AI9: Top 4 Perform

It was Movie Night last night on American Idol. Jamie Foxx mentored the singers. Last year he was the mentor on Rat Pack Standards Night, which was the equivalent of last week's Sinatra Night but not limited to Sinatra. No matter. Jamie Foxx is a great mentor for Movie Week, since he has an Oscar for playing Ray Charles (giving him movie cred) and several Grammy awards. Of course, when I think of him musically now, I think of that Auto-Tuned piece he did with T-Pain on the Grammy Awards this year, "Blame It". To me, Auto-Tune is for people who can't actually carry a tune. Taylor Swift could have benefited from it on the same Grammy show...

But I digress. Jamie Foxx had brought along two T-shirts: one said CONTESTANT and the other said ARTIST. I didn't write down exactly what he said, but it was along the lines of a CONTESTANT merely being carried along week to week, not really striving, while an ARTIST was more focused on the music and how they were performing. The goal was to be an ARTIST. (Kara has kind of sucked the life out of this word throughout her tenure on AI.)

There was a list of 34 movie-related songs on iTunes (you can find it here), but the contestants/artists were allowed to choose others if they wanted. Most of them stuck to the List.

Lee DeWyze performed Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" (from Batman Forever, 1994). This is a difficult piece of music; there are large interval jumps and modulations, and I wasn't sure if Lee could handle it. His pitch control has been an ongoing problem. I remember Chris Sligh doing it as an audition piece during Season 6. Chris had a lot of personality issues, but he was a good singer, and he pulled it off. If anybody else has done this on American Idol, Wikipedia doesn't mention it.

Lee did better than I thought he would, though. In his mentoring session, Jamie gave him the ARTIST T-shirt. Lee stayed fairly close to the correct pitch, and I enjoyed listening to it. He was enthusiastic and focused, and I thought the judges would be praising him to the skies. They didn't. Randy thought Lee did nothing with the song. It was okay, "pitchy" in spots. He thought Lee should have chosen a rock song. Ellen thought he could have done more with it, but she loved it. Kara commented on how difficult the song is; she thought he got lost a little and was out of tune in spots, but he was still great. Simon thought Lee could have found a song and made it original for him. It was verging on karaoke, trying too hard to sound like the original. In Simon's opinion, Lee should have gotten the CONTESTANT T-shirt.

Michael Lynche deviated from the List; he sang a Michael Jackson song, "Will You Be There" (from Free Willy, 1991). After their mentoring session, Jamie offered him the CONTESTANT T-shirt because he forgot the lyrics. Michael refused to take it, saying he'd be back for the ARTIST one later. The song has a gospel feel to it, and Big Mike was backed up by a small gospel choir. I liked it, although I wasn't blown away by it. It suited his style, and gospel-style music always has a feel-good aspect to it. Randy thought Michael should have chosen something R&B instead of this gospely song. Ellen liked the gospel choir behind him, but she thought it was a little bit predictable. Kara wanted goosebumps, but she didn't feel that from him. She thought he played it safe. Simon had trouble relating it to a whale called Willy. Simon made a willy joke; why am I note surprised? He said that Michael gave it 100%, and he (Simon) felt like he (Big Mike) meant it.

The crowning glory of the evening was the next performance, a duet between Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox. They did "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová from their 2007 movie Once; the song won an Oscar in 2008. This was a welcome deviation from the List. They started out with their acoustic guitars as the only accompaniment. I remember the original song as being kind of delicate and wispy. Crystal and Lee put a lot more heart and excitement into it. They worked well together, and I think Crystal helped keep Lee on key. I loved this performance and will be downloading it. Randy loved it. “It could be a hit right now.” Ellen said they were like the new Captain and Tennille. Kara said it was one of her favorite moments of the entire season. She liked the interaction; they brought out the best in each other. Simon called it a fantastic song.

Afterwards, when they were talking with Ryan, Crystal said that Lee is her musical crush. She told Lee that in Chicago when they were both auditioning. She was sitting next to him.

It was a long way down to the next performance, Casey James doing "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel (from The Graduate, 1967). I find this song irritating because of the rhyming syllables used in the verses: "And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson/Jesus loves you more than you will know/Whoa, whoa, whoa." And so on. Jamie gave Casey an ARTIST T-shirt after the mentoring session, I'm not sure why, but I think it was because they're both from Texas. Casey chose to accompany himself on the mandolin, and he slowed it down. They had him performing down in the Swaybot Pit. He sounded okay - no goat bleats, usually on key. It's just not much of a song. Randy pointedly asked him why he chose that song. Casey kind of laughed and said “A lot of things,” at which point everybody looked at Kara. Older woman, younger man. Oh, yeah. Ellen commented that she wished they'd have given him a big-boy guitar. (Somebody said "That's what a regular guitar looks like on Mike.") She liked it, and she's turning the commentary over to Mrs. Robinson. Er, Kara. A flustered Kara thought it was a good choice. (Of course she would.) Simon didn't think the song or performance had the substance required on this important night for Casey. He thought it was a little bit lazy, and he could have made more of an impact. Strange song choice.

Crystal Bowersox decided to do "I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins (from Caddyshack, 1980). I saw the movie once and I don't remember the song at all, so I have no idea if she changed it up. Of course Jamie gave her an ARTIST T-shirt. She sounded good, of course. Randy thinks she's definitely an artist, and she tried to switch it up and make it interesting and fit her. Ellen said the performance just got Crystallized. She took that song and made it better. Kara agreed with Ellen and Randy. Simon thought after that performance she's back in the game. In my opinion she was never out of it.

The last performance was a duet from Casey James and Michael Lynche. Now what movie duets are available for two men? Yeah, I couldn't think of any, either. They did Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" (from Don Juan DeMarco, 1995). (Aside: the aforementioned Chris Sligh did this one during Hollywood Week back in Season 6.) Casey started with a Spanish riff on the guitar, then he took the first verse. When Big Mike came in, the song quality improved immensely. I couldn't feel any connection between the two guys; they were just two random performers sharing a stage. When they harmonized, Casey took the higher notes, and he was a little flat. Once again, Casey's guitar playing was better than his singing. Randy loved Casey's guitar work, and he thought the duet was really good.. Ellen said, “Well, as a matter of fact, yes, I have loved a woman.” Everybody cracked up. That was her entire commentary. Kara thought the duets were incredible, better than all of the solo performances. Simon said “Really good. Well done.” They were running out of time by then, so the commentary was short, but I was left wondering if they'd heard the same performance I had.

Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze are safe. That duet alone should give them enough pull to get through to the Top 3. I give the third-place position (as I have since the beginning of the season) to Big Mike Lynche. Casey James should be going home tonight. It's going to be all about the fan base again this week, though. My son and I voted for Crystal and Big Mike again.