This was a strange night of "American Idol," throwing away all the usual patterns.
Usually, the show is all about balance -- boy-girl, loud-soft, good-bad. Not this time. It started and ended with women -- fresh, fierce work by Lil Rounds and Alexis Grace; that left the middle with eight men and only three women. It started with seven songs the judges loved -- then three they didn't -- then three more good ones.
It was all odd, but interesting. Here are a few of my comments and then my should-go, will-go. Please add yours:
1) The three people who drew scorn made identical mistakes, picking songs that give little room to do anything extra. What could Megan Joy Corkrey do with "Rockin' Robin," or Anoop Desai do with "Beat It" or Jorge Nunez do with whatever that was he sang?
2) Scott MacIntyre also picked poorly, but got away with it. He chooses songs by the lyrics, not by the music potential. This one had a good thought, but little musicality. He'll get through, of course, due to nice-guyness, sympathy and piano talent.
3) Danny Gokey, the Milwaukee widower, no longer needs sympathy. He's just a fine performer, sort of a less-mobile Taylor Hicks.
4) Let's add a fashion note here: Gokey added an extra level tonight: His glasses coordinated with his shirt.
5) This was the first week of the "glam squad," when contestants have more money and more help from fashion consultants. Some don't need it -- Adam Lambert is already the consummate showman -- but some got interesting touches. There was Allison Iraheta as the world's smallest biker babe. And Lil Rounds looking great in white (with a tad too much poof on one shoulder). And Alexis Grace as the naughty French maid's tween daughter.
6) In the midst of this fashion show, someone decided to give Kris Allen ... well, a plaid shirt. It was kind of basic.
7) Allen is the deceptive one -- a downhome Arkansas church guy with a hot new wife and an encyclopedic knowledge of Michael Jackson tunes. He's interesting.
8) Iraheta is a strong rocker, someone who knows how to work the mike and work the crowd -- at age 16. And Lambert, more than a decade older, is a complete pro. Usually, "too Broadway" is an insult on this show; Lambert sort of morphs the best Broadway touches of "Rocky Horror" and "Grease" and anything Elvis-like.
9) The instruments were OK tonight. Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre got a few good piano licks; Allen's guitar, however, didn't particularly seem linked to a speaker anywhere.
10) Amid all the Michael-style rocking, the few ballads were pretty well-done. Jasmine Murray showed off all her pageant polish; Michael Sarver showed none of his oil-rig work.
11) My favorite comments: From Ryan Seacrest, "and speaking of self-consumption -- Simon Cowell." And Cowell, who was on the money all night, spoke up after "Idol" showed -- yet again -- Sarver at the oil rigs, then had him sing his ballad. It was a fine song, Cowell dead-panned, "but I just wish we knew what you do for a living."
12) There are supposed to be two people going home Wednesday, in a show that includes Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West. For the should-go -- based only on tonight -- I'd say Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai. For will-go, I'd say the same. Still, Desai could survive and the departing person could be Giraud (the show picked a bland section of his song for the final montage) or Sarver or Nunez. Tell me what you think.
I agree that Anoop could be one of the 2 to go. Not sure he should have been included in the finals in the first place. Also not a big fan of Michael oil-rig Sarver compared to the other male vocalists.
It seemed like there was alot of yelling from the favorite performers and I was surprised Simon or someone else didn't point that out. If David Archuleta was there, you know he would have sang "Ben" and would have been so good and smooth and sincere, everyone would have been crying. Didn't see much of that last night, though Adam and Danny certainly proved they'll be in there til the end.
Will be an interesting season . . . glad to see Mike's still blogging about it.