"American Idol": Top 8 perform songs from the '80s
As in every decade, there was some good music created in those days before iPods and downloads. But how well could the contestants reach into the past and, perhaps, risk their careers with songs they'd never heard before? Moreover, as the night went on, we realized there would be no Madonna, no New Wave, not even a trace of Lionel Richie and not even any Aerosmith.
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Deandre Brackensick, he of the somewhat long curly hair, decided to channel Debarge - he of the somewhat long rap sheet.
Brackensick was nervous meeting mentor Gwen Stefani - who was accompanied by No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal. He was also nervous performing. His hair curls a little more in fright. Considering he has been one of the weaker performers thus far, Brackensick managed to deliver a rare strength - but only when he moved away from his slightly freakish falsetto. Still, the song choice was as relevant as Britney Spears.
Jennifer Lopez liked it. She especially seemed to like the new moves that Brackensick had applied to his, well, hair. She felt he was swaying it in a novel way. "You've become who you are," said Tyler, with his usual incisiveness.
Elise Testone, having attempted Zeppelin last week, had to choose between "Idol" exile Simon Cowell's favorite "Hallelujah" and Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is." Why choose the latter? What could she bring new to such a hoary old classic? Sadly, this came off as flatly dated and, well, slightly flat.
I'm not sure if Tommy Hilfiger - strangely absent from the front of this show - had helped her with her evening dress. But it was as if she wanted to offer some kind of sudden sophistication after last week's rock chick excursion. Even when the gospel singers came out to offer her support, the notes were underwhelming because they were under the real ones.
"I'm not sure that was the right song tonight for you, baby," said Tyler. Translation: he really, really didn't like it. Lopez loved the way she looked. "It wasn't totally right every single moment," she added, demurely. Randy Jackson thought it was pitchy the whole song. Testone looked as if she'd been told that her cat had fled to Vladivostok with a raccoon he'd just met.
Then we were offered an interlude. No, not merely commercials, but duets. Boy/girl duets. First were Colton Dixon and Skylar Laine. Their "Islands in the Stream" flowed downhill, speeded along (thankfully) by a beat that was far faster than the original.
Phillip Phillips has generally been brave enough to put new twists on old, even obscure songs. Here, he took Genesis' "That's All." He struggled with it during rehearsal.
Wearing a fetchingly thrown-together ensemble of brown T-shirt and open gray button-down, Phillips again gave it full effort, his brother-in-law at his side on guitar. The vein that runs vertically down his forehead emerged fully. Oddly, though, this had many wayward notes and his voice sounded like it was straining to find some character in a lost time.
"You just love being who you are. And that transcends," said Tyler helpfully. Lopez criticized the beginning, but Jackson loved it all.
It was time for another duet. This time it was Brackensick and Hollie Cavanagh offering their take on the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited." Cavanagh wore shiny black trousers and impossibly high red shoes. That part was certainly exciting.
Half way through the show, Tyler offered a telling aside. Asked by Ryan Seacrest whether the thought the performers were doing well, he said, "I think they're doing the best they can."
Joshua Ledet chose "If You Don't Know Me By Now." He claimed this was by Simply Red, as if Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes had never existed. This was simply not an '80s song. However, Iovine loved his rehearsal.
The real thing began with the gospel choir. Ledet, wearing a crooner's jacket, velvet trousers and some real '60s soul, oozed the confidence that previous performers had found missing. This was so clever. It was if the '80s had never happened.
Jackson screamed "crazy!" as Ledet finished.
"Lord, Lord, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy," said Lopez. "We asked for a powerhouse performance and that's what we got."
"It wasn't too much over the top and it was way over the top," mused Tyler, whose was perhaps perusing a volume of Sartre under the table.
Ledet admitted he'd never heard the song before. He's only 19.
Jessica Sanchez claims she has an alter-ego called Bibi Chez. Yes, just like Beyonce's Sasha Fierce. Stefani wanted her to find original body moves, a tough ask of a 16-year-old.
The song was Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know." This verged on the screechy and shouty at times. Sanchez decided to enunciate the song title as if she was in elocution class. The whole effect was pedestrian, rather than knowing.
"Your vocals just make everything go away," said Lopez. Jackson, who worked on the original recording, couldn't believe how mature Sanchez is.
Suddenly, there was a Hilfiger sighting. Wearing an interesting bright red jacket, he wasn't allowed words, nor even comment on the evening's sartorial choices. This was before Phillips and Testone attempted a little Tom Petty duet, a lament about hearts being dragged around. Whisper it quietly, but this was the performance of the night so far, for the very simple reason that it was authentic and at least mildly contemporary.
Cavanagh chose "What a Feeling" from "Flashdance." What for? Why? Who would have suggested that? Iovine said he had passed on the soundtrack and had always felt this was the corniest song in the world. What feeling could Cavanagh possibly bring to this?
She danced around, as she sang about dancing for her life. You could see how many would have found this performance difficult. Yet she did end quite well - at least when compared with the beginning.
"It took a little slow getting there. And your pitch was all over the place. You got there at the end. But it took a while getting there," said Tyler.
Lopez told her to listen to people and, when she performed, not to listen to people. Had she been borrowing Tyler's Sartre during commercial breaks?
Another duet break saw Ledet and Sanchez offer "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," a song that saw Aretha Franklin and George Michael somehow find common ground. Sanchez' performances are becoming a little mannered. Stefani's criticism that she's simply copying every great singer she knows seems ever more accurate.
Dixon's hair used to have a blond streak. Suddenly he's totally blond. Surely this is the influence of David Backham, whose smile and manner Dixon increasingly resembles every week. He managed to get the extremely blonde Stefani to sing harmony with him in rehearsal, which was joyous.
His "Time After Time" was a polished pop performance and was at least something that wouldn't be entirely out of place at, say, a Justin Bieber extravaganza. His voice, though, offered some strained moments. Or perhaps that was merely punk-lite.
"You could do a record right now, man," said Tyler. Jackson told him he was "so current." However, both Tyler and Jackson loved the drummer most.
Laine didn't know what to sing. She ended up with "Wind Beneath My Wings", which won a final against "9 to 5." She simply feels like a real country singer. Though dressed for a very uptight prom (she called it a "pretty ol' dress"), Laine released her voice near the end of the song and gave each note character. The judges, surely motivated by Lopez's skin hairs, stood.
Jackson thought it was her best performance. "You can sing with the best of everybody who's here," said Lopez.
To be the best of everybody who's everywhere, though, you have to show a little originality. The question after this night of mimicry was how many of these performers offered anything truly original at all.
TOP THREE: Joshua Ledet, Skylar Laine, Colton Dixon
BOTTOM THREE: Hollie Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez, Elise Testone
