American Idol season 10's top 7 - Fox
At last!!!! Current songs on American Idol.
Last night’s theme, songs from the 21st century, meant the lucky seven wannabe idols would perform nothing released before 2000. It was a dangerous theme for contestants who fair better singing to the typical standards, but it was probably the important theme yet. It showed who could have a viable career as a contemporary artist and who should go back to singing karaoke for fun at Applebees.
Here’s a rundown of how the top 7 did:
Scotty McCreery – Swingin’ – LeAnn Rimes: Here’s the thing, Scotty did his typical smooth country croonin’. And while it was sooo safe, possibly even dull, it was the kind of performance the judges would have eaten up in previous weeks, because they’ve been very vocal about how much they love the way Scotty plays to his strengths. This week, however, they sweetly panned his performance. “I would love it if you boot-scooted a little bit,” Steven said, though he did love his voice. Jennifer agreed, saying she was expecting more from him. Randy echoed. “That was so safe. That was actually kinda boring for me,” he said. We suspect the judges are being told to be harder on the contestants.
James Durbin – Uprising – Muse: James was on the path to complete and utter slayage. The drama and theatrics in his performance? Epic, especially the marching band. His lower register through the verses was great and the earlier choruses packed a sweet punch. But when he started screeching for his life at the end, ugh! Not good. (Turns out Muse’s frontman told him to kick the last chorus up a notch. He set James up!) The judges didn’t mind the eardrum-busting notes. “That is gonna be theatrically the best performance of the night…that was really amazing,” Jennifer said. Randy thought it was “unbelievable.” “I think this could be the best performance of the night,” he said. Steven also drooled.
Haley Reinhart – Rolling in The Deep – Adele: The good news? Haley pulled back the growling, which made for an almost smooth listening experience. The bad? She covered Adele. Haley gets points for choosing a sound that almost works for her, but she’s not a strong enough singer to even try to tackle an Adele tune. The judges love it. “I think that you chose the perfect direction for you,” Randy told her. “Well done.” Steven agreed with Randy, saying Haley has that “special something.” Jennifer said there were moments when Haley made us forget about Adele’s version. Jennifer is a liar.
Jacob Lusk – Dance With My Father – Luther Vandross: As if Jacob wasn’t emotive enough, he chose a song that really made the emotions pour out of him. At times it seemed like he would be so overcome by the feeling, he wouldn’t finish the song, but he powered through. Sadly, the vocals were all over the place. The judges were critical, but understood why he struggled. “This man is so good,” Steven said, after calling Jacob “Luther Lusk.” For Jennifer, “emotionally it was a beautiful performance.” Randy said the vocals were good, but didn’t make him jump up and down. He also wants “the old Jacob” back. “I need the church kid back!”
Casey Abrams – Harder To Breathe – Maroon 5: Before it was announced that Casey would be taking on M5′s debut, “Harder To Breathe,” we were almost certain he would go for something like “Sunday Morning.” There Casey goes again, going left when we expect him to go right. And that’s OK, because overall the performance was dazzling. He started it out calm and mellow before rocking it up a few notches, and even included a guitar breakdown with him scatting over it. But boy, oh, boy! Was that last chorus rough. He made up for that by ending with a tender note and tender kiss on Jennifer’s cheek. Of course Jennifer had nothing bad to say about the performance or Casey’s “soft lips” after that. Randy and Steven loved it too.
Stefano Langone – Closer – Ne-Yo: It’s nice to see Stefano break out of that old R&B standards mode. He’s got a voice and style that could see him competing with the Ushers and Ne-Yos of the world. So, like, total WOOHOOs were expressed by us when Stefano chose a Ne-Yo song. “Closer” isn’t the best song he could have picked — “So Sick” would have really showed off his voice — but we’re glad he didn’t go for a predictable ballad. The performance was…weird. The vocals were just OK, and his dancing was pretty bad, but this was the first time Stefano really looked like he was having fun on stage. Thumbs up for that. Randy was expecting a “jerky” karaoke-ish performance but was pleasantly surprised. “Good job,” Steven said. Jennifer loved Stefano’s swagger and the way he owned the song.
Lauren Alaina – Born To Fly – Sara Evans: We’ve officially transferred our frustrations from Haley to Lauren. Lauren started out the competition almost annoying confident in her abilities as a singer. (We blame the pimping from the producers partially for this.) Now she’s annoyingly cautious. The performance was cute, but, just like last week, Lauren held back. She has so much more in her — we’ve seen it before. She needs to let it out again. The judges were on our side. Steven praised Lauren’s natural ability and swagger. Jennifer loved the “color” in her voice, but wondered why she doesn’t go for the big notes more often. “You can do that, so do it!” Randy totally agreed. “You can sing anything,” Randy said. “You must believe…challenge yourself, Lauren!”
Predictions: It’s definitely Haley, Stefano, and Jacob. Time’s up for Jacob.
The Hailey hate is really annoying, if she wasn’t good she wouldn’t have made it this far