Excellent recap. Below you'll find my summary and rebuttals mixed within your reviews. We differ in more than one place this week!
Before we get to that though, I should say that I usually hate just about every theme week that they come up with on American Idol. Motown week is no different. Don't get me wrong, I love Motown, but year after year it's just a week of watching people who simply will never be able to improve a Motown song. Maybe it's the fact that these are all young singers trying to sing older tunes. Whatever it is, there has historically only been one performer each year that can pull this week off and I think it's a shame to dedicate a full week to a "theme" that only one contestant can master.
For most of my critiques, a lot of the negative stuff I have to say this week is due to the back-up vocals. If you're not able to sing over the back-ups and they do nothing to showcase your individual voice, then why they hell are you using them? A lot of people fell victim to the back-up singers this week in my opinion.
And now for the good stuff....
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Motown Week. I'm writing this as they perform, so we'll see how the week goes.
Casey: He got it back this week in my opinion. Casey is going to be really hard to beaten, but he might end up beating himself.
I hate this song (and someone sings it every year, but I didn't mind the performance). I think Casey was at his best earlier in the year, but he'll no doubt have some more brilliant moments to come. I definitely agree that he might be the one to beat himself. I liken it to Adam Lambert staying true to himself and losing to the inferior Kris Allen. For Casey, it comes down to doing what he loves or doing what will get him the victory on AI. Clearly Adam stuck to what he does best and it's paying off these days, so I think Casey will take the same route.
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Thia: Wow! I didn't know she had that in her. This competition has another real competitor now.
Definitely nice to see her move away from the ballads, but she fell victim to the "back-up singer" curse I mentioned earlier. I could barely hear her and she didn't give it 100% in my opinion. She still has a phenomenal voice, but she needs to really "go for it" and quickly!
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Jacob: I don't really agree with the judges. The beginning was breathy, not restrained, and the ending was just...out there. It was good for the rest of it, but it certainly wasn't run up on stage and hug the singer because you are so enamored by the performance good.
I enjoyed this performance and liked that he listened to the "producers" and showed some restraint. Certainly not "hug" worthy, but pleasant enough for me.
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Lauren: Listening to her intro video was just painful. I was cringing. It's a good thing she sounded much better on stage. She still didn't pass mediocre, but hey it wasn't cringe worthy.
She's still one of my favorites (I think it's more her demeanor than her voice). I liked that she started off the song slow, but when it went fast it was just alright for me. I'd like to see her do a ballad one week to get away from the upbeat stuff.
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Stefano: Uggh, the old Stefano is back. I didn't enjoy any part of this performance, it just got on my nerves.
Not the best of the week, but not nearly the worst either. Based on the performance I think he deserves to be around a little while longer.
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Haley: I had to distract myself by playing angry birds to avoid dealing with the pain that this horrific singer is still on the American Idol Stage. Oh God this was awful. The American public made a horrific mistake by keeping her around.
I hated 50% of the song and loved the other 50%. That's certainly not going to do her any favors, but I don't think she was the worst of the week. I'm telling you, one good "moment" and she can get a lot of momentum going her way and make some believers out of her critics.
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Scotty: This is a good sign for Scotty. He was beyond out of his element trying to do Motown, and found a way to at least kind of pull it off. I mean, I don't think he was anywhere near the best couple of performances today, but he still did okay, which is more than can be expected from a pure country singer.
While Scotty was singing, it dawned on me who he is. He is Casey James from a year or two back (if you watch the show you'll know who I am talking about). He's the guy who makes it week after week and I am always left wondering why. He has way too many fans for his lackluster performances and it's a shame that better singers will leave the competition before he will.
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Pia: I feel like she took a slight step back this week. She's been consistently strong throughout this competition, but she was only pretty good this week. I found it to be slightly sleepy, with nothing really exciting or interesting about it. She was lacking the feeling and stage presence that makes a performance like that truly impressive. Don't get me wrong, she was still good-just not strong or great like she has been.
While she definitely needs to try something other than a ballad, this was still one of the more pleasant songs to listen to tonight. In a night that left me confused about some and disappointed with others, at least she was consistent with her vocals.
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Paul: I'm still not a Paul fan. I guess his voice is just not for me. I mean, it's not like he was outright bad like some before him, but I really don't care for his voice, and I don't expect him to make any major changes to it at this point.
Paul needs to do something drastic to make me a fan again. After liking his initial prospects, I've been left disappointed with nearly all of his performances.
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Naima: They really put it up on a tee for her tonight. She did extremely well with it, perhaps the best I've heard so far. But she'll have to keep that up during weeks that aren't in her wheelhouse in order to survive.
I think someone paid the judges to try to get this girl some votes. Although this might have been her best performance, her best still falls short of every other contestant's worst.
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James: James is an amazing performer, a talented singer and a little bit crazy too. He's gotta be one of the favorites from this point.
This was a great performance. I can't complain about any of it. Although, I will complain about him "soaking it up" after the performance a little too much.
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Winner: Thia. She was so much improved this week it was outright shocking. To be honest it was hard to pick a winner, as the top 6 or 7 were all pretty evenly matched, but Thia's shocking improvement puts her over the top.
Winner: James by far.
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Bottom 3: Lauren, Stefano, Haley
Bottom 3: Naima, Haley, Thia
You can swap out Thia for Paul if you'd like, but since Paul has the "fan vote" at the moment, I think Thia could be in the bottom.
Going home: Naima (Please Please Please)
