By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
Tonight's pre-credits sequence is all Jimmy Iovine talking about how great the songs of the Beatles are, complete with interstitial onscreen titles in Beatles font. The last of which says something about the top nine taking on the Fab Four. And after I had already typed that as my tagline, too. My irritation is matched only by my shame.
After the judges and Ryan take their places amid the usual excited chaos, Ryan refers to Keith, Nicki, Randy, and Mariah as their own fab four (sure, with two Ringos, a George, and no Paul), then brings out the top nine. I wish he'd stop referring to them as "faces." That always makes me picture Hannibal Lecter, furiously dialing the number of the finalist he most wants to look like. Ryan reminds us of the finale coming up in less than two months, and cues up a clip of Carly Rae Jepsen plugging her own performance at the same time. And in the tradition of The X Factor's Pepsi Challenge, she and Coke are letting the general public vote on the lyrics and various aspects of her performance at the finale, an idea that's communicated by having her sit in the audience and watch different versions of herself try stuff out on the stage. She was cooler on Jimmy Fallon.
Coming back from that, Ryan says we're starting with some results. Specifically, those of Aubrey Cleland and Charlie Askew's sing-off last week. They come out, and there's the usual pomp of dimming the lights and long pauses from Ryan until we learn that the vote was won by...Aubrey Cleland. Charlie's got a decent public face on for this announcement, and there are hugs all around, and all things considered he doesn't look too broken up about having to tour the country as a consolation prize to himself.
At last, we're starting the competition, tonight with Kree, In her intro reel she talks about how family means everything to her. So it must have really stung to lose her dad at 12 and her mom at 19. Her sister Laci was the one to push Kree to audition in the first place. On to the part of the intro reel where she's being mentored by Jimmy, locked in a sound booth learning the Joe Cocker version of "With a Little Help From My Friends," and with a cold, no less. But Jimmy isn't worried. Indeed, Kree pulls off the double-cover nicely, even managing to somehow make her country inflections not seem out of place.
Keith tells her how she's Kree no matter what she sings, and isn't worried about her getting by at all. Nicki also appreciates what she's now calling "Kreedom" and the confidence Kree has gained over time. Randy pretends like he's going to say he didn't like it, but Kree's the only one who buys it, and even she might have been pretending. Mariah adds that it wasn't good, it was "fan-freaking-tastic." Ryan comes out and pretends that everyone was freaking out, and comments on Mariah's acting skills and how she should get into a movie. Yikes, we skated dangerously close to a Glitter reference there.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
In Burnell's intro reel, he and his little sister talk about how she used to charge him to record his performances, though they disagree widely on the amount. Then he's in the recording booth admitting to Jimmy that he doesn't know his song at all, which is amazing considering it's "Let It Be." Kids today, man. Jimmy tells him to practice and listen to make the most of his unique tone. Burnell seems to have learned it by the time he comes out on a fake-candlelit stage to sing it, wearing a jacket made entirely of leather belts that I'm 80% sure I saw on someone else last season. And the other 20% is The X Factor.
The critiques skip Keith for some reason, and Nicki says Burnell didn't sing it so much as caress it like a newborn baby. Randy asks if he even knows the Beatles, "one of the greatest songwriting groups of ever time," but says he pulled it off, and Mariah's happy for him and proud of him. Then we come back around to Keith, who says Burnell has the most recognizable tone in the competition, which isn't really a critique, but it's been an unusually long time since Keith heard the singing. Ryan asks Burnell how many times he listened to the song between Saturday and tonight. Disappointingly, Burnell doesn't have an exact number.
We go to Shepherd, Texas (population 2,326) to visit the farm where both Amber Holcomb and her father were raised, and where her father is forced to deliver an awkward video message of support to his daughter. Jimmy's confident in what she plans to do with "She's Leaving Home," and in case you always wanted to hear what Whitney Houston might do with a Sgt. Pepper deep track, if such a thing exists, well, here's your answer -- but with more restraint.
Randy kicks off the comments, I guess because they're taking turns going first tonight, talking about how much he liked the intro reel and finding out that she also just learned the song two days ago. Mariah didn't know the song either, because it's not like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has all that much juice, but Keith says it's his favorite Beatles song of all time, and Amber did a great job making the 46-year-old tune seem fresh. Nicki demands light-colored lipstick and busts Amber for letting on that she wasn't into the song, but she did a great job vocally. Well, there's also the fact that it's kind of a sad song, Nicki. OR didn't you know it either?
Lazaro tells us about how loud his family is, an assertion corroborated by a clip of a high-decimal viewing party at his home in Naples, Florida. His dad has a door decal of Lazaro on his truck and his mom tells us how proud she is of him in subtitled Spanish. Cut to Lazaro telling Jimmy that he's doing "My Life," which Jimmy says is pretty ambitious, advising him to practice and get the rhythm. Lazaro starts a little shaky, somehow both oversinging and being drowned out by the backup singers at the same time, but it gets better after the key change he throws in at the second verse.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
Mariah gets to start with him, which is when I realize that switching up the order of the judges' comments was probably her idea because she was tired of always going last. She gives him props for his bravery, which at this point is throat-clearing when addressing Lazaro, but thinks the arrangement was both a little overdone and low for him. Keith agrees that key is key, and agrees with me that the second one Lazaro sang in worked better. Nicki is still missing something from him, and says they need to keep him away from Jimmy. Randy flatly says it was Lazaro's worst ever, and wonders what's up with him. Does Randy get an even bigger bonus if the top five are all girls? When Ryan comes out, Lazaro has to painfully explain to Ryan how he had to change songs at the last minute. "Hang in there. Wipe those tears off," Ryan tells him unhelpfully, and after throwing it to ads, leads Lazaro away from center stage as though from the edge of a grave.
After the ads, Ryan is still talking about Lazaro, asking the judges how people are supposed to find the balance between conflicting advice. The judges all go down the line with their reactions, with Randy's being the most defensive, because Randy.
Time to visit St. Helena Island, South Carolina, which is the hometown of Candice Glover, where she's the talk of the tiny little island. She's doing "Come Together," and seems to have belatedly discovered that its lyrics are a bitch. Jimmy realizes as much, but short-circuits the process by telling her that all the crazy, semi-sensical words all lead to coming together. In other words, just hold on until the chorus. Now, if Kree was covering Joe Cocker earlier, Candice is covering Aerosmith, with the guitars turned way up and positioned right to her downstage. She interprets the lyrics as though they might as well be lorem ipsum text, but her singing is dead on as always.
Keith digs her "rock chick" side and declares it "absolutely killer." Nicki loved the vocal, but wants to see it on her face more. Randy was glad to see her doing something up-tempo, but agrees with Nicki that she needs to own it. Mariah says Candice met her expectations, but can even take it further. When Ryan comes out, he asks Nicki to give some examples of the crazy-faces she was talking about, which Nicki obviously can do the way most of us can blink, and she invites Ryan to show some of his own. "When you're five-eight-and-a-half, you can't look that crazy," Ryan demurs. Does that mean he's growing?
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
Paul Jolley's intro reel takes us to Palmersville, Tennesse, which he describes as "literally in the middle of nowhere." He grew up in a trailer, but his parents bought a farm and built a house using wood from trees they cut down themselves. How Abe Lincoln. We see Jimmy trying to help him make his performance of "Eleanor Rigby" seem more natural. On the stage, as in nature, he appears knee-deep in stage fog, surrounded by a string quartet as the arrangement slowly builds to a power ballad with the line "look at all the lonely people" turned into a bellow for help.
Nicki compliments his outfit, but then says, "I did not like your performance, Joll." I'm thinking for a second she's pulling another fake-out, but she has a totally straight face as she calls it safe, bland, and forgettable. Ouch. Randy is left wondering how he's going to top that, saying that Paul seemed disconnected from the song. Mariah starts with the good news that it was a good song choice, but he needs to have as much emotion when he's holding back as when he's blowing out. She also adds that she sees him as a pop singer rather than a country guy. Keith says this was his second favorite Beatles song, and that he agrees with Mariah on Paul being more pop than country. Ryan asks Paul if this was outside his box, and Paul explains how after getting the song he looked at the lyrics rather than listening to the recording, but you just can't do the Beatles country. I don't know, there's always "Act Naturally."
When we come back, Angie's towering over Ryan in leather pants and a rock-chick pose as they reveal that she was named "American Idol" in her senior yearbook. Which was, um, less than a year ago. In Angie's intro reel, she tells us how hilarious her family is, and we cut right to her mom showing the camera a baby picture, snarking, "I don't know if you can get this, but she was a fatty." She's doing "Yesterday," which Jimmy warns won't work should Angie fall into her occasional tendency to oversing. For her performance, she accidentally comes in a beat early, but covers well and keeps it together. She's picked the right key, showing off her high notes and stretching out one of the "wrong"s to about a minute and a half. But other than that, it's quite simple and restrained.
Randy tells her she's one of his favorites, giving her credit for holding back but showing it off a bit there at the end. Mariah says the arrangement was "respectful," which is something she always worries about when she does a cover. I don't know, I bet there are some nitpicky Beatles fans who would have been able to find something wrooooooooooooooooong with it. Keith mentions that this is also his favorite Beatles song, but says he could just about read Angie's inner monologue as she tried to remember everyone's advice while singing. Nicki declares it unbelievably amazing, and gets bleeped -- as she's talking about being bleeped -- for using what I think is the word "pussy," which Angie was the opposite of by starting in such a high key. Ryan makes a comment about Angie's new L.A. friend the flat iron. He sure knows a lot about hair.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
After the ads, Ryan is on the stools with Devin, who talks about how much he loves the military high school he goes to. His Chicago roots are quite the contrast from the small-town folks rounding out most of the finalists, as he knows. We meet his family, who are supportive and nice, and Devin tells us that he has to keep thinking of himself as a nobody. Works for me. He's doing "The Long and Winding Road" in the style of Brian McKnight. Or at least that's what he's shooting for. In practice, it has a lot of unnecessary runs, which is frustrating because he could be doing this so effortlessly.
Mariah loved it beyond words, of course, and says it would be a travesty if he didn't go on. Keith calls it his favorite Beatles song, and claims to have been an advocate for Devin all along, but wants more connection between Devin and himself. Looking forward to Devin singing from Keith's lap week. "Good night, Keith," Nicki says, then gives a shout-out to the backing vocalist and the pianist, purposely pronouncing the latter word so as to get herself bleeped again, then totally disagrees with Keith about Devin's commitment. Randy decides that Devin is back, and he likes his leopard-print shoes in particular. Ryan invites Mariah to make some shout-outs, which she unfortunately does, filling a little more time than maybe Ryan meant to.
There's a clip about all the support Janelle is getting back home in tiny Oliver Springs, Tennessee, like they have a lot of other citizens in national reality TV competitions to throw their support behind, and then we see her in the studio working on "I Will" with Jimmy. Her big challenge is apparently breathing during the song, which is a sign that she's probably going to do just fine. She does what is probably going to turn out to be Keith's favorite Beatles song, starting it off like an Alison Krauss cover. But that style doesn't win singing competitions, so soon she gets up off the stool and busts out the twang, going for the high notes even when they aren't there.
Keith stops himself from saying it's his favorite Beatles song, and talks about her country flavor, pointing out the cowboy boots under her white ball gown. Nicki is ready to renew their vows and babbles a bit before finally just saying, "You are great!" She loves the key and the tone and the authenticity and pretty much everything. Randy says Janelle is back. Where did she go? Mariah says it was a sweet and elegant performance. Ryan comes out and attributes her new attitude to wanting to be in the top three again, and says she looks beautiful. I hear he's back on the market, and Janelle's obviously his type.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 20
After the clips from tonight, Ryan has some time to fill, so he asks Randy to give his opinion about who's going to go through this week. Randy's always good for talking without saying anything, so that is exactly what he does. I've just now realized that's why he hasn't been fired: he can fill in gaps of just about any size without changing anything about the actual final product. He is TV spackle. I will sleep better tonight having figured this out.
M. Giant is a Minneapolis- based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.
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