Whitney Wonder or was it Stevie Houston?

I want my 2 hours back. Seriously, the Styxie is NOT feeling this year in the slightest. There were only 3 that I really liked and 4 that were worthy enough to make it through to the next round. Can we just take those 4 through and cut the season short? No? Damn.

Not going to go through all of them like I used to because frankly, it's a pain in the glutes and I'm less likely to keep it up if I go through every single performance. Have I said that I'm not feeling it this year yet? Oh, I have? Damn.

This week we had the boys singing Stevie Wonder and the girls were inflicted with Whitney Houston.......


Yeah. I had that same reaction too. They're forever telling the girls "don't do such and such artist because they're so difficult" and Whitney's one that's at the top of their lists of who not to do. Yet, they chose this very artist for them to perform. Ok  ok ok... I know it was in tribute but don't trash the gals for poor performances because the producers decided to honor Whitney. Oddly enough, the girls mostly did fairly well considering all things.

My picks for the week:

Skylar: Not sure what it is about this gal because I normally do NOT go for a female country voice. Why? Because I find it very annoying. But for some reason, I really kinda dig her. Even though she had to perform a song that was really completely out of her wheel-house, she managed to make it work.

Hollie: I didn't much like her through the auditions and I certainly was cheesed off when she knocked one of my early favorites out of being in the competition rounds. However, she really kinda won me over last night. She was definitely one of the best females of the night.... and that sustained note!!!!! OMG she made it look so freakin effortless! If Skylar gets the boot in the next few weeks, I can see myself easily backing Hollie on the girls' side.

Phillip: So cool they named him twice. *chuckle* I don't know what it is about him, because he so reminds me of a young Taylor Hicks and if you all remember, I was very much anti-Hicks that season. Okies... so he did the same song as he auditioned with and to be honest, they were on the fence with him until he picked up the guitar and did Thriller so... ya know. That kinda is a mark against him. However, there's something so fun about Phillip when he gets up there and totally gets lost in his performance. Not quite squwee-worthy but really has the potential to get there and pretty damned fast.

A not really pick, but an acknowledgement that the kiddo can sing:
Jessica. Hated the song. Hated the Economy sized SUTA we got with her. Hate that it feels that they're trying to cram her down our throats. My only hope at this point is that she's peaked early and crashes and burns. Otherwise, I'm going to end up with a scorched colon by the season's end and will require daily sunscreen and aloe vera enemas just to be able to watch this program. Oh... and that constant finger tapping on the mic is as annoying as the Gaspuletta's Lip licking.

This week was so ~meh~ that the Charts on DI aren't any help at all. Everyone's in the yellow and no one is rated lower than a 7 which means it's pretty much anyone's game at this point.

The Maps are not much more helpful. According the wins/losses only 2 of my favorites (plus that one other) had any substantial numbers.

Jessica, Shannon and Skylar all lost states this week. I don't believe this will do much for Jessica because she was in the girls' pimp spot and was SUTAed to near death. Plus she had a fair number of won states to balance her out.

DeAndre was the only boy on the loss map. This didn't help him at all.

This week we've been told that the lowest boy and lowest girl will be put up and the judges will decide which one stays. I wonder if they'll need to "sing for their life". Kinda XFactorish aint it?

So who may end up in the bottom?

For the girls:
Elise: Although a better choice of song than the one she originally she wanted to do, it was still rough (most of the country gals had trouble this week). Plus she sang first for the girls which meant an early spot on a 2 hour performance night. This doesn't help matters. 2 wins/ 0 losses

Erika: Although nicely done, the lower notes were still a bit rough. Her spot in the first hour won't be helpful. 1win/0 loss

Shannon: If Elise and Erika make it through it's because this one bombed out. She started off really good but the only thing I remember about her is the fact that she hit a bum note and then it took her several more notes to get back on track. When you go off key like that, it's terribly distracting and extremely frustrating because that's all your mind is on. 0 wins/ 1 loss

Skylar: As much as I liked her, Hollie and Jessica followed her and really blew their respective numbers out of the water. After the praise those two got, it'll be a miracle if she's remembered. Although she's alot more memorable than any girl that sang in the first hour. Well, other than Shannon who dropped that huge turd note.

For the boys:
Everyone?

DeAndre: A better performance than we've seen in a while but not everyone gets into that reggae um stuff. Ask Naima, she'll tell ya. This was definitely NOT the week to pull out flava. 1win/ 1 loss for a zippo, nadda, goose egg. His map count was the worst of the bunch. He might have had a chance if it was just Heejun and Jeremy following him. Unfortunately, he also had Phillip in the pimp spot.

Heejun, Jeremy, Jermaine and Joshua all ended up with only 1 win each and could also see that last spot.

Heejun: Dude's funny and I think I'll be following his Twitter just for those oddball pix, but dude is so very bland when he sings. Water has more flavor. Guarantee that if he makes it through this week, he'll start splitting votes with Jessica and then he'll be out.

Jeremy: JLo's favorite. I really don't see what she sees in him. Honestly. He can go home any day now. He had to be wild carded in so evidentally I'm not the only one that sees this.

Jermaine: Only things he's got going for him are that he's got that killer Barry White voice and he's a teddy bear of a person. This wasn't a particularly good week for him simply because he sang early. Otherwise, he handled himself well. I really don't see them getting rid of him if he hits the bottom spot  considering that they fought to get him on the show. Then again I could be wrong. I guess it'll all depend on who the girl is that hits that bottom spot.

Joshua: Although he had a better performance than most of the guys, Jacob 2.0 sang in the death spot.

The only saving grace for any of these guys is if Phillip's doctor decides that he simply cannot wait to have whatever medical treatment done to make him better. Surely, if he's put into the hospital for abdominal pain again, they'll insist on him stepping down from the competition. I've seen reports of gall stones and one that says it's kidney stones. If it's the latter, it's an easy peasy surgery where they thread something up and in and give it a zap or three and he's done. Walking might hurt and that strange little movement he likes to make will be out, but he'll still be able to compete.The surgery for gall stones, on the other hand, is alot more invasive and could mean him having to back out of the competition. This would be a shame because we really need a contestant like Phillip in there to make it worth the watch.

http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/08/american-idol-phillip-phillips-hospital-doctor-gallstone-contestant/#.T1lGqsAgfhJ

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/03/american-idol-phillip-phillips-back-from-hospital-will-participate-in-top-13-results-show.html