American Idol: The Top Three

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

We're down to the semi-finals everyone! We started this journey back in January. We saw the bad, the very bad, the good and the great. Katharine, Elliot and Taylor have been with us since almost the beginning. Now one of them will be the next American Idol. Fans are still reacting to last week's reaction of favorite to win Chris Daughtry. However, now we need to put that behind us. We have to move forward and pick this year's American Idol. Tonight, for the final three they had to perform not two songs, but three. Things are really picking up.

For the first set of songs, they were picked for the contestants by record mogul, Clive Davis. Who hasn't heard about this man? First up was Elliot Yamin, and Clive chose the Journey classic Open Arms for him to perform. For me, it wasn't a great performance. I just didn't like it at all. It didn't grab me. Katharine had an R. Kelly song, I Believe I can Fly, to perform, and I really liked her performance. Randy and Paula didn't like the song choice, and they downgraded her because of it. Simon actually liked her performance minus a few small problems. Both Ryan and Simon agreed on the fact that Randy was disrespectful their guest who picked the song. It wasn't Katharine this week. As for Taylor, he just rocked this week in this first performance. Clive picked a classic Bruce Springsteen song for Taylor, Dancing In The Dark. He even placed a call to the singer to ask if Taylor could use it on the show. I really enjoyed Taylor's performance, and him pulling Paula up to dance with him was fun.

The second set of songs were picked by the judges. Paula picked What you won't do for love by Bobby Caldwell for Elliot, and once again this performance just didn't grab me. It's in his element, but I just think it wasn't the right song, which is something Paula even alludes to in her comments. Next up was Katharine, and Simon picked the Wizard of Oz classic, Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Here Katharine did excellent. she had been one of my favorites all season, but in recent weeks I thought she had overdone it just a bit. Tonight, I saw why I liked Katharine so much when she sang this song. The judges all complimented her on this song, and I think she might have notched her spot next week with this performance as well. Once again, Taylor comes out and does an amazing performance. Judge Randy Jackson picked a great song for him Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful. That song just matched Taylor's voice perfectly. Simon even liked it!

For the last round, the contestants chose their own music. Elliot Yamin chose a Ray Charles song, I Believe To My Soul. This was his best performance of the night, but I don't think it will save him. As for Katharine, she chose an Ella Fitzgerald song, I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues. I really liked her performance. However, I agree with the judges that her second performance was better. However, this performance was better than her first. Taylor closed out the night by picking Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding. If some of you might recall, Taylor tried to sing this song during love song week, but he was asked to change it last minute because American Idol producers didn't consider it a love song. I am glad to see Taylor got to finally sing this song for his soul patrol. Taylor even had me dancing in my chair as he performed tonight. He was really great tonight with all three of his performances, and I think we will see him next Tuesday night.

So there we have it. I think next week we should see Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks go head to head in the finale. They by far did the best tonight, and as much as I love Elliot and his voice, he just didn't have it tonight. What do you think?

Songs performed on tonight's show:

Set 1:
Elliot Yamin: Open Arms - Journey
Katharine McPhee: I Believe I Can Fly
Taylor Hicks: Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen

Set 2:
Elliot Yamin: What you won't do for love - Bobby Caldwell
Katharine McPhee: Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
Taylor Hicks: You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker

Set 3:
Elliot Yamin: I Believe To My Soul - Ray Charles
Katharine McPhee: I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues - Ella Fitzgerald
Taylor Hicks: Try A Little Tenderness - Otis Redding

Also everyone, I have selected an all new Blog of the Week. On my sidebar, you can now find Laci's blog, Long, Slow, Beautiful Dance. I chose her blog for a couple of reasons. She's a Grey's Anatomy fan, which is a plus in my book, and she also works as producer for a television station. Since the focus of this blog is television reviews, I thought she was a perfect fit. Her blog is a personal diary where she talks about her life and opinions. Make sure to check her out and tell her I sent you over! 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!