"American Idol": Five standing ovations, but how many deserved?
(CBS News) If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then "The Voice" must have felt very red-faced on seeing Wednesday's "American Idol."
For, as the contestants were asked to imitate their own idols, they stretched themselves to find a true voice. The judges tried to help them along the way, with a curious display of something that seemed just a little like hype.
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Naturally, Tommy Hilfiger, the show's style consultant, wants all the hopefuls to find their own styles. Even if takes mixing and matching.
Dixon offered Lifehouse's "Everything." I am not sure that Lifehouse represent everything an idol should be. Still, the song showcased Dixon's fine emoting. However, it also showcased some remarkably sharp notes. Though he is devilishly pretty, some might be tempted to feel that Dixon is tending toward the manufactured.
"You sing a song like it should be sung. You make it bleed," declared Steven Tyler, whose ears might have needed a sharp Q-Tip. Randy said he had "believability." But did he have listenability?
Skylar Laine declared that her idol was Miranda Lambert. Which was, gosh, a nod to "The Voice", where Lambert is a mentor and her husband, Blake Shelton, is one of the judges. Nicks wanted her to remember that she had to tell a story, not merely sing a song.
The piece was "Gunpowder and Lead," a perfect ditty for a Mississippi girl. She sang of being slapped in the face, shotguns and six-packs as if she knew exactly what she was heralding. Indeed, though she's only 17, one can somehow imagine Laine downing a six-pack and offering the same raw energy that she offered on this stage. Laine doesn't play defense. Your fist might be big, but her gun is bigger.
"You won over the crowd," said Lopez.
"It was like you were singing to your old friend. It was like you had so much of Galveston in it," said Tyler, with startling irrelevance.
Suddenly, there was Dixon singing again. Oh, wait. They had to fill two hours. So they had trios perform - in this case, Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone joined him. This was like a prelude to a group number. Worse, it was a medley. They ended with Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop." There were surely voices in America that rang out: "Do."
Fortunately, we then had Heejun Han. Oddly, he chose a very serious song: Donny Hathaway's "A Song for You." Was Donny Hathaway really Han's idol? Details, details. Still, Iovine and Nicks played director's-chair psychologists and declared that Han was afraid of losing, which is why he's so amusing. Or maybe he's just so amusing.
Here, though, he clutched the microphone stand, while wearing a beanie hat and acted as if he'd seen it all, done it all, and felt it all. This was more than pleasant. Even though he was wearing a jacket with strange gold flowers down one side. The judges gave him a standing ovation. Perhaps they merely stood in shock.
"He-man, you did it. You turned it around," said Tyler. He then offered a series of his favorite cliches. "You don't make it this far by mistake," said Jennifer Lopez. Clearly, she had had Sanjaya surgically erased from her cortex.
Hollie Cavanagh decided her idol was Carrie Underwood. Inevitably, her song was "Jesus, Take the Wheel." She made Nicks cry during rehearsal. At least Cavanagh had found a very nice white dress and a necklace borrowed from an Inca chieftain. She's a good singer. Originality, however, doesn't seem to lurk here.
Jackson found pitchy moments in her lower range but claimed to be impressed. Lopez gushed.
"I'm going to get between both of you, which I've been trying to do for some time," said Tyler, offering his fantasy. He deemed Cavanagh's singing merely OK.
Deandre Brackensick's hair was once possessed by Nicks. At least that's what she claimed. She wanted Brackensick to calm down. His idol is Eric Benet. Well, who wouldn't want to have been married to Halle Berry? "Sometimes I Cry" was the song, an offering of constant falsetto.
Brackensick tried very hard. His voice searched orbits for higher tones. But his falsetto is sometimes simply false, leaving eyes narrowing, rather than ears widening. Oddly, he received a standing ovation from the judges. Which - as the Ghost of Cowell might have said - if they watch the show again, might give them pause for thought and revision.
"You gave Prince a run for his money, man," said Tyler. Lopez begged humanity to vote for him.
Jessica Sanchez rather predictably declared Beyonce as her idol. Well, at least it wasn't Mariah Carey. She turned "Sweet Dreams" into a late-night ballad, with almost a tinge of Bjork. It was as if someone had unplugged Beyonce and found a new Beyond. This was maturity far beyond a 16-year-old. Sadly, her clothing seemed to be from a very chi-chi Upper East Side consignment store.
"You left all of us wanting more," said Lopez, wisely. "You're a star, no matter what," added Tyler. Jackson offered words from his limited critical lexicon: for example, "unbelievable."
Brackensick, Han and Joshua Ledet then were forced onto a vocal tricycle. They all wore hats, as they paid tribute to Michael Jackson. This was a high school pageant, with Ledet playing the unwitting role as teacher. PYT? Well, it was young.
"It's a good thing you're not here for 'So You Think You Can Dance,'" said a suddenly humorous Lopez.
Phillips enchanted Nicks. She told him that if he'd been alive in 1975, he would have been a member of Fleetwood Mac. His song was Jonny Lang's "Still Rainin'." Phillips pushed the sartorial boat into uncharted waters with a brown jacket. It made his eyes seem unduly jaundiced. It also made one miss his trademark gray.
Phillips is here to maintain credibility and this was blues, rock and a vast amount of roll wrapped into a brilliant spectacle. The judges stood again.
"This is too much," said Lopez. Which was true, because the first two times they had stood, it was entirely unjustified.
"Every song you sing, you own," said Tyler. "I still feel there's someone inside of you trying to climb out."
Jackson actually made a good point. He explained that Phillips didn't sound like anyone else.
Ledet declared he was singing "Without You" by Mariah Carey. This is a Harry Nilsson song, not a Mariah Carey song. Jimmy Iovine dubbed it one of the five hardest songs to sing in the whole, wide world.
Ledet began with all the tentativeness of Shrek at the Miss Universe pageant. But, once he injected his own gospel into the song, it rose. So did the judges, for the fourth time. This was like the State of the Union. Or perhaps the producers had suggested that these, um, voices had to be celebrated. Nay, hyped.
"I love you. I love your voice. I think that was flawless," said Jackson. He appreciated that Ledet managed to express emotion. "You had an emotional breakdown," said Tyler. That was a compliment.
Ledet deflected all this and declared he was singing to Lopez. Of course he was.
Then we had the trio of ladies - Sanchez, Cavanagh and Laine. Yes, it was an all-lady law firm. Cavanagh struggled around the two most confident singers on the competition. Still, this was a filler one wished hadn't been left empty.
Testone is an excellent singer. She has tried everything. She has found it hard to find love. So in an act of "to hell with it", she went for Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." In rehearsal, she sang a charming, winning duet with Nicks.
On stage, it was if Robert Plant and Allison Krauss had begotten this excitable being while on tour. The judges stood for a fifth time.
"Nobody can pull that song off. You made Robert Plant proud tonight, girl," said Tyler.
"You made me get up," said Lopez.
But will she make the little girls get down and vote? I wonder how many little girls are into Zeppelin these days.
TOP THREE: Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, Elise Testone
BOTTOM THREE: Deandre Brackensick, Colton Dixon, Hollie Cavanagh
