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Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Good, The Bad, the Indifferent, The Infuriating and Thank Goodness Its Over!

Congratulations to Candice Glover who deserved to win tonight.  Of course, Kree did too.  Couldn't be a wrong result with those two and while I wanted Kree to win, I will count Candice's win as #1 on the *good* things about tonight's show.  So ironic that with the Idol production melting down before our eyes all season, one of the good ones took the title.  Almost as if America was trying to save Idol in spite of itself.

Other *good* things about tonight's show, in as Ryan says *no particular order*:

The Band Perry with Janelle Arthur.  I had never heard of them but they are evidently a rising country group.  I thought Janelle was great with her dancing and moving along with the lead singer and I was very proud of her.  The song *Done* grew on me as the performance went on.  I did google them to find out more about them and...interesting fact...one of their hits is *Better Dig Two*, the song they gave Kree to sing as *producers choice* in the top three.  I'm wondering if there was some sort of deal between The Band Perry and Idol to feature their song and Kree was the victim.  It suits Janelle, did not suit Kree (and not only because she buried 2 in real life).

Top 5 Men sing a Medley of Four Seasons songs with Frankie Valli.  Hardly current fare, but I enjoyed it since I grew up on those songs and I especially loved watching Keith sing along with *I Love you Babeee*.  Not much featuring of the individual men finalists but really who cares.  If Lazaro screwed this one up it wasn't evident.

Candice and Jennifer Hudson singing *Inseparable*.  This was probably THE performance of the night.  I loved it, got a little teary and at that moment, if I didn't know it before, I knew Candice had won the title. 

Mariah in her mermaid dress.  This was taped beforehand and I'm thinking she may also have been lip syncing but it was good to see her perform a medley of her hits (which I have not followed) and well...I'm glad they featured her after the crap she has had to endure this season.

Keith and his new single...haven't we heard this before? I'm not sure this was a mind-blowing performance but he is so cute dammit...he could have stood there for 2 minutes and I would have enjoyed watching him.

Making fun of the judges.  Really, the only good thing about it was the last shot of Devin's padded butt as he mimicked Nicki but that is enough to get it up here in the good category. Nicki seemed like she wanted to appear amused but really was not.

Nicki hardly said a word.  In fact, I'm not sure she said anything at all!  Have the producers seen the light and put a zip on her lip or was she just pouting because Mariah, Keith, and Randy all performed tonight and she didn't?  Lets hope reports that she won't be back are accurate.     

The Bad

The Boys Were Sabotaged sequence.  I suppose it was somewhat humorous if not side-splitting but it was bad because it was true.  These 5 WERE sabotaged not by the girls, obviously, but by being put in the top 10 to begin with when better guys were eliminated to avoid having a white guy with guitar win this season.  I still think the guy with the titanium leg showed promise and he didn't even make it to Hollywood!  Who knows who they threw away to come up with the final line-up of men who had no sex appeal for straight women (or gay) and zero charisma for gay men. 

Jennifer Lopez.  Why do we need to see her and some rapper named Pit Bull sing a song about JLO?  I seriously hope this isn't a precursor to bringing her back to the panel.  Performance so autotuned you could literally hear the system working.  Also probably lip synced.

Psy(I?)  Ok, kimchee is not the worst product of South Korea anymore.  Psy, of whom I had heard before tonight, has been dubbed by MTV as the *viral star of 2012*.  Viral indeed and where is my vaccine?  He is supposedly sort of a joke but not really a joke but to me of course he is a joke and I'm ticked off that air time was wasted on him.  I would rather eat a pound of kimchee than see him and his *gangnam* crap.  I actually have never tasted kimchee but according to Mr. Auntee, who spent time in South Korea, it is vile.

Lazaro hogging the camera after Candice was crowned.  What was with him?  I'm thinking he's not as nice as he pretends to be.  Its not like they were particularly close, like Candice and Burnell.  He was EVERYWHERE the camera was. 

The Indifferent

Amber and Emili Sonde.  I like Emili but couldn't get into Amber even in her snakeskin pants which seemed to fit her funny in the crotch. She was just kinda all over the place in uncontrolled vocal gymnastics and not with the song really. 

Angie, Adam, and Jessie C.  More on this later.  Adam was good but I could have done without more Angie.  I hope someone in the UK likes her and she stays there never to be heard from again.

Tribute to Randy.  Ok, it was probably nicely done.  Goodbye Randy.

The Infuriating

Yes, everyone said that Candice was the runaway winner and I'm not saying she didn't deserve it but did Kree need to be treated like typhoid Mary tonight?  

Lets start with Aretha who may or may not have known the winner but who basically spilled the beans when she went on and on about Candice.  (I liked Aretha's performance but I was seething already at that point about short-changing Kree so I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have).

Then, Ryan introduces Angie and talks about her *shock* elimination which of course everyone knows means *she should have been in the finale instead of Kree* and then they proceed with the most infuriating part of the show to me which was giving her more time than Kree.
 
 I am  also pretty sure that Amber got more voice time than Kree and of course Angie...with 2 songs each of which seemed longer than Krees,  did.  Its almost as if they scripted the finale 4 weeks ago on the belief that their plan to shovel Kree off the show in 4th place would work.  Then, while it was nice to sing with Keith and have Randy play back up, the sound of the guitars drowned out both her voice and Keith's so you couldn't really enjoy the performance.  It was really more about Keith and Randy than Kree.  Why not give her a little more glory time?  She was robbed of face time tonight in favor of Angie and that pisses me off. Basically, we heard as much of Janelle as we did of Kree tonight.  I'm still livid about it frankly.

So...at last this season is over.  I have no idea if I will watch next season.   It depends on how stupid they are with the judges selection.  Keith has said he would love to come back and I think most viewers would be fine with that.

And, thanks for reading me this season.  Its been a hard slog for all of us I think.   

 



 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Power Up

I must say, it was so nice to turn on Idol tonight and know that I didn't have to see or hear from Miss Angie Perfect Apple Pie Polygamy Hair. According to the entertainment press (or at least the few writers who are bothering to write about Idol), hers was a big shocking elimination and she was destined to win this season.  I never really bought into that and obviously, America didn't either.

So, we have two very different singers performing tonight, each of whom is stellar in their own way.  I didn't take many notes but simply enjoyed the show.  In my mind it all depends on whether you are wowed by the power notes or appreciate subtlety.  I'm in the latter camp but you have to agree with Randy that Candice can sing.

I was hoping for an underdog upset but after seeing Dialidol.com, it looks more likely than not that Candice will win.  I have thought the past two or three weeks that Kree's support was greater than Idol producers wanted the audience to know and think it was highly likely she got the most votes last week.  But once Angie is gone, its hard to say where her votes will go.  Since Angie was a big power diva wanna bee I'm thinking that most of her fans will vote for Candice for that reason but perhaps even more because they think Kree edged Angie out of the finale...when in fact...I think it was Candice who edged Angie aside.

Be that as it may, I won't be upset with either result and that is a first for me for several years.  This season, which has been a travesty in so many ways actually ended tonight on a good note.  The judges were somewhat subdued although all but perhaps Keith, gave the night to Candice.  I think they tied on the last song, I give Kree the 2nd song, and Candice the first song (although really I'm with Randy that Fuller's song choices were lame for both contestants).

So...this is the 2nd to last post of the season...and maybe the 2nd to last post ever on this blog.  If they bring back Minaj or do something stupid like hire Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez or equally lame judge choices, I won't be watching next season.

Update:  Just read an article saying that Minaj will not be back next year and that *she was only going to do one season anyway*.  Yeah...right.  Just hope the article is accurate. 




Thursday, May 9, 2013

Up Your Nose Nigel Lythgoe!

As I seethed intermittently today over last night's show and the brazen insensitivity of making Kree sing about grave digging for her last chance to win votes, I realized I didn't have to watch this show any more any more and I didn't watch it tonight.  However, I had to go to MJ's website and see what happened and to my surprise (and evidently to the surprise of all of the judges who had been paid to get America to dump Kree) Angie was eliminated.  Fortunately, MJ's site also has clips of the crucial moments and I was able to see what happened when Angie's dreams didn't come true. 

Kree looked shocked, the judges looked shocked, Nicki was having some sort of sidebar with Keith (demanding a recount or plotting how to screw Kree in the finale?) and Angie cried her way through her swan song.

Was it the hometown video that swayed the voters?  Was it the blatant favoritism that made them vote hard for the underdog?  Did America just like the girl who hugs everyone and didn't act like a prima donna? Who knows.  The right two are in the finale and I don't care now how it ends because both deserve the title.

And, in the meantime, Idol is still tanking in the ratings and came in second to the voice among the key demographics Wednesday night.  Realizing they have a disaster on their hands and that their crown jewel is turning to coal, Fox reportedly is doing a total revamp and canning all 4 judges and Nigel for next season.  http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/insider-american-idol-firing-all-four-judges-getting-massive-makeover-90256

Randy has reportedly already issued a statement that he won't be returning.  I would like to see Keith come back but I suspect that all the drama this season has made him want to hit the bottle again and that he will go back to Nashville, Nicole Kidman and his two little girls with relief that this nightmare is over.   Mariah will be fine.  Randy has made a bunch of money over the past years and he will be fine too.  As for Nicki, well, if Idol doesn't return, or if next season is its last, she will forever be remembered for tanking the show.  Which is in some ways unfair but in other ways not so much. 

And, I find some real joy in knowing that America ultimately didn't care about what boots or short shorts or leather pants and skirts people were wearing, what color their lipstick or eyeshadow was and whether or not they had lost weight.  It just voted for the singers it liked the most.  Yay for America. 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

I Don't Like Angie Miller and I'm Not Kidding...and Nigel Lythgoe is an ASS

The Final Three performed tonight after a weekend of hometown festivities and it was pretty clear that Kree is the third wheel as far as the producers and Jimmy go.  They really didn't want her here this week and the song choices they made for her proved it.  This is just Idol's annual way of sabotaging the one they don't want to win and it should have come as no surprise that Kree got the shaft on song choices.  But more on that later.

Let us start with our clapping seal, Angie Miller. 

She went home to Beverly, Massachusetts, after a stop in Boston and we had to be reminded that she was Boston's great inspiration in the aftermath of the terrorist bombings...perhaps she even invented the term *Boston Strong*?  Well, no.  She lands clapping her hands and heads out the door with open arms to meet her public and  GASP  no one is there.  The limo goes down empty streets, she goes to a coffee shop where no one knows her but her friends and then we see her and her friends in a limo travelling on more empty Boston streets.  Finally she gets to Beverly and there is a crowd of maybe 100 people at her family's home and Angie greets her adoring public.  Clap clap clap some more.  Her brother, who they bring on stage with her to watch the hometown video, has grown a beard for the *play offs* (do you suppose he has been watching reruns of Duck Dynasty instead of Idol like most of America?).  Whatever, he looks like a dork.  The grade school is full of kids (aren't all grade schools...I mean of course they are happy they don't have to be in class) and the concert has a decent but not overwhelming crowd.  She plays the piano with one hand (I wonder if she even plays the piano or just hits a dead keyboard) and emotes all over the place and blessedly the video ends.

Jimmy has given her Elton John's *Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word* on the belief she will sit at the piano.  She doesn't want to learn the chords so she stands there and sings it and its ok but not a moment, particularly when she screams out some off key glory notes.  Her idea this week of *being in it to win it* appears to involve singing every note as loud as she can.  The judges and Jimmy, blinded by her teeth, and deafened by her clapping hands, praise her effusively.  Jimmy thinks she won the first round.

Her second song is an upbeat song and she prances around the stage somewhat.  I have heard this song but didn't write down the name of it because I really didn't care at the point.  She is given great praise for doing 2 songs without her piano.  More effusive praise.  I am so sick of Angie at this point I am near tears of frustration.


Finally, she sings Maybe at the piano and goes all out having eye sex with the camera, humping the piano stool, and screaming the notes at the top of her lungs.  Again, effusive praise for this fake girl.  Seriously, between her and and Nicki Minaj I don't want to watch this show any more any more. 


Candice goes home to Gullah country and you cannot help but be happy for her, her family, and her little community and all the genuine love surrounding them all.  She seemed genuinely humbled by all the hoopla as opposed to Angie who kept looking around for more praise and more people to idolize her. 


Jimmy's choice for her is U-2's One which I should know but I have never really followed U-2 or Mary J Blige who covered it.  It gives Candice an opportunity to show off her amazing voice and the judges like it but are not effusive. 

The judges choose Next To Me, a song I also did not know but I thought she did a great job with it.  I don't think it let her really soar, though so I'm wondering why they chose it...except to make the playing field with Angie more even.


One of the few criticism's (unjust) of Candice has been that she may be too old-fashioned and unable to make a record that would be marketable to current audiences.  So, the producers make sure she appeals to the young votes by having her sing *Somewhere* (!!!!!) as opposed to Angie's more current (by about 50 years) producer's choice.  Now this is what I love about Candice.  It is like she knew what their game was and she just flat knocked that song into outer space.  I loved it, and I love her and I hope she wins (because I don't think Kree has a chance).   At some point during the criticisms of Candice, Nicki has to comment about her self-confidence and what a role model she is for all women...subtext...*even though you are fat.*  Shut your piehole Nicki...your butt is not quite of Kardashian proportions but it is getting there and as for the rest of you....ugly is as ugly does.

And now for Kree.   Some people might have cringed at the focus of the homecoming on her dead parents but I'm grateful for all the sympathy votes she gets as this point because she is certainly not getting a fair shake from the judges or the producers or Jimmy.  After praising her for the first 2/3 of the season for her understated performances they turned on her and told her she was bland and lifeless.  They are all horrible.  

Since Kree is a country singer and of course the object is to choose a song that will showcase the contestants' strengths, Jimmy chooses a pop song by Pink, *Perfect*, for her to cover.  Keith cannot find anything good to say except that she is clearly a country singer, Randy and Mariah thought it left something on the table and so the producer's have accomplished their objective to make her look like the one who doesn't belong on the stage with the other two.  At least the judges acknowledged that Jimmy's song choice was not ideal.

The judges do appear to have given some thought to their song choice and she kills Rascal Flatt's *Here Comes Goodbye*.  Jimmy even has to give her the round.  As a side note, this song was co-written by American Idol alum, Chris Sligh. 

The producers, however, give her the equivalent of Janelle's *Dumb Blonde* to sing.  Yes, lets get something with a fast tempo but why this stupid song?  Its like the found the most unappealing  uptempo country song ever written and pulled it out for her to sing.  And, as another critic pointed out...what is with giving this woman, whose mother buried her father and then died herself...a song about a woman saying if they dig her husband's grave they better dig two?  (I admit...I didn't catch this myself but once it was mentioned you have to wonder).  That was just deliberately callous and designed to make her fail. At least the judges acknowledged the song choice was awful.  And, I will give Nicki credit for saying whoever chose that song should be stoned because I think SHE got the naked insensitivity of it.   I think Kree did about all you could do with that song which is NOT a vote-getter having no glory notes or even a good story behind it.  But that was the point.  Have her close out on a weak song that no one can relate to (and which, on second thought, makes her relive the worst time of her life) . 

So, it looks like next week will be Angie the Seal and Candice going for the title and this season cannot end soon enough for me.  I voted for Kree tonight, will not watch the finale unless she is in it, but I will vote for Candice next week. 

Evidently, the producers of Idol are trying to figure out *what went wrong* this season.  Let us start with the Nicki/Mariah debacle.  Nicki is more than polarizing...90% of regular viewers commenting on the show hate her. Throw in questionable choices like Zoanetta.  Add the elimination of any human with an ounce of testosterone in their system.  Mix it with erratic judging and over praise of certain contestants (Amber) and throwing others under the bus (Kree and Janelle).  Result, a disastrous season.  I would be surprised if the tour even sells 1/4 of its seats this season.  I suppose they will give it one more season.  I don't want Simon back...I don't want JLo back...I would take Steven back...but for goodness's sakes get rid of Nicki. 

In the meantime, I watched the Voice last night and I must say that all of the women competing in the top 12  could have been in the final three tonight and not been out of place.

Candice for the win, Kree for 2nd place, and how I wish Angie's brother would have to cut off that stupid beard!

And after this season of Nigel ruining Idol, I am seriously considering boycotting So You Think You Can Dance.    

  

  

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Not Forever, Amber

They  revamped her, they pimped her, they coddled her, they put her in short shorts and short skirts nearly every week,  they saved the save for her and they lied for her but all of that was not enough to get Amber (*Little Rihanna*) Holcomb into the final 3. So, she goes home in tears tonight as America finally says enough of Amber.  Now, in truth, I wish America had had enough of Angie but that wasn't going to happen to little Miss Angie Apple, even though, all told, she had the worst night of all of them last night.
 
I wasn't going to watch tonight but I'm glad I did because for once, I thoroughly enjoyed all three of the guest artists.  Always wonderful to see David Cook and while that song will need to grow on me a little bit, he is the same slightly offbeat but down to earth gentleman we fell in love with in Season 7.  He lives in Nashville now and I wanted to shove him and Kree together and make a new dynamic duo along the lines of George and Tammy, Johnny and June, Tim and Faith, and Blake and Miranda.

Is Will I Am a rapper?  My gosh I loved that performance!  He was doing real dancing!  He even tapped!  Of course, the 1920's to me is like the 1970's is to kids today and like the 1980s will be to KK's kids so I loved the 20's vibe to the song.  

And of course, Harry Connick, Jr., whom I would like to marry.  He doesn't seem nearly has high maintenance as Jimmy and hasn't sold his soul to the Idol devil (Nigel) to push mediocrity to the masses.  And I really think he doesn't like Angie very well.


Jimmy was not a fan of Angie Apple last night but had to preface his comments with praise for her over-rated performances last week (I really saw no big difference in the two weeks...same old Angie Apple posturing and polishing the audience with her faux flirtation and faux smile.)  He thought Amber's My Funny Valentine was extraordinary and I thought it was not but he acknowledged that her first song was not up to par.  He excused it because *she didn't have time to learn it*.  Funny...he wasn't letting Lazaro get away with that excuse and she certainly had as much time as anyone else and probably could have learned it if she wasn't practicing the overdone runs for My Funny Valentine all week.   I'm with Harry, the runs were stupid and ruined the song. Jimmy rightfully praised Candice....but had a hard time when it came to Kree and basically had to say *she could do more* (this is the man who told her not to oversing, remember?).  So, her two *good* performances got her in last place in Jimmy's eyes because Amber had My Funny Valentine, Candice was great, and Angie Apple was Angie the apple of America's eyes (and her own).

You know, I was feeling bad for Amber (not because she is better than the other 3...well she is better than Angie) but because she seems like such a sweet natural girl.  Then we see her comments about how she is so excited to walk the red carpet and be in movies and magazines and I'm thinking this girl is not in it for the music...she is in it for the perks and that turned me off.  Also...I think she used the phrase *give back* which I don't think meant she was going to head up a charity like David Cook and Crystal Bowersox.  I think she wants to give back by giving her glorious talent to the world and we should be grateful, dammit! 


So, Angie, Kree and Candice are going home to celebrate.  Candice's trip should be a hoot...I've spent some time in her neck of the woods...and I'm looking forward to seeing it televised.  Kree should get a good old fashioned Texas welcome.  I have no idea what Boston will do for Angie since Boston is a bit preoccupied at the moment and I don't plan to pay any attention to it.  I just hope she doesn't sully Fenway by singing the National Anthem, or god forbid, Sweet Caroline! 

On another note, I guess Nicki was tweeting trash about Mariah today since Mariah evidently made some comment which I didn't catch about *when you have a number one record* in their little spat last night.   Man...get rid of Nicki!!!

Update:  well.i.am....complete oblivious to today's music because I did not know will.i.am. is a member of the Black Eyed Peas ( I have heard of them...KK where are you when I need you?).  Also, from reading the other recaps of the show, I gather I was the only one in America who liked his performance!  Maybe I cut him a break because I just thought he was some rapper and was surprised he could dance?  Also, Harry Connick, Jr. is being panned by the critics.  OK, he is old fashioned and sort of sappy.  That's why I love him. 

 
 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Psychological Warfare

Were the judges and producers shamed by the reaction of nearly every TV critic to the travesty that was last week's show?  No, I think not.  I think they are just engaging in a bit of psycho war on the viewers. 

Tonight's theme is Then and Now.  Harry Connick, Jr., a big favorite of mine, is a mentor this week to help guide the group through the *then* songs.   The group comes out and for once you cannot tell the order of performance from the way they are standing.  Psych ops trick #1.

Angie sings first.  In her mentoring session on the hit song choice, Harry Connick says his family all loves her but he doesn't...something about her doesn't click with him.  She pretends to walk out.  She thinks he has a great sense of humor.  He probably does.  I'm not sure he was really kidding.  I'm thinking he really doesn't like her very much and was trying to convey a message to her self-entitled ass that she isn't the sun the moon and the stars that her high school yearbook editors told her she was.  Whoosh over Angie's polygamous hair head.    She is singing another Rihanna song, Diamonds, and...big surprise...playing the PIANO (such a talent she is...no other contestant has ever played the piano but her and if they did well they were not ANGIE).  The performance is typical Angie....coy looks at the camera (one commenter described her camera technique as *eye f...ing the camera*)...maniacal pounding of keys on the big notes... squirming and shoulder posturing to appear sexy...and in my opinion.... a vocal full of off-pitch notes. (I am not alone in this assessment...nearly every critic who actually has an ear for music has said she missed notes badly in this performance). She was really going for votes here.  The judges did not praise her which I'm sure shocked her hair extensions to the stitches..as she basically repeated the same performance she did last week with a different Rihanna song  and they considered  that the second coming of Adele. Ryan questions here and she goes into pageant girl mode...I swear she should run for Miss Massachusetts when this is over.  Nicki said *this wasn't like listening to Angie playing the piano in her room...you were performing to the camera*.  Angie has never played the piano like she wasn't trying to seduce every living thing in sight.  Oh well...

Amber, who was given one or two or maybe even three standing ovations last week for what were decent but not outstanding performances, is up next.  Keep in mind that Amber is *current* according to the judges...the most *current* of all of them.  So, she sings Pink's *Just Give Me a Reason* and it is one hot mess.  She hadn't learned the words in time for her mentoring session with Harry but he is kind to her about it.  She cannot really sing an up tempo song...or maybe she cannot really sing a current song.  The judges say it wasn't *stellar* but Keith and maybe Mariah are full of excuses for her.  (Its really hard to learn a song and perform in front of a live audience with TV cameras and stuff).  So Psy Ops #2...feel sorry for Amber folks.   Amber seems to know she wasn't that good even before they start judging.  You get her away from *current* artists like Celine Dion and Whitney Houston and the girl just falls apart.  

Candice comes out with a vengeance.  She's singing Bruno Mar's *When I Was Your Man* and she is out to shove last week's critique up some judge's heiny-holes.  This wasn't just smoke up the hole...this was fire in the hole and I hope those judges felt it.  Well...according to the critiques they did.  I admit that at one point, I got tears in my eyes.  I had not had any wine either.  Her voice just made me cry.  The judges gave her lots of praise...probably because they really didn't want her to be in the bottom 2 and realize they almost messed up last week.  Nicki says Candice took her advice and so within a week has magically transformed into a *now artist*.  Nicki also asks her if she has lost weight which reveals what is REALLY bugging the producers here. 

Kree is very gracious about the totally unfair critiques she got last week and said she was going to try to connect with the audience this week.  She is singing the new Carrie Underwood single *See You Again.*  Harry loves Kree.  Kree sits on the stool with a guitar guy next to her and pours her heart into this one...and I start bawling because I realize that she is not singing about some guy she will see again but her dead parents.  She almost loses it at one point.  Keith...who is beginning to get on my shit list...criticizes her for not standing up and moving around (even though every time she does they tell her to stop trying to perform and just sing the song...Psy Ops#3).  The other three judges give her rave reviews but since Keith is the country guy...will the audience just remember his? Do you suppose the judges  drew straws before the show to determine who was going to have to follow Nigel's dictum that Kree be elimated and Keith drew the short straw?  Something is going on there.  Harry is backstage and I think doing a slow burn at Keith's remarks and he comes out and basically gives his *best performance of the night so far* blessing to Kree.  Psy Ops #4.

So its time for the *Then* songs:

Harry says once again that he doesn't like Angie.  He thinks she is mean.  I'm beginning to think he really hates her even though its all posited as a joke.  Or maybe I just cannot fathom someone as cool as Harry Connick, Jr. thinking Angie is anything but an averagely pleasant singer.  Angie sings *Someone to Watch Over Me*.  When Alison Arehata sang this song, I bawled like a baby.  Angie left me cold despite her ball gown and visible boobs.  I do remember thinking while watching it that she didn't give off one bit of a vulnerable vibe during that performance...in fact...I was thinking whoever is dumb enough to hook up with her is going to need someone to watch over HIM because she will eat him alive.  She puts all sorts of runs and frills on the end because she cannot resist the glory notes.  The judges say this was better than her first performance but are not effusive.  I'm betting Harry really is hating her for screwing with the melody.  At this point Nicki and Mariah get into a fight just to be fighting about something but I think Mariah got the best of it by saying that *as a singer* she knows what she is talking about!  Take that Nicki rap talker!

Amber reprises *My Funny Valentine* and completely ignores Harry's advice and adds even more runs and trills and high notes where low notes should be than she did in her first peformance.  Well, its time of Psy Ops #5 because she gets a standing ovation.  In addition, we get another *poor Amber...its so hard being you* critique.  Amber starts crying...this is getting ridiculous.   

The only thing about the critique given to Kree that I thought was remotely valid was that she should have chosen a different song.  That said, I thought her version of Stormy Weather was great...even if she too couldn't resist mucking with the melody too much.  The judges aren't impressed at all...praising her flawless vocals almost as an afterthought.  (Early in the show Randy was saying its all about singing...now its not so much...  Psy Ops #6).  The judges use this opportunity to bash Harry's mentoring and he is not having it and he and Randy get into it.  I'm with Harry....don't mess with the standards. I am really sick of all the melisma and glory runs being done on these vocal talent shows.  I know the audience eats it up but what do they know?  These old standards are all about phrasing...a concept completely alien to young singers today.

So...I turned off the TV at that point.  I didn't see the last group number....did they say everyone but Kree was wonderful?  

I'm not sure I will watch the results show tomorrow...

I'm thinking that Amber should go home.  I suspect she will but I may be wrong.