Birth years and Billboard charts

It’s down to the final five tonight on “American Idol” and with only three more performance shows and three eliminations until the finale, the contestants are gearing up to try and be one of the two who will compete on finale night, May 24.

In order to stretch their cash cow to its limits, FOX continues to make the Tuesday night performance show an hour long program. Of course, in order to fill all that time between the plethora of commercials, the Idol contestants can’t get by with just one song that lasts a mere one minute and 24 second. No, we’d still have at least a half hour of air time left over, even with Ryan Seacrest’s “bits” and Paula Abdul’s inevitable crying sprees. Instead this week, contestants selected two songs to perform. The first performance was a song from their birth year.

Elliott Yamin opened up the show with a cover of George Benson’s “On Broadway,” a song which debuted in 1978. Dressed in jeans with a tan sports coat and a gold tie, Elliott’s performance was good, but nothing to get too excited over. I’m not really a fan of that song so that definitely plays into my reaction to it. As for the judges, Randy Jackson said it was “very nice,” Paula Abdul encouraged him with a “way to go” and Simon Cowell was the lone dissenter with his opinion, “I don’t think that was your best performance. I think you’re very lucky you got two songs tonight.”

Paris Bennett was up next with her rendition of Prince’s “Kiss” from 1988. While Prince music isn’t what most would picture Paris singing, she pulled it off. Once again she showed America that she is a natural born performer. She sings, she dances (in four inch stilettos no less) and she is only 17! Randy’s take on her performance, “I thought it was nice, I liked it.” Paula said that while the whole country knows that Paris can sing, she prefers it when she sings songs from “past eras.” Simon had two words for Paris, “screechy and annoying.” The audience, of course, reacted to Simon’s critique with a resounding round of boos.

Chris Daughtry, the rocker, was up next with a song from 1979, “Renegade” by Styx. Chris has a great voice and if I were in the audience watching him I might be getting really into his performances, but I’m not. I’m at home in my living room and I’m bored. Of course the judges loved him, so I’m going to have to assume something was lost in television transmission. Randy gave his traditional response when he thinks someone has done well, “America, we got a hot one tonight.” Paula called it an “outstanding” performance and said that he was setting himself far apart from anyone else so far. Simon said it was “a million times better” than the first two performances. I do think Chris will be one of the final two standing on that stage May 24, I just hope that at some point between now and then I see what made me like Chris in the first place.

The fourth performance of the night came from Katharine McPhee. Born in Los Angeles in 1984, Katharine opted to sing Phil Collins’ classic song “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).” I love this song. I love the original and I love the recent remake by The Postal Service, I did not love Katharine’s attempt at it, however. It wasn’t by any means the worst performance on “American Idol” season five, but it was no where near the best either. Her performance held a surprising mix of country within her typically power pop sound. Randy guessed that perhaps it was the wrong key for her, but said it got “o.k.” for him at the end. Paula fell back on her standard “you look stunning” routine that she uses when she wants to edge around giving a negative review. She finally did admit that it was not her favorite performance by Katharine so far. Simon again acknowledged that he got it “completely wrong last week” when he said her performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” was terrible. However, this was simply a set up to say that this week’s performance was “in parts...a mess, and the song ran away from you basically.”

Taylor Hicks wound up the first half of the show with the 1976 song “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry. The fun and funky Taylor was back this week with his more than entertaining performance. I’ve heard Idol watchers suspect that Taylor has the most incoming votes each week, and that unless the producers interfere with the votes, he could be singing in the final performance show. Who knows for sure, but one thing I will say is Taylor is talented, and unlike Chris I never know what he’s going to do next. Randy felt like it was another “wild choice” and said that he felt like “I was at a bar and I had a couple.” Paula said he “dressed the part” and had fun and that this was the “authentic Taylor that we love.” It took Simon a moment to gather his thoughts before saying with a bit of exasperation that it was like a “horrible wedding performer” but that he liked the end when Taylor collapsed onto the stage.

The next round of performances were all about the Billboard Charts. The contestants had to choose a top ten song from any of this week’s Billboard Charts.

Elliott Yamin chose “Home” by Michael Buble. Wow. For the first time in a while, Elliott made me stop and really pay attention to him. It was a great song choice and a great performance by Elliott. Randy and Paula loved it but Simon questioned whether it was such a good idea to choose a song with the lyrics “I want to go home” tonight. “I’m worried about that song for you,” continued Simon.

Paris Bennett was back up with Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You,” which sits at number one on the R&B chart. I think a lot of people are questioning how successful Paris will be once off the show despite her obvious talent because her most obvious genre, old school jazz, is so much older than she is. I think tonight she showed that she can reach outside of the jazz box and has potential to do well in R&B as well. Randy said she took a “big risk” singing a song by Mary J. Blige, but that “all in all” she “rocked it.” Paula said that she was able to catch Mary’s “vibe,” “you got it,” but that she was hoping to see Paris do her own take on it. Simon responded by saying, “Actually I think you got that wrong Paula, I think she did rather well with that.” To which Paula tried to talk over Simon and the music in order to say that she didn’t say Paris did poorly.

With flames burning on the giant screen behind him, Chris Daughtry rocked out to “I Dare You” by Shinedown. To me, Chris’ performance was a much more vocally interesting performance than his first. More inflection and less hard rock (not to say that this one wasn’t rock). Surprisingly, Randy, Paula and Simon didn’t think this performance compared with his last one. “It was just alright for me,” said Randy. Paula said that perhaps this song just wasn’t her favorite but luckily for Chris she loves him anyway. Simon said it was “not a great song, and your voice is going Chris.” But Simon said that he had a great first song and that he would be fine through the next elimination round.

Katharine McPhee came back for her second performance of the night with British/Scottish singer KT Tunstall’s song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.” A much better performance from Katharine despite the fact that her entire performance took place while sitting or kneeling on the stage. Other than the last note, Katharine nailed it. Randy said that that was “the Katharine I grew to love.” Paula said she loved the choreography and the intimacy of the performance. “This is a strange show,” Simon said. “Taylor’s lying down, you’re on your knees. This is strange.” However, Simon also said he much preferred this performance to her last song.

Taylor Hicks wrapped up the night with The Beatles classic “Something” from an album which is currently number six on the Top Pop Catalogue chart. Dressed for the part in a black pinstriped suit with a purple shirt, Taylor sang his heart out with a song by one of the best bands of all time. “You chose a great song,” said Randy. “It was a nice, tender moment for me.” He also said he thinks that “American Idol” should have a Beatles night. (I second that motion.) Paula said “I think that it’s very daring to sing a song like that, but you moved it tenderly. You didn’t oversing it.” Simon was amazed that Taylor managed to get a song which is 30 years old into the hits from today, but that it was “very clever” of him. More directly, Simon said that “it is very easy to forget...that you’re a very, very good singer.” “That was good,” Simon concluded. That was all it took to put Taylor in a good mood for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow night one more contestant will go home and it will be into the final four. Audiences may vote for two hours after the conclusion of the show. The results from tonight’s voting will result in an elimination of the person who receives the lowest number of votes. Tune in to see who will escape elimination for one more week and who will be going home Wednesday night at 9 p.m. on FOX.

My bottom two: Chris and Elliott. Who do I think will be going home? Elliott or Paris.

See ya back in Fayetteville!

Submitted by noname on Wed, 05/03/2006 - 1:57pm.

If Paris doesn't go home tonight, I will be very mad.
Emily - I can't belive you think Chris and Elliot are the worst singers! Are you even watching the same show?
From here on out, it is very had to decide because the remaing four all deserve to win.

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I never said

Submitted by Emily Baldwin on Thu, 05/04/2006 - 9:09am.

I never said that I think Chris and Elliott are the worst singers. In fact I think at this point in the show, there is nothing but talent left. I've watched "American Idol" since season one and I think this year has far and away the best group of singers ever on the show.
What I DID say is that, for me, Chris and Elliott were my least favorites overall for this Tuesday's performance show. I didn't enjoy either Chris or Elliott's first songs.
At this point it is very hard to decide who should go home and who should stay. I think they are all great and I'm sad to see any of them go, but there can only be one American Idol...at least for this season.
As I said in my review, I see Chris standing on that stage May 24 as one of the top two.

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Bye Bye Paris

Submitted by SoCalMama on Wed, 05/03/2006 - 8:10am.

I think Paris' time is up. She had a lot of cajones to try to pull off Prince and this will be her downfall.

Bottom 2 tonight: Paris and Elliott

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