American Idol Finals - Week 8 Performances 4/28/09

After last week's double elimination, we're down to the final 5. This week's theme was "Standards from the Rat Pack Era," which is funny considering most of the chosen songs were not from that particular era (the mid-1960s). Jamie Foxx was on hand to guide the contestants through their song choices and offer them some advice. As usual with these celebrity cameos, we'd have preferred the show without it.

Let's take a look at last night's five performances, along with our picks on who will end up in the bottom 2 tonight (usually by this point in the competition, there are too few contestants to bother with a bottom three).

(1) Kris Allen sang "The Way You Look Tonight" (from the 1936 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film Swing Time). After Jamie Foxx's curious comment that "tonight when Kris Allen hits the stage [the audience is] gonna be blown away and not even know it," we can honestly say we had the opposite reaction: we weren't blown away, and we knew it. It wasn't a bad vocal by any stretch of the imagination, but for us, it was kind of boring and listless. Kris is still one of the three remaining contestants who have never been to the bottom 3. If they were doing a bottom 3 tonight, we have no doubt that he'd be there, but Kris is still an audience favorite, and he did receive positive remarks from all four judges, so while there is an outside chance he could end up in the bottom 2, it would be a shock. Given that this season has remained shock-free in terms of who went home each week, we don't think Kris is in any real danger. However, Kris was once again the recipient of some puzzling criticism: Simon referred to Kris' performance as "a little bit wet." We really have no idea what the hell that means, and considering that we were able to decipher the meaning behind Paula's "women's department" comment last week, we think Simon might have to start seeking Paula's advice on his analogies. PREDICTION: SAFE

(2) Allison Iraheta sang "Someone to Watch Over Me" (from the 1926 Broadway musical Oh, Kay!). Allison has already been in the bottom 3 on three separate occasions, so she clearly doesn't have the fanbase support that some of the other contestants have, which puts her in danger no matter how well or poorly she sings in a particular week. However, we did enjoy her this week. She really did extremely well with a genre that must be so unfamiliar to her. Her vocals were consistent throughout and demonstrated that she can do a love ballad convincingly. We agree with the judges' praise, but think that Kara took it too far in saying that this performance could take her to the finals. We're much more inclined to side with Simon in that Allison could be in trouble in tonight's results show. PREDICTION: BOTTOM 2

(3) Matt Giraud sang "My Funny Valentine" (from the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms). For us, Matt has always been a solid, middle-of-the-pack vocalist. However, in terms of stage moves and attitude, he's always been the coolest of the Top 13. This genre, with the invocation of the Rat Pack, the epitome of American celebrity cool, should have been right up his alley; he himself was certainly looking forward to it. However, we agree with Randy and Kara in that the performance didn't quite gel together into a cohesive whole. We did pick up on the Nat King Cole-esque intonations that Simon noted, but we felt, in marked contrast to Simon, that it came across as inauthentic and copycat. It was a good thing that the judges vetoed the audience's vote a couple of weeks ago because it was too soon for Matt to leave, but after tonight, we do feel that he's destined to land back in the bottom 2. PREDICTION: BOTTOM 2

(4) Danny Gokey sang "Come Rain or Come Shine" (from the 1946 Broadway musical St. Louis Woman). Danny elevated his usual solid vocals with a down-and-dirty finish where he growled out the lyrics and got some "swagger," as Kara said. Even Simon, who has criticized Danny's recent performances as being a bit safe and boring, commended him on his stage presense last night. We liked this performance as well and thought it was one of Danny's best performances of the season. PREDICTION: SAFE

(5) Adam Lambert sang "Feeling Good" (from the 1964 British musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd). Adams' musical theater background allowed him to propel himself effortlessly through this mid-1960s number from a show that was not a hit in its native Britain, but became an American success regionally and on Broadway in 1965. A full 12 seconds of his two-minute performance was taken up by one of the final notes, which vaulted this performance into the by-now lengthy canon of memorable Adam Lambert performances. We agree with Simon's remark that Randy's critique about Adam being "too theatrical" or "too Broadway" seemed out of place in general when discussing Adam -- that's what he is, take it or leave it-- but especially last night given that the song choices were all from musicals. All in all, another great vocal from Adam, who no doubt thrilled his ever-growing legion of fans. PREDICTION: SAFE

Now that last week's results knocked two contestants out of the less-popular group of four in one shot, only Matt Giraud and Allison Iraheta are left, and we've selected both of them as our predictions for tonight's bottom 2. Even though Kris Allen's performance felt a little weak to us, we don't see him being in any real danger tonight. In fact, for us, this week's contestant to be sent packing seems clearer to us than it has in recent weeks (even though we've been mostly correct in our predictions thus far). In spite of Simon's effusive praise, Matt Giraud was clearly this week's weakest performer, and is our choice for elimination.