And then there were three. And what a three they are.
All but the best Idol seaons have stumbled around a bit with their top three week. Even last season, certainly one of the best, stumbled a bit on this particular week, as things built toward the long awaited David vs. David showdown.
And yet this year as things were supposed to be building toward the great Lambert / Gokey showdown too much talent got in the way and we have a third strong contender rather than a sacrificial victim. Kris Allen very much belongs in the midst of things here. What's more he brings a distinctive style which is not quite what either Adam Lambert or Danny Gokey offer. We have three disctinct and strong voices still vying for the title. It should be quite the penultimate challenge.
Of course we do have to suffer through the judging. And never has a season of Idol offered up a panel quite as certain to try to make the show all about themselves. I don't entirely blame Kara, the new judge, for this vibe. Paula's newfound sobriety is probably just as much to blame. Still.
But we shall suffer through it. The schtick this week is that the judges will pick one song for the contestants, and they will pick another of their own choice. My pre-call is that the judge's calls won't matter much. The individual choices of the contestants are going to blow wide open the audience preferences already established, as all of them will strongly assert their personalities which are VERY different from one another. We'll see how that plays out.
Anyway let's get rolling before Seacrest breaks in with a cute stunt to take us to commercial break...
Danny Gokey gets the lead off spot tonight. Paula Abdul chose his first song. For some reason she thinks Terrence Trent D'Arby is perfect for the Gokester and picks “Dance Little Sister Dance” for him. He doesn't know it. But let's give it a chance. It sounds to be right in his wheelhouse when it comes to range. Dude has some pipes, no doubt. He's really attacking the song, almost sounding angry in his interpretation. He does make strange choices when it comes to breathing, and it results in him sounding out of breath not far in. He scats with a sax player rather lamely. The end is just like the beginning. No emotional or vocal progression even attempted. The judges kind of slobber on him devotedly, as far as I was paying attention.
Kris Allen has the next spot, with Randy AND Kara choosing "Apologize" by One Republic as his first song. Whatever. Interestingly he comes out self accompanying on piano. I don't think he did that when Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre were still around. He's got a nice little groove going with his very distinctive vocal phrasing all over it. He's a little weak on the falsetto on the high notes. But his focus remains pretty intense. This is pretty good stuff. Not as showy as Gokey. But I think it will play better over repeated listenings. The judges said some stupid stuff and argued amongst themselves.
Adam Lambert had his song chosen by Simon Cowell. Simon chose "One" by U2 for him, which sounds all kinds of interesting. He begins with an accoustic piano accompaniment and a very unplugged, emo kind of vocal. Shades of his Mad World vocal there. Starts to build in the accompaniment, while the vocals remain focused and soft. Then the lights build while he seizes the mic and Glambert emerges. Suddenly the vocal fireworks shoot into the stratosphere and he's hitting one of those impossibly high sustained notes perfectly in key. He finishes it off understated and controlled. Vintage Adam. The judges drool.
And now for the part I think will truly decide this... their own selections.
Danny Gokey leads off this segment with a rearrangement of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful." See, that's not going to be anything like the next two. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is very well suited to Danny's voice AND what he likes to do with a song. He begins in surprisingly understated fashion, for a guy who loves to belt and growl. Somewhat distracting... the blue lighting on the head of the bald guitar accompaniest sitting to Danny's immediate left makes him look like a member of the
Blue Man Group for most of the song. But outside of that this is pretty impressive. He's holding back and showing the kind of control her rarely has attempted... and it's good. Then he builds, but not too much. Surprising for him. Really nicely done. The judges go slobbery.
Kris Allen's personal choice is going to be "Heartless," by Kanye West. Bet you didn't see that coming. I sure didn't. Nor did I see the Kanye song being the one Kris would choose to arrange as a solo accoustic guitar performance. Signs are pointing to a statement of either the terrific or flameout variety. Wow. Listening to him build into it you almost immediately forget that this is supposed to be Hip-Hop. This... works. This totally works. And Kris has the audience eating from his hand. This is incredible stuff.
Exactly what he needed to do. Didn't I tell you there were THREE solid contenders? Wow. Stunning. One of my favorites of the season hands down. The judges seemed stunned. In a happy way.
Adam Lambert got yet another pimp slot, closing out the show with Aerosmith's "Cryin." Aerosmith? A jab at Danny from last week? Anyway he says he's going to stay closer to the original. Wow... there's that voice that sounds like it's fronting a stadium-rock band right from the start. Oh here he goes. It's time to show off. He's singing damn near the entire song in a register that would be above the range of the other two competitors. And he doesn't miss a note. Frankly his first song was better to listen to. But this one he chose to just blow people away with his vocal talent. Job accomplished.
Wow. Great night. Don't most final threes include one or two
bad performances? This one didn't. Truly. Not a one of these was bad in any serious way.
On that same note, some stood out as better than others.
Kris Allen's "Heartless" takes best of the night. But Adam Lambert's "One" is not far behind. And If I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Danny Gokey's "You Are So Beautiful" belongs in that same discussion.
After that Lambert's "Cryin" and Kris Allen's "Apologize" were in a virtual tie in my book for next in line. In comparison to all the above, I found Danny Gokey's "Dance Little Sister Dance" the weakest. But it's a very strong "weakest."
I really can't recall any other top three where all three presented themselves SO strongly... in the sense that you can't really call a single performance a poor one. Even the judges didn't find one. The worst they got was second guessing the arrangements.
So this makes it all the more difficult. I don't know who will be in the top two. But I know who deserves to be.
Adam Lambert and Kris Allen SHOULD be your finalists next week, on the basis of this week's - and the rest of the season's - performances.
Danny Gokey is really good, but those two are just better.
And I'm refusing to engage the cynical part of my mind to say anything else on the matter until after the result show.
UPDATE: The Results
Effin' yeah! America has redeemed itself for booting Allison! Rather unexpectedly the two who actually deserve to be in the finals are going to be in the finals!
Cutting to the chase, that means
Danny Gokey was eliminated. The long awaited showdown between Gokey and Lambert has happened already, and somehow Kris Allen won it.
The producers had me on the edge of my seat though. With Kris already safe on the couch, about to announce who would join him in the final, my mind had me all set up to hear "Danny Gokey." But instead, after a cruel Seacrestian pause, I heard "Adam Lambert" and just about lost it.
It's been a long, long time since I thought the two most deserving the top two spots actually made it to the top two spots. That's not the same as saying the two I thought were shoo-ins to win the most votes. I mean last season everyone knew David Archuleta would be there, but I didn't think he was the second most deserving based on his performances. Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice in Season Four was probably the last time I'd apply the "deserving" label to both of the finalists.
So this sets up a much more interesting competition next week. If it was Lambert / Gokey I already knew who deserved to top vote. It would have been almost impossible for the performances to sway me. But with Kris Allen in there? Heck, I thought he was the best this week even with Adam performing quite strongly. Could happen again next week as well. It's something to look forward to.
I thought Cryin' was a little overdone, beyond the chorus, which he sang Steven Tyler style...Didn't add/subtract from his talent..Just reminded us, how great a voice he has. One was good.
I've never been a big Gokey fan, I recognize the strength of his voice..And i thought both were okay. Never a Joe Cocker fan...and this song gets to, just too much for me...Albeit, there was a point Gokey belted out the lyrics, a little bit past 1/2 way that was quite good...
I do hope it is a Lambert/Allen final...Kris's adorable smile does help...
It'd be real, real cool if instead of the write-in song, there is a duet between the two of them...That'd be interesting.
Kris' "Heartless" was without a doubt the best performance of the night. I'm not familiar with the Kanye West version, and was dubious when the choice was announced, but Kris pulled off something memorable.
What the heck happened to the producers of this show? Every other year, the top three contestants have done three songs apiece, with a Clive Davis choice thrown in. This year, each contestant only did two songs, and they still couldn't end the show on time.
As for next week, I kind of think either can win, as you stated...Adam seems to try and over-sell himself..whereas Kris, took a great step 'down' and did a great job with simplicity.
And I still vote for the adorable smile.