Well a long week of ego bruising has finally come to an end for Miss Carmen Rasmusen and so has her tenure as an American Idol contestant. This week's shows (with the exception of that shameless lead in to Fox's new show "Mr. Personality" on Monday) were dedicated to the beautiful songs of songwriter, 9 time Grammy nominee and guest celebrity judge Diane Warren. I must say that I enjoyed the performances of Ms. Warren's songs much more than the Billy Joel's songs, but her video commentaries paled greatly in comparison. She basically thought the songs were all great, which they were, and that all the performances were great, which they most definitely were not.
Poor little Carmen, not many contestants are straight out told that they can't win the competition and that in trying to find the best in America that they're not even close. Yet, these are the remarks her rendition of "Love Will Lead You Back" elicited from Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson respectively. Can you say ouch? Although Carmen didn't provide a response to their comments, her priceless facial expressions said it all. She was obviously very disappointed by the critique but thought that her fans would come to her rescue, despite what was said. Evidently, even the Carmen fans realized she was on a sinking ship and opted not to throw her a life preserver this week.
Whereas Carmen was told that she could not win, as I predicted last week Kimberley Locke was recognized as a true contender for the AI2 tile. She provided my favorite performance of the week and all the judges appeared to have agreed with me. She SANG "If You Ask Me To" (And while I have your attention I just want to say that I personally prefer the Patti LaBelle version to Celine Dion's, but of course that's just me) and she stole the show. Even though he said it after Ruben's performance, I agree with what Simon said about Ruben and Clay needing to watch out for Kimberley Locke, because she just might sneak up and win this competition. Of course there was one comment that Simon made that I didn't quite understand and that was about Kim's hair. He said that every since she got rid of that weird hair she's gotten better. Now I personally prefer Kim's hair straight, but was I the only one that noticed that Simon's girlfriend's hair is almost identical to Kim's old curly style?
Josh also fell victim to Simon's obsessive hair comments. Simon made some off the wall remark about how Josh should be embarrassed because he's a Marine and he appeared in some hair color commercial. Of course the funny part was when Josh fired back and said he would reserve his comments because he is respectful of his elders and that Simon is very old. Even Simon had to give it up to Josh for his quick comeback. Well it was a good thing that Josh could provide us with some comedy relief because his singing only imparted grief. He chose a Diane Warren song that was never officially released as a single; one that Josh claims he used to sing to his wife. The name of the song was, "That's When I'll Stop Loving You". Since he was in the bottom 3 and 2 this week, is it possible that America has stopped loving Josh?
Trenyce was also in the bottom 3, which at this stage of the competition is not a hard place to be considering there are only 6 (and now 5) contestants left. My only problem with Trenyce's performance is that the song she chose was done so wonderfully by Brandy that her version, in my opinion, was just lackluster. She sang "Have You Ever" a very heart wrenching song that usually brings me to tears. Now even though I am still planning to purchase a Trenyce CD, if and when it's release, I hope she opts to leave this song off.
OK, I think all would agree that Ruben and Clay are the frontrunners for this competition so I'll end with them. I just want to start off by saying that I do not have any personal biases against Clay. I have said every week since I began reviewing American Idol that he can sing. Of course I have also been saying that his talent is better suited for Broadway and after his rendition of "I Could Not Ask for More", I still feel the same.
Are my comments less threatening and more convincing now that Simon has basically repeated them on national television? Is Michael Crawford (famed "Phantom of the Opera" star) living in poverty or lacking of fans? The answer is no. He is doing just fine and so will Clay, but not on the pop scene. How do I know, because Simon sez so. Anyway why are the Clay fans so defensive? It's as if they feel like they have to justify why they like him. And by the way, maybe Clay has more signs because his name is the easiest to rhyme (Clay make my day, shake your boo-tay, Clay is here to stay, etc.) with.
Now if you want to talk about biases, I think people have their own personal biases towards Ruben. Let the boy wear what he wants to wear and sing what he wants to sing, as long as he does it well and it falls in line with the spirit of the competition - and it always does. His singing is effortless and he can sing any song. I'm totally confused as to why people keep saying he always sings a Barry White or Luther Vandross (by the way I hope Mr. Vandross is feeling better soon) like song, when by far his best performance was when he sang "Sweet Home Alabama". Well he caved to the pressure and this week he sang, "Music of My Heart", a song originally performed by N'Sync and Gloria Estefan and like no other song we have seen him sing before. And much to the dismay of the nay sayers he was, to quote Simon, "fantastic". He can change his image and his style (but why mess with perfection?) and still be great each and every time. He is one of the best in the changing face of America.
With all that said, I honestly think the actual battle is still between Ruben and Clay, but I would be truly ecstatic if the final two were actually Ruben and Kim. These two have taken each bit of constructive criticism, analyzed it and made the necessary modifications, while still remaining true to themselves. Clay has done everything possible to mold himself into a pop star and he keeps coming up short. Now these are not only my opinions. Booted contestant Rickey Smith might have said that Clay receives the most fan mail, but he also said he would put his money on Ruben to win; a sentiment echoed by Kimberly Caldwell and by yours truly. The problem with Clay winning is what happens after American Idol is over and he no longer has this medium to showcase his talents.
I welcome your comments so, hollah back at me at kc@elitestv.com.
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