American Idol: The Earth Did NOT Move

This week American Idol featured the music of Carole King. Of course, King’s best years were behind her by the time the oldest Idol was born. After last week (Songs from the 21st Century) I was kind of hoping that they would do more contemporary stuff but no… The judges got into their time machine and went back to the 60’s and 70’s (yawn). Carole King has a lot of good songs but the Idols had a hard time picking them.


Jacob kicked off the night with Not My Baby. The song? No. The arrangement? Didn't work. The outfit? What in the hell?? It was a blue plaid jacket with a yellow shirt and a bow tie. Jacob looked like a tricked out member of the Nation of Islam. Wrong, wrong, all wrong! I’ve been a Jacob fan but outside of the scatting, it was a piping hot mess of a performance. If he doesn’t go home tomorrow, I’ll be shocked.

Next up was young little Lauren. She sang Where You Lead. Let me put it this way, where she was leading, I wasn’t trying to follow. I was bored. In fact, I sort of hated it. She’ll be safe another week, but after two of these performances I didn’t have much hope for Carole King night.

Because there are six contestants and the Idol producers are hell-bent on keeping the show’s 90 minute running time, the individual performances were augmented by duets. First up were Casey and Haley. They sang one of King's biggest hits, I Feel the Earth Move. They had good chemistry (especially since they are rumored to be an item). I like Haley’s voice more than Casey’s and I think she shone more on this than he did. Let me add. Haley looked amazing. Casey looked like he’d shopped at Goodwill with an ill-fitted black jacket and matching equally ill-fitted black pants with a white tee. So wrong.

Scotty did a slowed-down, country-fied version of You Got a Friend. My dog was watching with me, or so I thought. It was at this point that I heard Marty snoring (a cute little toy poodle snore). I guess he wasn’t impressed either. If Scotty wanted to be my friend, he’d have to agree to never sing that song again.

James dropped the rocker vibe (I don't think you could have a rocker vibe with Carole King) and went with Will You Still Love You Tomorrow. I wasn't sure given the way the show was going. However, he came out and did the beginning acapella. Then went into his own interpretation of the song. It was pretty good. Not an amazing vocal but good. For for first time during this show, I wasn't bored. Marty still slept.
 
Next there was another duet. This was the third duet between Scotty and Lauren. It was a tepid version of On the Roof. There wasn't much else to say.
 
Casey came on with a bluesy Hi Dee Ho. I give him credit for always coming out with something different. And this was different.Bluesy and, as Randy said, reminiscent of his home town in Louisiana. Still, I just can't seem to get into Casey.
 
Haley did Beautiful. At least, it was upbeat and kind of peppy. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it. The beginning was rocky but got much better by the end. Steven said he 'saw God' in her song. I think it must have been the drug relapse talking.
 
The final duet between James and Jacob was next. I was curious as to how this duet would turn out. Given the overall tenor of the evening, my expectations were low. They did, I'm Into Something Good. It's a cheesy song on a good day. The boys came out in blue blazers with white pants and shirts. An extra slice of cheese. They sang it like they were competing over the girl in the song. A big hunk of cheese. Finally, they went over to the judges table and serenaded Jennifer. A pound of smelly Muenster cheese!
 
Bottom Three
Oh hell, I don't know but I do know Jacob is going home!