The biggest worry I had heading into tonight’s results show (other than whether my house sale will close tomorrow) is that the one suggestion we made that turned out to be accurate (Anoop) might be the person going home. That would be twice that had happened.
To start the show, Ryan Seacrest announced that For Rida and Kellie Picker will perform. Who came up with that combo?
They continued the “Songs From the Year You Were Born” theme, with a song from the year Simon Cowell was born, “Venus” by Frankie Avalon. It started with a video, and then Frankie himself walked out on the stage. Nice surprise. Frankie looks and sounds just the same.
We’re watching live, so we can’t fast forward through the American Idol group song. Tonight, they did a song from the year American Idol was born (2002). Someone thought having them sing and dance to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” was a good idea. I’m not sure, but I think Dante’ had this playing on the overhead speakers in one of the levels of Hell.
They showed a behind-the-scenes of the Ford Video Shoot. It was a magician theme and looked like it was a lot of fun.
The video itself, eh… Not so much. I suspect it was a lot more fun to film than to watch.
On to the results… Adam Lambert is safe. Anoop Desai is in the Bottom Three. Oh crap. Did we curse our second contestant?
Kris Allen is safe. DialIdol missed badly on that one.
Rapper Flo Rida takes the stage to perform “Right Round”, his chart topping single from his album R.O.O.T.S. It borrows heavily from Dead or Alive’s 1984 single “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”. Good song and performance, but rather racey for American Idol.
And some more results. Danny Gokey is safe. Matt Giraud is safe. Scott MacIntyre is in the Bottom Three.
Allison Iraheta and Lil Rounds are left, and one of them is in the Bottom Three. Allison is told she’s safe, so Lil makes her first journey to the sad chairs.
So, Anoop, Scott and Lil are the Bottom Three. While Anoop has had some nice performances, the reality is that none of these three are going to win.
Season Five alumnus Kellie Pickler takes the stage next, and performs the new single from her self-titled sophomore album: “Best Days of Your Life”. I kinda like the song, but unfortunately, she looks better than she sounds. Just not a good performance.
With all the fluff completed, we’re back to results. Lil is told she’s safe, so Anoop and Scott are the Bottom Two.
Ryan says that out of thirty-four million votes, only thirty thousand separated the two of them. That doesn’t speak well of the power of Vote For The Worst, who put their “strength” behind Scott this week.
Scott is the bottom for the week, and performs his horrible rendition of “The Search is Over” again. If anything, he sounds worse tonight than last night. He literally screamed parts of it.
After the performance, the debate among the judges is clearly pretty heavy. Simon says that there’s a split, with two wanting to save him and two wanting to send him home (the vote to save must be unanimous).
They don’t say, but it certainly appears that Paula and Kara want to save Scott. In the end, they don’t come to agreement, and Scott is sent home.
This is a good outcome. He was clearly the least vocally talented of the Top Eight, and had really never had a great performance.
Of the seven that are left, I think you can break them into three tiers:
First Tier: Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey
While I think Adam is the more polished and interesting performer, all indications are that the voting between the two is rather close.
Second Tier: Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta
These two are your dark horse contenders to win. You here a lot of talk about progression and evolution as a performer, and Kris has shown more of that than anyone this year. And Allison is amazingly talented. But both have had their weak moments as well.
Third Tier: Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud
These are likely the next three to go. Lil has perhaps the best voice of the competition, but couldn’t pick a song to save her life. Anoop has had great performances (like this week), but has had some horrific moments. And while I liked Matt’s performance this week quite a bit, I still have no idea who he is as a performer.