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Country music week on AMERICAN IDOL was excruciating, as usual. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some of the music, but there are always a few singers who are so un-countrified that it hurts to watch them squeeze out a twang for the sake of the contest. Yeesh—like watching a car wreck. This was also the week contestants were narrowed down to the coveted top ten spots, deciding which songsters will get mega-exposure on the official AMERICAN IDOL tour this summer. It was a brutal combination for the singers.
THE PAULA REPORT: Paula looked almost normal this week in a springtime butterfly maxi-dress and only the average amount of stage makeup. I suspect she finally caught a glimpse of herself from last week’s show and fired her entire stylist staff. Perhaps she borrowed fellow judge Kara DiaGuardia’s team for the week, as the two had nearly identical hairdos. Let’s hope they share well!
THE GOOD: Kris Allen crooned a ballad with finesse, Anoop did Willie Nelson proud, and Megan Joy worked her bluesy-country-soul thing just right.
THE BAD: Michael Sarver garbled out an unrecognizable country tune (loved the harmonica guy though), Alexis Grace butchered a Dolly song, and (I hate to say it because I am rooting hard for the girl) Lil Rounds gave another fairly boring performance.
THE UGLY: Adam Lambert. Love him or hate him (I choose to love him), the black-clad rocker with cool green-striped hair took “Ring of Fire” and gave it his own tweak this week. It was bold and exciting, not that I ever want to hear it again.
GOODBYE TIME: Ugh, I hate this new “save the singer” thing the judges are doing! This week Allison, Michael, and Alexis were brought to the stage as the bottom three vote-getters of the week. When Alexis was announced as the singer voted off, judges jumped into the whole cringe-worthy lifesaver thing, asking Alexis to convince them by belting out her song again. “You were the one we were talking about saving, so this performance must be good.”
Not only hoping to save herself from elimination for the week, Alexis was fighting to be one of the top ten singers who get to go on tour. It was awful to watch her sing “My Happiness Depends on You” while judges huddled at their giant desk.
When she tearfully finished her performance, Simon had his say, “It was good, but it wasn’t good enough. Sorry.”
Ouch.
Classy Alexis left with a sincere, “Thank you,” but the whole thing left me squirming for her.
Please, judges—enough already!
