American Idol 12 - Trey & Nick's Week In Review - Top 3
Welcome to Week In Review, American Idol edition, where fellow writer Nick Roman and I will give our stance on this week’s performances and results on Idol.
Disagreements? Think something different? Join us in the comments!
Michael Becker/FOX
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Best performance?
Nick and I both agreed while Kree Harrison's "Here Comes Goodbye" would have won the night any other season, Candice Glover's performance of "Somewhere," - and as Nick said, it was a complete Idol moment that we haven't had in ages. Plus, a singer as good as Candice hasn't even made it this far in the competition in a long time. I think Candice is the first Idol contestant in a while to consistently deliver numerous memorable performances. She performed the heck out of that song, and absolutely deserved her spot in the finale.
Most disappointing performance?
Jimmy repeatedly said that he felt Angie Miller made a mistake in not playing the piano on "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word." Nick thinks she made a mistake in not slowing down the arrangement and playing the piano for "Try," and I agree. He didn't think "Maybe" needed the piano, but also because she really could have switched up the arrangement on "Try" more so than "Maybe." Even if Angie was the our least favorite of the remaining three contestants, she was still among my favorites of the season, so we were for big things from her performance. Yet it ultimately didn't live up to expectations, thanks to an arrangement that was so similar to the original that the performance couldn't help but invite comparisons to Pink. It was a good vocal, but it didn't really show the best of what Angie had to offer.
Whose chances of winning have increased/decreased?
This is going to be interesting! Nick thinks this is going to be the closest final we've had since Clay vs. Ruben and doesn't now who will benefit the most from last week. Sure, Candice knocked it out of the ballpark, but Kree also had a genuine Idol moment, between her hometown visit and her performance of "Here Comes Goodbye." The only barometer for who has the advantage is to try and predict which contestant will inherit Angie's votes. We both don't think that Angie's votes will go to either girl - granted, we would have expected this no matter who went home. The three remaining girls were far too different to have crossover fanbases. At least, that's just our theory, although if you're an Angie fan backing one of the other two contestants, let us know in the comments!
Nick said he will give the advantage to Kree based on having the largest voting bloc in the country on her side (Texas), but he feels that advantage is offset by her opponent being such an undeniable, powerhouse talent, and even people who are trying to deny Candice's talent are left with little choice but to respect what she brings to the table. Even as an unabashed Kree supporter - he says the girls are about even. and that's exhilarating to me, even as an unabashed Kree supporter. He loves the close final and I love it to!
I absolutely agree. although I am slightly in favor of Candice - personally. However, its going to be interesting to see if the St. Helena Island, SC native will be able to beat the voters of Texas. The whole time I was thinking that Angie would be been the most competition for either one of them in the final, but now I'm not so sure - and still don't know what the outcome would be. Hopefully both girls come out and knock it out of the park for a truly suspenseful finale!
Has this season really been all that bad?
Given the excellence of the final two we've gotten, this is a question that had to be asked Has Season 12 been worth it for this final two? And, in retrospect was it really even all that bad? Looking back, there was a lot to like. Kree's "Up to the Mountain," Angie's "Never Gone", Candice's "Lovesong", Janelle's "Keep Me Hangin' On" and Amber's "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life." And that's just from the finals. If we go back to the semis, you had some pretty great performances from Zoanette Johnson, Josh Holiday, and the criminally-underrated pair of Elijah Liu and Juliana Chahayed.
After considering for a while, Nick came to the conclusion that while this is a bottom 2 season (still better than season 9), it ultimately proved to be worth it for this finale - and I agree. The cream really rose to the top this season, and while that's probably because it was engineered to happen that way. We still feel we got a pretty stellar back-half of the competition. In my opinion the Top 3, and yes dare I say Top 4, or even Top 5 - was solid as far as premium vocalists judging off of those girls themselves and not a varied pool of contestants. So no. We'd argue Season 12 really hasn't been all that bad, overall. With that said, is this a season we will go back to revisit? Probably not, outside of the odd YouTube clip here and there. But Nick and I both are glad that this final two is the final two we got.
Nick posed the question, "Was there a guy among the top 20 males that was not put through to voting rounds that could have prevented the all-girl finale from happening?"
Short answer, no.
Long answer, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
But seriously, let's look at the list of guys in the top 20 who got cut just before the live rounds:
Johnny Keyser
JDA
Jimmy Smith
Chris Watson
Kevin Harris
Mathenee Treco
Gurpreet Singh Sarin
David Oliver Willis
Josh Holiday
Bryant Tadeo
Nick said that out of those ten, Josh Holiday had the best shot, but then, he said he's been banging the "Josh Holiday" drum since his elimination. Josh might have won just by virtue of being the only white male musician in the lineup. Johnny Keyser might also have been a threat, just by virtue of being a vaguely good-looking, sexually non-threatening white crooner. Also, David Oliver Willis was one of the most criminally-overlooked contestants of the top 20 males. That said, we don't think anyone was going to upset the applecart. By the time the top 40 was announced, it became achingly apparent that a female was winning this season, and I don't believe anything would have changed that. However, I also feel that this was probably the case dating back to Hollywood rounds. Nick also pointed out that as loved Gabe Brown and think he would have made top 10 if he'd been put through to America's vote, he doubts that he would have been a threat to the title.
Can American Idol be saved?
With the news that all four judges + Nigel Lythgoe are being given the boot, it's become apparent that the top brass behind-the-scenes knows that the franchise is in desperate need of salvaging. But is there any way to salvage it? Or has Idol simply run its course, having fallen by the wayside in an era where singing competitions are no longer unique or even original?
We think Idol can be salvaged somewhat -- at least to the extent that it isn't doing record lows in the ratings. But can it ever achieve its former glory (or even the glory of three or four years ago)? No, we really don't think it ever could.
That said, the sooner the executives realize that the judges have very little, if anything, to do with what makes the show a success, the better off the show will be. You can throw all the money in the world at any number of celebrity panelists, but that buzz will only be good for a ratings spike during the premiere. It will all be downhill from there, if the producers get it in their head that there's a narrative they want to follow, and to hell with letting the season unfold organically.
This season, they decided they wanted a girl winner and engineered an entire season to produce that result. And what happened? The core audience (young and old) that was keeping the franchise afloat to vote for the cute WGWGs left in droves. And when you have a big-time competitor like The Voice, which literally has something for everybody among its roster of contestants, you just can't make such pedestrian choices for finalists. People need variety -- or at least the illusion of variety. That's another reason for why a Top 10 season with no wildcard was such a bad idea. Once the top 10 were announced, there was a prevailing sense of, "Buh? That's it?" It seemed as if each performance show was lower-rated than the last, and it's because we knew what we were getting, we knew how we were going to get it, and we knew were going to get the same thing every week.
Nick said wasn't until top 5 that things started getting good, as the themes got a little more current, and the contestants were given the freedom to take bigger risks (Hint Hint: I also stated that the Top 5 was solid earlier in the review), and now we're left with a final two that ranks among the best the series has ever had - and I absolutely agree! But it was a long, grueling road in getting there, full of manipulation, tired-ass themes, pedestrian song choices, hit-or-miss judging, and a dwindling fanbase. Can the show be salvaged? Absolutely. But are the people in power willing to do what it takes to save it? That means clearing a wider array of songs, introducing more original/interesting/current themes, allowing the competition to unfold organically without pushing an agenda, and putting the best talent through, regardless of whether the talent in question lines up with the preordained narrative you've decided this season is going to have ("Season of the Girls!"). It's really not that hard, guys.
Nick's song suggestions for the finale:
Since we can't provide suggestions for Simon Fuller's Choice or the Coronation Song, we'll simply offer our thoughts on which song the contestants' should reprise.
Kree: "Up to the Mountain." Performing this song will remind people why they fell in love with her. Honestly, I can't even think of a secondary choice. It's just staggeringly clear that this should be the song. That said, if she absolutely has to pick something else, I think she should do the slowed down, stripped back acoustic version of "See You Again" that she performed at her hometown visit. There wouldn't be a dry eye in the house.
Candice: Since she only just did "Somewhere," the obvious choice is "Lovesong," and I don't see how she picks anything else. It's the performance of the season, and the only way I could see her opting not to perform it is if she thinks she can't possibly top it. In that case, she should probably go with "I Who Have Nothing," although my dark horse pick would be "Don't Make Me Over." Such a beautiful, understated performance that really makes a case for why she's one of the best vocalists this series has ever had.