Tonight the A team got up to sing for their lives. These ladies are all stars, but tonight I didn't feel any all-star performances. Emotion? Yes. Vocals? Yes. But none of them made me pick up my remote and rewind (except for maybe when Randy gave himself kudos, because really, there are no words.)

My biggest problem with many of the performances tonight were the arrangements. I know top three week is probably all a little last minute–after spending two days at the hometown visits, they have to come back and learn three songs in three days. Since none of the songs were chosen by the contestants themselves, it is difficult to forge a personal connection, and that was pretty evident.

Kree seemed the most disconnected from tonight's performances. I liked her on the upbeat The Band Perry song, which was my favorite of the Kree Three (ha, I crack myself up), but even with that one, I think she holds back her emotion a little too much. She has her guard up. She has had a tough life, and has an enormous amount of life experience to tap into, but she needs to attend the Fantasia school of emotional performances to connect her real life with the stage. Overall she was the weakest of the night.

Candice's vocals are master. effing. class. I mean, she has never ever hit a bum note. And even when her runs aren't up to her perfectionist standards, she is still amazing. My biggest problem with Candice tonight were all of the bombastic production arrangements–totally unnecessary and quite honestly, unoriginal. It makes me sad to see that this is what the idol production puts together when left to their own devices.

For Angie, this was one of her best nights overall. Her growth as an artist is undeniable–she has lost *almost* all of the pageant-y-ness about her and while I didn't love all of her vocal choices and song arrangements, at least I believed her.

I'm pretty sure it will be Candice and Angie in the finals, and Angie will take home the crown (even though next week I will probably be voting my fingers of for Candice…she along with Jessica Sanchez are the two best vocalists this show has seen in years.)

So, who did you like tonight? Who is heading home tomorrow? And really, can't we just vote Randy off instead?

Here’s how it went down:

1. Amber holcomb Power of Love by Celine Dion Wow, those vocals! How flawless was that? She does have emoting issues, though…did I feel connected to her through the tv? no. But I was kind of too focused on her amazeballs vocals to even care. One word: Fab.

RATING:

2. Candice Glover Find Your Love by Drake Love that she chose something current! I also love the arrangement, but the whole thing was a little slow…and dare I say…boring.

RATING:

3. Kree harrison It Hurt So Bad by Susan Tedeschi Kree’s vocals are always amazing, and finally I felt like I could feel what she was singing.  This is why i am a little shocked and confuzzled that the judges basically ripped her a new one?  I usually agree with Ms. Minaj, but this was not anywhere near a trainwreck of a performance.  What gives, Nicki?

RATING:

4. Angie Miller Who You Are by Jessie J Hmm, this is an interesting one. I liked it. It was overall better than she has been during most recent weeks. But something was just not quite right about it–and I can’t figure it out. Maybe I would have preferred another Jessie J song? Maybe I have heard Megan Hilty sing this too many times on my Smash playlist? But points for Grandma!

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DUET: Kree and Amber Rumor has It by Adele Of all of the songs….and of all of the ADELE songs…they pick this? Really? Ugh. I mean, the girls did what they could, but it was doomed from the outset.  needless to say, I was not a fan.

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DUET: Angie and Candice Stay by Rihanna It was fantastic, they both sound fantastic, but the song didn’t thrill me. So again, they did the absolute best they could.

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5. AMBER HOLCOMB MacArthur Park by Donna Summer Ugh, I hate this song. Terrible, terrible song.  And on top of that, it is a stretch for one hit wonder.  And Amber kind of sucked it up on this performance, too. So far, she has had the best and worst performance of the night.

RATING:

6. CANDICE GLOVER Emotion by The BeeGees the Destiny’s Child Again, one hit wonder?  Nope.  her vocal was competent per usual, but this song is so background-singer-heavy that it doesn’t really let the solo shine out.  And there is no real climax to the song, either.  One of Candice’s more blah performances.

RATING:

7. KREE HARRISON Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum I loved her singing this song.  Perhaps I need to come to terms with the fact that this is who she is…she is not going to get down on her knees and bleed emotion out on the stage (she wouldn’t be able to stand back up in her stilettos, anyway.)  She will be a fantastic country star, but i don’t think we can expect anything different from her on this show.

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8. ANGIE MILLER Cry me A River by Julie London At the risk of making people mad, I am going to say this: I am bored with Angie. I don’t know what it is, but honestly, She is my least favorite of the remaining girls. The judges pimped her so much and I don’t think she will go home. But I think her voice is the weakest of those left. That said, she had some fantastic jazzy moments in this performance.

RATING:

Four solid girls left.  Honestly, any of these four girls would be an incredibly awesome Idol winner.  I am still rooting for Candice, but I have a feeling it could still be Amber.  I am betting this much, though: whoever wins will have more longevity than Taylor Hicks.

Let me know what you think! Who will go home tonight?  Or will anyone go home tonight?  We shall see…

I am still recovering from watching the last performance on repeat. Really, because I could have just watched two hours of that. Oh Candice, you pull a schooling out of your back pocket and show everyone why you came to win. (Mariah also pulled glitter out of her back pocket. Does she travel with handfuls of glitter? Just wondering.) In the words of Ms. Minaj, #werk.

And then, at the complete other end of the spectrum, there was Lazaro. Oh boy. In the words of Peter Griffin, “That happened. And we let it happen.” You know Nigel loves putting out a good sob story (Danny Gokey, exhibit, A). And it has clearly run away with itself, per usual. I called this from top 20 night, and the situation has deteriorated. Dude is clearly the worst, and what's worse is he will not go home tomorrow.

Now that we've touched on the best and worst of the top six, lets talk about the mid-field contestants. Kree is solid second place for me. Her vocals are consistently effortless, but she just lacks an edge of emotion on stage.

I put Amber in third place. Her vocals are flawless, too, although tonight her second performance was a bit shaky. She is very commercial, but lacks an emotional connection many times, as well.

In fourth place is Angie–the inconsistency ranks her below the rest. When she's up, she's up. When she's down, well, it's pretty bad. I don't think her vibe and the theme weeks get along well and she has song choice issues.

Finally, in an unfortunate fifth place is Janelle. It was obvious she was the weakest girl heading into the top ten–I still think Aubrey deserved that spot. And although Janelle has managed to have several outstanding performances, I'm not sure that has shifted her spot in the pack.

Unfortunately, because of America's obsession with Lazaro, I think Janelle will go home tomorrow. They may decide to use the save on her, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they saved the save for next week when one of the other four will inevitably get booted before Lazaro.

As always i *plan* to put up my full review up in the AM, but you know, day job priorities and such have been preventing that from happening the last few weeks.

Let me know what you thought about tonight's performances! Candice on repeat! Candice on repeat!

Oh Nigel! Your futile attempts to quell the long-time idol watcher with never-before-done theme weeks is cute and all. I appreciate you trying to change it up. But for the sake of the integrity of the entire Rock and Roll genre, please never require Lazaro to sing Rock music ever again.

The thing about this idol season is there is no surprise. I could have written the review yesterday. Or just used the review i wrote last week and never posted because i am a lazy blogger. Candice and Kree were great! Amber and her legs were great! Lazaro was train wreckage. This lack of interest sort of makes me long for the days of crazy Sanjaya hair styles–at least I wondered what the hell he would do!

While I will post my full review tomorrow (I promise i will this week!) I will just say that Lazaro better be exiting stage left tomorrow. If Lazaro outlasts Burnell it will be a tragedy, and if one of the girls gets voted out, they will use the save. It is Lazaro's time–go out on a performance that is at least not your worst (It could only go up after last week!)

So, what did you think? Will Kree or Candice actually win this thing? Were you impressed by any of the performances this week? Let me know in the comments!

Detroit Rock City tribute tonight. I was personally a bit disappointed to get no Eminem or Kid Rock, but I will take a Motown night anytime. It invokes memories of Idol seasons of yore. (Oh Kelly, it has been so long!)

It was another night of the girls killing the boys, and if there is any justice left in the idolverse, Miss Amber Holcomb will live to see another week, and either Burnell and his tighty whitey suit or Lazaro and his poor enunciation will be hitting the road. And though Devin may be increasingly boring me, his vocal chops earn him at least one more week.

Angie was off her game tonight, but will hopefully get back on track next week. But the other ladies? All killed it. I was especially impressed with Janelle–her arrangement was fantastic. Stay tuned for my full recap in the morning, but in the meantime, what did you think? Who will get the boot tomorrow? And shall we hope for an Eminem group ditty? (I kid, I kid.)

Tonight we get to see a glimpse of behind the scenes Jimmy, acting like a total douche. But while he may be a douche, he is a correct douche. All of the reviews he gave of last night's performances were spot on. Although calling Lazaro a flat out liar may have crossed the line–I mean the kid may not be a great singer, but he is just a scared kid on a reality TV show. Go easy on him, Jimmy. I especially want to commend Jimmy for his spot-on review of Angie. Last night's performance was too broadway, and I didn't see that note from the judges or anywhere on the interwebs, either. It can be corrected, but needs to be addressed asap.

So alumni performances? Casey Abrams is better than any of the guys in the top 10. I was always a marginal Casey fan, but in comparison to these male idol contestants, he is a phenom! Loved his performance.

When I heard Jessica would be on, I was hopeful for a Jessica/Candice reunion moment on camera! But alas, there was no time to do the weekly ranking, not to mention have a meetup stage left. Maybe they can duet in the finale? A girl can hope. The thing about her single is I know this is the type of music that gets radio play, but she is so much better vocally than that song. At least she can dance, so the whole dance track thing works for her.

But lets talk about the reason we actually tuned in tonight: the killings. Paul leaves on a jetplane tonight, and while he was somewhat deserving of another week (It was Lazaro's turn for the boot, clearly), I am not at all shocked he went home.

But the other members of the bottom two were awful for me. Amber? really? Devin? He is the best guy left. I know the wonders of Candice and Kree might water down the fan base for Ms. Holcomb, but get on the Amber train, people! She sings through smoke machine malfunctions! Girl needs a BREAK. OUT. PERFORMANCE. stat. With Motown week next week, she has the potential for greatness. She needs to pick out an unexpected song with an Amber twist. I know this can happen–you've got this, Amber!

So is anyone out there that was shocked about Paul's departure? Please identify yourselves in the comments.

Burnell has never heard Let It Be? (Crazy!) Candice attempts to find deeper meaning in ju-ju eyeballs? (Spoiler: Unsuccessful.) The girls outsing the boys? (Obvs.) All in a night’s work on Idol Beatles week.  Here’s how it went down:

1. Kree Harrison A Little Help From My Friends  Loving this song for her! I hoped for a little more crazy on those big solo notes (a la Joe Cocker), but it was arranged well, the tempo was great for her, and per usual, her vocal was right on the money.

RATING:

2. Burnell Taylor Let It Be Like, who over the age of five does not know this song? It was a competent vocal, but I felt no emotion from the performance.

RATING:

3. Amber Holcomb Leaving Home Interesting song choice! I like it! She didn’t seem that comfortable with the song, though–she just needed more practice with it. I like the haunting melody of the song on her voice, though.

RATING:

4. Lazaro Arbos In My Life Um, well, this was a bit of a mess. The low notes were too low, his enunciation needs serious work, and the vocal was just plain weak. He seems really disconnected from the song, as well. Just not too good.

RATING:

5. Candice Glover Come Together Rock On Girl! I loved her rocking out. And I agree with Keith, she could have gone even crazier with the riffs–she held back a little too much. I LOVED when Kris sang this (and even moreso his acoustic version) but this was great, too.  I went back and watched it twice, if that says anything!

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6. paul Jolley Eleanor Rigby Meh – the vocal wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fantastic. Everything with him feels very artificial and forced. I don’t think he connects with anything he is singing.

RATING:

7. AngIE Miller Yesterday I loooved the arrangement and her at the mic, but for the first time on this show I didn’t care for the vocal.  Maybe it was too Broadway on that song?  She seemed to lack control of her head voice when she tried to pull back and be soft.  If this is the flaw in her ability, she needs to be careful of this moving forward.

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8. Devin Velez Long and Winding Road His best performance, for sure. His vocal was fantastic!  But i still don’t like the aimless walking around the stage.  Get this kid a stool or something.

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9. Janelle Arthur I Will Wow, a very solid performance from Janelle!  Definitely my favorite of hers.  I still think she is the weakest girl, but having the pimp spot should ensure her another week.

RATING:

At minimum, no one can be chastised for poor song choice in this catalog (every song was Keith’s favorite, anyway!) That doesn’t mean that every performance was spectacular. I think Lazaro’s demise has been building for several weeks–he just doesn’t have the chops to keep up with the upper echelon of Idol talent. You can also file Paul in the category of hot messes. Other than those two, everyone else was solid…certain rocking performances may have been more solid than others (Kree! Candice! I’m looking at you ladies).

What do you think? Surprises? Disappointments? Sadness for the failure of the American public school system to incorporate Beatles 101 in the curriculum? Let me know in the comments.

 

Tonight’s new and creative theme? Songs of The Idols, aka, our song clearing staff went on spring break.  Here’s how it went down:

1. Curtis Finch I Believe by Fantasia Oh geez. I’ve said it before and I say it again–I hated all of it. He cannot do Fantasia.  This performance was set up for failure from the beginning.  Where is Nicki to tell him how it really is?

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2. Janelle Arthur Gone by Montgomery Gentry Snooooooze. The whole thing was so boring.  The tone, the tempo, the arrangement.  That song is high energy, and I don’t exactly see Janelle as high energy.  She might be in trouble tomorrow.

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3. Devin Velez Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood The tone of his voice is fantastic — so clear, so crisp. The song really didn’t go anywhere, though. Maybe he could have done more with the arrangement?  more with the staging?  he looked a little lost on the big stage.

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4. Angie Miller I Surrender by Celine Dion It was good. I wish she would have stopped comparing herself to Kelly because the entire time watching her performance I was thinking “idk if that was as good as Kelly’s.” But it was good.  And I know she can’t do it every week, but behind the piano she is magical.

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5. Paul Jolley Amazed by Lonestar Yeah, remember when Josh Gracin sang this? Let’s stop crediting Scotty with everything here.  Anyway, it was OK but I wasn’t thrilled, and it was just above boring. The upside of this performance is that he took direction from Jimmy well.  That might mean there is still hope for him to not be a complete cheeseball?

RATING:

6. Candice glover I Who Have Nothing by Shirley Bassey What else can I even say about her?  Amazing. She schools these singers week after week.  There is no need for a competition because she proved she is the best every single week so far, and will likely continue to be the best.  Will she win?  Not necessarily, but she can count on my vote.

RATING:

7. LAZARO ARBOS Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson The background audio overpowered him during most of the song, the arrangement was pretty bad (especially the ending), and generally I was not impressed. He needs some vocal coaching and arrangement guidance.  He may have one of those sob story followings, but if vocals aren’t up to snuff, he may only last a few more weeks.

RATING:

8. Kree Harrison Crying by Roy Orbison Another fantastic Kree performance!  Her range may not be quite as wide, but her vocal quality and emotional connections is right up there with Candice.  I love her and see a huge career in her future.

RATING:

9. Burnell Taylor Flying Without Wings by Ruben Studdard THANK GOD FOR STYLISTS. Dude got some help and is looking hot! Unfortunately he probably picked the crappiest finale ballad.  It was actually a good vocal, but I was distracted by flashbacks to terrible terrible Idol winner singles.

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10. Amber Holcomb A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson In the words of Mariah, #pow. I think she might be a sleeper…Just how Jordin came in as a dark horse and stole the competition from frontrunner Melinda, Amber could come and steal this from Candice and Kree.  Girl has amazing vocal chops and I think she still has room to grow as an artist.  Be expecting a breakout performance during top 8 or top 7 that could send her on a winning trajectory.  you heard it here first, folks!

RATING:

And in not such surprising news, the girls are killing it, and the boys may as well have been caught on the 405 with Nicki, because I was less than impressed with all of their blah performances (except I really do like Devin.)

But moreso than an amazing showstopping performance from the one and only fabulous Ms. Glover, I am thankful Burnell got a stylist. Because honey? That Fresh Prince get-up had to go.

I will leave you with a few predictions. Because of the lackluster and forgettable performances from both Curtis and Janelle, plus their placements near the beginning of the show, I think either could be in trouble tomorrow. I am crossing fingers and toes that it is Curtis, though…Janelle is infinitely more likable and versatile.  

Also, I love me some Candice and Kree, but Amber could swoop in and win it all. Any takers on this theory?

Who did you love tonight? Let me know in the comments.

The best Vegas Trio from Idol 11 reprising their famous Vegas Performance. I guess they snuck Candice backstage during last summer's Idol tour. Maybe this summer she can sneak Jessica and Deandre backstage to do this again. Love.

Let me begin with a little about the format. I have ALWAYS wanted the results shows to focus more on the contestants than captainrandomsinger that is promoting their new album. So in theory, tonight Nigel gave me everything I ever wanted. I just didn’t realize how much work that would mean for me!! I thought I could relax and watch the show tonight, but noooooo, I was writing ten performance recaps!! Here are your finalists and reviews on their victory songs:

1. Paul Jolley Alone by Heart Really? the Underwood-Iraheta sacredness of Alone? How dare you.  Not that impressed.

RATING:

2. Burnell Taylor Ready for Love by india.arie I loved him singing this song way better than last night’s performance. But still with the paisley shirt? Stylist, stat.

RATING:

3. Curtis Finch, Jr. So High by John Legend Well, thank you for the bonus performance, because it solidified that I so completely dislike him.

RATING:

4. Devin Velez The Power of One by Israel Houghton Big Devin fan tonight! His performance was fantastic…I don’t know the song, but I loved him singing it.

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5. Lazaro Arbos Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & G-funk Ok, admit it.  This is my fave performance of his so far.  If he keeps getting better, I might not hate him.

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6. Janelle Arthur Home by Dirks Bentley OK, I did not expect this one. Not a good decision, America – There is way too much other talent. Someone good is not going to make it and I will probably be pissed.

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7. Candice Glover I’m Going Down by Mary J. Blige I have no words for her, ever.  Just that I am relieved that she made it.

RATING:

8. Angie Miller I Was Here by Beyonce Not her best performance, but that’s just because Ryan couldn’t wheel out the piano, then wheel it back stage after. Understandable.  But she made Keith cry anyway.  Awww…

RATING:

9. Amber Holcomb I’m Every Woman by Whitney Houston Love this girl! (But stop singing Whit, girl. We know you’ve got the chops.  Get creative.)

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10. Kree harrison Evidence by Susan Tedeschi I have no words for her either, because my DVR cut off and I had to switch back to live TV, and missed half of it.  Ugh, Comcast.  But the beginning was awesome, and I would assume the end was, too.  Go Kree!

RATING:

I love the group of girls. So much talent! I could have swapped Janelle for Aubrey (which would have made my predictions totally right) but I know Idol voters loves them some country. I don’t hate Janelle, so I’m ok with it.

The boys were pretty predictable, with Paul Jolley being the only surprise. He really wasn’t on my radar at all. And because people like ear-damaging Curtis, and sympathy-vote Lazaro (admittedly, I liked his performance tonight) made the cut, we lost people like Nick, who I truly believe had the potential to give great and entertaining piano performances. Or Elijah who could MAKE LOTS OF MONEY FOR YOU, NIGEL. It’s ok, Elijah…maybe Simon will pick you up. He’s smart like that.

I’ll end with this. If the ladies can’t pull out a win this season, this show should just pack it on up and concede the studio to X Factor, because it is done.

Are you happy with the results? Would you go see these people on tour? (Candice! Kree! Yes!) I always love to hear your thoughts!