My heart is still not breaking for him, but it was a very good week for Clay Aiken. He successfully eliminated those weird facial expressions that plagued his performance last week and he is the only contestant that has never been in the bottom 2 or 3. I must admit that I was tapping my feet and swaying to the beat during his upbeat performance of the 1960's song "Build Me Up, Buttercup". For those of you who do not know, this week the contestants graced us with not one but two songs, one from the 1960's and one written by guest celebrity host Neil Sedaka. Clay's second performance was the Neil Sedaka song "Solitaire", which I don't personally remember, but that's probably a good thing, because Mr. Sedaka thought Clay's performance was so remarkable that he has lost his song to him forever. I thought it was more along the lines of his usual performances, whereas Paula seemed to think it propelled him from being typecast as "better suited for Broadway" and redefined him as a true pop singer. Well no surprise there, but I tend to disagree. Especially since Mr. Sedaka, who I respect as an artist, said he would kill to write and to produce Clay's first CD. Was this a compliment to a future pop star? Let's just say it is a far cry from Babyface and the Underdogs (producers on the new Justin Guarini CD, which I predict will be hot!).
Since I am a little too young to remember the '60's and early '70's, I did a search on the Internet for Neil Sedaka, and this is an example of what was returned:
Buy the "Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits" CD by Neil Sedaka, or shop for other Broadway and vocalists music - Amazon.com.
I performed a similar search on Luther Vandross (please continue to pray for him) and Barry White, the two artists that Ruben is constantly accused of emulating, and Amazon.com made no mention of Broadway. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but I can easily do the math.
However, what doesn't compute is Ruben's placement in this week's bottom 2. I really think what makes people who don't believe Ruben deserves to win so upset is the fact that singing is so effortless for him. I honestly could find no fault with Ruben's suave performance of the Temptations 1960's song, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" and his rendition of Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", gave me goose bumps. To quote Randy, "that kid is brilliant" and "I don't know what ya'll been hearing". Because Ruben's voice is so "radio friendly", as poignantly pointed out by Mr. Sedaka, one thing is for sure, if he gets voted out of this competition the judges, the producers of the show, and yours truly will be seriously broken hearted. But as Simon also said, music is subjective and so I say to each his own.
Trenyce, in my opinion, delivered the best performances of the week. She even garnered a sincere "fabulous" as a compliment from Simon; of course this was after he compared her to a Drag Queen when critiquing her first performance. She sang "Proud Mary", which was originally performed by Tina Turner, as her '60's song and "Love Will Keep Us Together", which I remember being performed by Captain & Tennille, as her Sedaka song. Personally, I think she slam dunked both songs and it was refreshing to hear her sing those grooving tunes instead of her normal ballads, which she apparently believes showcases her vocal range. I think Randy got it right when he said she was trying to win. Unfortunately, America obviously thought she didn't try hard enough, because they sent her and her vocal cord loosening olive oil packing this week.
Of course my girl, Kimberley Locke is trying to win too. It's a good thing she did such a wonderful job singing Neil Sedaka's, "Where The Boys Are", because her rendition of "Heard It Through the Grapevine", her 1960's song choice, which she sang first, was no music to my ears. I'm sorry Mr. Sedaka but it simply was not ear-delicious. Unsurprisingly, Kim looked great during both performances, but the pink suede jacket and matching hat that she wore during the second performance was totally hot. Like Paula said she was sultry.
Have I saved the best for last? Don't bet the farm on it. I was sure that we would be kissing Josh Gracin good-bye this week. But no, America voted to keep him around. Did Simon's comments about his two performances not being "good enough to stay in this competition anymore", garner him sympathy votes as they did for Carmen a couple of weeks ago? Well hopefully history will repeat itself and he will be gone next week just like Carmen. Just in case someone cares he sang, "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" for his '60's song, and "Bad Blood", as his Sedaka song.
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