Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 8 on American Idol took on the ’80s Wednesday night.

And, for most of the night, no one won.

Lackluster song choices. Lackluster performances.

At least for the first 90 minutes.  Fortunately, some end-of-the-evening solo efforts and a couple of dazzling duets helped salvage the evening.

But as for the overall tone of the night: That’s what you get, Nigel, when you make the cast sing songs from before they were born.

A current theme next week … please.

The recap:

Best of the Night:  My personal favorite was the duet of Stevie Nicks’ “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” by Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone.  They’d both taken the stage earlier in the evening and sounded just OK.  But they ripped into the Stevie Nicks’ tune (yes, Idol, she, not Tom Petty, recorded it) and changed it just enough to make it sound fresh.  The judges raved over the duet by Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet, which was worth raving over too.  But I thought the Phillip-Elise performance was just a little better.

Among the solos, the night belonged to Colton Dixon, who turned in his best vocal yet on Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”  It helped that he changed he arrangement so that it sounded fresh as well.  OK, he admitted “ripping off” that arrangement.  Who cares?  David Cook did the same thing back in Season 7, finding unique arrangements of well-known songs.  Colton still had to deliver, and deliver he did.

Runners-up:   Jessica Sanchez owned the stage, looked snazzy as always and sounded just fine on Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know.”  And Skylar Laine certainly deserves a mention for her rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings.”  It was a surprise song choice for her.  She turned in her best vocal yet.  And my guess is she earned another week in the competition with that performance.

Worst of the Night:  Who in the world decided Colton Dixon and Skylar Laine should sing “Islands in the Stream?”  They should be fired.  Do not judge Colton by his performance of that song.  Skylar sounded OK.  But, really, they should not be singing together.

Among the solo performances, I doled out the worst grades to Hollie Cavanagh and Deandre Brackensick.  I guess you have to have a special set of ears, preferrably adorned by earrings, to appreciate Deandre.  And it helps if your name is Jennifer Lopez.  Mine isn’t, and I apparently lack such ears.   As for Hollie, I’d been hoping she’d would go upbeat, and she tried with the theme from “Flashdance.”  By she didn’t look nearly as comfortable cavorting about the stage as most of her Idol colleagues.  I hate to sound like Paula Abdul from back in the day, but Hollie did look very pretty in that blue-fringed dress.

Please keep her:   After two great weeks, Elise fell flat on her solo.  “I Want to Know What Love Is” was just a flat-out bad song choice for her.  I worry because everytime Elise hasn’t been spot-on, she’s landed in the bottom three.  My worries are alleviated a bit because I think she’s one contestant the judges just might be willing to use their save on.

Baffled by the judges: First off, what’s up with Jennifer Lopez and her affection for Deandre. Can she hear? Or is she blinded by the hair?

And what in the world was Steven Tyler talking about Wednesday night.  To Deandre: “You’ve become who you are.”   To Joshua Ledet: “It wasn’t too much over the top and it was way over the top.”  Huh?

What should happen Thursday:  Deandre Brackensick should head home.  Wednesday’s vocal might have been his best, but we’re five weeks into the finals now, and he’s yet to turn in a memorable performance.  The rest of the bottom three, based solely on last night, Elise and Hollie.

What will happen Thursday:  Hollie will go home.   While Deandre got a free pass from the judges — plus repeated glowing endorsements from Jennifer — Hollie received criticism from all three judges.  And she probably won’t be considered worth saving by this panel of judges.

If you missed the song-by-song blog, head here.

The grades are as follows:

Elise Testone & Phillip Phillips: “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” — A-
Colton Dixon: “Time After Time” — A-
Jessica Sanchez:  “How Will I Know” — B+
Joshua Ledet & Jessica Sanchez: “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me” — B+
Skylar Laine: “Wind Beneath My Wings” — B
Joshua Ledet: “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” — B
Phillip Phillips: “That’s All” — B-
Elise Testone: “I Want to Know What Love Is” — C+
Hollie Cavanagh: “Flashdance … What a Feeling” — C
Deandre Brackensick: “I Like It” — C
Hollie Cavanagh & Deandre Brackensick: “I’m So Excited” — C