‘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.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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467 comments Add your comment
G
April 27th, 2012
12:28 pm
Man…..guess I’ll have to tone down my Phil monologue. Wonder if I can still use his nickname, PP? I mean it fits so perfectly.
RxDawg
April 27th, 2012
12:35 pm
I never though the term “self-indulgent” was ever used right. Back when Simon was on the show, he seemed to throw it around all the time. But when Jimmy said it about Elise, I never thought it fit a contestant better.
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
12:36 pm
Must have missed that in the intro. It’s not like there’s not a whole lot that Ryan says that’s totally unnecessary to listen to.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
12:41 pm
Well, if it’s not the correspondant’s dinner, then Colton is really confused. He’d be eating with the kitchen staff at the actual White House, since the President will be at the correspondant’s dinner.
Yesterday, Ellen asked his sister, in the audience, if she’d try out again next year. She left it open.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
12:41 pm
Agree on Simon’s use of “self-indulgent” It always seemed to mean that a contestant picked a song Simon didn’t like.
I’m not sorry that he left the show. He was great the first couple of years in much the same way a shock-jock is great the first few times you hear him. After that, unless he was really tuned into a contestant, he became almost a South Park take-off on Simon Cowell. The last 2 years he was completely bored and boring. It was obvious that he had no interest in the show and I think the only reason he stayed was because Fox had not yet agreed to carry X-Factor in the U.S.
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
12:46 pm
And the reason Simon wanted X-Factor in the US was to drum up more dating prospects. He probably canned Nicole because she rebuffed his advances. I’m sure Spears will be more open to the type of relationship Simon is after.
Glenn
April 27th, 2012
1:17 pm
Anyone whose giving Phillip grief needs to just cut him some slack; he’s been powering through several kidney stones since he’s been on the show. They are so bad, the only way to get them out is the full-scale operation, even the lapscopic surgery won’t work. (He’ll have the procedure done once AI is over.) My niece is friends of the family and I can tell you Phillip is in severe pain. I can also tell you Phillip is so humbled by the amount of support he’s received.
anyone but Hollie
April 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
I can see scenarios with any of the top 5 winning except Hollie. The order of elimination I would like to see would be Hollie, then Phillip; after that Joshua/Jessica vs. Skylar in the finale, that would be a great contrast of styles.
It is funny that Jessica mentioned she has over 200 youtube videos because that is how I “discovered” her last year before idol. I was listening to Jazmine Sullivan and you know how people make their own videos and I just happened to click on hers and was like why hasn’t she been on AI. Then found out this was the first year she was old enough but had been on AGT when she was like 11; the girl could always sing and as far as vocally, is the best of the bunch. If you want to hear some emotion check this song out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfkLO-Zk0tQ&feature=related
Jimmy keeps complaining about her song choice, then give her something she can rip.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
1:33 pm
I had someone’s comment removed from another blog hosted by RHo. It was demeaning and very insulting. Glad to know we have the ability to do that!!!
American Mother
April 27th, 2012
1:55 pm
how can anyone list hank jr with Waylon and Willie????? He is awful and has a terrible attitude. Back when Waylon & Willie became the Outlaws, well now, THAT is country music!!!! Love Waymore’s Blues and Whiskey River. Crystal Gayle – Never miss a drink of water, til the well runs dry – My sister likes the new country I like the outlaw country and He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones guess that is why I don’t care for american idol so much anymore. but all you newbies have fun and Peace. AM right Deirdre????? oh and the only cd I own from all the American Idols is Bo’s album- he’s the one that Carrie Underwood beat, in case you’re wondering………………
Dick Lark
April 27th, 2012
1:59 pm
Still don’t get the Phil hate. The guy is the only one who has never been in the bottom three – so, clearly he strikes a chord with a ton of people; and yet someone on here just compared him to urine. Okay, if you prefer J&J that’s your right to do so. But the personal bashing is hard to read, especially for those of us who happen to like the kid.
I have also enjoyed the absence of accusations of voter prejudice, since the bottom three have been all white kids for the past two weeks. Maybe if J&J can both continue to avoid the bottom three until the final, we won’t hear anymore about it this season.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
2:03 pm
Hey AM…you just keep on keeping on!
JTesla
April 27th, 2012
2:17 pm
Dick Lark, accusations of voter prejudice will hold off until Joshua is eliminated (or not if he wins). Jessica could be sent off to an internment camp and the people who constantly berate us for being or tolerating prejudice will remain silent.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
2:35 pm
Happy Friday, all!
Harriett… I love your idea of Jimmy, Randy and Paula! For me, even better would be Jimmy, Paula and Katy Perry! Loved Katy as a guest judge who recognized that it was a *singing* contest.
Sam, as one who has also lost a precious pet WAY too young… I’m so sorry about your baby poodle, even if it has been 2 years. But I have almost reached the point where I can remember stuff she did and smile or even laugh… I hope you are getting there too. And Angela, I hope your friends are hanging in OK. It makes me tear up thinking of y’all.
As far as Pia: I wish we’d heard more of her than we got to. I think as RxDawg and G both said, she’s much more similar to Hollie, but her voice is every bit as good as both Hollie’s and Jessica’s. Pia had — by far — the best pure voice last season, and Jess and Hollie have the best pure voices this season.
American Mom – sorry, I don’t keep up enough to know anything about Hank Jr’s attitude – I just like some of his songs. ♪ ♫ ♬ All my rowdy friends have settled down… ♪ ♫ ♬
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
2:44 pm
Pitchy, I’ll be crossing my fingers on May 15 for a win! Keep us posted! And like you, if they do kill a major character on Greys… as much as I love it, that will sour me. I worry that it will be Bailey or Christina. If it is, I don’t know if I can keep watching.
But… remember how when they killed George, he was not on nearly as much during his last season? Shonda Rhimes later said that was intentional because she wanted the audience to not miss him in the finale, so they wouldn’t suspect he was John Doe. Well… Lexie seems to be on less than usual lately. Just sayin’…
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
2:50 pm
Lexie is her name, with me changing her name to Scandalous Hypocrite!
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
2:50 pm
I will let you guys know either way!
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
3:00 pm
Uh oh Pitchy… Lexie bugs me just on general principles, but something must have happened last night? (Wait, no, don’t tell me.) I have it recorded to watch tonight, and have already heard from my mom and 3 others how good it was.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
3:06 pm
And on second thought, it’s probably not Lexie because I don’t know that she’d be considered “beloved”. She’s always just been sort of … there. At least for me.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:19 pm
Hey, Jimmy, Randy and Paula was my idea, Harriett was agreeing!
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
3:21 pm
I too mentioned a couple days ago that Paula was free now, and with her and Jimmy, Randy might go back to making at least some sense. That would be perfect to me
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:22 pm
George was killed off because the actor wanted to leave the show. A lot of times a show gets blamed when an actor refuses to extend his contract. And I love Lexie, especially the Lexie in the topsy-turvy episode as the drug addicted dying girl.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:23 pm
However, I would rather see Jimmy, Randy and Katy Perry
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
3:27 pm
I’d like to see Jimmy, Simon & Shania Twain.
Harriett
April 27th, 2012
3:34 pm
Well, you know we can’t have Katy Perry. They don’t hire people who are currently at the top of their game.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
3:38 pm
Oops, sorry D, and Sam! That was a lot of comments to read through. Great minds think alike, I guess… though I think a Paula/Katy P dynamic would be fun. I see Katy being the Simon, with a slightly less harsh streak.
Yea… I knew that was why George left. But there used to be a really good blog called “Grey Matter”, written by a different show-writer each week with insights into the script, and Shonda always wrote the column after the finale and talked about how it came to be. (She’s so interesting… she starts writing each season with a vision of the very last scene in the finale, then figures out how to get the characters there.)
So for that finale, she said that during the season she’d received a lot of heat from fans because George’s role was so diminished. (Apparently, George fans were really p’d off about it!!) She went on to explain that George was diminished on purpose. She wanted people to get used to not seeing him, so that during the finale they wouldn’t put two and two together. She wanted that absolute moment of shock when Meredith realized it was George.
That blog seems to have gone away this season. Shame, cause it was a great read.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
3:45 pm
Wait, isn’t Lexie Grey’s sister. Hold on, not Grey’s sister, the other bubbly, high strung girl. That’s who I’m talking about.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:48 pm
Lexie is Meredith Grey’s half sister
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:49 pm
They call her Little Grey.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
3:52 pm
Yeah, not Lexie. Talking about the other girl. She’s scandalous and did something she had not business doing.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
3:53 pm
Pitchy, you mean April? She’s… uh… bubbly and high-strung, to put it mildly!
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
3:56 pm
oh, and D, Lexie CRACKED ME UP in the alternate reality episode! I liked her better than I ever have! Funny that she was still “Lexipedia” even in her messed up form.
I just loved that episode overall…. and how by the end they were all finding their way back where they were supposed to be…
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
3:57 pm
Kepner? Kinda bugged me with the whole “I was a v!irgin because I loved Jesus. Now Jesus hates me.” thing from last night.
And it bugged me what Chief Webber did with Avery’s mom. Just because Adele doesn’t realize what she’s doing – he does. And he should have chosen better.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:57 pm
She’s also a virgin…but I haven’t seen last night’s show yet so I could be wrong.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
3:58 pm
uh oh, should have stopped reading sooner!
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
3:58 pm
Sorry, your queeness. Looks like I just gave something away.
Sam-A
April 27th, 2012
3:59 pm
Jenny: I’ve forgotten to thank you for your kind words on my loss 2 years ago. I’ve been very very lucky that I was very quickly for find a beautiful little 5 month girl who, while certainly not taking my other baby’s place, had come to my home and bombed out a big old space in our hearts – couldn’t imagine loving her more than I do! She’s sweet, funny, loving, cuddly, playful, beautiful and a little haughty (parents champ show dogs), and more than we could ever have expected! Brings tons of joy every day to my life.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
4:02 pm
I haven’t seen it either, D. ***covering ears and going “lalalalala”*** Oops, wait, should have covered eyes instead. Oh well. I don’t mind knowing a little bit. And I guessed that from the previews anyway.
Deirdre
April 27th, 2012
4:02 pm
No problem, Rickster!
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
4:03 pm
Guess Kepner (or more correctly the writers) forgot the whole “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” thing.
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
4:05 pm
Greys characters I would stop watching the show if they go:
Chief Webber
Dr. Bailey
Anyone else can walk out the door and I wouldn’t miss them after 3 episodes.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
4:07 pm
Thank you Jenny, I do mean April! The nut!
Rickster – ssshhhhh, you’re giving it away…Jenny recorded it, but yeah that’s the part I’m talking about. If your faith is so damn strong, liquid courage should not get in the way. Thought it blasphemous for them to even write that in! Didn’t like it AT ALL!!!!
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
4:09 pm
If Bailley leaves, I’m turning in my keys!
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
4:10 pm
Awww, Sam.
I love hearing that. And maybe the new baby really, really needed you to find her, and her home was supposed to be with you, and you never would have gone looking otherwise.
They just take over our hearts, don’t they. And you never really get over them being gone. (Yes, I am the world’s biggest animal person, if you haven’t guessed.
)
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
4:14 pm
Well, don’t worry y’all, cause they pretty much gave it away in the previews.
And Rickster, watch out cause in my mad search for spoilers, I have seen speculation that it may be the Chief. (Webber, that is. I don’t count Owen as the Chief… ugh.) Anyway, distraught over Adele, something happens.
Bailey or Christina might make me stop watching. Owen wouldn’t. Webber might. But honestly, I don’t want them to kill ANYONE!!!!
Rickster
April 27th, 2012
4:15 pm
And to be honest… now that I think about it… I don’t think I’d stop watching any show just because a character left a show.
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
4:17 pm
But who really knows… Shonda pretty much never lets spoilers get out. So none of it is anything but speculation.
And if April was THAT pious, how come she almost did it with Alex last year? She was all ready, but he said no, cause he knew he would just hurt her.
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
4:19 pm
And yes, she was that PIOUS!
Jenny
April 27th, 2012
4:25 pm
Weird. Cause as I remember, she was all ready to go with Alex, when he stopped it.
Rickster, yeah, I probably wouldn’t actually stop watching either. I love the show too muc. But I would be so upset….
Anyone else watch Private Practice?
Pitchy
April 27th, 2012
4:26 pm
Raising my hand to PP.