Top 7 Inspirational Night: 'Idol' Gives Wack
Apparently "inspirational" is a very relative term. Some people are inspired by corny R. Kelly songs like "I Believe I Can Fly." Others are more inspired by, say, parts 1 through 12 of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." My point is, the top seven didn't necessarily sing gospel hymns or the songbook of Up With People on "American Idol's" Inspirational Night (a theme tied to this week's "Idol Gives Back" charity special)...and while I didn't necessarily expect them to, I still found some of their perplexing song choices very uninspired. While there were some very solid performances on Tuesday, the only one that was truly inspired or inspiring was by the normally reserved Crystal Bowersox, who finally experienced a genuine emotional breakthrough onstage. Crystal's poignant performance left her, and everyone in the audience, in tears. In a good way.
Other performances were equally emotional...that is, if frustration can be considered an emotion. Many of the contestants, who were mentored by the well-meaning but ultimately boring Alicia Keys, frustratingly failed to inspire me or judges, and they quite possibly failed to inspire viewers to vote, too. Anyway, here's how everyone did:
Casey James - Casey decided to perform Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," apparently because its "thinking about tomorrow" line had some vague connotation of hope for him, or maybe because it was Bill Clinton's campaign song and Casey is a Democrat or something. Anyway, there was nothing really wrong with this performance. Casey cleaned up nice in a suit and ponytail that gave him a sort of "Miami Vice" vibe, wailed on guitar, and flashed his famous Pepsodent-commercial smile for the ladies. All very fine and good. But I'd seen all this before from Casey, many times--and after he delivered what was my favorite live performance of the entire season, "Jealous Guy," just two weeks ago, a retread like this just didn't impress me anymore. All the judges seem to agree with me in this regard. Randy Jackson said the performance was "good, not great," and said he wanted something "a little more special" from Casey. Ellen DeGeneres, in an uncharacteristic instance of insight and toughness, barked at him, "You have to be great, not just consistently good. I don't think anyone's going to be talking about that tomorrow." Kara DioGuardi, usually Casey's biggest supporter on the panel, also lamented that Casey had failed to live up to the promise of "Jealous Guy." And Simon Cowell called it a "lazy song choice" delivered with "zero emotion." Alicia Keys's advice to Casey should've been to perform another song, period. This tune did nothing for him. If Casey keeps regressing like this, he's going to have to resort to taking off his shirt again to hold people's attention.
Lee Dewyze - Lee's song choice, Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer," also seemed like an odd one, even though he explained it was a tune that had personally inspired him as a child to pick up a guitar. But--and I say this as a person who has always found this former paint salesman to be as interesting as watching paint dry--Lee actually did a good job with this song tonight. It was my favorite Lee performance of the season, and I really hope this is one of the songs he ends up doing on the Idols Live Tour. All the judges were impressed. Said Randy, "You are a great artist ready to make great music, and I think you're going to have a big career!" (Possibly true, but Randy's over-reaching quote about Season 9 "really being about artists" wasn't quite that believable. Come on, now.) Ellen declared this Lee's best effort to date, full of "soul and depth." Kara said this was Lee's big "moment." And Simon called this performance "absolutely brilliant," adding, "You made that song sound like it was written a week ago." Until now I've felt the judges have always overhyped Lee, but this week, I felt their praise was mostly justified. This was one of the better performances of the night.
Tim Urban - Tim sang "Better Days," an inspirational standard by that venerable praise and worship band, the Goo Goo Dolls. Whatever. Honestly, Tim has had better days. But he's also had much, much worse: As Simon pointed out, it was only a few weeks ago that he was knee-sliding all over the place to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and acting a little, well, crazy. Tim's vocals on this song were not the best of the bunch, but really, look at Owl City or any emo singer out there, and none of them sing any better than Tim. It's not always about having a big voice, you know. I thought Tim did an admirable job with this. The judges, however, were underwhelmed. Randy called it "OK karaoke," Kara conceded that Tim had finally "found his lane" but said he still didn't knock it out of the park, and Simon dubbed this performance "a little bit of a letdown." Ellen, who's favored food analogies this season, likened Tim to a Soup of the Day: "Sometimes I like the soup, sometimes not." This particular evening, apparently Ellen wasn't liking the soup. But that's all right. I suspect Tim's many fans are still drinking the soup, or the Tim Kool-Aid, so to speak, and he'll be safe for another week at least.
Aaron Kelly - This week Aaron Kelly took on R. Kelly, and granted, "I Believe I Can Fly," with its spiritual overtones, probably adhered best to the whole "inspirational" theme of the night. But seriously, this has to be the hokiest song of all time. (Yes, even hokier than "Trapped in the Closet.") Alicia Keys warned Aaron that this chest-beating ballad could easily veer into overkill territory, yet she also claimed she wanted him to "almost be crying by end of song"--advice more conflicting than any of the judges' confusing critiques this season. Well, I was kind of crying by the end of this, but probably not for the reason Alicia and Aaron intended. Sure, Aaron sang it well, and I will give him credit for really trying. But it was all just so corny. All of the judges praised Aaron for taking on such an ambitious song (which apparently he's been practicing since age 5), and all of them thought he handled it well technically (Randy said he demonstrated "pure vocal talent"). But Kara thought Aaron's performance "didn't quite take off" and Simon worded it best when he said, "In the real world, if I heard that on the radio I would have turned it off within 10 seconds." Wow, 10 whole seconds? Really? Simon's a more patient man than I thought.
Siobhan Magnus - Blessed with the biggest voice in the competition, Siobhan naturally took on "When You Believe," a song originally recorded by Whitney Houston AND Mariah Carey. Only Siobhan could've possibly handled this dual-diva vocal workout, what Alicia called "no easy feat" and what Randy declared "the toughest song of the night." Siobhan certainly looked like a true diva, bedecked with feathers and perhaps Mimi-inspired butterflies, and she easily hit what Alicia dubbed the "money spot," aka the big off-the-musical-scales note at the end. But it was a somewhat robotic performance--surprising, coming from arguably the most interesting and unique contestant on the show. "It was just OK for me, babe," Randy grunted condescendingly. Simon thought it was an ill-advised song choice with an "all-over-the-place" delivery and an (overused adjective alert!) "old-fashioned" arrangement, and he complained that the "leaves" on Siobhan's outfit distracted him. (Those were butterflies, Simon. Not leaves. And who doesn't like butterflies?) Kara thought Siobhan sang the song well, but that the performance was too theatrical, like something out of a musical. "I'd want to hang out with you more than buy your record, because I still don't know who you are," Kara sighed. I kind of agreed with Kara--it's down to the top seven, and I still have no idea what kind of album Siobhan would make after "Idol"--but I also agreed with Ellen, who praised Siobhan's vocal acrobatics with, "That's just more confirmation why you're here!" I didn't think Siobhan was at her best on "When You Believe," but I still believe in Siobhan.
Michael Lynche - Big Mike sang the "Spider-Man" movie theme "Hero," a song originally performed by members of Nickelback, Saliva, Theory of a Deadman, and Our Lady Peace. I hate all those bands with a fierceness usually reserved for my hatred of baby-seal-clubbers, so it's amazing to me that when the song was performed by just Michael, I sort of liked it. I thought he lent a much-needed soulful vibe to the whole production. Randy admitted he'd been worried about the song choice initially, but raved to Michael, "You held your own with it." Ellen also liked the performance, but Kara and Simon were not too inspired. Kara griped that Mike didn't have the right tone for this post-grunge rocker, and Simon sighed, "That was about Spider-Man, wasn't it? It felt a little bit artificial to me." Funny how Simon didn't complain about Siobhan's song being about "The Prince of Egypt."
Crystal Bowersox - Finally, something to get inspired by! Crystal, one of Alicia's favorite "very, very special" contestants this season, took a risk by ditching her guitar and starting off her song a cappella, but Alicia assured everyone, "I know that people are going to love this performance." And Alicia was right. Crooning the Impressions' very theme-appropriate "People Get Ready" (a gospel-inflected, Curtis Mayfield-penned protest song covered by everyone from Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck to U2, Bob Marley, the Doors, and even Alicia Keys herself), while lovingly cradling her personal antique mic stand from back home, she was "never more beautiful," according to Ellen. And she sounded beautiful as well. And at the end of the song, when she spotted her dad in the audience (attending a live taping for the first time this season), Crystal stunningly broke down in sobs. Before this, Crystal had always seemed so aloof, with a real wall up between herself and the audience, so this was a real game-changer. "Now that was inspirational," declared Simon, smiling for the first time this evening. "I'm happy to see you emotional, because you'd closed down." And Kara raved, "You know why they call you 'Mamasox'? Because you just schooled all those other contestants!" Yes, this was a mother of a performance.
So now it is prediction time. I think Tim is definitely at risk and will be in the bottom three, since the judges praised him over the past two weeks yet failed to do so tonight. But I think he has enough of a fanbase to survive. Rounding out the bottom three, I predict, will be Aaron , who's had brushes with elimination on the past two Wednesdays, and possibly Siobhan, who's surprisingly struggled as of late and sadly seems to be losing momentum. But ultimately, I think Aaron will be the one to go. He may believe he can fly, but I don't believe he can win this thing.