It's the annual "choice" night on Idol, and as always, Clive Davis is on hand, though he's been relegated to a cheap seat in the audience instead his usual ringside seat with Randy, Paula, and Simon. Clive picks the songs for Round One, which goes a little something like this:
Elliott, "Open Arms" -- Elliott's singing with much less vibrato than usual, and it makes a huge difference; his voice is actually pleasant to listen to. The performance is on the tepid side, pleasant enough but not very memorable.
Katharine, "I Believe I Can Fly" -- Clive, Clive, Clive, what were you thinking? Have you not seen Katharine's sad attempts to play Pop Diva, horrifying moments like "The Voice Within" and "Against All Odds"? This was even worse than those, all runs and frills and filigrees, and it's just too much. Yes, the voice is lovely, but her attempts at style are getting in the way of her technique. It isn't pretty.
Taylor, "Dancing in the Dark" -- Clive wanted this song so badly that we are told he called Bruce personally to get permission for the first ever Idol use of a Springsteen song. And it's a good choice for Taylor's voice and style, though he doesn't do anything particularly interesting with it. Small deduction for the silly gun-pointing gesture on "this gun's for hire."
Round Two belongs to our beloved trio of judges, each of whom have chosen a song for one contestant:
Elliott, "What You Won't Do for Love" (chosen by Paula) -- Elliott looks more relaxed than usual, which helps to make this a reasonably entertaining performance. The song's not very interesting, though, and that vibrato is back in a big, unpleasant way.
Katharine, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (chosen by Simon) -- Two big surprises at the beginning: She sings the verse -- no one ever sings the verse -- and she sings it a cappella; when the band comes in as the chorus begins, she is dead perfect on pitch. She's spectacular, and I'm holding my breath waiting for the moment when she's going to swoop or hurl some melisma or do something gratuitous, but it never comes. This really was her finest performance, and something quite marvelous to see.
Taylor, "You Are So Beautiful" (chosen by Randy) -- So if you've got a contestant against whom the chief criticism is that he's nothing but a bad Joe Cocker/Michael McDonald impersonator, do you really want to ask him to sing a Joe Cocker song? Taylor looks pained throughout, and he can't sustain the long, quiet notes ("...to meeeeeee"), which fade in and out. Even so, the opening isn't bad -- I like Taylor more when he's still than when he's spastic -- but he completely shatters the mood he's created with a manic "woo hoo hoo" midway through.
And for the final round, the singers get to choose their own material:
Elliott, "I Believe to My Soul" -- His voice is particularly heavy and throaty on this one, which is working against the agility he needs to make those R&B riffs really soar; as is so often the case with Elliott, you can see how hard he's working. There's an especially ugly high note near the very end, and he's fighting throughout to be heard above the band.
Katharine, "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" -- awful song choice, in a style that will completely bore most of this show's audience. And the performance isn't especially good, either, as Katharine returns to the ruffles and flourishes that marred her first number (though admittedly, they weren't as excessive here).
Taylor, "Try a Little Tenderness" -- It starts off OK, with the slow intro, but the band picks up the tempo and suddenly we're watching the most spectacular act of self-parody in Idol history. I have to pinch myself to be sure I'm still watching Taylor and not a Saturday Night Live Taylor impersonator. The ending is amazingly, unbelievably ghastly.
For the night: Katharine only had one really good performance, but that was one more than anybody else had, so she wins the night; Taylor beats Elliott for second, but it's not much of an honor.
For the season: It's the least interesting group of finalists Idol has ever produced, and I'm not sure any of them really deserves to win. Elliott is still the most undeserving, though, and should be sent home.
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