Instead of "Jive Talking", Josh Gracin should have sang "Swan Song", because his career took a nose dive on Wednesday night's episode of American Idol. Of course, after last week's horrendous performances and his unabashed surprise that Ruben was in the bottom 2 instead of him, it was only a matter of time before Lance Corporal Joshua Gracin was given his discharge papers. Watching his performances, though they were lively and entertaining, was like watching a condemned man pleading for mercy.
This week's theme was songs by the Bee Gees and the guest celebrity judge was none other than Mr. Robin Gibb. And, yes, once again the remaining contestants graced us with two songs. Josh went first and sang the 1975 song "Jive Talking". I really liked his version of the song. He ran out into the crowd, sang directly into the camera and was basically trying to hype everyone up. Like Ryan Seacrest said, he was working for it.
He chose the 1967 classic "To Love Somebody" as his second song. Even though this song has been performed as a country song before, Simon commented that it was risky. Seeing how Clay Aiken had just given a powerhouse performance of the exact same song, I totally agree. Simon did, however, go on to say that Josh pulled it off and I won't argue with that. Randy Jackson, who has been Josh's biggest critic as of late, even told Josh that he had to give him his props (for the slang deficient that means proper respect) and that was the best he'd ever heard from him. But Josh's extra efforts were all for naught, because at the end of the Wednesday program Ryan bluntly stated "Josh you're out".
Not only did Clay Aiken sing "To Love Somebody", but he, like Josh, got his fair share of props from Randy Jackson, as well as from the other judges. In fact, after his performance, Simon gave him the quintessential American Idol compliment. He said it was "probably one of the best performances I have ever heard throughout the entire competition"; and he was not just referring to the current American Idol competition. He meant all of them, including the British version. Personally, I loved it and for the first time since the American Idol 2 competition began, I could actually envision Clay as a pop star.
Whereas Simon told Josh he was lucky he was doing two songs, it would have been in Clay's best interest to stop at one. For his second Bee Gee song, he chose the 1978, ever so popular theme from the identically titled motion picture, "Grease". I can certainly imagine where he was coming from, when he selected that song. Clay takes constructive criticism very well, so I'm sure he wanted to take Paula Abdul's advice and loosen up, dance a little bit, and essentially put the critics to shame. Here is where the Clay fans get mad at me. Paula may have been proud of him and Randy Jackson may have liked his moves, but that pelvic pop did absolutely nothing for me. Although, I did think that his red jacket and red shoes were rather stylish. Of course with that red spotlight shining directly on his head it made him look like a bad-ass Ronald McDonald; so the best I can do is give him an E for effort and move on. Hey, that's way better than the horrible rating that Simon assigned after his second performance.
I really thought it was over and done for Kimberley Locke, because she simply was not in good voice on Tuesday. This became overwhelmingly obvious when she landed in the bottom 2 on Wednesday. She sang "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", originally performed by Andy Gibb, and "Emotions", which she sung in the same vein as the recent Destiny's Child version. I am fairly certain it was due to her song choices, but frankly it boils down to what Simon said, her performances just didn't do it for me. The songs did not fit her voice and it probably would have been better if she performed the songs she sang on Wednesday's result show. She sounded marvelous when she sang "If I Can't Have You", a song made famous by Yvonne Elliman, and "Woman In Love", a popular Barbara Streisand song, both of which were written by the Bee Gees. For her sake, I hope next week Kim can prove that she's everything we need in an American Idol.
OK, the little guy in the audience may not have been ready for the big guy (a.k.a. Ruben Studdard), but I sure was. I knew he would come back this week with a serious vengeance. He aptly represented the 205, by singing the 1975 "Nights on Broadway" (I wonder why Clay didn't sing this song - sorry Clay fans I couldn't resist) and the ultimate breakup song, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", which I know everyone is going to say they predicted he would sing because it was a huge hit for R&B singer Al Green. Well, it was not only a big hit for Al Green; the Bee Gees also recorded it. However that didn't prevent Robin Gibb from saying Ruben's version was "probably one of the best versions I've heard anybody do of our songs" and I got the feeling he wasn't just talking about that particular song. Well Ruben managed to make Paula, a sizable portion of America, and me feel all warm and fuzzy and we are so glad he is still in the competition; because as Simon said it wouldn't be the same if he weren't in it.
Things are heating up and I truly believe at this point any one of the remaining contestants could win, but I think the American public and the producers of America Idol are banking on a showdown between Clay and Ruben.
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