Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Joshua Ledet tweeted that he plans to “shock” America tonight.

I hope he means with his performance, not his look. Otherwise, we’re in for another night of Tommy Hilfiger clips.

Skylar Laine has explained why she wears boots almost all the time, but not always when she’s on stage.

Most of her boots have short heels, she writes on Twitter. If your goal is to look taller and thinner on TV, high heels do the trick.

I don’t think she needed Tommy to teach her that.

Tommy or not, we should be in for more current music tonight as the remaining Idols get to sing songs by their idols.

As usual, I’ll be grading the performances as the evening progresses, then posting a recap blog after the show ends.

He’s back — Tommy Hilfiger. Please, Nigel Lythgoe, get him the heck off this show.

The good news, the guest mentor is Stevie Nicks.

Colton Dixon: Stevie’s first suggestion to Colton: “don’t cut your hair.”  Take that, Tommy.  Colton is going to sing “Everything” by Lifehouse and says it’s his favorite worship song.   Very sleepy opening, but now the tempo picks up, and so do Colton’s vocals.  There’s no lack of passion in this performance, that’s for sure.   And Colton drops to his knees, as if in prayer for the end of this song.  Is he taking lessons from Tim Tebow or something?   Anyway, I’m still not a huge fan of Colton’s voice, but that was a decent way to open the night.  Steven compliments Colton on his “star quality.”  Randy proclaims that Colton will be a  contender for the crown.  Really, Randy?  What makes you think that?  Grade: B-

Skylar Laine:  She’s taking on a big chore — singing Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder and Lead.”  Miranda kicks butt on this song.  This song is certainly closer to what Skylar should be singing than the songs she’s performed over the last three weeks.  But folks who are familiar with the original version are not going to be as impressed.  She hasn’t changed the song a bit; she slipped a little on the words in one spot and basically redid Miranda’s version of the song.  That said, this was Skylar’s best performance since the finals started.  Grade: C+

Colton Dixon, Elise Testone, Phillip Phillips:  Interesting grouping.  The show’s two most popular guys with Elise.  They’ll do a Stevie Nicks melody — “Landslide,” “Edge of Seventeen” and “Go Your Own Way,” with Colton, Elise and Phillip taking turns singing lead.  Colton sounded better than he did earlier.  Elise sounded great, and gets kudos for changing the song up a little.  Phillip was good, too, though he could tone down the facial expressions.  Grade: A-

Heejun Han:  OK, he’s taking a completely different approach this week, slowing it down and getting serious with Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You.”  It’s a sensitive performance for sure, and it will come off as a decent vocal compared to his last two.  But match him against the other Idols, and he’s still overmatched.  He hit a couple of nice notes, but missed a few, too.  And some of the lyrics were pretty darn muddled. Still, this strategy might buy him another week.  Grade: C-

OK, there’s any silly song contest. The best news — the winner DOESN’T have to sing the song.

Hollie Cavanagh:   She’s doing Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel.”  Another big challenge.  And Hollie looks fabulous tonight.  Much better than last week’s fashion disaster courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger.  Interesting song choice, because I haven’t pictured Hollie as anything like a country artist.  But it’s a power ballad, and that’s her specialty.  And it offered her a chance to show off her big voice.  Jennifer calls it one of Hollie’s best performances because of the way she connected with the song.  Steven wasn’t a fan of the song choice and calls it just OK.  I sorta agree with Steven though, she mimicked the Carrie version, and wasn’t going to make a huge impression doing that. Grade: B-

Carrie Underwood just weighed in tweeting — “You were amazing tonight! You meant every word…made me teary-eyed. I’m honored you picked my song to sing!”

Deandre Brackensick:  Jimmy says Deandre is one of the contestants in danger tonight.  But he brings the judges to their feet with his version of “Sometimes I Cry.”   Jennifer is urging fans to vote for Deandre.  “I need to hear this voice some more.”  OK, I appreciate that not everyone can sing like that.  But, gotta say, it was my least favorite performance of the night.  But he gets a better grade than Heejun because he’s got more vocal talent.  Grade: C

Jessica Sanchez:  The contestant who’s the frontrunner among the girls is going to sing Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams.”  OMG, she is doing a sensational job with this song.  Not sure I loved the doors, but I loved everything else about that performance.  Simply brilliant.  She changed the song and won.  That folks, was a moment.  Randy calls her one of the best singers he’s heard in “many a year.”  Grade: A.

Deandre Brackensick, Heejun Han and Joshua Ledet:  Theyll do a Michael Jackson medley.  OK, this might be my least favorite version of “Rock With You” I’ve heard.  Now they launch into “Pretty Young Thing.”  Putting Joshua alongside Heejun in a group performance like this is almost cruel.  Jennifer calls it perfect.  Not sure what world she’s living in.  Grade: D+

Phillip Phillips:  Stevie says if he was a friend of hers and Lindsey’s back in the 1970s, all three of them would have been invited to join Fleetwood Mac.  Phillip is singing “Still Raining” by Johnny Lang.  And he’s doing a great job too.  In fact, I think this is going to be his best performance.  Dang.  Forget I think.  That was by far Phillip Phillips’ best performance.  He absolutely slayed that song.  Superb.  He’s getting well deserved rave reviews too.  Grade: A-

Ah, look, it’s Jordin Sparks and Jason Derulo sitting together in the Idol audience.

Joshua Ledet:  He’s going to sing “Without You” by Mariah Carey.  Another risky song choice.  I supposed that’s the shock.  No doubt, Joshua can sing.  And he’s doing a very nice version of this song.  But he just pulled a Jacob Lusk, going too over the top on a song that doesn’t need or require all those vocal calisthenics.  He did pour more emotion into his performance tonight.  The judges love him.  Jennifer calls him a “phenom.”  On an average night of Idol, he might have been the best.  Tonight, that’s probably the third-best performance.  Grade: B.

Skylar Laine, Hollie Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez:   Now we get a Madonna medley.  They start off with “Like a Prayer,” and the medley also includes “Borderline” and “Express Yourself.”  The gals look great.  Not thrilled hearing Skylar sing Madonna.  And I wish Jessica had a longer solo.  She sounded great in the opening.  Grade: B

Elise Testone:  She’ll sing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” a song she says she’s performed before with her band.  And Stevie tells Elise not to change a thing.  And she says that if she needed a singer, she’d hire her in a second.  Wow, look at Elise Testone.  Sway those hips, drag that mike stand, rock out, girl.  This is what we need more of on Idol.  Contestants cutting loose and doing what they do best. Not being held back by silly themes that don’t suit them.  Another great performance from Elise.  Just super.  And you can tell she’s thrilled by that little jig she did at the end.  Grade: A.

And I’ll be back in a few with a recap of another excellent night on Idol.