Great Singers, Bad Choices

Currently Listening To: Keane - The Starting Line

We are down to the Top 3 and honestly this year we have a very solid Top 3. Unfortunately, the actual night itself was quite underwhelming. This bunch of contestants should have wowed us all but they didn't. They really didn't. I'm not saying they were bad, I'm just saying, for that amount of talent, they should have been a lot better.

Each contestant sang three songs; Judges' Choice, their Personal Choice and also Jimmy Iovine's.

I'm afraid Jessica was the least impressive performer tonight, in terms of song choices. Three sleepy ballads. I don't know what J.Lo was thinking, she chose Mariah Carey's My All and you know what? That is one difficult song to sing. It takes a lot of courage for anyone to choose that song at all, and J.Lo chose it for Jessica. On Top 3 night. Luckily Jessica did a pretty good job with the song, without missing a single note. Sure she didn't go for that high note but I don't care as long as the song sounded good. Her own choice, Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, was interesting. Sadly though, she didn't do anything interesting WITH the song. She hit -most- of the notes, but another ballad just isn't good enough. Jimmy could have done her a favour by choosing something more current, but noooo he just had to choose Jackson 5's I'll Be There. WHY?? Again, this is 2012 not 1950! Not a good choice, although vocally she was okay. The song choices really killed her chances. I'm sorry for Jessica, I hope her fans will be voting in full force.

As much as I hate to admit it, Phillip was a bit better than Jessica this week. Thanks to the song choices (except for his own). Steven's choice for him was The Four Seasons/Madcon's Beggin, and that was an excellent song choice. It suited him well and he made the song sound different rather than just singing it blindly. Was it a moment though? Hell no. Hated his own song selection, Matchbox 20's Disease. He could have and should have chosen something else. If I wanted him to stay I would have screamed but since I don't, whatever floats your boat Phil. And the third song...well, I've read a lot of rave reviews (including the judges' comments) for his rendition of Bob Seger's We Got Tonight. I don't get it though. Yeah it was a decent song choice and he sang it fair enough. But his higher register was just whack. I do value singing in tune more than connecting with a song emotionally. Nice dig there Steven, I sense some sarcasm although no one else did *shrugs* Singing in tune does matter people, how would you like it if the songs played on the radio everyday are sang out of tune? Will you still be listening? I sincerely doubt it. To me, Phil sounded like a mixture of Taylor Hicks, Chris Martin and Lee Dewyze. Not a good combination. In fact, a combination of all the voices I dislike. I'd be really surprised if he does leave tomorrow.

Joshua has been the most consistent contestant in the competition, and tonight was not different. His vocals were top notch for all three songs, and he sang every single song with a whole lot of passion and spirit. Randy picked I'd Rather Go Blind by Etta James for Joshua, and he slayed it. Hell yeah man, another standing ovation. I know that's not really a good thing, the endless standing Os, but he definitely deserved that one (I know, that wasn't a current song either but he did stand out more with it than Jess). I wasn't really into his version of Imagine, thought that he could have sang it better. Still, it beats Disease and I Don't Want to Miss a Thing for a personal song choice. And he gave a pretty good explanation for his choice. The highlight of the night for me, was Mary J. Blige's No More Drama, sang by no other than our gospel-faithful Joshua Ledet. If I were the judges, I would have given him another standing O just for the heck of it.

Overall though, I think Jessica had the least comfortable night while Joshua came out on top again. Phillip was his usual so-so self. Who should win? Joshua definitely. But will he? That I really can't answer.

And for heaven's sake Phillip fans, stop bashing Jessica. Stop calling her awful, stop elevating Phil's status to 'great singer' (HE JUST ISN'T OKAY?) and then insisting that Jessica's a lousy one - just stop it. Almost every single comment I read against Jessica was for Phillip, wtf? I don't care if you fancy his singing or song choices or whatever, but calling Jessica atrocious is just low. Guess what? I think Phillip's singing voice in general is atrocious, never mind the emotional value of the song. (Ok fine I don't actually think his singing is atrocious but you get my point!) Screw it, if Phil makes it to the Top 2, I'll be crying for Jessica. Seriously.