And so we get to Top Six on American Idol, and it’s honestly starting to get tough. All the people who weren’t really all that good to begin with are gone, and now it’s time for the real contestants to compete. “What about Haley?” you ask. Didn’t I feel that she should have been gone weeks ago? Well, yeah. Tell you what. We’ll talk about her in a bit.
This week, the theme was songs written by Carole King. She’s one of those all time great songwriters, and I honestly didn’t realize that she had written so many songs that were made popular by other artists, in addition to her own hits.
Jacob was very good as usual. He did a song called “Oh No, Not My Baby.” I think he’s always good, but there was something about this performance that seemed to work better than his others. Maybe it’ll help him stick around.
Lauren was also good, singing “Where You Lead.” The big problem here is that they’re giving her the “Lee Dewyze has to get over his nervousness” treatment, but in Lauren’s case they’re dealing with her inability to be comfortable hitting some big notes. Unlike Lee, she’s not getting over it. I hope it doesn’t hurt her for votes.
Haley and Casey did the first duet of the night. They did “I Feel the Earth Move.” Of the duets, it was the best one.
Scotty did “You Got a Friend.” He’s a good country singer.
James did “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” He reeled in the rock star bit just a bit, and it did work out for him. The judges were jumping up and down about how he could possibly win, and I don’t disagree.
Lauren and Scotty did “On the Roof” as their duet. I thought it was a low point for the evening. They both sang well, but it wasn’t interesting.
Casey did “Hi De Ho” and I think Randy said it best that it had a feel that is typically associated with New Orleans. It was probably not the best performance he could have done, or the best performance of the night, but it was good.
Haley did “Beautiful.” I said it last week that Carole King was stylistically good for Haley, and I think it did work out for her. The thing is that she seems to have found her bearings now. I’m enjoying her performances now, which I couldn’t say from the time she did the Alicia Keys song up until she did the Adele song.
Finally, James and Jacob did “I’m Into Something Good” for their duet. Steven Tyler actually got a bit negative about it, and really, I’m not sure I blame him. It wasn’t a poorly sung song, but it was an awkwardly performed performance.
So this leaves us deciding who will be bottom three on a week where half of the contestants will be in the bottom three. Here’s the thing. If Haley isn’t in the bottom three this week, and she makes no more bad song choices, I think she might make it to the finals. My reason is that Jacob has a lack of support, Scotty doesn’t have enough range, Casey has always been swingy, and Lauren is having trouble coming out of her shell (which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if they weren’t calling attention to it). This means that if Haley didn’t fuck up too bad this week and doesn’t fuck up too bad anytime soon, I think that everyone else, other than James, is struggling to keep up right now. She could possibly squeak by. Based on performance, I think Scotty, Casey, and either of the girls should be bottom three. This is not because they were bad, but because they weren’t as great as James and Jacob (ignoring their duet). What I wonder about though is that we have three who have been in the bottom three before (Casey, Haley, and Jacob) and three who haven’t (Scotty, Lauren, and James). I’m going to go with the trend, even though I’ll probably be wrong on at least one count, and say that the bottom three will be Casey, Haley, and Jacob. I’m thinking Jacob may go home based on the negativity that is felt for him, but I don’t feel he deserves to go home.