top three tonight which means, what, two songs each and clips from the triumphant visits back to their hometowns…? is this also the week when the judges get to pick a song for each contestant? how does that work with 4 judges now?… so many questions and, if i had tuned in on time, i’d already know… instead, i’m watching on a delay, skipping commercials and sappiness, and avoiding twitter and facebook updates to maintain some sense of surprise… diving right in…
THE THREE AMI-GOES?
now playing: The Choice Is Yours – KJ-52 (or Black Sheep)
“Gokey Dokey”… singing “Dance Little Sister” as chosen by Paula… i don’t think i’ve ever heard of this song or Terrence Trent D’Arby… apparently Danny hasn’t either… it’s got a nice Earth Wind and Fire feel to it and Danny is playing it up pretty well… gotta love a good sax solo… Paula is dancing… good for her… well, he did really well, i’d say… i’m not really feeling the song though… Randy says it was dope… Kara says it kept him in his money spot, but the dancing was a little heavy on the gyrations… Paula says that he did a fantastic job… Simon says that it’s not a dancing show, it’s a singing show and vocally it was good, but perhaps the wrong song choice…
“With a K”… okay, so, i’m watching one commercial… i wanted to see the trailer for Up because it’s showing a little bit more of the story… Randy and Kara have chosen Kris’s song for him and they’ve chosen “Apologize” by One Republic… awesome… he’s sitting behind the piano and he’s starting off pretty strong, perhaps a little copycat-ish, but i expect that he’ll inject something original into the arrangement at some point… Kris has really grown stronger as the competition has gone on… this one was alright… probably not his best, but really good overall… Randy says it was nice, very nice… Kara says it was really competent or confident, but it wasn’t really his own… he wasn’t swinging for the fences… Paula agrees that it wasn’t quite an original take, but she’s very proud of him… Simon says it wasn’t as good as the original, and that Kara should’ve told him how to prepare the arrangement and it’s a shoutfest…
“Wicked”… Simon got to pick Adam’s song and he’s chosen U2′s “One” if only to namedrop that he’s spoken with Bono personally… clearly, though, Simon likes the quiet and reserved version of Adam rather than the ostentatious and drama queen Adam… oh my… this is horrible… that’s not the direction to go with that song… it’s bad enough to have to cover a U2 song, but he really butchered it… the screaming… oh, that was just wretched… Randy says that he’s one of the hottest three in the competition (of course there are only three left)… Kara says he’s unbelievable… Paula says that it was one… aw, that’s as bad as the shrieking… Simon says it was a brilliant song choice and it was a brilliant, brilliant performance and he had better be in the finals next week…
now playing: The Show Must Go On – Queen
“Gokey Dokey”… singing a touching, Joe Cocker tune, “You Are So Beautiful“… he chose this one himself and there’s no dancing… but he has taken some liberties with the melody that i think the judges will like… and this is a pretty nice version actually… and it’s built into a really interesting song… definitely a twist on the original and i think that was a solid performance for him… Randy says that he can really, really, really sing with the mad vocals… Kara says that he completed himself with that one, it was stunning… Paula says that he left them all breathless and he nailed it… Simon says that he didn’t need to rearrange the song at all, but it was a vocal master class…
“With a K”… oh, no commercial… see, i was just about to write that they’re still gonna go over even though they built in an extra four minutes… wow… Kris is singing “Heartless” by Kanye West… that’s gonna be a HOT ONE BABY!… Ryan makes a point of saying that he’s from Arkansas… and now he’s got his acoustic guitar pulled out… and he’s rocking a stripped down version of a really sweet tune and he’s really pulling it off flawlessly… that’s just plain awesome… talk about a risk… man… solid… Randy says that this will be one of the toughest voting nights and that he liked it better than the original… Kara says he’s incredibly brave and it’s perfect… Paula makes a silly joke/jab at Simon, then says “Bravo”… Simon says that he had previously written him off, but now he’s back in the saddle again…
“Wicked”… ah, fringe finale is tonight too… i need to watch the final three episodes tomorrow… Adam is singing “Crying” by Aerosmith… from the early catalog, according to Kara last week… what the heck is up with the BGVs? they’re louder than he is… okay, so i’m gonna say that he’s done an alright job with it… definitely some high points, but also some really, really low points as well… i just think he’s fallen off a little for me… Randy says that it was better than One and that he’s one of the best AI has ever seen… Kara says it was amazing and that he’ll be in the finals next week… Paula says he set the bar so high that he should collect frequent flyer miles… and Simon says he doesn’t want to be a suck up and that people need to vote…
now playing: Home Sweet Home – Carrie Underwood
this is a really tough one to pick… and they did still run over… but here’s the point i was making about Kris earlier… Danny set his bar high pretty early on in the competition and pretty much stuck around that level, improving ever so slightly as the weeks wore on… Adam started out with a bang and pretty much let the judges carry him through the weeks with their high praise each time out… but Kris… man, i pointed it out one week a while back how he just started to stand out from the pack (specifically from Matt Giraud5) and he’s steadily made his way to the front of the pack…
if this were based solely on tonight’s performances, i’d have to say that Kris and Danny will square off next week… however, i really think it could go either way… i could see each of them going home… and, since i haven’t exactly done the best job all season of picking the results, i’m going to go with my heart…
Going Home Sweet Home: Adam
peace… love… bdg…