And on to the results
Hmm. Simon's apologizing to Katharine for being too harsh last night, upon review. Interesting.
Three groups of two people this week!
Katharine goes to the far side of the stage.
Elliott.goes to the middle of the stage.
Kellie goes to the near side of the stage.
Paris joins Kellie.
Taylor joins Elliott.
Which means Chris joins Katharine.
One group's the top two, one's the bottom, one's the middle. Wow. That's more information than we've ever gotten before.
Elliott and Taylor are safe. (Mind you, Ryan didn't say they were the top two. So maybe we're not getting more info after all. Less, even; all we'll know for sure is the bottom two, not the bottom three.)
No, now we know. Elliott and Taylor were in the middle. Chris and Katharine were the top two. Which means Kellie and Paris were at the bottom.
[crosses fingers]
Paula has pretty much just told Kellie buh-bye.
And, yep, Kellie goes home. Whoo-hoo!
Heather picks up 3 points, Pam and I get 1 apiece.
Barring a late entry from Mel, the standings are now:
Heather: 7
Pam: 7
Shmuel: 6
Mel: 4
Mo Pie: 4
TeKay: 4
Jesse: 2
Lotsa points still in the air, though; it's anybody's game. (As a reminder, the pool spreadsheet link is still in the sidebar.)
Here goes...
Ooh, they're busting out the extra phone numbers a bit early this year. Cool.
Bocelli. This is going to be interesting.
Bocelli's a hardass. This is really gonna be interesting.
[Edited to say: no, actually that was the other guy, David Foster. Never mind.]
Katharine: "I Have Nothing"
She's got to be the best suited to his style, y'know.
(He's blind? Huh. Never knew. Then again, never really knew anything about him. Most of my opera knowledge comes from Tom and Jerry.)
Anyway. Not bad. Not brilliant. And, umm, nice hooters, I guess.
(And I'll agree with Simon on the cabaretish quality.)
Elliott: "A Song for You"
Not bad! And had everything Katharine's song didn't. Style! Vocal color!
...ah, here's this week's Babbling Paula moment.
Kellie: "Unchained Melody" (LeAnn Rimes version)
Hmm. Not bad in the beginning, a bit flat in the middle, and not bad at the end.
She may be about ready to leave.
Paris: "The Way We Were"
Not bad.
Taylor: "Just Once"
Eh. Is it just me, or did this kinda suck?
...ah. Not just me. Good.
Chris: "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"
Coolness. Solid performance.
(somebody in the sound booth is gonna be in trouble for the stray audio on the replays, I think.)
I'd have voted for Elliott, but Chris was probably the stronger contender.
Oops. Sorry I didn't get this up earlier!
And away we go...
Next week... Andrea Bocelli is the guest coach? Huh!
(Fortunately, the theme's gonna be love songs, not opera.)
Two-group separation this week! Wonder if they'll try the George gambit again?
Elliott's on the far side.
Chris is on the near side.
Paris is on the near side.
Kellie is on the far side.
Ace is on the near side.
Katharine is on the far side.
Which means Taylor's gotta be safe, probably.
He is. And one of the groups is the bottom three.
And... yep, Ryan's asking Taylor to join the group he thinks is safe, after the break. If he's smart, he'll follow Bo's example and punt the question. Although they've put the groups further apart this time, perhaps to make that tougher.
Taylor moves to the near side, then zig-zags to the far side as Ryan says "I'm sorry." The far side is safe!
So is Paris!
It's down to Ace and Chris. Looks like everybody but me was right.
And, yup, Chris is safe; Ace is going home.
Why do they keep using that "Bad Day" song? Why? I don't think it works very well for the farewell videos...
Everybody but Heather picks up a point or two.
Oh, so they're not actually confined to Rod Stewart songs. Good. This might not suck after all...
Standards? Hmm. Okay.
I had no idea Rod Stewart had albums of standards. Which is what he's doing here, granted.
Chris: "What a Wonderful World"
(Ohhhhhhkaaaaay. This I gotta hear.)
Wow. He's pulling it off. Who knew? Props.
Paris: "Foolish Things"
Solid performance.
Taylor: "You Send Me"
Fun!
Man, I'm liking this week's show.
Elliott: "It Had to Be You"
Pleasant.
Kellie: "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered"
(Who did this last season? Didn't somebody? I forget.)
Oof. Wandered further off key and beat as it went along. Pity; she started out pretty well.
Ace: "That's All"
(What has he done with his hair? Eww. There, but for the grace of Pam...)
...who knows how he sang?! I was too busy staring at that hairdo.
Katharine: "Someone to Watch Over Me"
Technically fine, but frankly kinda boring.
I would've voted for Chris.
Post here, ye lucky people who get to watch the show when it airs!
(I'm not really complaining. It's my own fault that I put my social life slightly ahead of American Idol.)
A one-hour results show, with time for twice the filler! Yay!
(Spoilers follow.)
Next week is Rod Stewart week. [sigh]
Taylor is safe.
Katharine is safe.
Chris is safe.
(We've got clips of contestants' friends and family interspersed with the results.)
Kellie is safe.
This leaves four people, all but one of whom are in the bottom three: Elliott, Ace, Bucky, and Paris.
Elliott is in the bottom three.
As we still have time to kill, Elliott sings last night's song again.
Ace is in the bottom three.
Fact is, given that I haven't been an Ace fan, nor a fan of this song, my opinion about his performance says nothing about how the people who count -- his fan base -- would be likely to react. Hmm.
Down to Bucky and Paris... I'm betting Paris is safe.
And I'm right. Bucky is in the bottom three.
Bottom three: Ace, Elliott, Bucky
Going home: Bucky
Fine with me!
Mo gets two points; Heather, Pam, and I get one.
Queen night! I have a bad feeling about this...
Queen gets its logo in the corner? Huh.
Bucky: "Fat Bottomed Girls"
Eh. Okay.
Constantine Lite: "We Will Rock You"
The problem with this song is that it doesn't require much range. That said... I like what he's doing with it. Not the best choice, but given that he chose it, good performance.
(Okay, like Randy, I was being gentle. I think the original song sucks. But I stand by thinking that given that it's what Ace was singing, he did a good job with it.)
Kellie: "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Oof. They're gonna cut this to ribbons. Let's see what parts she ends up singing...
...the Constantine abridgement. I hate the Constantine abridgement.
Anyway... okay. Some definite pitch issues. At least she's got attitude.
Chris: "Innuendo"
I'm not familiar with this song. Possibly that works in Chris's favor, but the performance seems pretty solid to me.
(Paula? Stop babbling. Please.)
Katharine: "Who Wants to Live Forever"
The lighting guys are having fun with the backlighting tonight, aren't they.
I'm not familiar with this one either, and I kinda wish she'd stuck with the energetic uptempo song. This one isn't so much working for me. Too many bad notes.
Elliott: "Somebody to Love"
Ooh. This is a tough one. Also, one of my favorites. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. That's something.
Taylor: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
Okay, this change I approve of. Too bad about missing the mike stand... on the whole, not a rock-solid performance, but probably my favorite of the night.
Paris: "The Show Must Go On"
Okay, they saved the best for last. I don't know this one either, but I assume the jarring chord changes are due to the ridiculous abridgement constraints. Otherwise... totally the best performance of the night, and the person I'd have voted for if I'd had the chance.
Results follow!
Next week's theme is Queen?! So much for my hope that the producers had gotten over specific performer weeks. Tough one, too.
Anyway. Ryan's dividing the contestants into three groups, one of which will contain the bottom three.
Taylor: group 1
Mandisa: group 2
Elliott: group 2
Paris: group 2
Ace: group 3
Kellie: group 1
Chris: group 1
Katherine & Bucky: group 3
Group 1 is safe.
Group 3 is safe.
That leaves Mandisa, Elliott, and Paris as the bottom three.
Paris is safe!
Mandisa goes home.
Hmmph. Just takes one bad performance...
Heather and I each pick up one point. (And a link to the spreadsheet with everyone's predictions is now in the sidebar of the front page.)
Ooh, country! The week when, traditionally, most contestants crash and burn! Let's see how this plays out.
Kenny Rogers? Cool. (And once again, bless you, Idol producers, for not confining contestants to Kenny Rogers songs. Maybe you've gotten the hang of this.)
Taylor: "Take Me Home, Country Road."
Taylor is so not a country singer. Which is not inherently a disqualification -- Bruddah Iz did a wonderful Hawaiian cover, very mellow -- but this attempt at just singing it straight just isn't working.
(And Paula's with me. And so is Simon. Consensus!)
Mandisa: "Any Man of Mine"
Eh. Not really working for me. And that dress (blouse?) is doing her no favors, either.
Elliott: "If Tomorrow Never Comes"
Not bad. Pleasant. Competently done. All of which I can't say for the first two singers.
Paris: "How Do I Live"
A bit shaky. Or maybe it's just that she's substituting vibrato for twang? Hmm. Anyway. It's nothing great, but it's okay.
Paula's getting booed? Wow. ...and Simon is so enjoying this.
Ace: "I Wanna Cry"
Not bad. That falsetto at the end might've been a bit much, though.
Kellie: "Fancy"
Well, this oughta be good. Or, at least, there'd be no excuse for her to screw this one up.
...and, indeed, she doesn't. Definitely the best performance of the night thus far.
Chris: "Making Memories of Us" (Why are they not displaying the song titles this week? I had to Google this.)
And for the first time, Chris bombs. Nice try.
Katharine: "Bringing Out the Elvis" (see above parenthetical)
...and Katharine connects with the song. Not technically flawless, but a totally entertaining performance. Good job.
Bucky: "Best I Ever Had"
Y'know, it may be his element, but I just don't care for Bucky's singing. Nor do I know what he's singing about, as I'm only Googling the titles, not reading the lyrics. Sorry.
I'd have voted for Kellie or Katharine. Maybe both. Otherwise... well, it's country week. Four decent performances (including Elliott and Ace) is probably above par.
Sorry this is late... post away!