I was out of town last night, so I recorded AI, and outside of checking to see who was eliminated (I'm human, after all), I studiously avoided any other recaps or reviews of the show so this is all new stuff for me.
Last night (well, really the night before, but I'm not going to keep reminding all of us of that), the kids sang Billy Joel (and not all that well). Someone has to go home, Home, HOME, HOME!
Randy is wearing a fairly ordinary and boring black jacket. Steven is in black leather and a frown. JLo is in a long fuchsia dress with an Angelina Jolie leg. And a slick ponytail. Ryan is in a tie again (I thought maybe he'd skip the tie, since he wore one on Wednesday).
Tonight Lana del Rey (who?) is on. Also Haley Reinhart. Ryan reminds us of the Judge's Save, like they're actually going to use it this early in the competition.
The Group Sing is Longest Time, and that's about how long it lasts. The kids line up, each with an individual mike on a stand. Evidently they're not lip-synching tonight because there are many many bad notes. Skylar hasn't seen it for the longest tam. Amazingly enough, the only ones who sound okay are Joshua and Heejun. At least they end with the Pointy Pose.
The Fordmercial is You found Me. It's an elaborate game of Hide and Seek, and the only interesting thing is that Erika still had her old, bad hair.
Ryan announces that the Top 9 will move into the Mansion. He uncharacteristically stumbles a bit over the delivery of that news.
Ryan calls down Hollie (glittery purple dress that only needs fairy wings to turn her into Tinkerbell), Skylar (pants, embroidered Hippie Blouse and a shiny vest), and Elise (again with dress made from 70's bedding).
Iovine:
Hollie: a retroactive prediction of a bad performance
Elise: still thinks no one knows that song (I do- why do I know it when no one else does?), but killed it. Got GOOSIES!
Skylar: Not her best performance. Needs to change it up
Hollie is in! Skylar is in! Ryan screws around with her for a bit, but Elise is in too!
Lana del Rey takes the stage. I may have mentioned that I am unfamiliar with Lana del Rey. She has very long and lustrous hair, and is wearing a white dress with a gathered skirt. She has a very quiet, little girl voice, and she mumbles her song (Video Games) directly into her microphone and never raises her eyes to the audience. Oh- she's wearing a skirt and a shortie blouse, not a dress, and her posture is atrocious (she has one of those hip-forward stances). Frankly, I cannot understand a single word of this song. She may not even be speaking English. This song goes on so long that I check my e-mail, and still she's not done.
Joe Perry surprises Steven Tyler by singing Happy Birthday on stage. Given that the members of Aerosmith have heretofore ignored AI, this is a pretty big deal, and Steven seems to be genuinely touched by the gesture.
Ryan calls down Deandre (hair pulled back, brown henley), Josh (beige ribbed pullover), and Jessica (sparkly blue shorts over black leggings, lemon yellow stilettos, a shortie top, and a vest. This outfit is blindingly terrible. Where the hell is Tommy Hilfiger when we need him?).
Iovine:
Deandre: too peppy
Josh: not impressed, no connection to the song, uses the words *oversinging* and *Darth Vader* together
Jessica: great job!
Jessica is safe (like there was ever a doubt). Joshua is safe (ditto). Deandre is not.
Haley Reinhart is in a birdcage, a huge birdcage. She's wearing a slinky red dress and has very big, very curly sideswept hair, held in place with some huge, dumb barrettes. Well, this song showcases everything that I hated about Haley last year- it's nasal and affected, and once the birdcage rises, we see that her command of the stage has not changed (lots of stomping and squatting). Now that I get a clear look at her dress, I can see that it's actually a sheer overskirt with a long slit over shorts. Sigh.
Next down: Phil (in a Plaid Phil Shirt over a Phil Tee), Heejun (black jacket over possibly black track pants with suspenders down, and a knit cap), Colton (in a really thin, drapey tee shirt. I'm not kidding, this shirt looks almost transparent), and Erika (oh dear- Erika is wearing a one-shouldered, drab print dress that is anchored under her boobs with some sort of studded belt. It may be the single ugliest and most unflattering thing she's worn yet, and that's saying something. I still like her new hairdo, though).
Iovine:
Phil: I defends his purpose on this show even though Phil seems to be doing just fine by listening to himself
Colton: Billy Joel e-mailed and he liked the song
Erika: brave to change her entire look like that, loved the song and voice and performance
Heejun: agreed with Steven that Heejun is just screwing with all of them (note that we see a screen-in-screen of Heejun watching this critique. He seems mostly unaffected, and later declares that he is pleased with himself).
Ryan messes with Colton as usual, but he's safe. Erika is in the bottom 3. She interrupts the show to run back and collect some maracas from Elise. Ryan is a little rattled by this bit of improvisation. Phil is safe. Heejun is not.
Deandre is moving into the mansion. So is Heejun.
Erika looks resigned. She knows that the judges are not going to save her, no matter how well she sings I Believe in You and Me. And she sings it really really well. There are at least two kids in this competition who should have gone home before Erika (Heejun and Deandre).
But, of course, Erika is going home. She can barely pretend to be okay with this as her video journey plays. I think Erika should have tried out for the X-Factor or America's Got Talent- both of those shows are much more welcoming to women who don't fit the Disney Princess (or Carrie Underwood ) mold.
1 comment:
I was thinking after seeing Randy's collars and your descriptions of them...perhaps he's trying to bring back the Regency style where dandies wore similar collars and tried to out match each other on how high their points where. Even to the extent where they could barely turn their heads without cutting themselves on them. Just a thought. :)
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