American Idol: The Final Four

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

This week on American Idol was Elvis week. The four remaining contestants traveled to the home of the King, Graceland, over the weekend, and they returned ready to sing songs from Elvis' catalogue of songs. With only four remaining in the competition, there is no room for mistakes, performance and song choice are now everything. The contestants, the judges and the audience all know that. Now it is up to America who the final two will be in two weeks. First, let's talk about this week's performances. This week, the four had to once again sing two songs.

First up tonight was Taylor Hicks. For his first performance, Taylor chose Jailhouse Rock, which is one of Elvis' signature songs. He started out in crowd and made his way to the stage. Randy and Paula both enjoyed his performance, but once again Simon called it Karoke with a capital K. For his second performance, he sang In the Ghetto. His second performance was world's away from his first, and I agree with Randy and Simon this was the perfect song for him. This is the genre that Taylor excels in. Was it good enough to put him in the semi-finals next week?

Chris Daughtry came up second in the order, and there is no doubt in those that read this blog's mind that Chris is my favorite this year. I've always been a rocker chick. Now Chris did okay tonight. Maybe not his strongest performances, but he did well, and I think he will definitely make it through to next week. His first song of the night was Suspicious Minds, and he closed out with A Little Less Conversation. Fans of the NBC drama Vegas will recognize that song as the one that plays over that show's opening credits.

Elliot Yamin came out third, and earlier today on my entertainment blog. I expressed concern about how Elliot would do this week. I think I even said he would go home this week. Well, he is making me eat my words with his performances tonight. He did amazing both times out. I liked his second performance better than his first, but he still did well there too. His two songs tonight were I Can Dream and Trouble. I really enjoyed Trouble, and I agree with Simon that he earned a spot in next week's show.

Katharine McPhee closed out the four tonight, and she had some problems. This is where song choice came into play. For her first performance, she chose to do a hybrid of Hound Dog and All Shook Up. Daring thing to do, and it mostly worked. She did mess up her lyrics about part way through, and everyone picked up on that right away. For her second performance, she chose one of Elvis' best known ballads, Can't Help Falling In Love. She did okay, but I agree with the judges that this was not her best night. Could this be the end of Katharine McPhee?

Tonight's performance were great. Everyone stepped up, but at this point one small mistake could make or break any of the final four at this point. My bottom two this week are Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee. I think we might see one of these two go home this week, but it is so close it is hard for me to pick one.

Don't forget to check out my Blog of the Week and also head on over to Media Village as well. It is becoming a source for American Idol news. My own blog on the site has the latest in news each week, and I'm not the only one talking about Idol! Check it out!