IDOL: THE TOP FOUR, NO MORE ‘DO-OVERS’
After last week’s “Do Over”, the “Top 4”, girls will try again tonight. Last week, Angie Miller dominated the night. Both of her performances were outstanding. For the first time Candace Glover was just ordinary. The voters quickly realized that she didn’t bring her usual “A” game and placed her in the “Bottom 2.” I will be surprised if Candace doesn’t have a big night tonight. By the end of the night, I will be shocked if both Angie and Candace aren’t both in the “Top 2.”
While both Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb had some good moments last week, there just wasn’t enough of them. If it wasn’t for the lame American Idol “Do Over”, last week Amber would have already gone home. For some reason the judges absolutely love Amber, I just don’t see it and I expect her to go home this week. Tonight’s two themes will be “Songs From 2013”, and “Song Standards.” Harry Connick Jr. will act as a mentor and assist the contestants with the Song Standard category. Tonight’s show should be a good one. There will be no saves tonight so every performance has to be a good one and as an added incentive the “Top 3” remaining girls will be rewarded with a trip home for “Home Town Visit Week.” Let’s see who wants it more!!!
Angie Miller: opens up the show behind the piano with a unique version of Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” It wasn’t as good as her performance last week but it was still good. The judges didn’t like the arrangement and despite the fact that she was at the piano, they never felt she connected with the audience. For her second song Angie sang the Gershwin classic, “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Like her first song it was good, it just wasn’t the Angie we saw last week. Overall, I think Angie did a good job on both songs and I would give her a strong “B” for the night. She can sleep sound tonight. She will definitely be back next week.
Amber Holcomb: is up next and she needs a great performance. Last week wasn’t very good for Amber and if she wants to remain in the contest she has to win the night. Amber sings an uninspiring version of P!nk’s. “Just Give Me a Reason.” I love this song but her performance was just plain bad. The judges agreed. Randy said, “That it wasn’t stellar” and Jimmy Iovine said her performance was “Just Karaoke.” For all intents and purposes this performance was the unofficial end of the line for Amber. For her second song Amber rebounded with a strong performance of “My Funny Valentine.” It was her best performance in weeks and the judges and Jimmy Iovine all loved it. Unfortunately, I think it is a case of too little too late.
Candace Glover: sang the Bruno Mars’ song, “When I Was Your Man.” The judges all loved her performance and so did I. Randy Jackson said, “You can sing anything”, and after that performance it is hard to disagree with him. For her second song, Candace sang a terrific version of “You’ve Changed.” Her performance was absolutely flawless. It is clearly the highlight of the evening. For her efforts she gets a standing ovation from the judges. Mariah Carey enthusiastically says, “There is no critique, the only critique is I want to download that performance. You are anointed.”
After being in the “Bottom 2”, last week, Candace realized she needed a good night tonight and she definitely delivered. Both of her performances were great and she easily won the night. This sets up a potential Candace and Angie finale.
Kree Harrison: sang what I thought was an underwhelming version of the Carrie Underwood hit, “See You Again.” The judges disagreed and they all liked the performance. Nicki Minaj said “I loved your Kreedom performance. You sang with your eyes. You believed what you were singing.”. Well she might have believed, but I didn’t. For her second song, Kree sang the classic “Stormy Weather”. After five minutes of arguing between Randy Jackson and Harry Connick Jr., I couldn’t remember if I liked the performance or not. Overall I thought Kree had the worst night of the four contestants. Fortunately for Kree, she finished in the “Top 2”, last week and with the carryover of votes I think she did just enough to hold onto the third spot. Early on I was a big fan of Kree, but the last few weeks I have fallen off of the bandwagon. I think she has gone as far as she can go and her journey will come to an end next week.
For me Candace Glover won the night followed closely by Angie Miller and I expect Angie and Candace to be in the “Top 2” tomorrow night. Both Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb struggled with one or both of their performances last night and since last week’s 38 million votes will carry over to this week I expect that Kree and Amber will end up in the “Bottom 2.” I think America got it right last week and Amber didn’t do enough this week to change their minds. For that reason I expect that Amber will be going home tomorrow night.
American Idol Odds and Ends
• Harry Connick Jr. will be a guest mentor and is scheduled to perform tomorrow night.
• American Idol Champion David Cook will be performing his new single “Laying me Low” on tomorrow night’s results show.
• Will.i.Am is scheduled to perform his new song “Bang Bang”, from the movie “The Great Gatsby.”
• I expect that Angie Miller and Candace Glover will be the last two standing in the American Idol finale. While they are both terrific, Angie has been my favorite from the very beginning and I am looking for her to be the next American Idol.
