Week two of the women’s semifinals didn’t do a whole lot to change the pecking order. Most of the favorites stayed strong, and sang late enough in the competition that the early singers may be forgotten by voters.
One who risked being an afterthought was Katharine McPhee, who led things off with “All in Love is Fair,” by Stevie Wonder. The best thing to say about the performance is that it was fine, but unremarkable. It didn’t offer much of a chance for her to show off her voice, and going first is never an advantage in “Idol” because it's easy to be overshadowed by the singers that follow.
The song itself was nothing much, but the behind-the-scenes footage of her and roommate Kellie Pickler horsing around won’t hurt her any. McPhee is someone the producers seem to want the viewers to like, but she didn’t do much to help herself onstage.
Kinnik Sky followed with Gretchen Wilson’s “Here for the Party,” and while the song was fun and the performance was entertaining, it felt more like karaoke night at the Rock-It Grill than a future star’s breakout performance.
The effort was entertaining, but as Simon pointed out, visitors get similar entertainment at Disneyland. For someone who said before she went onstage that she had been dreaming about this chance forever and wanted to win very badly, it was a strange song to pick.
Lisa Tucker went with what she described as a song she loved from childhood, a tune done originally as “Who’s Lovin’ You” by the Jackson Five and later redone and retitled by En Vogue. Her version was solid, but she showed the power of a teenager rather than a musical veteran. However, as Simon Cowell said, she’ll still sail through this week.
Will anyone remember Melissa?
Melissa McGhee was the first to grasp the concept of song selection. She picked a Reba McIntyre song, “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” that matched her voice very well.
It might not help, since she doesn’t have the fanbase that some of the others formed early because of her utter lack of airtime before last week, and also because the clips that the “Idol” producers picked to run in the closing montage were the worst 15 seconds of the performance. Viewed live, her effort was more than enough. Viewed out of context in the film clip, the audience probably wondered how she made it that far to begin with.
While McGhee was praised by the judges, Heather Cox got reamed for her own song choice, Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” It’s always a little odd when the judges slam someone for singing a hit by someone who’s that hot. Are they supposed to confine themselves to tunes from Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Samantha Fox?
It’s unfair for the judges to condemn someone for not singing a Carey song as well as the original; after all, if any of the contestants could do that, they’d already have record deals and wouldn’t be pleading for compliments on a TV show. But Cox didn’t do anything to make herself stand out from the pack, and is in real danger of being one of the bottom two. Even if she does get another chance, it’s hard to see her making up enough ground to catch the favorites.
If Brenna Gethers was not Brenna Gethers, she would have no chance at all of making it to next week. Her rendition of Donna Summers’ “Last Dance” sounded like something found on a Carnival cruise ship rather than on a competition like this one. All three judges were unimpressed, but of course Gethers did not care.
That’s no surprise; the whole point of her being here is that she’s combative with the judges, with Ryan Seacrest, with the lady behind the counter at Starbucks and the man who gets in her way as she walks to the elevator. She’s the most polarizing personality, and because she’s already familiar to the viewers, she probably has enough fans to push her onward.
But she and the two women voted off last week have the exact same chance of winning this competition.
The true contenders
Paris Bennett was again fantastic, but really needs to not base her song choice on what her great-grandmother likes. Really, that’s one of the reasons she game for picking Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings.” She sang it very well, but it’s a safe bet that “American Idol” and “Bette Midler” have never been uttered in the same sentence before.
Not that it mattered. Bennett is one of the few contestants for whom this early stage is truly just a warm-up, and Randy Jackson compared her to a young Lauryn Hill. Barring a phone malfunction for her number or her fans forgetting which day the women sing, she’s a lock to make it to next week.
If Ayla Brown can make it out of this crowded group of women and reach the final 12, she could be the darkhorse pick to win the whole thing. She’s not there yet, and really not even close, but she gets better every week. As she said in her video clip, she’s just now learning how to put on makeup and dress in something besides sweats.
As a competitive athlete who has a scholarship to play college basketball next season, she’s used to working hard to get what she wants. She got what she needed on Tuesday, singing Celine Dion’s “I Want You to Need Me” and standing out on a night where she needed a big performance. Surrounded by some of the more prominent names in the competition, she made herself a strong contender to move on.
Meanwhile, the Kellie Pickler thing is getting ridiculous already. This week, she told the videographer that she’d had her first spinach salad and her first calamari in Los Angeles, and also saw dogs with more clothes than she had. Next week, we’ll hear about those horseless carriages that shuffle her around town, and the week after that it’ll be the lack of stoplights in her hometown. If they find oil in her backyard and move to Beverly Hills, there will be no voting her off ever.
Pickler sang Bonnie Raitt's “Something to Talk About,” which wasn’t taking much of a chance. But it didn’t matter, because she sounded fine and moved around fine, and everybody really likes her. Pickler is the most genuinely likeable candidate in “Idol” history thus far, because she has both the small-town innocence and the personality to make the audience feel that she’s sharing a lot of herself with them.
Mandisa closed the night with a little “Cry,” by Faith Hill. It was another weird song choice and didn’t win her any new fans, but she already has a big one in Simon.
The usually cutting Brit said his usual negative things, but then added “when you’re on, I don’t think there’s a better singer in the competition.”
And the producer’s must agree. After all, they aren’t letting any other contestant drop their last name.