Week 11 Performance Recap

Okay, so for YEARS I have been clammoring for a Duets Week on "Idol." I never thought it would happen because of how inherently unfair it would be to either a) saddle a good singer with a crappy one for a week, or b) saddle a crappy singer with another crappy singer and damn their chances entirely. But now that they're down to four singers, all of whom are reasonably talented, that's not really an issue, so look what we get! Happy Tuesday to me!

One of the reasons I've always wanted a duets week, beyond my hope for some "Leather and Lace" up in here, is the absolute uproar it would cause among fans, critics, conspiracy theorists, and all. Looking around the internet, I can see I was not wrong. I'll even join in: Why finally do duets during rock week, the least-duetty genre of them all? Ah well.

Adam Lambert (first +2)
"Whole Lotta Love"
Great vocal that did reasonable justice to the original (though how is Allison a "copycat" Janis and Adam now a copycat Robert Plant considering how faithfully they both delivered their performances?). Still looks like he's playing dress-up, which always takes me out of the performance, but I liked the sound of it.

Allison Iraheta
"Cry Baby"
At the time, I thought that Allison's lack of a real knockout performance here (it was good, just not great) was going to mean big trouble for her. After the hour was up, maybe not, but I still agreed with Randy (...I know) when he said that the song didn't give her enough room to blow people away. Also, like Simon, I thought Allison was considering the Queen "Somebody to Love." Unlike Simon, I am very glad she didn't pick that one, but the Jefferson Airplane "Somebody to Love"? That could've been fun.

Danny Gokey and Kris Allen
"Renegade"
They did manage to sound quite good singing together (with a big assist from the backup singers). But left to their own devices, Danny seemed strained and Kris was completely aimless and lost. He didn't sound bad, but he didn't know what to do with himself at all. Even in the critique he seemed like he was looking for a place to sit down.

Kris Allen
"Come Together" (Beatles +2)
I didn't think it sounded nearly as bad as everyone else did. I like that he didn't try to step too far out of what works for him. He was kind of fucked either way, because what he should have done was taken a super hard-edged song and made it into a smooth Kris coffeehouse number, but I think the judges (and/or Slash) would have KILLED him for it. I think he's going home, much to my extreme chagrin.

Danny Gokey
"Dream On"
I can't ... how do I even begin to describe the many layers of terror that was this performance. I watched half of it with my face behind a pillow, and that was BEFORE the Last Screech on the Left that killed the song dead. The early notes were strained, the attempted eye-fucking (which, combined with The Scream suggested that this was Danny doing his Adam impersonation), that embarrassing "do-do-do" ... it's too much. Somebody's gonna need to hold up a photo of ME in front of a TV camera next week because Danny Gokey just killed me dead.

Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta (last, +3 for each)
"Slow Ride"
What I said, verbatim, once Ryan said the word "Foghat": "Oh God DAMN it, Lambert!" You know he chose that shit. Here's where, if I'm a crazy TWoP-posting conspiracy nut, I start spinning my wheels, because if I want to make Allison sing something that she can't possibly impress with, vocally (if Randy thought "Cry Baby" was repetitive?), wouldn't this be my sandbag of choice? Anyway, I don't believe that's the case (for one thing, Adam and Allison really seem to be close), and even if it was, it didn't work. The vocals weren't anything to write home about (again, the song doesn't really ask for much), but A & A were having so much damn FUN on the stage. Their combined stage presence was -- I'll say it -- a joy to behold. Yes. "A joy."

Predicted Bottom 3: Kris, Danny, Allison
Going home: Kris