Dividing Lines

Just four weeks from the finale, the best singers are, in my opinion, separating themselves from the rest of the pack. My Top 3 are the same as last week – albeit in a different order – and my Bottom 3 are exactly the same order. As we have come to expect this season on American Idol, there were no absolute train wrecks, and both Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina were competent if not great. The Top 6 also sang duets, and while Haley and Casey were very strong yet again, Jacob and James were a mess. This review is based mainly on the solos, but does take the duets into account at least somewhat. Here’s how I think they stacked up:

1. Haley Reinhart – I had hard time picking out my favorite performance between Casey Abrams, James Durbin, and Haley. In the end I felt Haley gave the most complete vocal performance, showing off gently flowing melodic phrasing, perfect runs of high notes, and that signature growl that has become so familiar during the course of the finals. Haley is much more at ease on stage than she was just a few weeks ago, and vocally was the best of the night, though not absolutely perfect. I disagree with Randy Jackson’s criticism that the beginning was boring – I didn’t find it boring at all, especially compared to Scotty’s sleepy ballad. Her duet with Casey was strong, but nowhere near as good as the duet during the results show two weeks ago. She doesn’t seem to be connecting with the audience, but I hope she sticks around for at least a few more weeks.

2. James Durbin – again, deciding between Casey and James was no easy task, but in the end I felt like James gave the better, more authentic vocal. While I didn’t think his soft, stripped down song a few weeks ago was particularly strong, tonight’s showing was very good. Giving one of the best vocals tonight with a toned down but passionate delivery, James has given two very strong performances in the last two weeks. I disagree with Jennifer Lopez that he has been one of the most consistent finalists – I’ve ranked him as low as 7th – but there’s no doubt he is a very clear front-runner. His duet with Jacob was pretty much a mess, but James did give a solid vocal despite a poor overall performance.

3. Casey Abrams – Jimmy Iovine was right that as an “unambitious” song it was crucial that Casey hit every note. He hit them well enough, and gave his typical energetic, borderline manic performance. At times Casey definitely focuses too much on the stage presence and performance aspect rather than the pure vocals, but tonight was a nice blend of both. He worked the crowd and the stage and even played the piano while delivering a very good vocal. He is third here because of the relatively easy song selection, and while his duet with Haley was good, she again stole the show.

Scotty and Lauren were good but not great this week.

4. Lauren Alaina – there was nothing wrong with Lauren tonight, but there was nothing particularly interesting in her take on the song, and she wasn’t up to her usual form vocally. She is best when she forgoes the gimmicky performance hijinks (eg, pulling a random male audience member on stage) and allows her voice to shine. Tonight her voice was fine but not particularly strong, and the stunt with the audience member was a bit twee. It’s more or less the same Lauren we’ve seen throughout most of the competition, and I disagreed with the judges’ assessment that she was pushing herself. I prefer the nicely textured rendition of “The Climb” to this cutesy prancing around the stage. She was very good in her duet, which gets her the notch above Scotty.

5. Scotty McCreery – there was nothing particularly bad in Scotty’s performance tonight, but for the 2nd week in a row I found him boring and never really connected. Maybe it is the country genre, but to me it was just a slow, sleepy love song. Vocally he was solid, and I did appreciate his attempts at toning down the country drawl in favor of a more straight forward approach during his solo. But if I’m going off subjective appeal, I can’t say I really enjoyed him tonight. He’s in no danger of heading home.

6. Jacob Lusk – the bottom line is Jacob is a mediocre singer outside of his comfort zone on the high notes, and that was painfully obvious tonight. As I’ve said pretty much every week, hitting a few glory notes does not make a great performance. Randy Jackson did comment on his off-key warbling at times, but he still did not get the criticism he deserves. Ultimately Jacob is not deserving of a Top 6 finish and probably shouldn’t be in the finals. I have a hard time seeing anyone else going home other than perhaps Haley.

Bottom 3 should be: Scotty McCreery, Jacob Lusk, Lauren Alaina

Bottom 3 will be: Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk, Haley Reinhart

Should be going home: Jacob Lusk

Will be going home: Jacob Lusk

What are your thoughts? Who was the best/worst and why? Interested to read Brooke’s and Suzanne’s (and other) opinions…

M. MANDY SCRIPSIT