Source: USA TODAY
Five women sang well on American Idol Wednesday, and one guy sang really, really badly. But that one guy’s got a very devoted fan base. Will Lazaro Arbos end his stay tonight, or will one of the women find herself at the bottom of the voting? And, one does, will the judges use their save? Plus, Kelly Clarkson and Scotty McCreery perform. Watch the show, and tell us what you think. — Brian Mansfield
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I don’t know who’s in the Bottom Two tonight, but I know it’s not Kree Harrison and Candice Glover. But if Amber Holcomb and Lazaro Arbos are the Top Two, this whole season just got turned upside down.
“Who landed where?” Ryan Seacrest wonders. Glover and Harrison are the Top Two. So it’s not the Idol Apocalypse. And Arbos and Holcomb are the Bottom Two, meaning Janelle Arthur and Angie Miller are safe.
All is right with the world. Arbos might go home. No way will the judges let Holcomb go.
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Kelly Clarkson’s back tonight, to sing People Like Us from her greatest-hits album. She and the band are decked in Day-Glo outfits, and the audience has glo-sticks. It’s like being in the back of Spencer Gifts during the ’70s. And it sounds like she’s got another hit on her hands — was there ever any doubt?
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Last week, Ryan Seacrest asked American Idol‘s Twitter followers to suggest themes. The results are down to Break-Up Songs, One-Hit Wonders, Dedicated to Someone Special, Guilty Pleasures and Unplugged. Vote for your choice at the American Idol website.
Jimmy Iovine thinks doing literal interpretations of songs is a bad move for Janelle Arthur, since she has shown she can be creative but doesn’t have the vocal chops some of the other girls do. Seacrest puts her next to Angie Miller.
In Iovine’s opinion, “Candice (Glover) is leading this thing right now.” And she “she has a great sense of what she should sing.” He thinks he could just send her songs, and she could let him know when the album was done. Seacrest puts her next to Kree Harrison — they make the one pair that’s obviously safe.
Iovine thought Amber Holcomb looked like the total package. “Why America doesn’t get her, I’m completely baffled.” He wants her to keep doing what she’s doing. Seacrest pairs her with Arbos.
One group is the Top Two, one is the Middle Two, and one is the Bottom Two. But which is which?
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Scotty McCreery’s back to perform his new single, See You Tonight (think it’s a coincidence that Carrie Underwood’s new one is See You Again?). It’s a nice enough song, but I’m not sure there’s anything about it that’s special enough to to push it up the country charts. But tonight’s appearance will give it a nice debuts on the SoundScan charts next week.
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Tonight’s Ford challenge finds the Idols trying to score goals on the roof of a Los Angeles building using the Ford Fiesta’s to knock giant balls into a goal. Lazaro Arbos, Candice Glover and Janelle Arthur win 2-1.
But what did Jimmy Iovine think of Wednesday’s performances?
“As usual, Kree gave us another great vocal performance last night,” Iovine says. But he believes she’ll need to give the audience more personality.
As for Angie Miller, she “did a very competent job,” but he doesn’t think it was enough to win.
Iovine says Lazaro Arbos has done well for somebody without much experience. As for last night: “It was boring. … When the band changes key, you had better change key.” Iovine would send him home, but he knows the audience proves him wrong week after week.
Tonight, Ryan Seacrest is going to split the six into pairs. He puts Miller into one spot, Arbos into a second and Harrison into the third. That’s last week’s Top Three, “but it might not be the case tonight,” Seacrest says.
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“Are you ready the house tonight?” Ryan Seacrest asks the audience. They better be, because two past winners, Kelly Clarkson and Scotty McCreery, will perform before the results “force another Idol to face the fire.” And, remember, the save is still alive.
The night begins with the Top 6 singing a medley of Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs, including (You’ll Never Get to Heaven) If You Break My Heart, I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself andAlways Something There to Remind Me. Lazaro Arbos gets a solo turn on This Guy’s in Love With You, and, if it’s possible, he sounds even worse than he did last night, especially when compared to Amber Holcomb and Candice Glover, who follow him with One Less Bell to Answer and A House Is Not a Home.
Think we might be getting a preview of the finale here?
The medley ends with the Idols putting their arms around each other for the final notes of That’s What Friends Are For.
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