Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wow, you could tell Idol had time to kill tonight with only 11 singers and a two-hour show.

I mean, we took time to watch half the audience hug Jacob Lusk.

Ryan took time to sample food Stefano’s mom cooked, then discussed it with Chef Gordon Ramsay.

And, in one of the more interesting clips of the night, we got to watch Scotty sink a basket from the mansion balcony.

But, wow, so much filler. The pace of that show was just way too leisurely.

Here’s a suggestion, Idol. How about letting the Idols sing more than 90 seconds of the song if we have to endure another two-hour episode next week?

On to the recap …

Best of the Night: Casey Abrams needs to give lessons in how to entertain an audience. The guy makes me smile, when he sings well and when he doesn’t. Last week, he didn’t. This week, he nailed “Heard it Through the Grapevine” — you just knew someone would sing that on Motown Week — and was just as entertaining as ever.

Runners-up: Pia Toscano just might have one of the most special female voices to grace the Idol stage in years. She proved it again Wednesday singing “All in Love is Fair.” Also fair was the criticism she got. That the constant string of ballads needs to end, and that standing behind a mike and being pitch perfect isn’t going to be enough to entertain a post-Idol audience. Because you just know Pia will be performing for an audience somewhere post-Idol.

Also worth noting this week: Paul McDonald. He might not have had the moment Jimmy Iovine talked about in the lead-up to his performance of “Tracks of My Tears.” But this time, he sounded good on stage. The last two weeks, the studio tracks were great, but the on-stage renditions didn’t come close to measuring up.

Deserves to go home: I guess it boils down to this. Whom would I rather see open the shows on the Idol summer tour? Haley Reinhart, with her sass and her bluesy voice.  Or Thia “Bore Me to Death” Megia acting like she’s performing for a pageant crowd every night. There’s no question: I’d rather see Haley. Which means I’ll be rooting for Thia Megia to go home this week, even though Haley had the shakiest vocal of the night. Here’s the deal with Thia: If you can’t bring more heat than that to “Heat Wave,” you don’t belong on this show.

Please keep her: Which means here’s hoping fans overlook that horrid opening of “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” and agree Haley Reinhart’s worth keeping around. For just one more week at least. I would have preferred to see her sing “Heat Wave.” The vocal might not have been perfect, but unlike Thia, she would have delivered the heat.

Baffled by the judges: The judges heaped all sorts of praise on Jacob Lusk; Steven even rushed on stage to hug him, which unleashed some sort of Ryan inspired hug-fest. I appreciate the vocals, I’m still not enjoying the performances. There just seems to be too much going on when Jacob is singing.

On the other hand, I appreciate what’s going on when James Durbin is on stage. Besides Casey, he’s the Idol who has the best stage presence at this point. But those vocals were not special, except when he shrieked. Speaking of which, he might have broken the Siobhan Magnus record for most shrieks in an Idol season. And all in one song. Let’s just say I wasn’t nearly as impressed as he judges.

Special Idol Chatter advice:

To Haley Reinhart — Leave the growling to Casey Abrams. When you’re dolled up that pretty, when you’re flashing that big smile, growling really doesn’t work.

To Pia Toscano — Please hang out with Casey Abrams all week. Because if you learn to entertain the way he does, and continue to sing the way you do, no one — absolutely no one — will be able to touch you in this competition.

To Paul McDonald — plead with the judges to let you play guitar every single week.  Beats aimlessly wandering and half dancing around the stage every time. Besides, you look so much more comfortable with the guitar.

Prediction for Thursday: The bottom three should be Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia and Haley Reinhart. And I fear Haley Reinhart has growled for the last time on the Idol stage, unless she does it again during her farewell song.

Song by song grades: (blog here)

Casey Abrams: Heard it Through the Grapevine, A-
Pia Toscano: All in Love is Fair, B+
Paul McDonald: Tracks of My Tears, B
Jacob Lusk: You’re All I Need to Get By, B-
Lauren Alaina: You Keep Me Hanging On, B-
Scotty McCreery: For Once in My Life, B-
Stefano Langone: Hello, B-
James Durbin, Living for the City, C+
Naima Adedapo: Dancing in the Streets, C
Haley Reinhart: You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, C-
Thia Megia: Heat Wave, C-