American Idol Finals - Week 9 Performances 5/5/09

The American Idol finals are just two weeks away, and the four contestants we have left each have his or her own fanbase. That makes it anyone's game, but we will still continue to give our thoughts on who gave the best performances and who really deserves to advance to the next round.

Last night's category was "Rock and Roll," which immediately put Adam and Allison at an advantage. Last night's show also introduced another Idol first: duet performances. The entire episode was one of mixed results, so let's run down who did what and who should be going home tonight. This week's guest coach was Slash, the guitarist for the bands Guns n' Roses and Velvet Revolver. To us, this was the only celebrity cameo that felt somewhat authentic and necessary.

(1) Adam Lambert sang "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin (1969). Slash has reportedly already gone on his Twitter account and praised Adam's vocal prowess. We also give bonus points to Adam for not selecting "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns n' Roses, which, while it would have fit his voice like a glove, might have veered into the dreaded "copycat" territory that Simon and the others often critique. Of course, anyone who has watched the show this season knows that Adam can belt out a song with the best of them, and yes, he can do a convincing "Rock God" thing. However, we felt quite disconnected from him for much of this performance. Vocally, it was superb, but as we said some weeks ago, Adam is in the position of competing with himself. This can actually be a disadvantageous position to be in. Because Adam has taken so many risks over the season, and for a while he kept topping himself with each passing week, people have come to expect so much from him -- perhaps too much. This can have the effect of leaving one feeling deflated if Adam gives a just-ok performance. Now, a just-ok performance from Adam is miles ahead of what everyone else can do, but since he has stopped topping himself over the last two weeks, it can lead people not to vote for him because his earlier performances were clearly better in comparison. Human nature being what it is, the fact that Adam front-loaded this season with all of his tricks and surprises can leave the audience thinking that he has plateaued and is no longer growing. The truth, of course, is that Adam entered this competition with professional-level talent, but for the judging audience, we could understand if they are no longer floored by what he's been doing lately. Additionally, we weren't pleased by how his performance was staged and photographed on a technical level. There was a distinct lack of close-ups and an abundance of time where the camera was off Adam -- either on the band or on the audience -- or where he was shot from far away. Television is a close up medium. It's what allows the audience to care about who they see on the screen. We said at the beginning that we felt disconnected from Adam's performance, and a large part of that was because of how his performance was shown to us by the show's director. The studio audience and the judges clearly went crazy over Adam last night, but we're thinking that not all of that excitement came through the screen to the home audience. Adam gave the best vocal of the night by far, but we're getting this nagging feeling that he could be in danger once again this week. PREDICTION: BOTTOM 2

(2) Allison Iraheta sang "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin (1971). Again, being the only female contestant at this point is a big advantage for Allison. However, Allison has delivered consistently strong vocals over the last two weeks so she is entirely deserving of her spot in the final four as well as all the votes she's been getting. In spite of the mixed reviews by the judges, we felt that Allison did this Janis Joplin classic proud, and we think she has a great shot at avoiding the bottom 2 tonight. PREDICTION: SAFE

(3) Kris Allen sang "Come Together" by The Beatles (1969). Kris unquestionably gave the weakest performance of the night. His rendition of this Beatles classic did not reveal any new strengths in his voice nor did it bring any new life to a song that we've heard a thousand times. The best compliment that the judges could come up with was to give him kudos for taking a chance in stepping outside of his comfort zone. Simon gave Kris yet another puzzling comment in saying that Kris' performance was like "eating ice for lunch." Between him and Paula coming up with phrases never before heard in human history each week, Kris has been the recipient of more off-kilter critiques than any other Idol contestant in recent memory. Last week, Kris was dead center in the results among the contestants: two (Matt and Adam) were below him, and two (Allison and Danny) were above him. With Matt gone, we're thinking Kris will be joining Adam in the bottom 2 tonight. PREDICTION: BOTTOM 2

(4) Danny Gokey sang "Dream On" by Aerosmith (1973). For us, this was clearly Danny's weakest performance of the competition. While Adam has successfully been able to morph every genre to fit his style, Danny really could not pull off the rock genre convincingly, nor is he adept enough musically to change the song to fit within the parameters of his range and vocal stylings. He tried, but ultimately failed, to give a straight forward blues-rock performance. Just like Kris Allen, his interpretation did nothing to bring new life to the song, and only highlighted just how inappropriate this particular song, and the rock genre in general, are for someone like him. However, Danny is the most liked contestant this season, and is always a safe choice for the voting audience. He's this season's Taylor Hicks, and that should carry him through to the finals. PREDICTION: SAFE

Additionally, the Idols paired off and did a couple of duets that, while not technically part of the voting process, cannot help but be factored into people's decision-making process when dialing in to vote. The producers cannily did not have Adam and Danny, this season's predicted final 2, perform together. If you want to see that, you're going to have to wait, America! However, the pairings that they did have were the most compatible vocally. We agree with the judges that the first pairing of Kris and Danny (performing Styx's 1978 song, "Renegade") did not hold a candle to the Adam-Allison duet of Foghat's 1975 classic "Slow Ride." However, we agree with Randy in that the harmonizing of Kris and Danny was the one bright spot in their joint performance, although it was clear that Danny was doing all of the heavy lifting there.

We've selected Kris and Adam for our bottom 2 based more on how we think the audience will react than on who really deserves to be there. If we were simply judging on performances objectively, then the bottom 2 should undoubtedly be Kris and Danny, but at this point in the competition, with only four contestants left, there's a whole lot of subjectivity going into people's thought processes regarding whom to vote for. Danny is the sentimental favorite, and Allison is the only female left, so they are the most safe, everything else being equal. That automatically puts Kris and Adam on the chopping block. As we said, we can understand if this particular performance of Adam's didn't knock everyone's socks off for all the reasons we listed. However, Kris simply gave the weakest performances of the night both in the solo round and during the duets, and we think it was obvious to everyone in the studio and watching at home that he should be going home. Kris Allen is our pick for elimination tonight.