Thoughts and Impressions from American Idol, Week 10

Well, it looks like the longer this show goes, and therefore the fewer contestants we have left, the more group songs we’re going to hear. Frankly, though, I don’t mind that. It’s certainly better than another Ford Focus or Coca-Cola segment. After all, this is supposed to be a contest to find the best singer.

What’s that you say? It’s not. Well, you’re sort of right. It is not called the “Best Singer in America” contest. It is called “American Idol.” Some of the biggest idols have not been very good singers; many of the best singers are not idols. While Simon now gets upset that the likes of RJ and Nikki have made it this far, he is the one who set the stage back in the cuts down to 100 and then to 30 when he booted out people because they didn’t “look” the way he wanted them to – such as the several contestants who were overweight. I usually agree with Simon’s assessment of talent, but he has nobody to blame but himself; unfortunately, the rest of us have to pay the price.

American Idol is a show that, by its very nature, finds the person who is most supported by the American public – at least those who care enough to call in and vote. Odds are these are the same people who will make the effort to purchase a CD put out by the singer they have supported. So if (and I shudder to think about it) Nikki should win, then she would, indeed, be the American Idol. She isn’t the best singer – but we can’t really be sure any of the finalists were, because good singers were tossed earlier for non-singing reasons.

OK, I’ve gone off on that tangent for long enough. As I was saying, the group songs were pretty good in both the Tuesday and Wednesday shows. Tuesday was better because you couldn’t really hear Nikki or RJ (maybe the producers turned down their microphones). On Wednesday, it was good until Nikki had her solo part. Ugh. Then Kelly had her solo. Wow. How the hell can anybody vote to keep these two on the same stage? I don’t understand it, even given what I said above. And putting Justin and RJ next to each other shows just how much richer Justin’s voice is than RJ’s.

Moving on to the solos, Kelly was, as usual, incredible. In fact, this performance should serve as a lesson to Nikki on how to sing with power but without shouting.

RJ should be glad there were backup singers to cover up some of his shortcomings in the chorus. He started off okay, but he just kept doing that thing where he extends a word or holds a note (or whatever the technical singing term is) for waaaaaaay too long. It just gets annoying because his voice isn’t up to it. I actually figured his teenage girl fans would like this performance.

After RJ’s performance, when Simon said there were three better singers there, the audience – including previous contestants Ryan and Jim – booed him. Excuse me? Yes, I know I brought this up in my article about the TV Guide Simon article, but not everybody reads every word I type (hard though that may be to believe), so I wanted to address it again briefly. They booed Simon for saying there are singers better than RJ. Do they even know what they are booing, or are they just doing it because it was Simon? If they had thought it through at all, I cannot believe they are actually saying RJ is the best of the remaining four singers. Simon didn’t say he was bad or horrible, just not the best. And he isn’t. So get over it already.

Moving on to the person who might just be the best, Tamyra brought tears to Paula Abdul’s eyes with her singing. (Yes, I know, Nikki’s singing brings tears to the eyes of a lot of people, but not for the same reason.) Are those who booed Simon a few minutes previously booing him when he says that was one of the best performances he has ever seen on TV? No. Rather inconsistent, don’t you think? Or, should I say, illogical.

Justin was good, but not great. Still, I predict he will make it into the final two because he is the only guy left for the teenage girls to concentrate on. Nikki should be gone next week (okay, she should have been gone weeks ago), leaving Tamyra, Kelly, and Justin. I think Tamyra and Kelly will split some of the “best singer” vote, leaving Justin to get all the teenage girl vote. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Nikki’s performance may have been the best we’ve seen out of her. Mind you, this doesn’t mean it’s good – I want no confusion there. Nikki on her best day is not even close to Tamyra, Kelly, or Justin on their worst. It was also a good move having her son come give her the flower at the end of her song. If you think that wasn’t planned as part of a ploy to get votes, you are extremely naïve. It was amusing to see her keep a forced smile on her face after being slammed by all three judges (well, as much as Paula has ever “slammed” anybody) and having to sit beside the hosts.

In the results show, Ryan Seacrest got back at Simon for giving him the finger previously by calling him, “the prick… ly Simon Cowell.” Cute.

The lowest two were of course RJ and Nikki. Well, I say “of course,” but really we’ve found that anything can happen on this show. Indeed, we see it again as RJ’s legion of teenage girls just couldn’t cut it anymore and he fell prey to the Fans of Nikki. And really that’s the situation – they are her fans, and they don’t care how she sounds, they are going to vote for her. Hopefully next week people who actually listen will outvote the Fans of Nikki.

Now RJ can join AJ and EJay, and maybe pull in Jim (call him JV or something) and form the boy band I’ve been advocating, “The Jays.” I bet they would be a smash success.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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