American Idol Recap: My Review Of The Top 13 Performances

Reviews, Top Story

Here we go! My thoughts on last night’s Idol performances!

DEXTER ROBERTS

Does anyone else always want to type ‘Dexter Morgan’ instead of ‘Dexter Roberts’ when writing an American Idol recap? Such a bad habit. I think that I am in the minority, but I am a huge Dexter fan and I once again thought he delivered a fantastic performance. His cover of Chris Young’s “Aw Naw” was spot on, but he will definitely suffer from being the first act on the stage. It’s absolutely undeniable that he has one of the best voices in the Top 13 this year.

MALAYA WATSON

Malaya sang “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars and it was an absolute mess. She was completely off-key and her pronunciation of the lyrics in the fast-paced tune was completely off. With that said, the juxtaposition of having her perform after Dexter highlighted the fact that she is everything that he isn’t. She has the personality that he lacks and it will be interesting to see which trait voters reward. A better singing voice or a more entertaining performance.

KRISTEN O’CONNOR

No one can deny that Kristen is the hottest girl on the show this season, but she is almost certainly slated to be one of the first contestants to be going home this season (likely tonight). Kristen’s voice is simply not at the level of the others and while I feel like she could win the competition next season, I just feel like she needs another year to work on her skills. She went with a flawed cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Beautiful Disaster” and while it was okay, it certainly indicated that it is her time to go.

BEN BRILEY

While I definitely was a proponent of Neco Starr receiving the final spot in the Top 13 (as we already have enough guitar-playing country singers this season), Ben Briley is definitely starting to find his niche in the competition and was one of the best performances of the night. Singing Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” was a brilliant decision as the song highlighted his voice, his personality and also met the challenge of choosing a song that represented him. While Keith Urban criticized him and suggested that he was sacrificing his artistry for entertainment, this was completely off-base. Briley was brilliant.

C.J. HARRIS

Another contestant who showed significant improvement was C.J. Harris. After a disaster rush week performance, he snuck into the Top 13 (primarily based on his brilliant Hollywood week performances) and tonight showed glimpses of the great voice that put him there. Tackling “Radio” by Darius Rucker was a good choice, but unfortunately, C.J. also seems to fade into the background too easily and I think he will be in trouble from here on out.

M.K. NOBILETTE

Easily one of the fan faves this year, M.K. isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. While I appreciated the fact that she decided to try something new with Allen Stone’s “Satisfaction,” instead of just going with another ballad, I really hated the song. With that said, M.K.’s personality and stage presence is so genuine that it is hard to not like any song that she performs. She is a keeper.

MAJESTY ROSE

Destined for the finals this year, Majesty delivered another standout performance. Covering Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope,” Majesty once again looked like a seasoned professional with the best stage presence of the entire group (next to Caleb of course). Each week, she seems to gain a better grasp of who she is and who she will be as an artist and watching her growth is one of the best parts of Idol this season. She could potentially win.

JENA IRENE

While I don’t think that she is destined to go far in the competition, I believe that Jena Irene is the most underrated singer this season. She has consistently been one of the best singers and while I didn’t love her rendition of “The Scientist,” I thought that she definitely did it well. What I don’t like is the fact that Harry Connick Jr., keeps asking her to explain what the songs mean. While I understand that the translation of a song is important, it’s unfair to keep picking on Jena for this. He did this when she performed “Paint It Black,” and once again quizzed her about the Coldplay track. Just let her sing man.

ALEX PRESTON

Alex is my pick to win the show this year, and I genuinely think that he is incapable of delivering a bad performance. While his subdued cover of Jason Mraz’s “A Beautiful Mess” was quite reserved compared to the high-energy of the other contestants, it’s for this reason that I also think he will do well. Alex sings what he wants to sing and completely knows what kind of music he wants to make. It almost seems like he invites us to his own private concert each week and that is what I love the most about him. It doesn’t hurt that he has girlfriend Jillian Jenson and Alex & Sierra from The X Factor in his corner as these all mean more votes for him. They are deserved. He is a star.

JESSICA MEUSE

I am always interested to see what Jessica Meuse will pull out of her bag of tricks and this week, she delivered. I adored her cover of Shinedown’s “The Crow And The Butterfly,” and it displayed her rock acumen (which was sorely missed when she tried to do Luke Bryan last week). Jessica needs to embrace her alternative style on the show and when she fully takes ownership of it, she is always successful.

EMILY PIRIZ

While I don’t think that Emily has the strong voting base that is needed to win the show, she is amongst the most consistent performers. Last week, she displayed her fun side by singing “Ooh La La” and despite the judges getting on her for choosing a song with controversial lyrics, she still managed to offer one of the most fun performances of the evening. This week, she slowed it down and went with P!nk’s “Glitter In The Air.” The judges really had nothing to criticize because Pirez’s pipes spoke for themselves.

SAM WOOLF

There is no doubt that Sam’s clean-cut look will appeal to Idol‘s core female demographic. While I believe he will do well in the competition (and is certain to make the midway point), he unfortunately gives me a ‘seen it before’ vibe, especially when it comes to American Idol. He just looks like Scotty McCreery, Kris Allen, David Cook and Phillip Phillips and I think Idol is ready for a change. I liked his cover of Matchbox Twenty’s “Unwell,” but her certainly seemed to fade into the background on Wednesday.

CALEB JOHNSON

Caleb got the pimp spot on the episode, and while performing last is almost always reserved for the singer that the producers feel is the strongest that week, this week there was absolutely no doubt. Caleb was the best by a mile. Singing “Pressure and Time” by Rival Sons was a phenomenal song choice and it featured every element that Caleb does well. It was electric. It was powerful. It was bitchin.’ When the smoke machines did their job, it genuinely felt like being at a rock show and Caleb could not have done a better job. It might have been my favourite single performance on Idol this year.

So prediction time. I think that Kristen, Emily, and CJ will be in the bottom with Kristen taking the long walk.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.