Music

AMERICAN IDOL RECAP: British Invasion & 1960s Week (5/2/2012 & 5/3/2012)

by Claire Ward-Beveridge

Pop Hunter is re-capping the grotesque display of culture that is American Idol all season. Here’s what you need to know from this week’s round, which aired May 2nd and May 3rd.

This week on idol it was down to 5. I honestly can’t remember that many contestants prior to the final 10 or 12, and I suppose that’s the point. The opening pre-credits segment of every Thursday episode now grows incrementally more saccharine and dramatic, as if all the contestants have terminal diseases or something. I had a glass or two of red wine before I watched last night, and I can honestly say that for about 15 seconds while “Set Fire to the Rain” played over shots of the contestants having their photo taken and delivering precocious sound bites, I felt sad for all of them — sad and worried. And just as quickly, I snapped out of it and realized that, at this point, most of them will have careers anyway.  At least, that’s what Jimmy Iovine basically said of Joshua during his little re-cap moment of Wednesday night: “We at Interscope are gonna do everything we can not to drop the ball.” He stated that Joshua is probably one of, if not THE most talented of all Idol contestants, past and present. This cuts out a considerable amount of the drama for me.

I really don’t know how to justify the truly bland, repetitive selection of songs that Idol seems to have, but I assume that they can only draw from what seems like a limited catalogue. And so the “theme” (if you want to call it that), on Wednesday night was just “1960s” for their first song and “British Pop” for their second. I got excited for a brief moment when they revealed that Little Steven from the E Street Band was the mentor, and thought they were doing Springsteen covers, but nope. Just a mish-mash of bland shit — as per usual.

One amazing moment that should be turned into a .gif: just as the announcer says “Ryan Seacrest!” there’s this CRAZY-fast zoom in on Seacrest’s face and he looks like an android or something. Does anyone want to create this for me?

Performances:

Joshua Ledet – Ain’t Too Proud To Beg & To Love Somebody

Both of Joshua’s songs were incredible. I think it’s really easy to take for granted the amount of talent and focus that goes into performing at that level in front of a live television audience, and if you stop and think about it, he really has been spot-on the whole competition.  He started out with “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” a Temptations song from 1966, and just sang the crap out of it. Even his sorta cheesy, choreographed dance moves were charming. The judges loved it, of course, and Joshua just looked as baffled and dumb-struck as always when he finished the song. It’s probably nervousness, but his demeanour during and after a song are so different, it’s almost strange. His second song was “To Love Somebody,” and that was just as good, if not better.

Okay, before we launch into the next contestant, I just wanted to insert a little blurb here about the awful, awful Ford commercial. This episode’s version featured every contestant save for Phil Phillips. How did he escape the garish Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland-styled romp? Even those who decided to partake looked creeped out.

Hollie Cavanagh – River Deep, Mountain High & Bleeding Love

Okay, so next we have Hollie.  Hockey mom-ish, Reba-emulating Hollie. My least favourite of the remaining five, and yet there’s something weirdly likeable about her — like she could have been your first babysitter or something. She decided to tackle one of my favourite songs from the 60’s, “River Deep, Mountain High,” a song I can only associate with Tina Turner’s sexy, growly, shiny legs. The kind of legs she must’ve made a deal for. Hollie’s version was fine. No mistakes and it was consistent, but as usual, it lacked the kind of grit and passion that embodies the performances of most of the other current contestants.  Her second song was considerably less exciting.

Phillip Phillips – The Letter & The Time Of The Season

Phil Philips “surprises everyone” with his “daring” rendition of the 1967 classic “The Letter.” I guess by changing the tempo and time signature and smearing a Dave Matthews flavour all over it is really the way to secure your spot as a favourite amongst young girls and Randy Jacksons alike. It’s FINE. I mean, I really, really don’t understand why he hasn’t been in the bottom three as of yet this whole competition. That said, I can see that he has found an audience and he’s good at what he does — shamelessly impersonating Dave Matthews. Ol’ Leather-Turtle says he’s been “coasting” all this time and needs a wake-up call.

Skylar Laine – Fortunate Son & You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me

Next, little bouncy pepperette Skylar Laine stomps, jumps and growls her way through two countri-fied hits, “Fortunate Son” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” She’s as solid and consistent as Phil is, and were it not for the Idol market being flooded with country stars, she might be a favourite. She has a lot of energy and talent, but her whole image and style is so hackneyed at this point that it’s so easy to overlook and become bored by everything that she does.

Jessica Sanchez – Proud Mary & You Are So Beautiful

Next up we have Jessica Sanchez, who sings “Proud Mary” and does the best anyone could ever do, without morphing into early 1970s-era Tina Turner. She’s wilder and more spirited than we’ve ever seen her and we could’ve left it at that were it not for Jimmy Iovine giving his two cents. His little spiels are meant to serve as the last word from the Idol-sanctioned critics, but this comes off as a weird attack. Instead of talking about the performance itself, he instead goes on to chastise Jessica for wearing a dress that was “too tight” and “too short,” and says that she could easily lose many votes for wearing such an offensive get-up. Granted, she DID look older than her 16 years, but as Jennifer Lopez placatingly says, show business is a different world, and there are different standards. Plus, I honestly wouldn’t even have thought of it, had Tortoise-Head not brought it up. It’s sad, really cause maybe his comment didn’t affect Wednesday night’s votes, but it may affect the voting strategies to come. Who knows.

On Thursday’s show, it is revealed that “…after the nation-wide vote…” Joshua is safe. Phil is safe. Hollie is in the bottom three. As it should be.

Now comes the obligatory entertainment for the night, courtesy of Coldplay. Honestly, when I first heard that they were performing, it seemed like a step down for them. Aren’t they the biggest they’ll ever be?  Maybe Chris Martin owes Interscope a fave or something.

After Mr. Paltrow & Co. have finished putting everyone to sleep, we are then greeted by the sight of a glowing, perfectly tanned angel atop a smoky, lit platform. Yes, it’s time for another Idol Alumnus performance – back to show us what could be in store for one of the five, quivering youngsters backstage. Carrie Underwood is flawless to a fault, but honestly, pretty mesmerizing to watch -that platinum hair blowing in the confetti littered breeze! That skin! As Idol’s biggest success-story, she’s a prime example of exactly who does well when they leave the show.

… Or is she?! We’ve just found out that fellow country gal Skylar Laine is joining Hollie Cavanagh in the Bottom 2. Shocker!

“After the nation-wide vote” (or A.T.N.W.V.), it is revealed that Skyler has been eliminated.  Honestly I was surprised. As far as sure-fire competitors go, I honestly thought she had a decent shot at the top spot – the A.I. voters love their nu-country, and she’s ready-made for Nashville. But as the verdict was announced, it wasn’t ol’ Skylar that shed tears. She was too busy hammering the shit out of a Miranda Lambert song (that one about the abusive husband who totally has it coming, like so many other country hits) with her squirrel-skinning grin spread across her bronzer-ed face.

So long, Skylar Laine.

Tune in next week for more edge-of-your-seat play-by-plays.