Thursday, April 25, 2013

American Idol Season 12: The Top 4 Fall Flat

Is it just me or did several weird things take place tonight on American Idol? Just a couple of weeks ago, a personal fave of mine, Amber Holcomb was consistently landing in the bottom two, and now the judges have all but handed her the Idol crown. First up was a solid performance of Power of Love by Celine Dion. I will admit that this was a good song choice for Amber because it displayed her versatility. Up next though was an  odd duet of Rumor Has It by Adele with Kree. This song was not Amber's style, and yet the judges sang her praise while dissing Kree at the same time. Last but not least was a performance of MacArthur Park, and again, this is no offense because I like Amber, but that performance was anemic at best. Her voice cracked twice, and the low notes were so low that you could barely hear her.

On the contrary, Kree who has coasted through the majority of this competition and has a consistent body of work to show from throughout her Idol experience was criticized on her first performance. She was told that her vocal on Susan Tedeschi's It Hurts So Bad didn't have enough emotion. Keith said she didn't give enough in the performance. Nicki even went so far as to say that it wasn't top four worthy. Then when she didn't her second song, Whiter Shade of Pale, they said she redeemed herself. I am happy that Mariah at least turned around and said, for me, there was nothing for you to redeem, you're a true artist. I will be devastated if Kree goes home, because her Idol journey has been too amazing to end her. If she does go home, I have no doubt that this girl is potentially making an awesome record if she has the right people behind her.

Candice is probably the only contestant in this top four who has come out of this competition fairly unscathed so far. The judges haven't thrown her under the bus. Everyone has great comments when it comes to her vocals. There has been some criticism at times about her song choices. Last night was an example of that. She sang Find Your Love by Drake, and I have to say I agree with what Nicki put out there which was that the song has such a great melody and Candice changed that. I wouldn't have changed the melody; she could have still put her Candice spin on it without doing that. Then she sang Emotion which was a good choice for her, but the reviews were really mixed. Mariah called it stellar, but Keith felt she needed to separate herself from the other girls and choose a bare bones song that speaks to her.

Perhaps the dark horse in this competition, Angie had arguably the strongest night. Although she sang Jesse J's Who You Are in the audition rounds, this was completely different. She was at the piano and she just completely let go of all her inhibitions, and it was just so free. Randy called it a 10 out of 10 out of 10. Mariah thought it was stunning and thinks Angie has a career as a songwriter as well. On her second song, Cry Me a River, Randy felt that she won the night. I must agree, she really stepped up and I think she impressed everyone. When I think about the market now for musicians, there's no one like Angie out there. Keith called the performance mystically, celestially powerful. If she goes home, I think she gets a record deal when all is said and done, but I think if she's won hearts like I think she has, she's not going anywhere this week.

My prediction to go home: Amber

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