Here’s what critics around the interwebs are saying about last night’s American Idol 12 Top 8 performance show. Read my recap here.
‘American Idol’ Recap: Nicki Minaj Bashes Janelle Arthur, Hits on Smokey Robinson – Firstly, the strange judge behavior continueth on Wednesday’s American Idol: for some reason, I just noticed that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey don’t ever seem to look at — let alone acknowledge — one another on the panel. When Mariah speaks, Nicki visibly turns away from Mimi to face Keith “Perfect Highlights” Urban. We don’t need a body language expert to tell us that Nicki wants to smear “I HATE YOU” in pink lipstick on her rival’s dressing-room walls. – Read more at Hollywood Reporter
‘American Idol’ Detroit Tribute: 7 Things You Didn’t See on TV – 1. Before the live broadcast began at 5 p.m. PDT, warm-up maestro Cory Almeida led the audience through a series of cheers and boos. It wasn’t rehearsal or a way to get everybody excited, it was for the cameras, to provide some footage of the audience letting the judges know what they thought of critiques that hadn’t been delivered yet. – Read more at Hollywood Reporter
‘American Idol’ recap: You Keep Me Hanging On – Another year, another Motown Week. Hey, at least the age-defying Smokey Robinson was on hand to guide the Top 8 through all their Stevie Wonder covers. It was fun watching Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj duke it out (while pretending the other does not exist) in complimenting the legend — Mariah gushing about his musical accomplishments, Nicki declaring the pristine green-eyed statue “a sexy piece of specimen.” Why, I do declare 2013’s Motown Week a tour de force, dahhhling. There’s no way you American Idol viewers could possibly know what tour de force means, right? COMMONERS! – Read more at Entertainment Weekly
American Idol Recap: Hasn’t Detroit Suffered Enough? – Last week’s Beatles night was oddly flat and it got me thinking about how this season has only achieved liftoff when these kids have sung songs that have resonated with their own lives: Kree’s Patty Griffin tune, Angie’s original at the piano. (I generally believe in the Rule of Threes, but I’ve been wracking my brain and it seems that this season has achieved liftoff exactly twice.) Whether because the producers are too afraid we’ll lose interest or the finalists are too studied and obedient, this season has been way too safe. Too familiar. These kids aren’t connecting with the material, maybe because so much of the material came out before their parents were born. Sure, they should be familiar with the classics, but we deserve to see what really turns these finalists on. We need a change, and fast. – Read more at Vulture.com
American Idol Top 8 Recap: This Theme’s a Mystery, Every Contestant Must Stand Alone – Randy Jackson shouted “in it to win it!” (the verbal equivalent of a pile of dusty horse bones getting worked over with a cat o’ nine tails). Mariah Carey did her impersonation of a butterfly (much flapping of the wings/gums; very little in the way of pointed critique). One singer used the “I wanted to have fun” card while trying to explain away a catastrophic mess of a performance. And while, thankfully, the majority of contestants chose uptempo tracks — thereby ending a run that gave us ballads for 17 of the last 19 performances — a sense of ennui prevailed for most of the episode, with a few jarring exceptions. – Read more at TV Line
“American Idol” Sputters and Dies on Motor City Night – There are some nights when American Idol feels like something that has snuck onto the Fox schedule, when it has only slightly higher production values than your typical public-access talent show. Last night, which was originally slotted to pay tribute to Motown Records but which was curiously rebranded as honoring Detroit in toto at the last minute, was one of those nights. Mariah Carey brandished a magic wand and was very chatty, musing at one point on whether or not anyone knew what a “tour de force” was anymore; a couple of singers botched lyrics; one muffed line resulted in on-stage drama and Nicki inhabiting her schoolmarm persona. What a night! Oh, and the Top Eight performed, too. – Read more at Popdust
‘American Idol’ Recap: Top Eight Salute The Motor City – “American Idol” celebrated the music of Detroit on Wednesday, but hopes of a Motor City free-for-all were dashed when it ended up being, basically, just another Motown night. The Motown theme is one of the most visited in “Idol” history, popping up in the first three seasons and again in seasons eight and 10, and of the 11 songs performed Wednesday, nine were from Motown artists. Only Aretha Franklin (who is frequently associated with Motown but never recorded for the label) and Madonna broke the Motown mold. – MTV
‘American Idol” Top 8 Night: Panic In Detroit – It was Motor City Night on “American Idol” this Wednesday, which meant the top eight performed the songs of Iggy & The Stooges, the MC5, the White Stripes, and Insane Clown Posse. Sike! C’mon, now. Of course they did the same tired ole Motown standards (other than one Madonna duet by Kree Harrison and Janelle Arthur) that’ve been performed on “Idol” since Brian Dunkleman was still the show’s cohost–even though current host Ryan Seacrest had stressed that “any artist from Detroit was fair game.” – Read more at Yahoo.com
‘American Idol’ Recap: Big Voices and Forgotten Words on Detroit-Honoring Night – The good news with “American Idol” this week? Apparently ‘Motown Week’ means less ballads on the singing competition, which after the last few weeks is a welcome respite indeed (let’s thank Smokey Robinson, the mentor this evening). The bad? It’s down to the top eight and still needs to fill two hours, so it’s time for group performances! While that may not sound like a poor proposition, remember that this is the “Idol” season where remembering the words to songs during Hollywood Week was tougher than usual, for reasons unknown. Remember also that this is a group of contestants who tend to wear on their sleeves the fact that they didn’t know a song they sing that week before, you know, that week. Through two songs into the equation, and it’s going to be a recipe for disaster for some. – Read more at Billboard.com
On ‘American Idol,’ a Detroit breakdown – The guys had their chance Wednesday. On Detroit Night, Lazaro Arbos returned to his likable form with a charming rendition of Stevie Wonder’s For Once in My Life. Devin Velez found his inner Smokey Robinson (who mentored the singers) with a bittersweetly syncopated version of Tracks of My Tears. And the judges raved for Burnell Taylor’s riffing on My Cherie Amour. – Read more at USA Today
‘American Idol’ recap: Top 8 tackle Motor City music – The “American Idol” top 8 tackled the music of Detroit on Wednesday. That turned out to mean mostly Motown, but also, incongruously, a song by Madonna — “Michigan’s own Material Girl,” Ryan Seacrest reminded us – and a countrified version of it at that. Under the twinkling green eyes of Motown legend and guest mentor Smokey Robinson, it ought to have been a miraculous gem of a show, but alas, while some performers shined, others turned in woefully flawed performances. – Read more at LA Times
‘American Idol’ Alums Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo Break Down the Top 8 – American Idol alums Ace Young (Season 5) and Diana DeGarmo (Season 3) met in 2010 when they both signed on to costar in the Broadway revival of the musical Hair. The couple famously got engaged during the Season 11 finale of American Idol and are planning to wed this coming June. The first couple of Idol now cohost a new one-hour entertainment show called Planet 360 on the Hallmark Movie Channel. This week, they’re blogging for Parade.com about this season of Idol. Here are their thoughts on how the top eight contestants stacked up last night: – Read more at Parade.com
