American Idol 5 – Recap – Episode 5-29 (April 4, 2006)

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This being Country Week, I’m expecting more than a few ballads to be sung. I’m also expecting the songs to be sung badly by many, which, if Kellie and Bucky sing as well as we expect them to, will probably put them in the bottom three. Why? Because the voting blocks seem to vote harder for their favourites when they sing worse than normal. And this would definitely be the week for them to do that.

Opening Credits

Ryan Seacrest needs to shave, but he’s here and we’ve got nine performances coming up. No time to introduce the competitors, but here are the judges, Coy, Vance and Cooter.

Tonight’s theme is country, and helping the contestants out, it’s Kenny Rogers. Now here’s a look at Kenny Rogers, but no mention of Cannonball Run or his restaurant chain. It’s the wood that makes it good, dammit! He and the Idols sing “The Gambler” a lot, so look for that as the group song tomorrow.

No time for any more chit-chat, let’s get right to Taylor Hicks, singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Road”.

Taylor seems off tonight. You can tell he’s a bit uncomfortable singing the song, since he’s not moving around as much as he normally does, and you don’t get the power we normally get from Taylor. Not a good start.

Randy – I thought the vocal was just OK. I didn’t see you exude any of your personality.
Paula – You just sang it as it is.
Simon – I thought it was safe, boring lazy. It sounded like you chose that song 10 seconds ago.

Rating: 4/10

Mandisa and the Waterboy are up after the

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Welcome back, and we get a lot of “I love you Ryan”s, mostly from guys. I really don’t want to know.

Up now is Mandisa, singing Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine”.

Now she’s more energetic than Taylor, but like Taylor, she’s a bit off tonight. It’s like the idea of singing country has intimidated the singers. Mandisa is flat and a bit slow where she’s normally on key and right on beat. Weird.

Randy – Weird song choice for me. In the beginning it wasn’t quite hot, but the last four bars you got it together.
Simon – I thought the song was horrible. We now know that this kind of music – it was fun.

Rating: 4.5/10

Kenny thinks Elliott Yamin tends to over sing. He’s singing “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks (and apparently Ronan Keating)

Now this is what I expect from country week – a ballad. True to Kenny’s words, Elliott is over singing the song, but at least he’s on key and doesn’t “fear” the genre like Taylor and Mandisa. Nothing bad, but nothing great either. A bit boring, but it’s enough to make him my benchmark singer for the night.

Randy – That was hot. You put your flavour on. A little Stevie vibe.
Paula… seems to be off the meds, but still says nothing constructive.
Simon – Good song choice, I didn’t think it was a great vocal. I thought it was a bit hesitant, almost like you were nervous.

Rating: 6/10

Beware! Paris and Ace will be singing after the

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Paris Bennett is sporting yet another hairstyle and it looks like she’s heading to the Houston Rodeo. She’s singing “How Do I Live” by Tricia Yearwood or LeAnn Rimes (personally I prefer Yearwood’s version, from Con Air).

Again, with the flatness and the slight off beat singing. All the singers we expect to sing well are NOT doing it this week. Paris more so than Mandisa and Taylor. Oddly enough, that should help save them from the Bottom Three this week.

Randy – This is one of the toughest songs for you this week. Its just aiight for me this week.
Paula – I felt like it was kind of a struggle for you.
Simon – I thought it was very good. I thought it was an excellent choice of song. It reminded me of early Dionne Warwick.

Rating: 3/10

Ace Young is planning to ruin (well, he doesn’t actually SAY that) Keith Urban’s “I Wanna Cry”, so let’s see how he does.

OK, this seems like a simple song to sing, and he’s STILL going flat every other bar. The falsetto at the end was ok, but the song wasn’t particularly interesting. It’s not entirely horrible though, and I figure he’s good enough this week to get the boot, if that makes any sense.

Randy – It was really boring for me.
Paula – I think you have a knack for picking the right song for your voice.
Simon – Interestingly I think the last couple of weeks you HAVEN’T been choosing the right songs. But you chose the right song this week.

Rating: 4.5/10

Kellie plans to show her boobs after the

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Kellie Pickler wants us to know that her dumb hick act isn’t an act. She’s singing “Fancy” by Reba McEntire.

Vocally, it’s about as good as we expected – because it’s in her genre. BUT she pulls a Lisa and doesn’t really connect with the audience until about halfway through the song. It’s like she didn’t warm up until then. Best so far though.

Randy – You element. This is your night.
Paula – I agree. This is a great night for you.
Simon – I hated the song personally, but I think that you sang very well.

Rating: 7.5/10

The bald (Chris) and the beautiful (Kat) are up after the

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Chris Rock is in the audience, and singing “Making Memories of Us” by Keith Urban is Chris Daughtry

Once again, good stuff from Chris. He’s not “intimidated” by the genre, and he’s singing with clarity and minimal sharpness. You can feel the ache in his singing, and that’s a good thing with this genre.

Randy – It was good for you to change up tonight and sit there and sing a song.
Simon – It was great to see a different side of you. Having said that, for two weeks now, you as contestants have chosen boring, uninteresting songs.

Rating: 8.5/10

Katherine McPhee is singing Faith Hill’s “Bringing Out The Elvis”

Definitely a sultry song, and finally Kat is dressed the part. Not enough energy, but she’s having fun with it, and it shows. Is it enough to pull her out of the bottom three? We’ll see.

Randy – Kind of a bluesy country. Very nice.
Simon – That song was just so peculiar.

Rating: 7/10

Bucky closes the show after the

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Bucky Covington is singing “Best I Ever Had” by what Kenny said was Gary Allen, but I remember Vertical Horizon doing this song.

I think over enunciating is causing some issues with Bucky being on key, as he actually gets better as he slurs the words more and “over countrifies” the song. Not as good as Kellie, but enough to put him in the middle of the pack.

Randy – Good to see you in your element.
Paula – You and Kellie probably shined the most. Wear that hat proud.
Simon – It sounded okay to me.

Rating: 5.5/10

Time to recap the singers, and time to start voting.

Kevin has been an Insider since 2003, writing on a variety of topics ranging from The Amazing Race to Mixed Martial Arts. His current hobbies include Fantasy Football, Sporcle, travelling, making liberal use of his DVR and wondering what the heck he's gonna do when his two daughters are old enough to date. You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@starvenger).