As we reported earlier, the songs chosen by the “American Idol” judges for the Top 3 have been leaked and I have to say, the judges’ song choices are almost as bad as the contestants’ song choices most of this season.
For Lauren Alaina, they chose “I Hope You Dance” by Leann Womack. I imagine this was chosen by Jennifer Lopez. For Scotty McCreery, it’s Kenny Rogers’ “She Believes in Me.” It’s probably safe to say that was Randy’s choice. And for Haley Reinhart, it’s “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette. Since Randy and Jennifer hate Haley, I suspect Steven Tyler picked this for her.
How boring are those choices. Haley’s is probably the best song chosen, but I never once pegged her as an Alanis type. Plus Crystal Bowersox just sang this during last season’s finale. What a bad idea.
It’s too hard to really pick what other songs the contestants could and should sing since the choices are totally wide open. So, instead I’ll just pick my dream song list for them even though the chances of them singing any of my choices have lottery-like odds. So just for the fun of it, here goes.
Haley: “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield. I’ve suggested this at least two other times this season. I hear she’s done it before (pre-Idol) and there’s a youtube video of it, but I want her to sing it on the “Idol” stage. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” by The Mamas and the Papas. I always lean toward raspy voices or white-woman soul for Haley. And Mama Cass fits right into that area. I’d love to hear Haley take on Cass.
Lauren: “Fancy” by Reba McEntire. Lauren did Reba another time this season and I thought it was one of her best performances. She should take on this one and show everyone that like Scotty, she too, can be a good story-telling singer. “Love is a Battlefield” or “We Belong” by Pat Benatar. I just want to hear Pat on the Idol stage. It worked for Martina McBride on CMT’s Crossroads with Pat Benatar, it could work for Lauren.
Scotty
“Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I wanted to pick “Simple Man” but Lee DeWyze just did that last season, so I picked the second-best Skynyrd song. I think it would be a good idea for Scotty to sing a non-country song at least once Wednesday night. And since he doesn’t step outside of his comfort zone ever, I thought a southern rock song would be easy enough. There’s only a fine line between country and southern rock anyway. At least in my mind. “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver. I think it’s kind of a silly song, but it made Billboard’s Top 100 Country Songs list. And it’s kind of the message Scotty has been sending all season, so why not?