American Idol on FOX: When Were the Finalists Born?
With Kellie Pickler gone we were left with five finalists – Chris Daughter, Paris Bennett, Taylor Hicks, Elliott Yamin and Katharine McPhee. It’s getting down to the nitty gritty on American Idol, and the remaining idols have to perform at their very best. This week the American Idols performed songs from the year they were born, and we even got to see cute baby pictures of them.
Elliott was the first to perform on American Idol on FOX this week, and he kicked off the show with a little bit of George Benson. The year was 1978, and the song was “On Broadway.” In addition to learning that Elliott was born in 1978, we also learned that when he’s nervous he chews his fingernails. Yeap, you’re right Elliott, that’s a bad habit, and in my opinion, a very nasty habit too, but we all have bad habits, and mine is just as nasty if not as bad as Elliott’s. I know you’re dying to know aren’t you? I’ll tell ya, because I know I’m not the only one on this Earth with the same bad habit. That’s right friends, I smoke nasty old cigarettes, and I wish I had NEVER picked them up.
Despite Elliott’s bad habits, the judges seemed to like his performance this week. Well, Randy and Paula did, but SimonâÂ?¦well, Simon was just being his usual self this week.
Randy told Elliott, “It started a little rough for me, Man, but by the middle of the song you got it together, Man. It showed that beautiful tender that you got. Very nice.”
Paula told Elliott she agreed with Randy, and she added, “you have such a rich voice. Way to go.”
Simon disagreed with both, he told Elliott, “I don’t think that was your best performance. I thought it was a bit disjointed, and I think you’re very luck you got two songs tonight.” And, like usual, the audience booed Simon’s comments.
Next up was the youngest of the American Idols, Paris. Paris was born on August 1, 1988, and her choice of song from that year was “Kiss.” After her performance, Randy’s comments were: “I thought it was nice. I like it.” Paula told Paris, “you know Paris, the whole country knows you can sing your butt off. For me, I love when you sing songs from the past eras.” Simon continued his usual behavior by telling Paris he thought her performance was “screechy and annoying.” However, Paris didn’t seem to mind Simon telling her she was “screechy and annoying,” because she smiled her youthful smile and said, “I thank him.”
“You thank him? What are you thinking, thanking him?” Seacrest asked Paris.
“I just thank him. I love all the opinions,” Paris answered.
“A politician Ladies and Gentleman,” Seacrest ended.
Chris was up next, and when viewing the pictures of him when he was young he said, “apparently at a young age I was destined to be a musician. I always wanted to be in the spotlight, and here I am, livin my dream.”
When Chris took the stage to perform his first song for the night, he went back to his usual rocker style. He chose to rock us with “Renegade,” from the year 1970. And not only did he rock us, but he also rocked the judges. As a matter of fact, Chris was the first American Idol in this week’s show to get a positive comment from Simon.
Randy told Chris, “Chris, you dog, all I can say man is, America we got a real hot one tonight!”
Paula’s comments to Chris were: “Outstanding! You’re already setting it far apart from anyone else. So…So…You’re on your path.”
Simon’s first positive comments tonight on Chris’ performance were: “For me Chris, that was a million times better than the first two performances. Great Choice of song.”
Katharine informed us that when she came out in the delivery room she didn’t cry. Katharine was born in 1984, and her song choice for that year was “Against All Odds.”
Randy’s comments on Katharine’s performance, after he told her she looked amazing: “I don’t know if the key was exactly right for you. There was some problems for you in the beginning, but I thought it got okay at the end.”
Paula also complimented Katharine on her fashion by telling her she looked “stunning,” and she also told her, her dress was “lovely.” However, after complimenting Katharine on her fashion, Paula burst the bubble by saying, “not my favorite performance from you.”
Simon didn’t care for Katharine’s performance this week either. He said, “Well Katharine, as you know. I got it completely wrong last week, and I did apologize. However, tonight, in part, it was a mess, and the song ran away from you basically. So I agree with Paula and Randy, it was by far one of your best performances, but you got two songs, so you’re a lucky girl.”
Before Seacrest was about to go on to Taylor, Simon interrupted to correct himself on the comments he gave to Katharine.
“If I said it was one of your best performances, it wasn’t. That’s what I was trying to say,” Simon told Katharine.
Katharine, looking confused, responded with, “I didn’t think you said that.” Then throwing her arm up she said, “Oh gosh, we’re going back to last week.”
Finally, Seacrest, sounding like Meredith from “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” asked Simon, “is that your final answer?”
“Yes,” Simon answered. Simon may have said it was his final answer, but I can assure you he didn’t win the million dollar prize.
Then, after the confusion, it was on to Taylor who admitted to having many different hair colors over the years. And when it came time for him to perform he boogied to “Play That Funky Music,” from the year 1976. Wow, I thought he was much older than that, but it turns out he’s only one year younger than me. No biggy, I’m just thankful my hair isn’t that gray. However, I do have a few gray hairs, and I hope that’s all I ever get. I don’t think my few gray hairs came from age either, I think I developed them from three children and a husband (*winks*).
Randy told Taylor, “Dude, I know you had a good time dog, but I mean that was another wild choice from you. I felt like I was in a bar and I had a couple, but you know, uh, WOW!”
Paula told Taylor, “you dressed the part, you had fun. This is the authentic Taylor that we love.”
Simon’s comments for Taylor weren’t as pleasant as Randy and Paula’s. “For me it was like, and I’ve said this before, like a horrible, horrible wedding performance.” After the audience booed Simon he continued by saying “I’m sorry. Sorry. I liked the end, when you collapsed.”
I have to disagree with Simon. I thought Taylor’s performance was awesome, and his grand finale, when he collapsed on the floor, was even better.
Second Chance Performances
For the contestants’ second performance, American Idol gave them a choice of choosing a top ten song from any of this week’s billboard charts, and starting the second round off was Elliott. Elliott chose Michael Buble’s “Home” for his second song.
Randy told Elliott, “nice choice baby, nice.”
Elliott seemed to really touch Paula’s heart again. “We got to really hear and feel the richness of your voice. It was great.”
Simon commented more on the words of Elliott’s song choice than he did Elliott’s singing ability. “I’m not sure I would have chosen a lyric saying ‘I want to go home tonight.’ I’m worried about that song for you; because I’m not sure it has enough of a hook, enough of a ‘wow’ factor. I’m just a little bit concerned.”
Paris chose the number one song from the R&B charts – “Be Without You.” “A couple pitchy things here and there, but all-in-all, you rocked it,” Randy told Paris.
“I love your voice. I was hoping that you would do your old Paris flip on it though,” Paula commented.
“Actually, I think you got that wrong, Paula. I think she did rather well with that,” Simon corrected.
Chris wasn’t so quick to impress the judges with his second song (“I Dare You”). Personally, Chris’ song didn’t impress me much either, and I somewhat enjoyed his first song. Of course, as you already know from my previous writings on American Idol, I’m not really crazy about Chris. One of my favorites was voted off last week, and my two other favorites are Paris and Taylor, and for now, they’re still a part of the competition. And to be real honest about my favorites, I like Paris better than Kellie. The reason, Kellie didn’t really appeal to me much later in the show. She can sang, but at times, there were just songs she didn’t perform all that well, and I think Paris has a much better singing voice than Kellie.
Anyway, back to Chris’ performance. Randy told him, “your voice was starting to give out a little bit. I’m not sure I loved that song for you. It was just alright for me.”
Paula told Chris she still loved him, but she said “maybe the song wasn’t my favorite.”
Simon agreed with Randy on Chris’ voice giving out, but he did tell Chris his first song was great.
Katharine showed us her erotic side when she knelt and tenderly grinded the stage with her performance of “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.”
“That’s more like the Katharine that I grew to love,” Randy told Katharine.
“I loved the choreography and the little intimacy. A much better performance,” Paula added.
“It was different – it was younger – good choice of song,” Simon complimented.
I agree with Paula, I also liked the choreography. I had never heard the song before, but I really enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, the two gentlemen that accompanied Katharine by playing the box drums made Katharine’s performance very entertaining. Katharine’s performance this week is sure to win her votes from the men.
Taylor ended this week’s American Idol on FOX with the Beetles’ “Something.” Taylor’s second performance didn’t call for as much movement as his first, but the judges seemed to enjoy it too.
Randy told Taylor, “you chose a great song.”
Paula said to Taylor, “you didn’t over sing it. You did great.”
Simon said, “It’s very easy to forget, with all your bombiness, that you’re a very, very good singer.”
Be sure to watch American Idol on FOX tomorrow night to find out who will be the next American Idol voted off.
