Idol Chatter & Voice Views

This week, Idol makes one of its cruelest cuts of the season.

Perhaps it’s second-cruelest, after the cut to get down to the 10 singers who make the American Idol summer tour.

The singers who survive this week get one of those coveted trips home over the weekend. There will be parades, visits to old haunts, visits with former teachers, even a mini-concert.

The contestant eliminated this week gets to go home too, but in a much less festive fashion.

So you can bet voters in San Diego, Calif.; McKinley, Texas; Westlake, La.; and Leesburg, Ga., will be voting a little more vigorously than normal after tonight’s show.

Speaking of which, each of the contestants will take the stage three times tonight, and we now know what they’ll be singing, but not who will sing what.

The California Dreamin’ portion of the show will be feature performances of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Steal Away” by Etta James, “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban; and “Faithfully” by Journey.

The songs-you-wish-you-wrote portion will include performances of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” by Jennifer Holliday, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt; “Volcano” by Damien Rice; and “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” by James Brown.

For duets, there will be Maroon 5’s “This Love” and the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.”

First up, the California Dreamin’ songs …

Phillip Phillips:   He’s the guy who needs a strong showing this week.  He might not have visited the Idol stools of danger yet, but he had a rough outing last Wednesday.  And hasn’t been very impressive in the past month.  He’ll sing “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” accompanied by the blond sax player Idol trots out from time to time.  Phillip’s doing a straight version of the song, singing the melody and everything.  He’s adding a few Phillip flourishes.  He’s picked a song that doesn’t require him to strain for high notes he can’t hit (i.e. “Time of the Season.”)  All in all, way short of magical, but better than last week.  Grade: B-

Hollie Cavanagh:  I find myself rooting for this gal, partly because I remember that rough but brave audition last year when she broke down in tears them recomposed herself.  Not thrilled with this song choice, but we’ll see.  She’s singing Journey’s “Faithfully.”  It’s a good thing Hollie added those big notes at the end, because until then that simply wasn’t a song well suited to showing off that big voice.  That said, she was spot-on vocally throughout.  Grade: B.

Joshua Ledet:  He’s dedicating his song, “Raise Me Up,” to his father for all of his sacrifices.   Hmm, I’d forgotten Joshua tried out last year and didn’t even make it to Hollywood.  Now he’s the best singer in 50 years.  What I’m most impressed by is the control Joshua is showing in his recent performances.  He did it again on that song, going through the first half without taking it to church, then adding the ol’ Joshua flair at the end.  Not as special as I thought it might be, but solid for sure.  Grade: B+

Jessica Sanchez:  That’s cute.  “I literally can’t do anything but sing. That’s why I’m here,” says Jessica.  Way to show a little personality, Jessica.  She’ll sing Etta James’ “Steal Away.”  Well, we just saw the best vocal of the night so far, and it looks like Jessica will get a chance to make the last impression tonight.  Not sure that was the young song Jimmy Iovine was looking for, but Jessica avoided a tight white dress and still looked like a star. More importantly, she sounded like one.  Grade: A-

Duets

Phillip Phillips and Joshua Ledet:  They’ll perform Maroon 5’s “This Love.”  Oh, my, Phllip does not sound good on this.  Not sure it’s the best song choice for Joshua either.  If anything, this performance is showing that Phillip isn’t in the same league vocally with the other singers remaining on Idol.  Grade: C-

 Hollie Cavanagh and Jessica Sanchez:  They’ll perform “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles.  In swings.  This might be an Idol first.  Heck, I’d be too afraid of falling out.  And that was just OK.  Randy Jackson says he didn’t get the best from either of them.  He’s probably right. Another crappy song choice, honestly.  But, Randy, they both sounded better than Phillip. Grade: C.

Group song:   Now everyone will sing Foreigner’s “Waiting.”  Who picked these songs?  This is all over the place. Everyone took a turn sounded … well, a whole lot less than Idol worthy.  Grade: F.

Songs they wish they wrote

Phillip Phillips:  Just knew this was Phillip’s song choice.  He’s singing “Volcano.”  Interesting. It’s a song a lot of folks won’t know.  And I’m not sure it was a wise song choice.  Steven says he never heard him sing that way before and that it “was beautiful.”  Jennifer says “not many people could have pulled that off.”  Jennifer called it was of Idol’s most “poignant moments.”  Clearly there’s a script that says: You must love this song by Phillip.  Sorry, Phillip fans, I did not.  Grade: C.

Hollie Cavanagh:  The gal from Texas is biting off a lot, singing Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”  Jimmy says she must do magnificent because she’s the dark horse.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a magnificent vocal.  Far short of it, actually.  this is my least favorite Hollie vocal, and it’s coming at the worst time.  I think she might have tackled a song that didn’t quite fit her voice.  Grade: C-

Joshua Ledet:  He’s going to sing “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World.”  And this one is a tribute to his mom.  Hmm, Juliet Simms nailed this a couple weeks ago on The Voice.  We start off with a parade of violins.  And Joshua casually strolling down a set of stairs.  Well, no doubt this kid can sing.  He’s nailing every note again and adding in all sorts of Joshua bits.  OK, but he’s also going a little over the top in spots.  But, hey, brilliant  note at the end.  And the judges give him another standing ovation.  Cue up the over-the-top praise.  I liked Juliet’s version better, but that was very good, just a wee bit too much in spots. Grade: A-

Jessica Sanchez:  She’s singing “And I’m Telling You.”  Wow, where does that big voice come from.   And talk about being emotionally invested in a song. Jessica is having no problem connecting with this song. Clearly she’s relating it to her Idol experience.  That ending was fabulous.  Now let’s hear what the judges have to say.  Wow. Talk about a show-stopper.  Grade: A