MJ’s Take: Seven Finalists Try to Inspire
This week’s American Idol featured R&B singer Alicia Keys mentoring the Idols as they sang songs of inspiration for ‘Idol Gives Back’ week.
There was no big judges’ entrance when the episode began. There were 7 contestants who needed to sing 7 songs in 58 minutes. And don’t forget four judges who can’t seem to edit themselves. Instead, Randy, Ellen, Kara and Simon were already sitting at their table when Ryan took the stage. A lot of good it did — the show ran about 3 minutes overtime anyway. Hopefully the folks who DVR the show didn’t miss the performance of the night.
‘American Idol’: On the scene for Top 7 performance night, plus backstage tidbits
As Crystal blew the roof off with “People Get Ready, ” Randy, Kara, and Simon were all moving their heads to the song’s beat. That’s right, even Simon was grooving to Crystal’s rhythms. And then the singer finished the song with tears in her eyes. “I love you, Daddy, ” said Crystal. “I need your shades.” What? Backstage, Crystal explained: “My dad came out here. He hasn’t been able to see any of the show yet. He was wearing sunglasses because he was trying to hide the fact that he was crying. So when I looked up and saw the mirror sunglasses, I was like, ‘I know he’s crying!’”
‘American Idol’ recap: The Power of Good Cry
Big girls don’t cry. Or at least that’s what Frankie Valli, Fergie, and even season 9’s Robot Girl Contestant have sung with varying degrees of believability.
Lucky for us, then, that Crystal Bowersox is not a girl, but rather, a full-grown woman. And she proved that point tonight by putting down her armor, entering the Idoldome in an emotionally naked state, and delivering a rendition of the Impressions’ ”People Get Ready” that, if American Idol were played like Monopoly, would be the equivalent of getting a ”Go directly to the Nokia. Do not pass ‘Go, ‘ do not collect $200” card.
More Idol recaps after the JUMP…
Bowersox closes ‘Idol’ on emotional high
If you’re one of the people running “American Idol, ” there are two benefits for having Crystal Bowersox sing last on the Tuesday episodes. The first is that it closes the show on a high note, and the second is that it guarantees that there won’t be any extended interactions between her and Ryan Seacrest, because the show inevitably runs long and there’s no time for awkward dialogue.
That was a good thing this week. Bowersox closed the show with what Simon Cowell would call “a moment, ” going onstage without her customary guitar for “People Get Ready” and setting the bar so high that she’s on a different level from the rest of the seven finalists.
‘Idol’ judges shower emotional singer with praise
LOS ANGELES — Crystal Bowersox was brought to tears Tuesday on “American Idol.”
The soulful, 24-year-old musician from Toledo, Ohio, was overcome with emotion at the conclusion of her moody rendition of The Impressions’ “People Get Ready” on the Fox singing competition.
Bowersox later told “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest that her father’s presence in the audience during the night of inspirational songs prompted the unexpected crying.
‘American Idol’ 2010 Top-7 seek inspiration
Alicia Keys is this week’s mentor and her first at-bat is with Casey James. He’s going to play guitar while singing “Don’t Stop.” And though he is hitting the “Idol” tenets of Know Who You Are and Just Go Out There and Have Fun, the judges slam him for Showing No Growth. Even judge Ellen The Generous announces she’s going to “be a little tougher now” because the Idolettes “have to be great now, and it wasn’t great.” “You made yourself like everybody else, ” says Casey cougar Kara DioGuardi, mourning what might have been. But Casey has reached the highest level of consciousness that can be attained by an Idolette — he’s over the judges. Casey looks at them — tolerant, but dismissive. He’s an inspiration to us all and a fitting start to the evening.
Blake Lewis: Crystal Bowersox gave me goose bumps
Tuesday was performance night on Idol Gives Back week, and I was really excited to hear some inspiring music. Alicia Keys, the mentor, had a lot of positive things to say about the contestants. It’s getting close in the competition, and people are stepping it up.
Casey James started off with Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac, which I thought was a good performance to begin the night. It’s the same old show with Casey, though. I really think he needs one of those N’Sync mics that goes around his head so he can move around. It was a good song choice, but lacking on performance.
Ann Powers: Inspiration comes hard to most of the Idols
“Tim urban Inspiration” is a synonym for taking in a vital breath. Pious folk in medieval times used it to describe being touched by God and directed to speak. These definitions honor the intensity of the experience, the way whatever inspires us can take over our whole beings and change our lives. But how far the word has fallen!
These days, in the popular culture realm, “inspirational” is the tag attached to sunset-smeared greeting cards and books like “Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, ” heartstrings pullers without a lot of depth or complexity.
‘American Idol” Season 9, Top 7 Perform; Alicia Keys Mentors
Just seven contestants remain as Idol headed into its over-the-top (but extremely worthy) Idol Gives Back extravaganza.
With the way this season is going, the Idols aren’t just competing against each other, but Ryan Seacrest, whose attention-grabbing antics are becoming part of the story. (My colleague Tracy Watson compiled a list for me today of Ryan moments, from tweeting results before the West Coast show to suggesting Brian Dunkleman was hosting part of Idol Gives Back.)
‘American Idol’ Recap: Crystal Bowersox Rules Again With ‘People Get Ready, ‘ Weeping
Tuesday night’s (April 20) “American Idol” featured the Top Seven tackling “inspirational” songs in honor of “Idol Gives Back, ” that time of the season when Ryan Seacrest gets to say things like, “When you cast a vote you save lives!” and pat the “Idol” corporate sponsors on the back for donating money to charity.
Alicia “The Princess of Soul” Keys was on hand to mentor the contestants. “I want to teach them how to be part of something that’s even bigger than them, ” she said. Um, the only thing bigger than Michael Lynche is the continent of Asia, so that might be a little tough, Alicia. But I applaud the effort.
Crystal Bowersox And Lee Dewyze Get Inspired On ‘American Idol’
The theme of Tuesday night’s (April 20) “American Idol” was songs of inspiration, and guest mentor Alicia Keys did her best to offer some positive encouragement to the top seven. The inspirational songs were a setup for Wednesday night’s star-filled “Idol Gives Back” special, and in the end, leading contender Crystal Bowersox brought down the house with a performance that instantly felt like one of the show’s all-time greats.
Crystal Bowersox Delivers Powerful ‘People Get Ready’ On ‘American Idol’
She came into the show riding a wave of personal emotion, following weeks of gut-wrenching ladder-climbing on “American Idol, ” thoughts of quitting the show and even a hospital stay. But on Tuesday night (April 20), a triumphant Crystal Bowersox showed millions that the only thing that remained sick was her musical talent.
The pierced, tattooed, dreadlocked, 24-year-old mother blew away the competition during the “American Idol” inspirational-songs episode, performing a cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic “People Get Ready.” Mentored by Alicia Keys, Bowersox skipped the instruments and upped the emotion as she broke down in tears on the last note after seeing her father in the audience.
‘American Idol’ Gets A Little Too Inspired By Butterflies
The now-annual ‘American Idol‘ episode that focuses on “inspirational” songs is always a difficult one to navigate. It’s for a good cause, so you want to be nice! And the word “inspirational” is one of those ‘Idol’ terms that’s vague enough for some of the song choices to cross over into kind of interesting territory! But tonight’s episode was full of muffed performances and poor song choices, not to mention way too much inspiration from the guttural voices of post-grunge singers like Chad Kroeger. At least we all had Crystal Bowersox to bring things home at night’s end — and almost make us forget about what hadn’t inspired us during the 55 minutes that preceded her performance.
Top 7 Idol Gives Head Recap – Idols Inspire Me… To Commit Suicide
Alicia Keys has done a bunch of stuff, but nothing compares to the way she’s let her songs be butchered on Idol. “Fallin” has basically become Idol kryptonite and was almost banned because it was torn apart so much. And we’re getting tons of contestants ruining “No One” and “If I Ain’t Got You” every year. Now mind you, I don’t particularly like Alicia Keys. I find her to be overrated, with a mediocre at best voice. But she’s basically become a cautionary tale for singers – do not let Idol contestants sing your songs. Because now whenever I hear “Fallin” on my XM Radio, all I can think of is some Idol wannabe butchering it. Not a good career move. Tonight, none of the Idols pick Alicia Keys songs, but Fleetwood Mac, the Goo Goo Dolls, R. Kelly, and some others really ought to consider a class action lawsuit. Their songs suck, but not nearly as much as they sucked tonight.
Final 7: “Every week we see the exact same thing from you!”
Keeping with the theme of Idol Gives Back, “Boring the crap out of us” this week the Idols sing songs that “inspire” something. Not sure what that something is, and neither are the Idols and the judges and the Producers. All I know is “I Believe I Can Fly” inspires me to Van Gogh myself with some hedge clippers.
Seacrest ponderously narrates how tonight’s mentor “has a tremendous impact on children.” Did Michael Jackson make an Elvis-like appearance? Could it be R. Kelly? No, apparently Alicia Keys inspires people with her musical-ness (and sassiness, too I guess). Alicia gives blatantly obvious advice like “Bring out the emotion and the truth in the song” that should be apparent to any of the dullest of dullards, who these Final 7 apparently are…
Cpt. Sully is the only beautiful & unique snowflake: AI9 Top 7 Recap
‘American Idol’: The Top 7
Crystal Bowersox > Siobhan Magnus > Michael Lynche > Aaron Kelly > Lee DeWyze > Tim Urban > Casey James
Not even Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, seated in the “Idol” audience on Tuesday night, could steer this plane to a safe landing. The week’s theme was “inspiration, ” and the remaining seven performers didn’t bother to dig deep. Simon Cowell has one v-neck T-shirt out the door, Ryan Seacrest’s coming off a Nicholson-as-Joker week, Ellen Degeneres is sending a hologram in her place to judge: why spend energy on song choice and rehearsal when the bones of the biggest show on television are breaking all around you?
“American Idol” recap: Crystal Bowersox saves
Tuesday night’s “American Idol” was “Inspirational Night, ” and, at the risk of sounding like a non-believer, it wasn’t. If you are a regular viewer of sorry and soul-sucking season nine of “American Idol, ” it will not come as any surprise to you that five out of the seven singers who performed on Tuesday night’s show made me lose my religion, right on the spot. If “American Idol” is to faith what faith is to believing in God, then I went from agnostic to atheist in no short order. Given past weeks’ performances, I sincerely believed there was no hope for any redemption, not for the show that’s been going to hell in a handbasket before my disbelieving eyes.
Guest blogger Constantine Maroulis compares Casey to Daughtry, explains the female vote
Season 4’s resident heartthrob Constantine Maroulis knows a thing or two about this stage of the competition — his “American Idol” run ended almost exactly five years ago when, curiously enough, a Nickelback song (“How You Remind Me”) sent him packing. Will Michael Lynche suffer a similar fate this week? The “Idol” rocker-turned-Tony-nominated-Broadway-sensation, who’s currently starring in “Rock of Ages, ” lays it all out as this week’s guest blogger.
I have to say that, overall, this week’s “Idol” wasn’t entirely inspiring. A few people connected, but there were also some weird song selections that could put Aaron Kelly, Siobhan Magnus and Michael Lynche in trouble. Going by their order on the show, here’s my take:
American Idol Recap: A Rare, Shining Moment of Purity
In preparation for tonight’s “Idol Gives Back” fund-raiser musical extravaganza, the theme of last night’s episode of American Idol was inspirational music. While having Idol fixate on an overtly emotional music genre and act like it’s a twist is kind of like McDonald’s announcing a new cholesterol-themed menu, nothing that went down last night was too horribly weepy or trite. Which is odd, because there actually was weeping last night: Crystal’s (amazing) performance ended in tears, which is sure to fuel the whole “did Bowersox almost quit Idol/did Seacrest stop her?” rumor mill.
Guest mentor Alicia Keys offered advice to the remaining seven hopefuls, and although she uttered nary a word of criticism, it was clear from her “If [singer’s name] can manage to [succeed at what they’ve been consistently failing at], then they should be fine” that she had little faith in any of them.
