It’s the final four on “American Idol,” so shouldn’t we be more excited?
Maybe it’s because there’s not the sense of cutthroat competition or desperation among the survivors. But the overall quality, maybe the highest of any final four on the show, ensures that any of deserve to win. And what does winning mean anyway? All of them have the same chance to have long careers no matter what happens.
Nonetheless, they came to sing.
And according to the judges, who have an influence on home viewing, this week belonged to the thin — the suddenly supremely confident Amber Holcomb who survived many appearances on the bottom two or three; and Angie Miller, whose grandmother was invited onstage to hug her after she turned Jessie J’s “Who You Are” into sounding like one of her original piano songs. Later, she returned to do Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” with some command, during the half of the show when viewers chose the theme: one-hit wonders.
For being a “one hit wonder,” Julie London sure recorded a lot of albums — 32. But everybody liked Angie’s performance.
Amber, for her part, made doing Celine Dion’s “I’m Your Lady” look easy and did a version of Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park” (in the Donna Summer style) that had judges raving but had backstage designated crank Jimmy Iovine raving negatively, saying that song never made any sense. Dude probably left his cake out in the rain.
It wasn’t as if the other two finalists, Candice Glover and Kree Harrison, were having bad nights. But they got some mild criticism — Candice for embellishing every line of her song such that her version of Drake’s “Find Your Love” and especially her take on Samantha Sang’s “Emotion” lost their original melodies.
Kree Harrison chose a blues songs she loves, Susan Tedeschi’s “It Hurt So Bad,” and then did a stirring version of “Whiter Shade of Pale.” But are Procol Harum one-hit wonders? Their “Conquistador” hit No. 16 a few years later.
Also notable on the show were a couple of duets among the contestants. Amber and Kree teamed up for Adele’s “Rumor Has It”; Angie and Candice did a take on Rihanna’s “Stay.”
It’s still anybody’s game, but Kree found herself in the all-country bottom two last week before Janelle Arthur was sent home.
Most worrisome was Ryan Seacrest saying there would be an announcement Wednesday of a “surprise twist” that will affect the contest. What will that be? A save for all four? Hidden immunity idols?