‘American Idol’ top 6 results recap: are we experienced?
Hollie Cavanagh escaped elimination tonight. CREDIT: Michael Becker/FOX
Loading ...After two surprise eliminations, the woman who was near the bottom five times before finally found herself out completely on “Idol” tonight: Elise Testone.
The oldest contestant remaining at age 28, the New Jersey native and South Carolina resident clearly knows her own voice and understands what she likes. I enjoyed her when she channeled Stevie Nicks.
But experience also meant she didn’t particularly enjoy the judging process, questioning them at times and making faces at other times. I also found her stage presence a bit remote, her vocal stylings a bit mechanical, like she wanted to show off without entertaining us.
Last night, she did an adequate job with her Queen song, then did a self-indulgent Jimi Hendrix tune that felt more fussy than inspirational. Others were equally self indulgent (notably Phillip Phillips and Joshua Ledet) and they got away with it.
The past two lowest vote getters, Jessica Sanchez (saved) and Colton Dixon (not), made me question who would be in the bottom three. I didn’t even pick Elise. Instead, I chose Phillip, Joshua and Hollie Cavanagh, who was indeed in the bottom two and has been in the bottom three frequently.
Skylar Laine, who has been in the bottom three once before, had the third fewest votes – or fourth most. (Ryan Seacrest noted there were 58 million votes logged, ten million more than the top 6 a year ago, despite the 25% drop in ratings, which he didn’t mention.)
I didn’t get the impression there was a lot of shock or awe when she departed. But she was classy as she sang some Led Zeppelin and gave all the judges acknowledgment. The other five survivors didn’t seem all that upset, did they?
Here were Jimmy Iovine’s thoughts. He was much more into Joshua than I was and much less so with Skylar.
Jessica: “Jessica singing Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was a plain old mistake. Then to add to it, the three faces of Jessica. It actually scared me. That was less Queen and more Stephen King. But ‘Dance With My Father” by Luther Vandross was magnificent… she sang it with brilliantly. She understood her words and her audience. Clever plus real talent, that’s double the vote.”
Elise: “She picked the wrong Queen song. A monotone stadium anthem. It comes off clubby. It didn’t move me. I didn’t want to see it again. Elise chose Jimi Hendrix ‘Bold as Love.’ To me, that’s double down on bad choice for the night. It was a musical piece with a very integrated soulful blues vocal. One without the other, it falls apart. That’s what we got. She’s a great singer who made bad choices.”
Hollie: “I wonder if Hollie choosing ‘Save Me’ by Queen was a subconscious plea to the public. [I thought that, too!] She did a very good job. This was a hard one. Freddy Mercury is tough. He is so unique… she tripped up at the very end… Hollie singing ‘The Climb’ was a good choice. She caught the emotion in that song. I hope it’s not too little too late.”
Joshua: “I was really impressed with Joshua last night with ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love.’ That Gary U.S. Bonds feel with Sam Cooke singing a Queen song showed he can interpret. He can cross over to pop. Then he switches over to ‘Ready for Love.’ Emotional, restrained and just moved us all to where we wanted us. He showed with those two songs, delivering with that type of intelligence, he could make the finals.”
Skylar: “I think Skylar did a very very competent job on ‘The Show Must Go On.’ She sang it more like a pop song… Now on her second song, ‘Tattoos on this Town’ was a little self indulgent… If you are going to do a song for one town, it has to be a strong enough song to appeal to the entire country. I don’t think that song cut the mustard.”
Phillip: “Ryan isn’t the only one not feeling well this week. Phillip is really having a rough time. It’s starting to show. With him not feeling well, he’s not able to pull off that character in ‘Fat Bottomed Girls.’ Watch Jack Black and Casey do it last year, they exploded that song when they did it. I don’t think we got that tonight. It was missing something… his second song was Dave Matthews ‘The Stone.’ … I’m very curious what the audience feels about this. What he did left an opening for someone other than Phillip to be in the final.”
- The “Idols Live” tour comes to Gwinnett Arena August 5. Tickets go on sale May 11 at 10 a.m. I’ll provide more details later.
- Harvey Levin of TMZ trained the top 6 about the media. They teased Philip Phillips about his aw-shucks nice guy routine, saying he should own it when J. Lo calls him sexy. “One name; Casper Smart,” one of the TMZ dudes said, noting J. Lo’s much younger beau. “Thank you man,” Phillips said. They then teased Skylar about her “relationship” with Colton. She insisted that they are just friends. Then Joshua’s nickname “Mantasia” gets teased because there’s a strip club in New York named that.
They then get busted for being slobs and Hollie eating cereal in the bathroom. Elise wonders how to not look so mad when she’s not smiling without being fake. They had no solution for that. Jessica admitted to 200 YouTube videos. Then they mock Harvey for his bad dancing in a YouTube video, causing former dancer Nigel Lythgoe to get in the act.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
467 comments Add your comment
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
10:04 am
Interesting theory about Idol allowing Instruments and the guys starting to win from there on. It’s probably a combonation of instrument playing (usually being guys) and girls being the majority of voters and those girls tending more toward male contestants and not female.
“And Skylar plays a guitar, too.”
Meh…. she doesn’t really play much. It’s quite obvious that shes very average on the guitar. I actually find it off putting because she can just stop playing and the sound doesn’t change at all. It’s like lip synching, but with guitar. It would probably do well for her to just put up the guitar for now until she’s stage ready with it.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
10:05 am
Pitchy, there’s no rules about calling contestants names…they are fair game. The rule is against calling commenters names.
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
10:08 am
“Jessica and Pia – the judges must have forgotten what a totally beautiful voice sounds like so Pia would help remind them.”
Holy Moly Alex… you really think Pia sings better then Jessica? I know everyone has the right to their own opinion, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how someone could think that. Jessica is in the top 5 of a season, Pia was knocked out as 7th in a season with MUCH less talent then this year. I never thought much of Pia. No diversity, and wasn’t that great at her balads. I guess time will tell at who does better in the music buisness.
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
10:15 am
Jubie, just to be clear if I had it my way the finale would be Skylar and Jessica. None of the males left are anywhere near the talent and skill of those two. Well… Joshua has a lot of talent, I just don’t think he has the mass apeal. But an all female finale is like wishing for world peace.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
10:34 am
Didn’t mean to imply there were rules. I think it was Harriett that came on last week admonishing some who said some mean things about some of the contestants looks. That’s the memo I was referring to. Guess everyone behind these computer screens can give any Victoria Secret model a run for their money, and that the men probably look like Beckham…IJS
G
April 27th, 2012
10:36 am
Elise – Not a surprise, because she had it coming. I would’ve liked to vote for her, but I couldn’t split my votes and still be efficient for my top favs. Kind of sorry to see her go. As the show progressed, she was looking more and more pleasing to the eyes. It was really refreshing to see a grown woman as fine as Elise, perform and display such natural talent.
Phil – His survival up to this point proves that he can literally fart, barf, and worship the devil on stage and his fans wouldn’t be swayed. He’s the most overrated performer, but I still think he has the best chance to win.
Skylar – I still like her, but I don’t really NEED to see her country bottoms in the finals. If this was a season ago, she would’ve been the best performer. That speaks to how good this season has been.
Jessica – I really don’t have to repeat how talented, consistent, and beautiful this budding star has been on the show. It would serve the show well if she breaks the chain and wins. Regardless of how it ends for her……..She will receive what’s meant for her whether she wins or not (i.e. Doughtry/JHud/Kelly/ etc.).
Joshua – Things could get interesting for him next week and beyond. Based on Jacob Lusk, he should be gone next week. He could be a dark horse in this thing if he survives past next week. I caught wind in a forum that Elise supporters may shift to Joshua.
Hollie – I think she would be dissappointed more by leaving Joshua than the show itself. Personally, I think she leaves next week.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
10:37 am
But I do look like Beckham.
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
10:42 am
Just remember, just because Hollie and Elise were standing together at the end doesn’t mean that Hollie cam in #5.
Ryan just said that Skylar, Hollie & Elise were the bottom 3.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
10:45 am
Alex, we go from awkward teens to lovely young women, to sophisticated, smart women, to, unfortunately, those pesky menopausal years that take quite a toll. Then, if we’re lucky, we become classy intelligent older women with lots to offer. At least I hope that’s how we’re looked upon!
Deirdre, I know. And stupid me, I was confused by the “Dawg”, and thought it was our RxDawg, which really had me upset – this stupidity seemed so out of character, but then, just above, there’s our RX and I knew this was some new interloper stirring up the pot!
teamjay
April 27th, 2012
10:46 am
how dare you alex!! Jessica is so great!! she’s one of the greatest singers in the whole wide world!!!! she deserves to be saved!!!! she will win this whole thing!!! she will be the NEXT american idol!!! I guess you’re a gay, because you don’t vote for the voice, you just vote for that cute guy ?maybe? what?!
G
April 27th, 2012
10:48 am
RxDawg comment @10:04 about performers that play instruments. I brought this POV up about a week ago.
It seems that every since Idol allowed vocalist with instruments to play, they have won and they have started a winning trend. In my opinion, the majority of performers that play instruments are not better singers than those who play without an instrument.
Idol could almost reformat the show between instrumentalist and just vocalist. If Phil wins this year over more superior vocalist than himself, then a restructuring would be justified. Idol has done it before and they can do it again.
G
April 27th, 2012
10:51 am
I meant those who “sing” (not play) without an instrument. Friday is not my best proofing day.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
10:55 am
I know many have raised this concept before, about playing games with the person in the bottom two not having the second lowest vote total and I just don’t buy it. It just doesn’t make any sense for Idol to do it. It starts to reek of a conspiracy theory and I have yet to see one of those that have any merit. I still refer back to Occam’s Razor: the simplest answer, or the answer with the fewest assumptions, is usually the one that is correct. The simplest answer is that Idol does have the two lowest voted contestants there on stage.
What reason would there be to spare Skylar from getting sympathy votes next week, or to throw sympathy votes at Hollie? I’ll just say now that any answer that relates to anything post finale is incorrect. Even though we may care about post Idol success the money is made from the show, all other money has to be shared with too many others for it to matter.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
10:56 am
Jt: Is that David or Victoria? If David, is it with or without the tats? If the answers are David without the tats, can we meet somewhere? Quiet and cozy? Hmmmmmmm?
I like Jessica. I don’t think she’s all that, the best ever, an Angel in our midst. She needs a lot of polishing and maturing, and someday I believe she will be great.
Personally, I think Pia’s voice way surpassed Jessica at this point in her life. Pia has a fabulous voice, with control and maturity. Should have stayed around much longer. I definitely think in her case, the fans just felt complaisant, never dreaming she’d be gone in a snap.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
10:58 am
I was going to say something about “teamjay”, but it is such great comedy that I’ll just leave it alone.
Alex
April 27th, 2012
10:58 am
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
10:08 am
I guess we just disagree. Without the save Jessica would have finished in 7th place, just like Pia. I still think Pia sings better.
Breezy
April 27th, 2012
11:01 am
While there are no specific rules regarding contestants looks, it should be rules of conduct that wouldn’t take us there. All of them are nice looking kids with incredible talent.
ashley
April 27th, 2012
11:01 am
Colton twitters that he is invited to the White House for dinner this Saturday night. Don’t think Deandre got that kind of invite. (or Heejun)
Alex
April 27th, 2012
11:02 am
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
10:42 am
“just because Hollie and Elise were standing together at the end doesn’t mean that Hollie cam in #5.”
HALLELUIAH!!! That’s what I’ve been saying all along. It doesn’t tamper with who is the lowest vote getter going home nor does it tamper with who wins the whole thing. It’s all for drama. I still believe Joshua in the bottom 3 two weeks ago was a wake up call to his fans.
jonathan
April 27th, 2012
11:03 am
Sure the judges should tell the singers if they sang well or were pitchy or whatever. But there’s no way Randy should have blurted out that Jessica was the best singer in the world. Also, I believe I heard JLo tell Phillip to pick better songs so he could be there on the last night and win the whole thing!! This is not constructive criticism. They should listen more to Jimmy.
Alex
April 27th, 2012
11:04 am
teamjay
April 27th, 2012
10:46 am
??????
teamjay
April 27th, 2012
11:04 am
those who think that jessica should be gone already are a total dumb, jerks, or stupid, every bad word you can ever think of! you don’t appreciate her voice? God, she is so so so amazing, one of the best singers in the whole world.. i don’t understand why you guys don’t like her..it’s dissappointing, please vote for the voice not your good-looking favorites!
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:07 am
Beckham….mmmmmmm
Oh sorry, I just drifted a little!
Alex
April 27th, 2012
11:08 am
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
10:08 am
“I guess time will tell at who does better in the music buisness.”
Maybe so, but the level of success Pia and Jessica achieve will NOT just rely on their ability to sing well. Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Joe Cocker are a few of my favs who come to mind when I’m talking about very successful singers who can’t actually sing well.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:08 am
No problem, Pitchy…I thought you were referring to the dust-up we had with Miss Javon. Didn’t intend to scare her away, just thought she needed to know how it is that we keep this little blog civil.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
11:11 am
JTesla – I sense you do, esp with a cool name like JTesla.
Deirdre – while typing Victoria Secret model I had to come up with a very nice specimen of a man…Beckham popped in first (lolol).
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
11:11 am
Yeh Sam, that D-bag JDawg is giving us Dawgs a bad name.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:13 am
Alex, I have requested that the comment be removed but since Rodney is out, it might take awhile.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
11:17 am
Ashley, Colton is a bit confused. Apparently some news outlet has invited him to the White House Correspondant’s Dinner this Sat. evening. Not held at the White House. The President and many of the Sen and Reps will be there along with celebrities. There’s always a host (Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert being the most memorable to me – both out of this world hilarious), and roasts/toasts – it’s quite a funny show. Usually turns up live on C-Span.
If he goes, he’ll probably have a great time. Of course his religious fanatic fans might not approve – it gets pretty bawdy, but that’s what makes it so much fun.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
11:17 am
Deirdre requests and BOOM it happens. Don’t mess with the D.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:18 am
We’re likely to have some problems today because we’re on the front page and Rodney is not monitoring the blog…at least he shouldn’t be he has the day off!!!!!!
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
11:18 am
Granted, the magic wand erased my comments too, but they were right to do so.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:19 am
It’s magic, JT!
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:20 am
I didn’t ask for your comment to be deleted JT.
G
April 27th, 2012
11:21 am
I would compare Pia to Hollie moreso than to Jessica. Pia and Jess have two totally different singing styles and philosophy behind what they do, so it’s not exactly fair to even compare the two.
Hollie on the other hand, is more comparable to Pia. They both excel on Celine Dion type songs, they don’t use runs at all, and they do not display vocal gymnatics. Most of all, they rely on big belting notes to finish all their songs (mostly ballads).
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
11:21 am
Ranking my Top 5:
1. Skylar: She looks like she has as much fun on the stage as she does on her four-wheeler. Great stage personality. He whole face lights up when she performs. I don’t think she’s peaked yet.
2. Hollie: While she’s underperformed to the contrary, she’s still slowly working her way up. (It may be too late at this point, however.) She still needs to work on her on stage movement & stage presence. She has the talent, but she just needs to tell the judges to “bugger off,” (she is British, you know) go out on stage and sing her heart out.
3. Phillip: If Scotty was a one-trick pony, taking every song and “countryfying” it – Phillip is a one-and-a-quarter trick pony. Very few of his performances are distinguishable from the others. His range is very limited. Like Paul McDonald from Season 10, Phil is more fun to watch than he is to listen to.
4. Jessica: Though she makes horrible song choices, Jessica still has the best voice in the competition. But I wouldn’t go see her perform if unless someone paid me big money, and wouldn’t download a single song of hers even if it were free.
5. Joshua: He’s similar to Elise in that there’s just something in the tone of his voice I don’t like. He performs well (stage movement, etc.) but in the end, if you don’t like what you hear… why bother watching?
Have at it folks!
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:22 am
I’ll bet I wasn’t the only one to request comment removal.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
11:23 am
Alex: And you’ve seemed just lovely ever since you joined us! I never knew all that bad stuff about you!!!!!
Hmmmmm, just maybe that silly creature has not be in civilization for awhile, and has mistaken you for one of his/her family members!
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:35 am
LOL!
We’ve all taken our share of abuse, Alex. Welcome to the club!
Alex
April 27th, 2012
11:35 am
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
11:21 am
Flip flop #s 2 and 3 and I’m right there with you.
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
11:39 am
I missed the comment that got 86′d. I’m assuming it was derogatory/profane and directed at Alex?
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
11:42 am
Elise says she didn’t expect to go. What?
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/27/american-idol-elise-testone-exit-interview/
Alex
April 27th, 2012
11:43 am
I learned something interesting since last night.
The singer for the “Queen Extravaganza” not only sounds somewhat like Freddie Mercury, but looks a little bit like him as well. His name is Marc Martel, and here’s where it gets interesting. He’s already the vocalist of a band called’ Downhere”, a comtemporary christian band. I’ve known about them for about 6 years and always thought he had a Freddie Mercury tone to his voice. Not as strong, but still good. Now that he is trying to sound like Mercury he’s even a closer fit.
If nothing else, this could show Colton that he can possibly bridge the gap between mainstream and contemporary christian.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
11:52 am
I wouldn’t put too much stock in Colton being invited to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Lindsey Lohan was also invited.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
11:58 am
Thank you for putting it in perspective Deirdre. Lindsey Lohan, LOL. Thankfully she and her doppelganger Britney Spears haven’t infiltrated the music based reality show genre.
Wait, what?
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
11:58 am
According to what I’ve read… the members of “The Queen Experience” were chosen by Brian May & Roger Taylor.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
12:12 pm
Didn’t they say that last night during the intro. There was a contest and Brian and roger chose those guys as the winners.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
12:19 pm
Yes Deirdre, Ryan said that before they started.
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
12:24 pm
“I didn’t ask for your comment to be deleted JT.”
Ah, but you opened up the pandora’s box of censorship. So now we are all on watch
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
12:26 pm
“I would compare Pia to Hollie moreso than to Jessica.”
I completely agree with you G. Nice observation.