Idol Chatter & Voice Views

When Rock Week turned into the train wreck Simon predicted it might, but won’t admit it did, I joked that the best rock performance all night was a snippet of Kelly Clarkson singing “Stronger” (aka “What Doesn’t Kill You”)  in a car commercial.

Well guess who will be performing on American Idol  — oops, The X Factor — Wednesday night?

And guess what she’ll be singing?

Yep, it will be Kelly Clarkson, with the live performance debut of “Stronger.”  Bruno Mars will also perform, which means we’re guaranteed two fine performances this week.

As for tonight … well, I’m calling for an Astro boycott for starters.

I don’t care how well he does tonight.  I don’t care how well he does from this point forward.

The guy cannot be the 2011 winner of X Factor USA.   As I said in my blog ranking the top nine, last-week’s show-ending tantrum proved two things:  Astro isn’t prepared to handle the pressure or the responsibility that would come with winning this show.

And two acts go home tomorrow, including the low vote-getter automatically.

That means Astro’s fate is in our hands.  No votes.  Zero support.  Let’s do what Simon didn’t have the guts to do.

Rachel Crow: Rachel was horrible last week.  In fact, she’s only had one good performance in the four weeks since the live shows began.  I wouldn’t be at all sorry to see her be one of the two to go home tomorrow night.  Oh no, what have they done to poor Rachel now.  She started this performance well, but she’s drowned out as soon as the chorus kicks in.  She’s singing “I Believe,” and not very well.  Too often, she shouts more than she sings.  Another Rachel Crow performance I never want to relive.  That said, I’ll give her an A for attitude after what we saw from her young counterpart.  Grade: C-.

Marcus Canty: Hooray.  We get just Marcus Canty.  Minus all those dancers.  Minus all the dancing.  He’s singing “A Song for Mama.”  Nice thought.  But he’s so overcome with emotion, I fear it’s affecting his vocal, which, honestly, was not nearly as special as I was hoping it would be.  Touching moment.  The question: Will voters buy in?  The judges gave Marcus rave reviews, better than he deserved actually. Grade: B-

Melanie Amaro: She’s thanking God with her song because everyone else has let her down at least once.  Wow, the Idol makeover has Melanie looking great, doesn’t it?  She’s singing “World’s Greatest.”  And, of course, it’s the best vocal of the night so far.  Not sure that was my favorite Melanie vocal.  But she sure showed up with attitude tonight.  For the first time, it seems like she’s opening up on this show.  I agree with Paula, she didn’t need the choir.  Grade: B+

Chris Rene: He’s thanking the rehab counselor who he says saved his life.  Now he’s going to grace us with a version of “Let It Be.”  Pretty sure this won’t be Brooke White special. Remember, when she slayed this song on Idol.  Instead, we get Chris trying to sing and semi rapping with LoveLife flashing on the background behind him.  That was beyond hokey.  Grade: D.

I’m telling you X Factor fans, I’m about to go ballistic if they reward Astro’s tantrum last week with the pimp spot this week.

Lakoda Rayne: Nice to get to know the girls who make up Lakoda Rayne a little better.  They’re going to sing Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me.”  Carrie’s opening on that song was very shaky.  These gals just can’t start a song strong, can they?  Love Taylor’s version of that song.  Not sure it’s well-suited to be a group number.  But, hey, they’re getting pretty good comments from the judges, which I hope means they hang around a couple more weeks given some of the competition on this show. Still, that was just mediocre.  Grade: C

LeRoy Bell: He’s also dedicating the song to his mother.  He’s singing “Arms of an Angel.”  Hey, look at that.  Someone on this show can sing.  That’s how it’s done.  Now, do not bring on a horde of backup singers.  Oh, no, here they come.  Why must this show screw up every potentially special vocal with background singers?  L.A. semi-bashes the performance.  Simon praises it.  Hey, that was without doubt one of the night’s best vocals.  Grade: B+

Astro: Whew, he doesn’t get the pimp spot.  I was worried there for a while.  Anyway, from me he gets a two-grade penalty for last week’s tantrum.  Regardless of how good the performances were, we’ve seen some contestants with great attitudes tonight. Do we really want the first X Factor USA winner to be a kid who’s acted like a jerk from the moment he set foot on the X Factor stage? Hmm, Astro says he got a lot of support after last week’s show.  Apparently he wasn’t reading the same Tweets I was.  OK, besides everything else, that was Astro’s weakest performance yet.  I would have given it a C.  A two-grade deduction leaves him with a big fat … Grade: F.

Drew Ryniewicz: The barefooted one really needs to take a risk and do something different this week.  I think she has the appeal to challenge for the X Factor title, but we’ve seen basically the same performance four straight weeks.  Nice, Drew is dedicating her performance to her best friend.  She’ll sing “Skyscraper.”  Thanks, Drew, for making tonight’s show worth watching.  Drew might have the most special voice on the show.  And, tonight, she seemed so much more connected with what she was singing. Best of the night so far. Grade: A-.

Josh Krajcik: He’ll dedicate his song to his daughter, and play piano while singing “Wild Horses.”  Hey, X Factor, thanks for keeping the background singers off the stage.  No doubt, the show saved the best two performances for last tonight.  That was a very solid performance, my favorite that he’s delivered to date.  Great vocal, delivered with passion. The best of the night. Grade: A.