The American Idol competition grows closer to completion, and the new Idol will soon be crowned. But as Simon Cowell said at the beginning of this show, "this contest will be more about talent than image". He was correct in that declaration.
As the final four entertained the BeeGee's Robin Gibb, who served as guest judge, the probable final two contestants distanced themselves from the remaining two in a rather mediocre show. Since BeeGees music is rather hard to sing, with all the falsettos, etc., the final four tried to "make it their own", some admirably, some horrendously.
The four each sang two BeeGee composed songs. Crowd Favorite "Velvet Teddybear" Ruben Studdard sang "Nights on Broadway", a great song, but because of hideous background vocals, Studdard could hardly be heard at times, it wasn't one of his better performances. He redeemed himself with his second song, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"...and conveyed actual emotion and heartbreak the song is meant portray. Really great song choice by Studdard.
Rocketing heartthrob Clay Aiken also performed two songs, one awesome, one, not so much. He started out with "To Love Somebody", the haunting Gibbs song, and sang his nonexistent butt off on that one, a goosebump producing rendition that was typical Aiken, power note and all. His second choice, "Grease (is the word)", the movie theme originally performed by Frankie Valli, was hilarious (unintended or not). Aiken donned a red leather jacket and matching shoes, (looking like a suburban Michael Jackson impersonator, circa 1983). Grease was not one of the many great BeeGees songs Aiken could have chosen, and he topped off this bad choice by adding (ahem) HIP THRUSTS to the performance! Now I know Aiken has previously been advised to add a little dancing to his repertoire, but this had all the panache of Ralph Kramden doing the Mambo. But Clay is known for his self deprecating humor (see the Ruben/Clay pimpdaddy Ford commercial during the results show!), so he probably knew that his homage to early Elvis was a goof. Although many women will disagree with me, I laughed for an hour!
Kim Locke started with Andy Gibb's "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything", and did a pretty nice version of the song. But she chose "Emotion", a song too well known by everyone who is a Saturday Night Fever fan, thus subject to much scrutiny. She should have chosen another song, as her power notes and adaptation was just wrong, and was in the bottom two this week, much deserved at that.
Lance Corporal (Punishment), Joshua Gracin continued to baffle those with normal hearing by actually being in the top four. He started with "Jive Talkin'", running through the audience, and continued to make funny faces to the camera, frightening the audience and home viewers alike. He followed up that fiasco with "To Love Somebody", a risky move (as Cowell mentioned), since Clay Aiken performed it first, and did an admirable job! But I heard Clay Aiken, I saw Clay Aiken, I enjoyed Clay Aiken...Josh, you're no Clay Aiken.
The results show was great, featuring a BeeGee montage the final four performed that was awesome. Ryan Seacrest announced that Studdard and Aiken were safe, Locke (once again), and Gracin weren't, and finally gave Gracin his AI discharge papers. Gracin touched the audience with his final song by holding his little daughter and singing to her. Corny, yes, but a nice touch.
The stress is obvious on the faces of Locke and Aiken as these final weeks commence. They look queasy during Seacrests announcements. Studdard (no surprise) shows little emotion.
Sadly, this competition ends soon, as it has been particularly pleasing this season. The unconventional final three give hope to future Idol contestants hoping for stardom. They now know that talent far outweighs style, and that should be good for the future AI shows.
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