Hair Today...Gone Tomorrow

Everyone but Jennifer and Randy saw it coming.  Falsetto is just not that popular with America.  Hair was competing with Joshua for the R&B vote and competing with Colton for the pink cell phone vote and he came up short in both contests.  Sweet kid but it was time to say goodbye to him and his hair.  I really thought Jennifer might convince the others to save him and I think Randy was on board, but Steven was not.  I knew halfway during the song when Jennifer sat there with her arms crossed she was not going to get her way. 

The entertainment tonight was better than the past two weeks with Lana Del Daddy's Money and the Menage woman, but not all that memorable.  J Lo's new video is pretty much soft porn and I wonder what her voice sounds like without autotune.  I still don't get putting the mandatory rapper in the middle of a song but I guess my age is showing.  Evidently, The Wanted is some hot new band.  I had a hard time figuring out who was in the band and who were the backup dancers.  It looked like the band had 16 members at one point.   I don't know why the song So Glad You Came is a hit.  It sounded like this generation's version of bubble gum music to me but as I recall it did not have the mandatory rap thrown in so I will be thankful for small favors.  Kellie Pickler was really sweet with the contestants.  I wasn't watching the season she was on but I gather she got a lot of flack from Simon, in particular.  I'm glad she is a success.  But hasn't she basically remade her face?  She doesn't look at all like she did the last time she made a guest appearance on Idol. 

As we watched the group sitting on the couches before the results were shown, I said to myself:  They put the bottom three in the front.  No surprise on that score either (except to Jennifer and Randy about Deandre). 
I think Jimmy pretty accurately summed up the individual performances.  I'm having a big crush on Jimmy.  I'm glad he somewhat defended Elise. 


There has been a lot of talk about Elise's *attitude*.  After Randy and Jennifer basically said she needed to go when they said *America got it half right*, I cannot really fault her for being a little hurt and defensive.  I think that comment by Jennifer, which Randy echoed, was inexcusable. 

I'm not sure I'm right about this, but just after Ryan said Deandre was eliminated, Elise said *Oh...I didn't get it*.  I think she thought she was eliminated.  I'm glad she wasn't and I'm hoping she comes back next week with a great performance that knocks JLo on her much vaunted behind. 

 



What chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?

I love the 80's!!

As Auntee has alluded to, I am a proud child of the 80's.  I loved everything about the decade - from the scrunchy neon colored socks, to the Aqua Netted bangs, to the music and movies!

Very few of these contestants even understand the 80's.  
None of them appreciate it like I do.
So, last night looks like a bad movie.  But we carry on.

Luckily Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal are there to keep the contestants focused.

Best to Worst:

Skylar FTW!  Thank GOD she didn't choose 9 to 5.  Had she sung that, I honestly believe she'd be out the door.  The dress was pretty (by AI standards,) and she looked gorgeous.  I had a hard time getting into the song for about the first 1/4th of it, and then she changed keys and smacked me right in the face.  If you had dry eyes at the end of this performance you're dead inside.  (*I sang Wind Beneath My Wings, complete with sign language, to my parents at my 6th grade graduation*)

Phil Phillips - For the 1st time in ever, I get you, Phil.  That's All is a classic 80's song, and Genesis is the epitome of 80's music (*I did a talent show try-out to I Can't Dance*).  I don't know if I was hypnotized by those piercing blue eyes - since they were actually open and not squinty for once - or if the too short guitar strap didn't distract me since he opted to let family do the actual playing this time.  But I liked it.

I will say that he is neither original or unique.  I'm not the only person who has noticed the carbon copy of Dave Matthews.  (I was a Dave Matthews fan in college, they're good.  I get why Phil copies them.  But don't pretend what you're doing is new.)

Baby of the Week - He's only this high because I like Cyndi Lauper that much.  (*I fought with my BFF about who would sing backup in our basement performance of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - I, unlike somebody, actually DID sing to boxes.*)  ANYbody could sing ANY of Cyndi Lauper's songs and they'd be this high on my list.  
 
Flipping the gender on this song is nothing new, though.  It's a straight rip off of Javier Colon from The Voice.  Who, incidentally, did it better. 

Elise - This week was a little rocky for her.  Hallelujah has been overdone on AI since Jason Castro (who, speaking of piercing eyes, is the only contestant to ever do it justice), BUT from the short blip they showed, I think it would've been better for her than Foreigner's I Wanna Know What Love Is.  (*Which was on a mixed tape made for me by my 1st boyfriend.*)  I sort of got a pitchy vibe, too.  And a screamy one (I acknowledge it is a screamy song.)  She looked really pretty though, and she's still one of my favorites.


Jessica - Of course picks Whitney Houston.  Even though she's probably never even seen The Bodyguard (*the soundtrack was my 1st CD*)  Her movements still looked lounge singer-ish, and it sounded like she was screaming most of the song.  I see now why she sticks to ballads.  

Joshua - Aka Jacob 2.0.  I disagree with Auntee completely about his performance.  I think his head is getting too big, he's getting over confident, and he thinks those excessive runs and yelly notes are acceptable under the guise of gospel.  Gwen Stefani straight-up told him that his vocals are too much for If You Don't Know Me By Now (*also on the aforementioned mix tape*) yet he came out swinging.  If Simon were still here he would've called this song, and the screaming at the end, self indulgent.  Amen.


DeAndre - I had to YouTube Debarge's I Like It in the hopes that I'd actually heard the song before and DeAndre was just butchering it beyond recognition.  But nope, never heard it.  JLo notes that the hair swinging shows confidence.  Randy likes how he didn't sing falsetto the whole song.  I feel like we're in bizarro world where we fawn all over a contestant for his hair movements and what he didn't do.


Hollie - Aw, Hollie.  I never thought I'd say this, but JLo's comments were spot on.  We actually CAN see you thinking your way through all of these performances.  Good job not falling down (why do they make the women wear ridiculous shoes?), but that's about it.  What A Feeling is not a ballad.  It's a rock song.  Alex was a welder for crying out loud!  (*I taught myself Flashdance choreography*)


Bottom 3:  DeAndre, Hollie, Elise


Going home:  Hollie

Things I Wish I Had Said and Probably Will Next Week

*Regarding Jessica,from this point forward I will only be recapping her in detail if she a) really [messes] up, or b) if she does something amazingly mindblowing ala Jennifer Hudson's "Circle Of Life". We know b) isn't going to happen, so unless we get an a), I will be stating, "Tonight, Jessica Sanchez did nothing worth noting."*

I love the guys at votefortheworst.com.

Another highlight from their posts:  They refer to Jessica's alter ego as *Bebe Plant* since she was planted on Idol by her agent. 

I'm going to follow this guy's lead with respect to Bibe/Bebe/Chez/Plant next week.