American Idol last night left us with a feeling of unrest and depression. Even our favorite girl, Crystal Bowersox, failed to give us the happy pill that would have at least raised the show to the level of only mildly boring. Michael Lynche almost managed to drag us out of the gutter, but in the end we were just left limp and wasted on the floor by the night’s performances.
Guest mentor Harry Connick Jr. tried to make us smile by cracking a few jokes, but overall he just didn’t even seem to like most of the contestants and it showed. We can’t blame him. Playing cheerleader and coach for one of the most lackluster final five American Idol contestants ever can’t be all that much fun. Let’s hope these folks learn some new tricks before the American Idols Live Tour this summer.
It almost seems a bit pointless to try to rank the contestants for American Idol‘s Frank Sinatra week. Apparently AI voters feel kind of the same way. DialIdol.com, which has a remarkable accuracy rating for predicting who is going to get voted off, can’t even call last night’s loser. This week the website ranks every contestant as “may be voted off or safe – it’s just too close to call.” Still, we’ll give it a try.
Lee DeWyze: “That’s Life” – If Harry Connick Jr. did like one of the contestants of the evening, it was obviously DeWyze – calling him a “new and improved version of me.” Well, we won’t go that far, but this genre obviously fit DeWyze well. Any other season, this performance would be mediocre at best. Among this year’s abysmal field of competitors, it was actually pretty decent. If we have to pick a winner for the evening, we guess it would be DeWyze.
Michael Lynche: “The Way You Look Tonight” – Big Mike got some of his pizzazz back last night and boy did he look kind of adorable in that fedora. The vocals were strong and we liked that he look confident on stage again. The performance was kind of hammy, but that’s just his style. Still, in the end it was nothing special.
Crystal Bowersox: “Summer Wind” – We hate to rank our favorite in the middle of the pack for the evening, but that’s where she landed. For the second week in a row, we really didn’t care much that Bowersox was singing – and that hurts us. Seriously, we’re beginning to wonder with these last two song choices if she is deliberately trying to get eliminated. Plus, she looked like that dress was cutting off her circulation. Bring back the hippie clothes, the drama and the belting Mama Sox!
Aaron Kelly: “Fly Me to the Moon” – We may be biased here because this is one of our least favorite Sinatra songs. Regardless, we felt the performance was weak, tired and altogether yawn-worthy. Being cute can only get you so far and we’re thinking maybe it’s time to boot this boy band wannabe.
Casey James: “Blue Skies” – It was difficult to call a ‘winner’ for the evening, but not so hard to pick the loser. Casey James was a mess on American Idol last night. His song choice didn’t suit him, his vocals were all over the place and we just wanted to smack that weird, smirky look right off his face.
With this kind of ‘final five’ on American Idol this season, we’re starting to think maybe it might be a good idea to let the show go gently into the good night when Simon Cowell makes his exit at the end of the season.
Note to American Idol 2012 producers for the next season – which we know they’ll do anyway – you are doing it wrong. Next time around, pick contestants that can actually sing and don’t sound like bad Miley Cyrus or Justin Timberlake knock-offs. And ditch the ‘oldies’ music and get the hell with the times.
>> Previously: American Idol Last Night Didn’t Impress Us Much