Source: USA TODAY
If American Idol ever had a group of finalists that wasn’t made for a night of rock songs, it’s this batch. But this season’s Top 7 muddled through, with a few bright spots along the way.
Namely Janelle Arthur’s boots.
Imagine taking one of Porter Wagoner’s suits and distilling it into a pair of cowboy boots, and you’ve got an idea what Arthur was wearing as she covered Billy Joel’s You May Be Right. When the show came back from commercial, Arthur was sock-footed and judge Nicki Minaj was wearing the boots.
For the most part, that’s how rock night went: The best moments had little to do with the music. Angie Miller did battle with a wind machine that threatened to make her top more revealing than she had intended. Kree Harrison performed with a pinched nerve. Candice Glover had a broken toe, the result botching a April Fool’s prank on Lazaro Arbos. Minaj booed herself when criticizing a singer, just to save the audience the trouble.
But when it came to the music, most of the good performances weren’t that creative, and others just weren’t that good. Arbos forgot lyrics for a second straight week, botching a line in his duet of Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love with Miller (he did better with his solo Queen song, We Are the Champions, but Arbos is to Freddie Mercury as Pat Boone is to Little Richard). The normally inventive Burnell Taylor sounded stilted and unconvincing as he covered Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name.
Harrison and Glover sang well on really obvious song choices, Harrison lifting Janis Joplin’s arrangement for Piece of My Heart and Glover riffing on the Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. (Minaj told Glover her song choice “put her to sleep.”)
Janelle Arthur, on the other hand, turned You May Be Right into a credible country-rocker. Amber Holcomb did her best to find a ballad on the “no ballads” night, selling Heart’s What About Love like a true R&B queen. And Angie Miller returned to her comfort zone (except for when she was holding her top down), closing the show with Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life.
Here’s how I rank them:
Who’s in trouble? Since Lazaro Arbos still doesn’t seem to have alienated his core fan base, probably Burnell Taylor or Amber Holcomb — but don’t be surprised if the judges use their save this week if anybody but Arbos gets eliminated.
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