By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 22
Before the credits, we get a little mini-feature about Detroit's musical history, narrated by Smokey Robinson. I think it's probably safe to assume he'll be doing some mentoring with Jimmy Iovine this week. Also, I think it's been pretty established by now that if there's anything American Idol contestants are all about more than anything else, it's musical history.
Out come the judges, both Mariah and Nicki in red, so that's going to be tense. Ryan explains how tonight's rather loose "theme" means that any artist from Detroit is available for the top eight to cover. While Mariah waves some kind of scepter at Ryan, he attempts to explain that Smokey Robinson came in to mentor the contestants, and we go right into a clip of Candice Glover sitting down with Smokey Robinson in a living-room setting. He starts by informing her that she made him cry two weeks ago. By singing on this show, which he watched, not by running over his dog, I hasten to add. She tells him that she's doing "Heard it Through the Grapevine," which by coincidence was first recorded by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, but never released. I don't know what Candice is supposed to do with that information, but I hope he says that about every song tonight. We cut to him with Jimmy and Candice in the studio, working on a bluesy-funky arrangement that they're all feeling pretty good about.
For her actual performance, she starts out with a jazzy saxophone and a blinding spotlight before the beat picks up. And then I'm sure it's quite technically proficient and all, but it feels like she's just marking time right up until the big "Yeeaahh" she throws in at the end. Keith's favorite part is how she always knows how to not overpower herself, and says this is her best tonight. Nicki mainly noticed how Candice took her advice from last week, keeping her eyes engaged, and agrees with Keith. Randy liked how she came out and showed confidence and comfort, and Mariah says she epitomizes the competition and speaks to Candice in some kind of code that the two of them apparently have. Ryan comes out and tells Candice that she's done for the night, remarking on how nervous she was earlier. Looks like she's over that, though.
After the ads, Ryan talks to Janelle and Kree about how they get to do a duet together like they've apparently been wanting to all along. Or at least Janelle has. They're covering the Jennifer Nettles version of "Like a Prayer," because hey, Madonna used to live in Detroit, right? It doesn't sound as country as I was expecting it to, not that that's a bad thing. Decent harmonies, but Janelle suffers in comparison during their solos. After it's over, they step to the front of the stage to get some judges' feedback, even though I didn't think this was a judged performance. Nicki says it looked like Kree flew in to sing with an Idol contestant. Randy pretty much agrees, Mariah calls it a "sisterhood moment" and calls out a time during the song when Janelle helped Kree with the lyrics. Keith just says they both sang great, and Janelle takes it all pretty well. That went on so long that by the time Ryan finds his way out there, he has to remind everybody that the duet was just for fun anyway. So let's cut the feedback a little shorter time then, shall we?
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 22
After the break, Ryan's in the audience with Smokey Robinson, who gushes about the contestants and plugs his own upcoming duets album. Then they play the clip of Smokey telling Lazaro Arbos that he's good when he sings what he likes, like he hadn't already figured that out. So Lazaro is going with "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder, which both Smokey and Jimmy seem down with when they meet in the studio. Lazaro's performance starts out like something you'd hear in an old-timey jazz club, low and slow with a single piano, until the strings and the beat kicks in, and whatever he was missing last week, it's back now. And even with a zipped-up biker jacket over his shirt and tie he's not as sweaty as usual.
Randy agrees that this was a lot better than last week, though there were some pitch issues. Lazaro's all, "No problem," maybe a little too bouncy. It's possible he rehearsed saying that. Mariah comments on his courage as always and talks about the value of their critiques. Keith gives Smokey credit for his advice and agrees with Randy that it was better than last week, though Lazaro could have picked a song that was more rhythmically his speed. Nicki gushes about how good Smokey Robinson looks, calls Lazaro "Ricky Ricardo" and "Fonzie," and takes some of the credit for his relative success tonight. Then Mariah hijacks the mic for a while to do some of her own gushing about Smokey Robinson, because if Nicki does something, Mariah has to do it better. Also, Kree said happy birthday to Mariah earlier, so I'm thinking maybe Mariah's been drinking for a few hours now.
Janelle Arthur tells Smokey how she's doing an arrangement of "Keep Me Hanging On" that she came up with at age 14. At which point even the Kim Wilde version was pretty old, but whatever. During her studio session, Jimmy intimidates his assistant again, and Smokey gives her some specific advice about her vocal line. She tells Jimmy's assistant she's glad he's still there, and then she's doing her performance, accompanying herself on guitar and turning it into a sad country tune with a little southwestern strummy-strummy.
Mariah doesn't even wait for the applause to die down before bellowing, "Janelle at her finest!" all excited. Keith likes her fearlessness and the way the arrangement brought out the angst in the lyrics. Nicki observes that she seems more comfortable with her guitar, and warns her not to smile quite so much because her happiness seems to be affecting her voice. Randy loved it and thought it was one of her best, and Janelle is in it to win it. All this brings Janelle to tears so that Ryan has to blot her face with his pocket square and ends up giving it to her. That, plus getting a compliment on her guitar playing from Keith Urban, might even make it worth it to have had to listen to another one of Randy's stupid catchphrases again.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 22
Devin Velez tells Smokey in the living room that he's singing "The Tracks of My Tears," and Smokey reacts like it's some big honor. Then he favors Devin with this whole story about how the title came to him when he was shaving. In the studio, Devin's doing a thing where he's hanging behind the beat a bit, which is either on purpose or he doesn't know the song all that well. Smokey corrects Devin's rhythm on one line, but Devin figures if he can do that right he'll be fine. Turns out the most interesting thing about his performance, though, is the red waiter's jacket he must have stolen off of Lazaro.
Keith remarks that one of the things about this show is having to learn songs quickly and coming out and singing them confidently, but Devin's got style. Okay, then. Nicki says Devin looks like a ripe banana and that he did an amazing job, considering she's obsessed with the song and all. Randy says he's back, y'all, and Mariah says she hopes America understands how good that was. I don't know, we're pretty stupid. Ryan goes back out to the audience so Smokey can tell Devin himself that it was awesome, leaving Devin to stand up there alone during the voting instructions. Even over those phone numbers he looks pretty laid back.
Amber Holcomb, Angie Miller, and Candace are about to do a Supremes cover, and Ryan decides to stir things up by asking which of them is Diana. They all demur, either because they don't want to seem arrogant or because they don't know who he's talking about. They go out to center stage and sing "I Can't Make You Love Me," pretty well. Amber's the weak link, Angie's rocking some leather hot pants and a bit too much leg-glaze, and Candice is clearly the Diana, as if anyone needed to ask. They end with a big harmony flourish and some pyro behind their Charlie's Angels pose, and earn a three-way standing ovation from Keith, Nicki, and Randy. Mariah compliments all three of them, and the rest of the judges get to sit on their hands. Which is just fine with me.
We go right to Burnell Taylor telling Smokey that he's doing "My Cherie Amour." Smokey talks about Stevie Wonder recording that at age 14 and compliments Burnell's tone. In the studio, Smokey has Burnell soften it up a little bit, and that's how he does it tonight as well, gesturing as always in a blinding white suit and throwing in a gratuitous key change near the end. He gets a standing O from just Keith, and Nicki comments on his look and gushes about his voice and how it fits with the Motown theme. Randy loves Burnell's choices and says he is, wait for it, in it to win it. Mariah also likes his look and how he picked one of her favorite songs ever, and finally Keith says something about Ron Burgundy and Burnell's originality. For the voting instructions, Ryan comes and stands to him in his own dark suit that makes them look like photographic negatives of each other.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 22
Angie also sucks up to Smokey by singing "Shop Around," which he tells her he wrote in about thirty minutes. In the studio, Smokey's main advice is to have fun with it and not over-enunciate like when she was in My Fair Lady in high school. Her actual performance is all loud and guitar-laden, like Motown meets "Black Cat" by Janet Jackson. Oddly enough, it kind of works, even if her voice is somewhat overpowered by the arrangement.
However, Randy says this was the first time he's seen her give such a pitchy performance, like he's asking a question, not that either she or I know what it is. Mariah figures it must have been great to spend time with Smokey Robinson as a songwriter, but would have rather seen her back at the piano. Keith has the answer to Randy's non-question figured out, which is that Angie's excitement kept pulling her voice higher but the melody kept pulling her down, but he's not worried about her or anything. Nicki's theory, on the other hand, is that Angie tried to show a different side that she didn't need to. "We didn't ask for another side yet!" But don't the judges also get irritated when they have to ask? Angie tells Ryan that she just wanted to have fun, and wants to keep doing that. The judges are cool with that part, at least.
We come back to Ryan at the judges' table watching them all Tweet (except Randy, who doesn't know how and is thus faking) before he introduces Amber. She's singing "Lately," another Stevie Wonder song, and Smokey's advice is to do exactly what she's doing. Both he and Jimmy disagree with Amber being in the bottom three last week, and in fact Smokey says he wanted to turn his TV off. Whoa, temper. She starts off with a simple arrangement, just singing in front of the piano and relying on her voice. She sounds great, but I wonder if her bottom-three results last week had to do with her relatively obscure song choice (at least by Idol standards) and whether that might not burn her again.
The judges love it so much that all four of them are on their feet. Mariah declares it a "tour de force," and then gets bleeped trying to define that for everyone. Somebody take away her Coke cup already. Keith agrees with Mariah, and Nicki brings up the pink lipstick yet again, promising Amber it will get her more votes before getting serious and gushing about Amber's voice. She also tells Amber to stop thinking about having been in the bottom three. Well, stop bringing it up, then. Randy declares it the "best vocal of the night," which Nicki says along with him because he always says the same things. Ryan comes out and says Amber is back. "I really wasn't gone," she deadpans. It's about time someone said that.
By M. Giant | Season 12 | Episode 22
Devin, Lazaro, and Burnell are all wearing dark suits accessorized with white, red, and black bowties to sing "Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops. It's pretty much the Devin show, because he gets to solo on all the high notes, which is most of them. Also, Lazaro forgets a line, and we get to watch it happen in close-up. Nicki is not impressed, saying it was like something from Hollywood Week. "I don't know what that was but I'ma act like I ain't even see it or hear it, okay?" She actually tries to kick them off the stage, but they can't leave until Ryan comes out to let them explain themselves. Which they kind of don't, but like Nicki also said, their solos are already over so it doesn't really matter.
After some more hijinks at the judges' table with Mariah's scepter, we find out that Kree is wrapping up the show with "Don't Play That Song" by Aretha Franklin. She's totally starstruck about meeting Smokey, who tells her that Aretha is his oldest surviving friend and they grew up around the corner from each other. Wow, can you imagine a Quantum Leap where Scott Bakula has to prevent that block from being bulldozed? After hearing Kree in the studio, Smokey tells her that was the best he's heard today, and is so excited that he promises to call Aretha himself and tell her to watch. Kree starts it out sounding pretty honky-tonk country for the first two verses and choruses, then blows it out at the end, throwing in a bunch of the kind of runs that she normally doesn't bother with.
Randy's all excited about it and says she's here to stay. Mariah battles with some mic feedback before saying she used to do this song herself, but commends Kree for keeping it alive, because otherwise people won't remember Aretha Franklin. At least I think that's what she's saying. Keith appreciates the way Kree always reminds people that country has blues and soul, because it makes what he does look better. Nicki tells Kree that she's a queen, including earlier when she was standing to a beautiful woman like Janelle and not feeling any lack of confidence whatsoever. Wait, did Nicki just call Kree ugly?
Results tomorrow, and some performances from different people including Keith Urban. For some reason, that's the one that everyone seems most excited about. Or at least that's what they want him to think.
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.