If nothing else, at least season 10 of "American Idol" recaptured some of the past magic of this show. Memorable contestants? check. Memorable judging moments? Check. Shock eliminations? check. At least two questionable top 12/13 judges choices? check.
Most importantly of all -- deliver a competition rock solid enough to make me tune in to every single performance episode from the Top 24 on? check.
At some point (probably Saturday or Sunday), I will recap last night's Season Finale, because it really was a damned fun two hours and eight minutes of television (as the Idol Season Finale nearly always is). However, I am not planning to recap the Top 2 Performance episode, because quite honestly, it bored me to the point of laying my head down on a pillow and drifting in and out of conscienceness. I'm not a huge fan of country music. Hearing two country artists do their thing is not necessarily entertainment to me. But I will say this -- Idol did deliver a solid final two. You can question which of the top four should have been in the top 2 (and God knows I strongly object to Lauren being the second best out of her, Scotty, James and Haley), but give Idol (and us, the voting public) credit for sending through the four best Idols in this competition to the Final Four. This was by far and away the strongest Final Four that Idol has ever had, and the only season that even comes close is Season Six. (No matter who you rank last of this year's Final Four, they all were better than LaKisha Jones from season six. Top three though, wow, tough call between this year and season six. I'd take Jordin over Scotty, I'd take Blake over Lauren, but Haley or James are so superior to Melinda that she pretty much makes the comparison a draw.)
So, here's my 25 favorite performances of the season, and yes, there were at least 25 from the Top 24 onward that had me standing and applauding and rewinding over and over again. Season nine had maybe 4 performances like that, and two of them were in the Top 3.
Honorable Mention: "The Climb" by Lauren Alaina, top 8 (Songs from the Movies). Also known as "the song that made the judges decide with seven weeks to go that Lauren must be in the Finals, so they began to trash any and all other female contestants remaining".
25. "Alone" by Jacob Lusk, top 12 (Year You Were Born). In hindsight, I liked this song way too much when it was performed. In hindsight, I completely overrated Jacob as a performer. But this was still a solid effort of a song that every Idol addict knows Carrie Underwood owns.
24. "Check Yes or No" by Scotty McCreery, top 2 (Finals). Whatever I may think of Scotty's complete lack of variety and complete refusal to challenge himself, you know what? This kid is going to sell a sh*t ton of records in the country market. He's tailor-made for that genre.
23. "Uprising" by James Durbin, top 7 (Songs from the 21st Century). From the moment he took the stage with a full on marching band behind him, it was a jaw-droppingly sweet spectacle.
22. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Casey Abrams, top 12 (Year You Were Born). Yes, musically, this was a vocal trainwreck on par with the worst disaster movie imaginable. But still, from a "wow!" perspective, this gamble paid off big time. It was fun to listen to. And isn't that at least some of what this show is about, giving a thoroughly enjoyable performance that the audience loves enough to keep you around for another week? I say yes.
21. "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Stefano Langone, top 12 (Year You Were Born). I honestly thought Stefano was a lock for the top three after this performance, coupled with his wild card effort that's coming up later in this countdown. Oy. The lesson? Whichever Idol I pick as my pony / puppy / rooster / rubber chicken in this competition, just assume they're going to flame out early.
20. "Anyway" by Lauren Alaina, top 4 (Songs that Inspire / Lieber and Stoller). This was her best effort of the season, I thought. My issue with Lauren is slightly different than my issue with Scotty. Lauren just kinda was stagnant. She never got better. If anything, she got worse as the season went along. That's why I preferred Haley to her in the Finals. But she was definitely Top 4 material, I can't argue too much about that.
19. "Up On the Roof" by Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery, top 6 (Carole King). Just a phenomenal effort from these two. Gotta be honest, and I say this as a biased, unabashed huge, and I mean hu-yuge fan of Carole King -- I had never heard a country version of this classic before. This was damned good. Probably should have been ranked higher than 19, honestly, but there really were 18 efforts I liked better. Told ya this was a rock solid season.
18. "Maybe I'm Amazed" by James Durbin, top 13 (Personal Idols). A fantastic version of an amazing song. I chose his exit performance from Top 4 Results Show as the Youtube! clip, simply because I liked it better.
17. "Maggie May" by Paul McDonald, top 24. Paul was the great "could have been" in this competition. If he'd pulled a Scotty and stuck to what he is really good at, if he'd gone with covering Brett Dennen, Damian Rice, the Avett Brothers, Ben Harper (aka "music that dominates Stevo's iPod"), I think he could have made a deep run. Instead, he tried to branch out, which is admirable, but it bit him in the ass in the end. Still, I'd buy a Paul McDonald cd. And I'd absolutely burn one down with him.
16. "Lately" by Stefano Langone, top 13 (Personal Idols). One of two songs by Stevie Wonder I will stop what I'm doing and just listen to anytime it comes on (the other one being "Overjoyed"). Phenomenal version of this classic that most people my age know better because Jodeci covered it. (And their version is beyond incredible too. Seriously, what the hell ever happened to Jodeci? I need to Google search this, inquiring minds want to know.)
(And according to Wikipedia, they're still around! They reformed the group in 2009 to do a performance with H-Town, another "what the hell happened to them?!?!" r&b group from the early 1990s. See, who says this site isn't informative! "Somebody rockin' knockin' da boots!")
15. "The Tracks of My Tears" by Paul McDonald, top 11 part one (Motown). Stripped it down to just a guitar and his voice, no band backup ... and then went up-tempo with it. Very solid performance.
14. "Bennie and the Jets" by Haley Reinhart, top 11 part two (Sir Elton John). The first signs of life out of Haley. She only got better from here (and she's got at least a couple more appearances coming up). Like with James a moment ago, I chose her final performance as the Youtube! clip, because it was that damned good.
13. "Don't Stop Believin'" by James Durbin, top 4 (Songs that Inspire / Lieber and Stoller). Yes, vocally ... well, for what might be the final time this season, vocally, he killed it. With the wrench, in the conservatory. But as a performance? Come on. This was the FUNNEST effort of the season by any of the contestants. You could tell he was having a blast up there, and to be fair, so was I watching this. You're damned right I was singing along to every word. The worst performance of this song is still better than 99.99% of anything ever recorded. How can you NOT have fun performing this song? If I had a voice that didn't sound like a cross between Screech from "Saved by the Bell" and Peter Brady when he hit puberty, and people would pay to listen to me sing in concert? You're damned right I'd perform this every night.
(And please, for the love of God, don't tell me I have to explain to half my readers who Peter Brady is. Please. If you don't know "The Brady Bunch", there really is absolutely no hope for (joe pesci voice) utes of today. Oh Christ, I bet I now have to explain the "Joe Pesci Voice" as well. God bless it, I am freaking old.)
12. "You've Got a Friend" by Scotty McCreery, top 6 (Carole King). If any performance along the way all but ensured Scotty was reaching the final, it had to be this one. He absolutely owned this song. This might have been his best effort overall. (There's two by him I liked better, but vocally, this might have been his finest hour).
11. "I (Who Have Nothing)" by Haley Reinhart, top 4 (Songs That Inspire / Lieber and Stoller). By far and away the best performance on Idol's worst night of the season. I honestly was kinda creeped out by the performance. I totally can picture Haley stalking her man in a restaurant window, ala Julia Roberts in "Something to Talk About". Great performance that just missed my top 10.
10. "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" by Scotty McCreery, top 3. Phenomenally good. And a rare moment for Scotty -- he actually looked like he was having fun during this performance. Usually he looks like me in a pew on Sunday morning while he's on stage -- anything but "just happy to be here", but he actually seemed to be enjoying himself in this performance. Good for him.
9. "I Need You Now" by Stefano Langone, wildcard round. By far and away my pony / puppy / rooster / rubber chicken's best effort. Not my favorite by him, but this was his best effort.
8. "Love Potion Number 9" by James Durbin, top 4 (Songs that Inspire / Lieber and Stoller). Say what you want about James, and certainly, he had the worst night of the four in the top 4, but at least he puts on a show. I absolutely would pay to see James in concert. He's entertaining. Does Scotty have a better voice? Probably. But I wouldn't pay to watch Scotty in concert, because I'm picturing myself snoring away in the ninth row as he delivers his 8th straight slow country ballad. James? Impossible to fall asleep. Something crazy, new and different every couple minutes. You gotta like that. Scotty will probably be the most successful of this year's Idols (although I actually think Paul is going to surprise people with how well he does post-Idol). But James is going to be the one that Idol fans remember the best from this season.
7. "Rolling in the Deep" by Haley Reinhart, top 7 (Songs from the 21st Century). If "Bennie and the Jets" was the first sign that Haley might have a run in her, this song left no doubt.
6. "She Believes in Me" by Scotty McCreery, top 3. My favorite Scotty effort of the season. No, it probably wasn't his best, and it probably wasn't as good as I make it out to be. But for one song at least, Scotty pushed the limits of his range, and showed that yes, he could have handled a different type of song if he'd been forced to make something other than a deep country vocal work.
5. "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" by Pia Toscano, top 12 (Year You Were Born). I know, you're asking it. Hell, every recapper and blogger and wanna-be Idoloonie in America is asking it. And "it" is this: how in the hell did Pia only finish 9th? Here's how, via the completely unscientific, completely biased Steve "would you take Pia over (blank)" poll that I just invented. So ...
* would I take Pia over Scotty? Nope.
* would I take Pia over Lauren? Amazingly enough ... nope.
* would I take Pia over Haley? Nope.
* would I take Pia over James? Nope.
* would I take Pia over Jacob? F*ck yes, every day of the week, and twice on performance night.
* would I take Pia over Casey? Nope. But it's tempting.
* would I take Pia over Stefano? Hell no.
* would I take Pia over Paul? Nope.
So at best, I would have rated her 8th. She went home 9th. Can't really fault where she left the show, even if it was the second "shock elimination" in the first four results shows. Yes, the field really was that deep this year. Last year, Pia probably wins the whole thing (although I would have still voted for Crystal or Siobhan or the criminitely robbed Alex Lambert over her). This year? 9th, and her peak was probably 8th. Whatever I may think of the judges, and believe me, I want to go Miss Scarlet, with the candlestick, in the kitchen with at least two of them, you gotta give them credit for who they picked for the top 13. (Unlike last year, when my favorite contestant, Alex Lambert, didn't even make the top 12. How dare you judges! How dare you!)
4. "Just the Way You Are" by Stefano Langone, top 24. "When I see your face / There's not a thing that I would change / Because you're amazing / Just the way you are!" Love that song. And Stefano did a damned good job covering it. It ain't easy to cover one of the hottest acts going. Stefano pulled it off.
3. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" by James Durbin, top 6 (Carole King). The best 30 seconds Idol offered all season, might have been the opening 30 seconds of this song. I wish James had turned the whole song into an acapella masterpiece, like the first 30 seconds were. Unfortunately, he went all James on us, and brought in the band, the special effects, and all the distractions he usually offered. But for 30 seconds, it was as close to perfection as Idol came this year.
2. "Gunpowder and Lead" by Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart, top 4 (Results Show Group Performance). This was Lauren's finest hour. Haley brought out the star that Lauren can be with this. Also possibly the funnest female performance of the season. You could tell these two were totally having a blast on stage, they complimented each other perfectly. I like seeing people have fun. God forbid we enjoy a few moments of pure pleasure out of this life. This performance was two minutes of pure pleasure. But as great as this was ...
1. "House of the Rising Sun" by Haley Reinhart, top 5 (Songs from Then and Now). THIS was Idol's finest hour. If James' intro to "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" wasn't Idol's best 30 seconds this year, then Haley's intro here was. She not only is following up Scotty and Lauren, she not only has just endured one of the most ridiculous, biased, over-the-top judges critiques imaginable, she has to come out and close the show. And she delivers the performance of a lifetime. Absolutely wonderful.
Questions, thoughts, concerns, or "how the f*ck did you forget ..." rants? Hit up the comments, or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter at teamtito15 ...
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