Wednesday, April 13, 2005

I think I actually miss Clay Aiken

I'm not sure if I actually watched American Idol last night or if I was just experiencing a particularly nasty fever dream.

In any case what I saw went something like this:

The contestants were told they'd have to sing a song from the year they were born. Hooray.

Nadia came out, did her thing as great as usual and was promptly met with a mix of anger and confusion by the judges who seemed upset she's not playing their little karaoke game. She could very well go home this week although Simon might've inadvertently saved her by practically daring the audience to vote for her (not once, but twice).

Nadia, you're too good for this show. Now get into a recording studio and prove it.

Bo followed and, for the first time so far, really sucked. He "sang" Free Bird. An obvious choice for him, but not a fun one.

The rest is pretty much a blur of mediocrity with one person after another taking the stage and receiving mindless praise for being everything Nadia isn't: safe, boring, conformational, middle of the road.

At least Vonzell has a nice smile.

But then something amazing happened. Someone decided to go a little crazy, American Idol-style.

Doing her best Olivia-Newton-John-at-the-end-of-Grease transformation Carrie attacked Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield. And for the first time, she actually seemed to have a little bit of passion in her performance (not a lot, just a little, but we'll take what we can get). The judges seemed a little shaken. I couldn't have been happier. Apparently they didn't see this coming after she displayed an affinity for power rock with Heart's Alone.

I can't say for sure that she will win but I do know one thing...

American Idol is Carrie's world. Everyone else is just visiting.

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