The one thing we could all agree on this week is that it’s getting harder and harder to figure out who might go home each week.
Last week’s thinning of the herd took down bland teen Thia Megia and Naima Adedapo, a spirited performer America just didn’t seem ready for. But Wednesday (April 6) night’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show didn’t make it any easier to pick who will get the hook this week.
I personally thought James Durbin made a big mistake with his shaky ballad treatment of George Harrison’s "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," which just showed off how weak his vocals are when you really focus on them.
But, like my fellow experts, I had to put the X on gospel good-guy Jacob Lusk, who just took a turn for the weird this week when he made a somewhat threatening comment to viewers about how if they eliminate him, it’s because they are somehow uncomfortable with themselves. Plus, the fire seems to have just gone out of his eyes lately and I’ve wondered all along how you market his peculiar talents to a Carrie Underwood-craving audience?
MTV News’ "Idol" expert Jim Cantiello said it is, frankly, insane, that we’re only down to nine contestants and there doesn’t appear to be any deadweight laying around. "Typically the eliminations don't hurt until Top 6," he said. But, sucking it up, Cantiello said it’s probably the end of the road for early favorite Lusk as well. "His opening spot didn't earn him any favors (nor did that head-to-toe white outfit), but what might do him in was more of what he said than what he sang," Cantiello noted of Lusk’s odd preamble to his shaky performance of Michael Jackson’s "Man in the Mirror."
Not to sound too much like Randy, but Jim said "Mirror" was just, well, pitchy and forgettable, dog, unlike the song Lusk abandoned over his moral convictions, Marvin Gaye’s "Let’s Get it On," which gave him goosebumps. If not Jacob, Cantiello said Stefano Langone might be in trouble again, since his "When a Man Loves a Woman" was a carbon copy of his last three ballads. And, after a few weeks where women dominated the bottom three, he said the final slot will probably belong to toothy strummer Paul McDonald, who, despite getting the final "pimp" spot, is already on probation with voters after hitting the bottom three last week.
"There's only so much Paul can do with that frog voice and at the end of the day, 'Idol' is a singing competition," Jim said.
Read more of our "Idol" reactions — and our bottom-three picks — below!
"Idol" blogger MJ Santilli had to agree, tagging Lusk’s performance as the usual mixture of over-singing and over-acting, which was not helped by the finger-wagging lecture to America in his taped package.
"Really Jacob, if I don't vote for you, it's because I can't look at myself in the mirror?" she said. "Viewers don't vote for arrogant, sanctimonious Idols, Jacob. So, say hello to the bottom 3 tonight, and a trip home."
She agreed that Langone was probably headed back to the bottom three again after another cheesy performance, but pegged teen Lauren Alaina as the third bottom feeder saying her "solid, but unremarkable" job on the mega Aretha Franklin classic "(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman" got lost in the middle of the pack and was overshadowed by Pia Toscano and Haley Reinhart.
Though it pains me, I have to agree with Jim that McDonald will probably be in the bottom three again, where I think he’ll be joined by Stefano.
To recap, here's our prediction for the bottom three. Agree with our picks? Let us know your list in the comments below.
» Gil Kaufman/Jim Cantiello: Jacob Lusk (out), Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald.
» MJ Santilli: Jacob Lusk (out), Langone, Alaina.
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