May 2, 2013 - 12:09pm
'American Idol' Season 12 RECAP: Top 4 perform songs from Now and Then
BY GIBSON JOHNS
- FOX
Not surprisingly, last week’s results show revealed it to be a non-elimination week and, thus, the votes from last week will be combined with the votes from last night to create the Top 3. With Candice and Amber in the bottom two last week, the pressure was on last night on “Idol” ‘s ‘Now and Then’ night — first, hit songs from 2013 and, second, standards. Harry Connick Jr. was on tap as a guest mentor.
Angie Miller started off the night with Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” a song that she had previously covered on her YouTube channel back in December. Though it is always commendable when contestants provide their own arrangements for well-known songs, as the judges noted, this was a rare case in which the risk didn’t pay off. The change-up provided a different energy to her usually-emotional performances behind the piano and, although she sounded great, once she got to the chorus, there was nowhere else to go.
For Amber Holcomb, “Just Give Me A Reason” was just as problematic, but in a different manner. The song was simply too fast for her and didn’t give her time to produce the clear vocal that we are so used to hearing from her. Pink and fun.’s Nate Ruess have such unique, powerful voices that provided a huge initial challenge for Amber in her attempt to provide a worthy cover of their song.
When I heard that Candice Glover was singing “When I Was Your Man” I had high expectations of where she could take the Bruno Mars song, and she fulfilled those expectations completely. I’m glad that she decided against changing the pronouns of the song to fix the gender problem because it protected the integrity of the performance. The whole thing was simply in a different league from the rest of the performances from the first round because, as Mariah noted, Candice has a certain musicALity to her voice, dahling, that allows her to sing any song in a way that suits her incredible voice.
Finishing up the ‘Now’ round, Kree Harrison provided perhaps her best performance in weeks with Carrie Underwood’s most recent single, “See You Again.” There was a connection here between Kree and the song, the audience, and the cameras that felt way more real than some of her previous performances.
With her rendition of “Someone To Watch Over Me,” Angie presented yet another side to her that we hadn’t seen yet — a cool, sexy side that allowed her to show off her restraint. It may have bordered on theatrical but that’s kind of what I love about Angie. It’s the way that she injects passion and emotion into her performances, which is something that helps separate her from the rest of the girls. The judges’ critiques provided a mini argument between Mariah and Nicki which saw Nicki scream at Mariah, “Clean your ears out” and prompted her to pull out a Q-Tip. Where’s the love, y’all?!
The judges noted Amber’s defeated attitude when she walked out onto the stage (probably as a result of being in the bottom two last week and her worrying about making up for lost votes), but her version of “My Funny Valentine” must’ve given her hope. Where the first time she sang this song put her name on the map back in the Top 40, last night proved, yet again, that she belongs in the upper echelons of the competition and demonstrated a refinement to Amber as an artist that became very emotional. It showed how much she has matured and grown throughout this competition, and also proved how attached we, as the audience, get to these contestants.
Candice’s performance of “You’ve Changed” reminded me of another one of her most memorable performances, “Love Song,” in that it showed off both the spectacular subtleties of her voice while also highlighting her crazy runs. Yet again, this proved that she is in the masterclass of singers, not just in this competition but in the music industry as a whole. It was phenomenal.
“Stormy Weather” from Kree sort of laid flat for me. The key change was anticlimactic and some of her notes simply sounded sharp. Mariah rambled and made zero sense in her critique which prompted a quick shot of Harry Connick Jr. giving the camera a WTF face.
The show ended with a random group number of “Wings” by Little Mix, a girl group formed on the UK’s version of the “X Factor” last year. It might’ve been random but it seemed to provide an opportunity for the girls to just have fun and bask in the moment of a competition that always gets very serious at this point. They can all taste what it would feel like to be in the finale, but with the talent in this group, it’s hard to predict who will end up making it there.
Best performance: Candice’s “When I Was Your Man”
Who should go: Kree
Who will go: Amber
