The last episode of American Idol was fun and a good test of the contestants' flexibility but the solos are where the contestants really shine, when they're allowed to bring their own instruments and sing the songs that will (hopefully) perfectly suit their voices. This is what I've been waiting for; they're narrowed down enough that we can start to see who they really are.
Drama was less this week, which left more time for meeting and getting to know the people, but Chelsee was left alone because Jaqueline, the last of her original group got sick enough that she had to go to the hospital, which meant she was out of the competition. Chelsee was a wreck, but she sang it all into her performance.
Lauren did Don't Wanna Miss A Thing again, and it really adds age to her: it's amazing that someone so young can have so much gravitas. On the other hand, Scotty doesn't know the words to his song and totally flubs it, and that deep, deep voice can't make it sound better.
Eliminations are done in fell swoops this week: every splits into four rooms, with two getting in and two not. The ones who aren't are a study in tragedy as the ones who are echo through the walls. It's kind of heartbreaking. We're now down to 61 people from the almost-400 we started with.
Standout performances: Hollie, who was lost in previous performances and barely made it through proved they'd made the right choice with God Bless The Child and that amazingly big, bluesy voice in her teeny blonde body; Clint's Georgia On My Mind; Carson's really twitchy and personality-full My Perogative (which totally overshadowed Chris, who I liked better, doing the same song); Casey and his enormous and super-sexy-sounding stand-up bass; Jacob and his big gospel voice.
On to the next round: Ashley Sullivan, Brett Loewenstern, Haley Reinhart, Jacee Badeaux, Jacob Lusk, Caleb Hawley, Clint Jun Gamboa, Lauren Alaina, Chris Medina, James Durbin, Robbie Rosen, Casey Abrams, Carson Higgins, Julie Zorilla, Jovany Barreto, Rachel Zevita, and Scotty McCreery. Plus a number of unknowns and unseens, as always.
More thoughts on American Idol, "Hollywood Week 3":
# It's getting hard not to empathise with them, now that there's few enough to start remembering their names without looking them up. Chelsee was heartbreaking, and it was so sad to see her go.
# The numbers keep falling, but it's great that so many of the interesting, different voices (and the ones I particularly like) are still in the running, even after the roughness of Round 2.
# Up next, we get Vegas, the Beatles, and a whole hour of results, the dullest part of the show.