The American Idol 11 Top 12 er, 11 performed songs from The Year They Were Born. Read my Recap. Now, read what the rest of the blogosphere had to say about the performances.
‘American Idol’ recap: We’re All in the Mood for a Melody – Big Billy Joel night on Idol! I can’t be the only one who was hoping for someone to choose “The Downeaster Alexa,” if only so we could giggle at the preposterous background visual effects laid thick upon an Idol at Sea. But whoever sang that would surely get dinged for lack of emotional connection to the song. “I didn’t quite buy that you’re a fisherman who’s got bills to pay and children who need clothes, despite the empty swordfish traps whipping in the furious ocean winds behind you,” Randy would say in his patented tone of faux disappointment. “You’ve gotta make us believe that you’re cruising through Block Island Sound. Ai-yi-yiiiiii…yo.” – Entertainment Weekly
Phillip, Heejun ignore ‘American Idol’ mentors’ advice and rock the show – There must be some reason the folks at “American Idol” think that the best way to find tomorrow’s pop star is to have them sing songs that were popular a generation ago as opposed to, you know, actual hit singles from today. We’ve gone from Whitney Houston/Stevie Wonder to Songs from Your Birth Year to … Billy Joel. When do we get Lawrence Welk week? – MSNBC
‘American Idol’ Recap: Girls School the Boys on Billy Joel Night – Wednesday night’s American Idol aimed to put the country in a “New York State of Mind” by featuring the songs of Billy Joel, and to quote Steven Tyler: “If you can’t sing Billy Joel, you can’t sing at all.” Or, in the case of Heejun Han, if you can’t sing like Billy Joel, just go all Nick Mitchell-Norman Gentle on the audience and win the whole night!- The Hollywood Reporter
‘American Idol’ Recap: The Top 10 Perform The Songs Of Billy Joel – This week’s “American Idol” saw the contestants tackling the music of Billy Joel, regardless of the fact that before tonight, the majority of them probably wouldn’t have been able to name more than one of the artist’s songs without hitting Wikipedia first. In my mind, the show’s stubborn insistence on clinging to theme nights based on “classics” like The Beatles and Elvis — who, while groundbreaking and inspirational in terms of their impact on music as a whole, generally have no bearing on today’s charts — is what really hobbles “Idol” as a hit-making series. – Read more at Huffington Post
‘American Idol,’ Season 11, ’10 Finalists Compete’: TV Recap – Every week on “American Idol” someone new reveals an amazing voice, proving that with ten contestants left, this is anyone’s game.
Diddy and Jimmy mentored the team as they each gave their best showing with a song from the song library of Billy Joel. And since it’s not just about music, we saw Tommy Hilfiger talk style with the contestants, convincing Erika to chop off all of her hair and turn brunette, one of the biggest mid-season transformations the show has ever seen. – Wall Street Journal
‘American Idol’ 2012: Top 10 perform Billy Joel songs – Who knew the Idolettes were so partial to Shannon Magrane, the very tall 16 year-old who was cut from the show last week? As Wednesday night’s episode opens, they are overwhelmed by tears over Shannon’s departure, until a photographer tells them to brighten up for a photo shoot because… This Is “American Idol”! – Washington Post
Recap: ‘American Idol’ Top 10 Performance – Billy Joel Night – Welcome to Wednesday (March 21) night’s “American Idol.” If scuttlebutt is to be believed — and I always believe scuttlebutt — Wednesday’s theme is The Music of Billy Joel. And if additional scuttlebutt is to be believed, mentoring the Top 10 will be Sean Combs, because if anybody is trained to help aspiring singers with the work of Billy Joel, it’s P. Diddy. – Hit Fix
‘American Idol’ Recap: The Billy Joel Songbook – This week’s episode of Idol is billed as the Top 10 duking it out, and yet the show starts with tears. An entire montage of behind-the-scenes heartache and tear-filled farewells. But these Idol contestants are tough cookies, and even after saying goodbye to Shannon Magrane, they pull it together so they don’t appear red-eyed and snot-nosed in the weekly photo shoot. They are professionals, after all. This week’s theme is Billy Joel. Which, as Steven Tyler says, but does not demonstrate, “If you can’t sing Billy Joel, you can’t sing at all.” – Rolling Stone
American Idol 11: Top 10 Warble Billy Joel – For some explicable reason, P. Diddy is mentoring American Idol’s Top 10 contestants as they take on songs by…Billy Joel. And Tommy Hilfiger is dressing them. What the hell is this? 1997? And for chrissake, if Jennifer Lopez has the power to single-handedly destroy what remains of TV advertising, can’t she prevent Nigel Lythgoe and company from putting an ex-boyfriend on the show? Sure, its been years, but hell, I often avoid entire townships my exes reside in. But P. Diddy is P. Diddy he probably won’t pull a gun on anyone yet the saddest part about tonight’s debacle remains the fact we can’t get La Lopez handcuffed to a police bench — a la 1997. (Trivia: She asked NYPD cops for cuticle cream.) – TopIdolBlog
10 Finalists Compete – First, DeAndre meets with stylist-for-the-episode Tommy Hilfiger, who says, ominously, “We want to give you a look,” which is how all ill-fated makeovers begin. DeAndre tells Jimmy Iovine and Diddy (known the world over for his singing talent) that he intends to sing “Only the Good Die Young,” a song that Jimmy identifies with as a repressed Catholic. Diddy goes on some sort of tangent about how DeAndre needs to understand how filthy rich Billy Joel was when this song was written, which feels quite representative of Diddy’s abilities to assist in a singing competition. Both agree, though, that DeAndre needs to look happy and confident when he sings the song. – AV Club
