Idol Chatter & Voice Views

For three years, I’ve been begging for Jimmy Iovine critiques on show night.

I mean, what good does it do for us to find out what he thought of a performance after all the votes are in.

Lo and behold, Wednesday night, there he was, standing backstage, telling us what he thought of each performance as soon as the judges stopped talking.

Angie Miller performs Wednesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Except then he disappeared. For the entire second half of the show.

Why? Who knows.

It’s so typical of American Idol. Even when they get something right, they can’t get it quite right.

I would love to have heard Jimmy’s assessment of Angie Miller’s “Halo.” And of Kree’s attempt at Celine Dion.

Instead, I guess we’ll have to wait until Thursday night.

After all the votes are in. Ugh!

The recap:

Best of the Night: Here’s what I thought of Angie’s “Halo.” She’s in it to win it. She can sing the phone book. It might have been one of the best Idol performances ever. Oops, my name isn’t Randy. In truth, it wasn’t one of the best performances ever. Angie can’t sing the phone book because I didn’t think her first-round vocal was all that great. But “Halo” was the best performance of the night and one of the best this season. Not to mention a very brave song choice, even if Angie didn’t try to mimic some other Idols by singing a Mariah song in front of Mariah.

Runner-up: I liked the first-round performances better than the second. And, among all of those, I liked Kree’s version of The Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels” the best. Kree has yet to deliver a subpar vocal in the finals, but this was one of her finest, punctuated by a big ending. Also worth noting: The original take on “Straight Up” by Candice Glover deserved the award for most unique arrangement of the night and Janelle Arthur’s performance of “When I Call Your Name” was very nice.

Worst of the night: The “everyone-must-love-Amber” campaign was full steam ahead again on Wednesday, even after she turned in a very mediocre performance of “Without You,” a song Mariah covered in the year Amber was born. Only Nicki dared speak the truth, admitting it wasn’t very good. The worst song choice of the night came from Janelle. For her diva song, she was allowed to cover Dolly Parton, which was gracious of Idol. Then Janelle blew the opportunity by singing “Dumb Blonde,” which isn’t one of Dolly’s better or better known songs.

Janelle Arthur performs Wednesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Please keep her: Janelle. Nicki predicted she’d be in danger Thursday night, and she’s probably correct. But I love this girl’s spirit and her sense of comraderie with her fellow contestants. Who suggested Candice consider singing “Straight Up?” Janelle, of course. Beyond that, Janelle is a better performer and better singer than Amber Holcomb.

Who should go home: Amber. See the line above. Consider Amber’s performances since the finals began. Do you remember any of them? I don’t. And while she was better on her show-closing Barbra Streisand cover, the vocal would still rate no better than the third best in round two.

Who will go home: If Janelle lands at the bottom of the voting, I suspect she’ll go home. I don’t know that she has enough support on the judging panel to get a unanimous save. If Amber is the low vote-getter, I’m predicting she will be saved and no one will go home.

After a brilliant vocal, Kree Harrison found herself in the middle of a Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey dispute. (FOX Photo)

They do talk: For the first time since the finals began six weeks ago, Mariah and Nicki spoke to one another during the live show. For the sake of history, let’s note the it occurred 26 minutes into the Top 5 performance show, as Kree’s version of “She Talks to Angels” was being critiqued. Nicki, speaking last, said she disagreed with Keith and Mariah. No, Mariah said, they really agreed, at least she and Nicki did. Nicki was having none of it, insisting that she really did disagree with Mariah. Then she cut off Mariah with a hilarious “Simmer down, sir.” Perhaps Nicki was just having trouble figuring out what Mariah meant when she was talking about Kree’s performance. Sometimes that’s been known to happen when Mariah talks, bringing us to …

Mariah’s flub of the week: She kept the rambling under control. She just got very confused about the origin of her own songs. After Amber sang “Without You,” Mariah thanked Harry Nilsson for writing such a wonderful song. Well, Mariah, like you, Harry covered the song. But he didn’t write it. It was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the British rock group Badfinger and first released on their 1970 “No Dice” album.

Poor, Mariah.

Can’t we let Jimmy have her seat at the judges’ table so he can’t disappear mid-show?

For the song-by-song grades from Wednesday night, go here.