No major surprises tonight. Paul, Thia and Naima were in the bottom three. Paul moved on, while Naima and Thia became the third and fourth females to get the boot in four weeks. This leaves six guys and three girls.
Idol made an attempt to be demographically diverse, and they got themselves a terrifically diverse Tour roster, but the hard truth is that they probably made a mistake in keeping Ashley and Karen instead of Lauren Turner and Kendra Chantelle. Karen and Ashley weren’t in the same class with the others.
The show wasn’t anything like last week’s drama fest. Fantasia sang a song about food, a couple of people sang something else (I skipped it), and the Idols split up to do some smaller group songs instead of the one big group number. I like the idea, and I hope they do it again. Scotty and Lauren sounded pretty good on “I Told You So”, not really together other than the last note but it was a nice start-off. Jacob and Naima were fun on “Solid”, and I remain amazed at how easy Jacob makes it look, hitting such a huge range. Haley, Pia and Thia hit some nice notes on Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”; for some reason Thia didn’t get a solo part. Casey, Paul, James and Stefano got together for “Band on the Run”. It was fun, cool, sloppy as hell but I don’t care.
Power Rankings-
9- Paul: Time for one last stand
8- Stefano: Needs to find a way to be taken seriously
7- Haley: Gaining some traction as the underdog contestant
6- Jacob: Needs a strong performance to regain status as a contender
5- Lauren: Solidly placed and holding up well
4- Casey: Lazarus might have more tricks up his sleeve
3- Scotty: Cruising at the moment
2- James: Gonna need to take the training wheels off soon
1- Pia: Book a trip to the Nokia, kiddo
What a terrific night last night!!! While I’ll miss Naima’s antics and her energy on the show, she and Thia will both be back for the summer tour.
