Last night’s American Idol proved two things to us. One, that FOX really needs to shell out more money so the contestants can have a better song selection to choose from instead of being stuck with slow, boring songs from a million years ago. And two, that Kree Harrison, one of the frontrunners, is more in danger of elimination than ever before. Will she hit the bottom of the leaderboard, or is Amber heading home as we all believed going into this week? And will we finally have a non-elimination round? Let’s run through how each of the Top 4 finalists did with their performances and how the results might play out.
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Amber Holcomb: Performing first won’t help someone like Amber, who is already at a disadvantage since she’s not a frontrunner. But the judges were all over her last night with overblown praise. Yes, her Celine Dion number was strong. But you’re out of your mind if you thought “MacArthur Park” was anything but a disaster. She’s been in the Bottom 2 the most out of any of these girls, so there’s a good chance she’ll end up there again, even if she’s not eliminated.
Candice Glover: The two frontrunners in the competition, Candice and Kree, faltered last night. Neither one gave anywhere close to stellar performances. Though when you put these two side by side, Candice comes out ahead to me because her voice was flawless during “Emotion.”
Kree Harrison: But the problem lies with Kree. For weeks now, everybody’s been saying she’s the one to beat, that she can have great cross-over appeal post-Idol in both the country and pop genres. But she seems to be losing steam the past couple weeks, and it showed in the results last week when she ended up in the Bottom 2. Around the time of the semifinals when we finally got to see everyone’s performances in their entirety, everyone was raving about Kree, but I just didn’t get it. It took about two or three weeks for me to understand the appeal. It saddens me to see her start to regress back into the bland Kree from the beginning of the competition. She’s more vulnerable now than ever before.
Angie Miller: Unlike with Kree, I was a fan of Angie from the start, especially after hearing her original song during Hollywood Week. But four weeks ago at the Top 8, she faltered and gave her worst performance to date. The past couple weeks, she’s starting to make a comeback, and her rendition of Jessie J’s “Who You Are” is the kind of performance she needed right now. Her rise couldn’t have come at a better time, because if you look at past seasons, it’s better to shine later in the competition than come out strong at the start and falter as the weeks go by. (This reminds me of season 9’s Crystal Bowersox, who immediately became the frontrunner, but didn’t show up when it counted the most, and that’s a big reason why she ended up losing.)
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Bottom 2 Predictions: Amber Holcomb and Kree Harrison
Elimination Prediction: Amber Holcomb (or a non-elimination week)
Even though I’ve been going on and on about Kree, I’m ultimately going with Amber for my elimination prediction because she seems to be the next in line to go. (And if you look at past results, the person who’s been considered the next to go has left each and every time.) And as I’ve also said, we’re due for a shocker — it hasn’t happened yet, but it could tonight.
I was adamant last week that the Save would finally be used. It wasn’t, and as TVLine notes, the Save has now expired, “but there’s always been a contingency plan if the Save was not used.” There still needs to be a non-elimination week at some point so the season doesn’t end a week earlier than FOX has it scheduled for. To me, this week seems like the perfect week to do it because we’ve got four fantastically talented singers, and who wouldn’t want to see these four perform again? Having a non-elimination right now would help Kree the most since it’ll give her additional time to redeem herself. And in fact, it could potentially help everybody since most of them chose terrible songs.
Do you also believe that Kree is at her most vulnerable? Based on how predictable the results have been so far, is Amber the next in line to leave? And will this week be a non-elimination?
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(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
