It was disco fever night on
American Idol for the remaining seven contestants. Matt Girard is still in the competition by way of the Judges’ Save from last week. After last night, two of the seven final contestants will go home. What will America vote? Can’t wait for tomorrow night’s vote.
Lil Rounds started off the evening singing “I’m Every Woman”, but watching her perform before I knew what the judge’s comments would be, I could even predict what they were going to say.
None of the judges were really happy with her performance and they used the title of her song to say, that, yes, she’d been every woman but where is Lil? Randy Jackson said that she got the party started but still didn’t shown the audience what kind of artist she is. Kara DioGuardi had been waiting for Lil to sing Chaka Khan and, here it comes, she’s been every other woman but herself. Paula Abdul felt lost in listening to Lil and stated that she didn’t feel that Lil had “hit the boiling point”.
Simon Cowle, in an attempt to look sensitive, observed that Lil looked sad (after all the negative comments) to which Lil replied that she’d had fun. He believes it’s her final night on American Idol.
Next up on American Idol, we had Chris Allen with his guitar accompanying him singing the Donna Summer hit, “She Works Hard for the Money”. I’ve got to admit that Chris never impressed me in the beginning but he seems to be doing really well as of late. Who knew?
Kara said that Chris’ risk taking with the arrangement of “She Works Hard…” “paid off”. She said it sounded like this was a song that could go on his first record. Paula called Chris’ performance: contemporary, and a “perfect fit”. Simon called his performance a “polar opposite to his first appearance on the show”, “not karaoke” and “fantastic”. Likewise, Randy liked Chris’s song saying, “you know who you are”, and a great performance. Alright Chris!
Danny Gokey followed Chris singing some “Earth, Wind and Fire”. I didn’t like it much, but here the judges’ all disagreed with me, Randy calling his performance something that really worked tonight, Kara called Danny, “an incredible vocalist”, Paula labelled Danny’s voice “one of the sexiest voices ever” (I must have missed something). Even Simon agreed with the other judges, but he did say that Danny had “no star power”. In the “star power” department, I would have to agree with Simon. I wouldn’t download the song. Why would I? No star power. Ordinary with a capital “O”.
Allison Iraheta, okay, she’s only 16, but who would know? She is fantastic, with a voice and star power that is way beyond her years. She sung “Hot Stuff” for her version of a song from the Disco Fever of the 70s, turning it from disco to rock. Randy said there were two things he didn’t love about the song but that Allison was on of the best singers in this competition. He topped that off with “I love you.” That can’t be two bad to hear. The girl can rock and belt out whatever song type comes her way and she makes the song her own. Kara thought that Allison had picked the right song and agreed that she was one of the best singers on the show and would give Allison a 9/10 score for her singing ability. Paula loves Allison’s authenticity and Simon Cowell called it a “brilliant performance”. If Allison is not a singer when she grows up, I just don’t know what.
Adam Lambert with coiffed hair, I think an ode to John Travolta, sang his own spin on the disco classic “If I Can’t Have You” from Saturday Night Fever. Now, if you carefully watched the camera views of the judges at the end of this song, you would have noticed that Simon Cowell was actually clapping. Could this mean a recording contract is in Adam’s future? I say, yah!
Ok, so you want to hear what the judges said about Adam’s performance? Randy stated that, by this point in the American Idol contest, a contestant should have shown his range and that Adam had shown all of his many different ranges, rock, disco, ballad, fusion, etc., and called Adam, “ready right now,” and “he’s the hot one tonight, America!” Kara called Adam “brilliant”, the “most memorable performance,” and she loved the way he emotionally connected with the song which was inspiring.
Paula had a visceral response – she looked like she was almost brought to tears – and complimented him on the way he conveyed the emotion of this “disco” song.
Simon, always funny, said that he would have bet $10,000 that Adam would have done a Donna Summer song. Simon, you lost. But Simon found Adam’s song “original” and his vocals, “immaculate”, or was that “remarkable”… And the winner is…
Almost finally, last week’s Judges’ Save, Matt Girard, singing for his life with the song “Staying Alive”. Randy noted that Matt’s last note was “rough” and that he didn’t love Matt’s song choice, but he really sung well. Randy added that the top seven finalists were the most talented American Idol top 7 ever on the show. Kara called his performance “good” and “solid”. Paula declared that Matt would be staying tonight. Simon didn’t like his performance, found it a bit desperate, with no originality and was not a fan of his performance.
The last American Idol was Anoop Desai, wearing a pink sweater in a way that Paula said only a real man could wear pink. Randy judged Anoop had sung a rough last note and that he didn’t like the arrangement, but “hey Dude, you can sing.” Kara said his song was a good song choice and he really was hitting his style. Simon completely disagreed with the other three judges and found Anoop’s performance “mediocre at best” and the “worst performance by a mile.” Ouch!
We’ll have to wait until tonight’s performance to see which two of the seven American Idol contestants are going home after American Idol Disco Fever night.
