idol performance.
Jared Cotter sang Stevie Wonder’s “If You Really Love Me”. I have to say Jared always gives a good, strong performance. He’s good looking. He has lots of energy. He doesn’t bore me. Randy said it was a solid performance. Paula thinks he needs to color his performances more, which Simon interpreted for her as meaning that he’s not very original and doesn’t have the “wow” factor. I’ll agree that we haven’t necessarily seen the “wow” factor from him, thus far, but I think the tiny clip of “Cupid” that we saw definitely contained it, so I feel fairly confident that it is there.
Brandon Rogers made an interesting song choice. He chose to sing Rare Earth’s “I Just Want to Celebrate”. I just heard the song last week on the “oldies” station (70s and 80s music) and really thought it was a lot of fun then. I thought it was a fun song tonight, too. I just didn’t think it necessarily showed the singing ability that I think Brandon has. Randy said it was a solid performance, Paula loved it and Simon didn’t think that he represented himself well. Isn’t that what I just said I thought?
Continuing the theme night (wasn’t tonight’s theme “Songs You Shouldn’t Sing”?) was Phil Stacey singing Leann Rimes’ “I Need You”. The low part of his register is really not very strong, but he did a good job with the high notes. I didn’t care for his hat at all. Randy said this was not his best performance, Paula thought it was an odd choice of song, and Simon pretty much summed it up: “I didn’t get it at all”.
Chris Sligh sang a DC Talk song— “We All Wanna Be Loved”. If you don’t know DC Talk, they’re a Christian rock band, and they’re really quite good. I liked the performance, but I’m familiar with the song. Early in the competition, I was really concerned that Chris was heavy on personality, light on talent. I’m pleased that the course of the competition has proved me wrong. He has been in the top 2-3 performances each week, as far as I’m concerned. Tonight I thought he had the best performance of the evening. Randy agreed with me, naming his the best vocal of the night. Paula disagreed, saying it was not her favorite performance. Simon thought the beginning was good and stated sincerely that Chris has potential.
So, what did all this have to do with hair? Nothing, but several of the answers to the “what would America be surprised to learn” question had to do with hair. (Phil Stacey used to have long hair; Chris Sligh used to have short.) Simon referred to Sanjaya’s hair as being like Paula’s. In return, Ryan made a joke about Paula or Sanjaya having hair extensions, but not being sure which one it was. I don’t know. There just seemed to be a lot of hair talk going on tonight.
When Ryan was winding up the evening, he asked how many guys deserved to be in the top 12. Randy said four. Paula agreed. Simon said three and a half. What chance do you think there is that Thursday’s surprise will be that the split is not going to be six and six? Not very likely, I suppose, but it would make for interesting television.
So, in conclusion, here’s my order for the night:
1. Chris Sligh
2. Blake Lewis
3-6 (in no particular order) Jared Cotter, Brandon Rogers and Phil Stacey
7. Chris Richardson
8. Sanjaya Malakar
