Am I dreaming?
Did that just happen?
Did Cute Boy Idol really send home a cute boy?
Finally?
Remarkably enough, it happened. Paul McDonald’s run on Idol is over.
Haley Reinhart has survived to sing another week.
For the first time since the finals started, American Idol voters did not eliminate a female Thursday night.
Yip, yip hooray. Especially after the way Haley sounded during that duet with Casey Abrams.
And, you know what, Idol rediscovered the secret to an entertaining results show.
You start with high-quality performers (in this case, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Aldean and Rihanna).
You cut the filler segments that look, smell and scream filler (like TMZ and Gwen Stefani from last week).
You let the Idol hopefuls sing as much as possible. Last night, we got two excellent duets and a decent quartet.
Heck, Rob Reiner was much funnier than Russell Brand.
Even the Ford video shoot was cute.
Almost enough to wipe away the memory of last week’s madness.
Note that I said almost.
On to the recap:
Deserved his fate: Paul McDonald. When the Season 10 finals started, I had him ranked fifth behind only Casey, Lauren, Pia and Scotty. After all, he’d been performing with bands that had already released three CDs or EPs. I fell in love with a song called “Dreamin’ Alone” the first time I heard him sing it. But as good as Paul’s studio tracks sounded, he never created a magical moment on the Idol stage. Most of his performances, including Wednesday’s, struck me as so-so. And, of course, his ouster is going to fuel the theory that the order of performance matters on Idol. He sang first. Now he’s gone.
Stock rising: James Durbin. He decided to ignore Jimmy Iovine’s advice this week. He decided to sing “Heavy Metal” on Idol, which hasn’t seen a whole lot of heavy metal over the years. “Give metal a chance,” was James’ plea. Then he made it work. Big time. Look, I’m not sure James proved much vocally with Wednesday’s performance. But it was a flat-out good time. If I had to pick right now, I’d put James in the Idol finals alongside Scotty McCreery, who’s been solid every week.
Very, very lucky: That would be Haley. She survived the curse of being a female on Idol. She survived getting the only negative feedback from the judges Wednesday night. She survived selecting a song that wasn’t exactly suited to her vocal style. Someone, please, give this gal some guidance. With the right material, she’s a star in the making. That vocal on “Moaning” was stupedous. Fact is, I see more star potential in Haley than in Lauren Alaina at this point.
On the bubble: Stefano Langone. He visited the bottom three for the third time this week and for the second straight week. He lacks the distinctive sound many of the remaining Idols have. He’s not nearly as much fun to watch as Haley and James. At this point — sorry, Jennifer — he looks more like a pretender than a contender. Especially if he keeps singing ballads.
Stock sinking: He escaped the bottom three, but I’m not sensing a ton of support out there for Jacob Lusk. He has all the vocal prowess to contend for the Idol crown. But he seems determined to display that vocal prowess on every word of every song. Honestly, I haven’t enjoyed a Jacob Lusk performance yet. He got great reviews of his “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” But, honestly, haven’t you heard many better vocals on that song? Including one by Clay Aiken back in Season Two?
Coming tomorrow: A look forward to next week’s show and a photo gallery from tonight’s.
Coming this weekend: New rankings for the remaining seven.
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