"American Idol": Top 13 sing, but viewers won't decide who goes
(CBS News) Until last night, the "American Idol" auditions were just so many one-night stands. Now, you the casual viewer, must fall in love. You must create an allegiance for one or more contestant.
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Except that the producers have decided they don't really care too much about your opinions just yet. You will decide who was the worst boy and the worst girl. But Thursday the judges will decide who is banished.
So last night's show allowed you to commit your feelings, continue to sit on the fence, or decide that "The Voice" is simply a little more fun and a lot more fair.
Ledet's five-person brass corps danced a little more attractively than he managed, as he attempted to offer something of which Stevie Wonder would not be ashamed. Sadly, he shrieked more than he sang - an indicator, perhaps of his fear that this would be outside his comfort zone.
The judges, naturally, loved it. Randy Jackson, sporting an interesting fur-collared jacket, thought he "blew it out." If this was Mantasia, then some might veer toward offering: "Don't Mantase me, bro'."
Elise Testone, like all the ladies, had to offer some Whitney Houston. She tried to be your baby tonight. Largely, the baby she was didn't resemble any baby you might have encountered before. This baby sounded like a baby who'd knocked back a few nighttime tequilas after her Gerber baby food.
Jennifer Lopez didn't like it, but struggled to find the words to say that. She settled on there being "timing issues." In fact, all the judges rather disliked it. Yes, even Steven Tyler.
Jermaine Jones' Wonder morsel was "Knock Me Off My Feet." He is large enough to knock you off your feet into next week. Yet his essential gentleness, coupled with a voice lower than most left-sided piano keys, tries to bathe you down to your feet.
Tyler felt the song fit him "like an Armani suit." Lopez, oddly, had a potent observation that Jones was focusing too much on the notes and not enough on the audience. Jackson felt uncomfortable with the choruses.
Had these judges been instructed to say what they really thought? This cannot last.
Mary J Blige believes Erika Van Pelt is celery-less, but rather redolent of "steak and potatoes." It was unclear whether these were mashed or sauteed, but Van Pelt's performances didn't roast. It was the sort of pleasant that amuses the ears for a moment and then disappears.
Lopez, on the other hand, got goosies - before Van Pelt started singing, apparently. Jackson called it "unbelievable." "Don't think," he told her.
Colton Dixon was forced to perform Wonder's "Lately." "This is not his wheelhouse," worried Iovine. Dixon is inordinately pretty - a mellifluous David Beckham, who surely doesn't buy his underwear at H&M.
This was undoubtedly the performance of the night thus far. Dixon gave it his own tone, his own texture. He didn't try too hard. He just tried to sing it his own way. Jackson claimed it wasn't picture perfect, but his last eight bars were flawless. I am sure the last eight bars Jackson visited were flawless too.
Shannon Magrane had a problem. "I can see you thinking," said Mary J. Blige. Once she stopped that purposeless activity, she improved. Thankfully, she eschewed the prom dress for something more befitting a 16-year-old on a Wednesday night. On the other hand, "I Have Nothing" is so much Houston that Magrane needed a snorkel and floaties to stay above the waterline.
"I think the thinking got the best of you on that one," thought a thoughtful Lopez.
"You kind of crashed and burned on the turnaround," opined a strangely sober Tyler.
Deandre Brackensick, whom Tyler had last week saved from reality show extinction, moved with some joy and swagger to "Master Blaster," a song mainly known for its lyric "Jammin.'" The judges smeared jam over the toast they gave him.
Skylar Laine didn't grow up listening to Houston. She's a 17-year-old farm girl from Mississippi who is more country than grass. But let's not forget that Dolly Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You." Laine took this "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?", lassoed it, dragged it back to the farmhouse, cooked it, slapped it on a plate and ate it with a couple of home-grown vegetables.
"You gave us the moment of the night," said Lopez, accurately.
"All in Love is Fair," was Heejun Han's homework. At the end of rehearsals, Han gave Iovine and Blige pictures of himself with personal messages. He spelled "Blige" correctly, "Iovine" not so much.
He kept the intimacy through his performance - a languid, lounge rendition of Wonder's song. Well, a lounge where a dozen string players happened to have stopped in for a stiff martini after a tough night of Tchaikovsky.
"I love you," was Lopez's considered and considerate opinion. Han retorted that he was playing hard to get.
Holly Cavanagh wanted to tell you about all the man that she needs. She can sing - really sing. But personality-wise, she seems a little like a marketing intern at Clorox. Sadly, personality does matter and, in time, perhaps she can rival Laine for character.
Lopez was so moved she almost uttered: "You're the s---." The ever-vigilant and supremely controlled Ryan Seacrest noticed.
Jeremy Rosado was voted off by America last week and saved by Lopez. He wanted to prove why the voters should love him, a problem shared by so many politicians.
His "Ribbon in the Sky" was a little low-key. Lopez and Tyler liked it. Jackson, desperate to be the bad guy, chopped at his ribbon with blunt scissors. "I didn't really believe it."
Would anyone seriously try "I Will Always Love You"? Jessica Sanchez would. She got "amazing, impeccable, wow," from Blige. When she was done with an astoundingly nuanced performance for a 16-year-old, Jackson's voice began to break. Lopez's voice really did break.
"You may be the one," said Tyler. He added: "You just made 40 million people cry." Which would be the perhaps 18 million who watched and the 22 million who will hear about it some time tomorrow.
Phillip Phillips, whom Iovine called a great musician and a great singer, was 13th to sing and therefore was forced to sing "Superstition." If one let one's senses travel to their true destinations, one could hear a little Jim Morrison anger in his performance, which was surely the most original and pulsating of the night.
"You got a lot of forget-about-it in your voice," mused Tyler. "You just are," he added. Which could also be said of the man who said it.
Jackson repeated his view of last week that Phillips is "the most different artist" on the show. Ah, but is he the most sellable? Apparently, these judges are better judges of that than you are.
TOP THREE: Phillip Phillips, Skylar Laine, Jessica Sanchez
BOTTOM THREE: Shannon Magrane, Joshua Ledet, Jeremy Rosado
