Here we are again for another week of Idol, liveblogged from a basement. I don't think there's any doubt that America has kept the best four singers on the show up to this point. You can't really say that about any other season- thanks, nondescript dudes with guitars! So the top four: I still don't enjoy Angie on any sincere level, but any of the other three have an honest shot at being a non-embarrassing winner. So, since last week was the diva-off, what excuse for a theme will they use to make sure they do exactly the same thing this week? Let's see. They say that the contestants picked their own songs for round one, if you still think that's a thing they do. Then there will be duets, and the second round will be revealed later.
Amber is first, and they went to see a bunch of sick kids in Los Angeles over the past week. She tells them she's singing Celine Dion, and Seacrest tells us it's "Power of Love". So THAT'S how they're going to keep it boring? Let them pick their own songs? That makes me sad. I need at least one or two hilariously bad/ surprisingly good performances if I'm going to pay attention to this, and everyone with a chance to be funny is already home. Amber sings it fine, and there's a lot of Whitney in this vocal, and the judges are standing again. She went for the home run, but that wasn't more than a standup double to me. Keith praises the song choice. Nicki calls her a sexy glass of milk, and then asks for a moment of silence which is greeted by "whoo!"s. Randy, of course, is thinking about food and says Amber looks more like a black & white cookie. Jimmy said Amber's performance was going to be tough to beat. Yeah, ballad leading off the show, already been toward the bottom a number of times. What could go wrong?
Candice got to meet Drake, in addition to sick kids. She's singing "Find Your Love" by Drake, and I'll take this over Amber doing Celine any day. She hits a couple of absolutely sick notes in the first half. Candice just knows how to deliver a song, and she's got the vocal range to go with it. I think this is one of her best performances so far. Nicki said she should have stuck to the melody more, and told Candice to think about who's going to be buying her music. Randy name drops god, but goes on to say she shouldn't always be in church mode. Mariah is the one who agrees with me this time. Keith makes some important points- good notes are good- and overall loved it. Jimmy agrees with Nicki and didn't really like it.
Kree gets to hang out with a mom and child right out of Grey's Anatomy at the hospital. Her song is called "Hurts so Bad", and it's straight-up blues, which does not work for me. Still, Kree does what she does. Nothing wrong with it, but it's a little boring and midrange for this stage of the competition. She might be in more danger than I'd like to think. Randy said it was vocally tremendous, but parts were disconnected, and he wished it was something else. Keith said she didn't pour her heart out into it, and yeah, I guess that's kind of how I feel too. Nicki said it wasn't a top 4 performance, and "Everyone else can blow smoke up your ass, but that wasn't it." Alright, a couple more rants like that and this will all have been worthwhile. A third of the way in and I'm already reduced to watching for famous people saying crazy things. Jimmy agrees with Nicki again.
Angie is wasting her time at the children's hospital, as most of these kids won't get old enough to buy the Angie Miller Stupid Spoiled Whore playset. She's singing "Who You Are" by Jessie J, and she's at the piano again. I think Angie's committing to this emotionally, which is hilarious because this is song is completely vacant. Don't lose who you are in the blur of the stars? OK, if Jessie J sings through a computer because she can't sing, and those are her lyrics... Why does she have a career again? Angie's really singing the crap out of it, having herself a pretty big moment, but the song is so horrible I don't even care. Keith quotes the song back at her. Nicki is happy that Angie chose to sit behind the piano again. Randy says he loves Jessie J, and that Angie was a 10 out of 10. Angie says she's Jessie J's biggest fan. Oh, now Jessie J's career makes sense. She makes music for morons. Every time I see Angie sing she looks hotter, and I find out something new I hate about her. It's been fun to watch that progress. Jimmy said Angie and Amber tied for the best of round one. I still liked Candice.
Here's the first duet, Amber and Kree doing "Rumor Has It" by Adele. I'm not sure why they need giant drums all over the stage. Like, really. This should be showing me who's going home tomorrow. Instead it just makes me want to play Temple Run. It's hard to try and watch this as a singoff, but Kree's kicking ass if that's what it is. Keith is unbelievably amused, loved Amber's posture and Kree's voice. Nicki calls Kree out again for not being emotionally invested.
Angie and Candice are singing Rihanna's "Stay" for their duet. While Candice lets it rip, Angie is busting out every facial expression in the book and plenty of big notes. They both have fire on this one, but I'm surprised at how well Angie's keeping up. Even if her face makes me think of Miley Cyrus doing her Justin Bieber impression. Chin. Wink. This right here is the performance of the night. Randy: "Unbelievable! That's how you do it!"
So, the viewers have chosen "One hit wonders" as the second theme. Tripping Daisy? The Rentals? The Meat Puppets? Jill Sobule? Natalie Imbruglia? The Verve Pipe? Dare I dream... The Rugburns?! No, Amber is doing MacArthur Park. Come on, this couldn't be any more obvious. She's the producers' pick to finish fourth. Ancient torch song right into slightly less ancient disco. She'd get more votes if she used that 90 seconds to convert to Islam on stage. Keith: "Incredible performance". Nicki talks forever, most of it good. They're building up the 'shocking' elimination of Amber tomorrow night. Jimmy states the obvious: that song is corny.
Candice is doing "Emotion", which is apparently a song someone else did, then the Bee Gees did it. So that's how you do a Bee Gees song for your one hit wonder. This is more than a little corny itself, but it's a better vocal than Amber, less strained. Nicki opens up the discussion on Amber again, making it clear that nobody was talking about the song. I'd think when a song choice is particularly good or bad, it might be worth talking about, but hey. It turns out that Candice has a really bad cold, and thus Mariah goes on an excuse riff. Keith: "Are there any one hit wonder songs from the past decade?" Fair question. Randy name-drops Barry Gibb as a great songwriter while saying nothing of substance. I don't even know if Barry Gibb wrote that song. Jimmy then comes out on stage to defend himself. He accuses the panel of being high, while here I was just kind of assuming that as fact. Somewhere in here, Jimmy says "You just don't want to admit that Candice was better than Amber this round." Sweet, I've always wondered what Idol would be like with a debate segment. My popcorn is ready.
Kree's doing a song called "A Whiter Shade of Pale", which I do not know. This is another one that falls short of a real connection. Kree's had kind of a rough night. Randy: "You sang your face off!" Keith uses the word "agreeance" and I do a touchdown dance. Then he says all of Kree's performances tonight were kind of middle ground, and I'm disappointed but it's true. Nicki loved the performance, but then says it probably won't keep her out of the bottom two.
Angie is closing the show with "Cry Me a River". Oh dog, if nobody calls this Broadway, then something's wrong. This is not something that should be praised. Her voice isn't the issue, it's the fact that she's clearly an actress pretending to be a pop star. Does not work for me. Keith raises both arms in triumph, I assume because it's finally over. Keith calls it "Mystical and celestially powerful." Yeah, he's high. Nicki: "Tonight was your night." Randy: "Best of the night."
Everyone did something wrong tonight, but Amber goes home because of that last performance. Whoever told her it was a good idea to sing that song was NOT working in Amber's best interests. 2-3 is close, but at the end of the show, it looks like Candice is safe and Kree is not. However, since they never used the save there's a chance they'll give some reason for making this a non-elimination week. So my prediction is either Amber or nobody.
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