"American Idol": A Strange Night

Someone told me last week that they thought this year’s final five were not a very good group. I couldn’t disagree more.

Every year there has been at least one person that lacks real talent, but still makes it to the top five. In year one, it was Nikki McKibbin. In season two it was Josh Gracin (although we later realized his bad performances were more about lousy theme nights). In season three it was Jasmine Trias and last year it was Scott Savol and Anthony Federov. This season it’s…

That’s right. It’s no one. Because for the first time in “Idol” history, all of the top five are strong singers. Although I’m not sure they always showed that tonight. As the judges said at the end, it was strange.

To the scorecard…

Elliott Yamin, “On Broadway”: 20 (out of 25)
It was good, but it didn’t gel with me. I think it was too safe of a choice and there were too many runs.
“Home”: 20
This one was WAY too safe. It would’ve been nice to see him go out of the box.

Paris Bennett, “Kiss”: 22
Since Paris is a goner anyway, it was nice to see her do something funky. The last note was flat, but I loved her shoes. Interesting that Paris could do a Prince song since Ace couldn’t get them cleared.
“Be Without You”: 21
I nailed this one and why wouldn’t I? To me, it was the obvious choice, but I’m not sure she nailed it. And what was up with the camouflage?

Chris Daughtry, “Renegade”: 24
Did the Idols get a directive that they had to walk around the audience? That was my only problem with Chris’ performance.
“I Dare You”: 22
As everyone pointed out, Chris’ voice was going and it made him resort to screaming; and I didn’t really care for the song. Maybe he needed to go out of the box.

Katharine McPhee, “Against All Odds”: 19
Katharine, are you kidding me? Of all the great songs from 1984, you chose this one? I would’ve really liked to see her tackle a more powerful song like Carrie did last year with “Alone.” And there seemed to be something wrong with her voice.
“Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”: 23
I had this one on my list of potential Katharine songs and then I scratched it because I didn’t think she’d have the nerve. Good for her for proving me wrong.

Taylor Hicks, “Play That Funky Music, White Boy”: 21
The old Taylor is back! Not a real vocal song and he didn’t hit all the notes that were there, but it was fun.
“Something”: 18
The performance was not that bad, but I gave him a two (out of five) in song choice because I considered it cheating. They let him do a song from an album on the Pop Album Catalog chart? What?! If everyone else had to do something current, Taylor should have had to as well.

So, I still believe that Paris is going home, but I think Elliott will give her a run for her money. And I have to wonder if anyone else will consider Taylor a cheater and start a backlash.

I also have to hope that next week’s choices are a little stronger.

Stay tuned…