Where was Berry Gordy this week? Maybe after being invited to see the meh performance of Ashthon 2 weeks ago, he was afraid to come back. Well he missed out on some Smokey-hot performances.
Even country-boy Scotty showed he had a little bit of soul, as he delicately walked the line between engaging entertainer and lounge lizard with a rendition of “For Once in My Life” that was reminiscent of ’70s-variety-show-era Glen Campbell.
Jacob and Pia — who have to be odds-on favorites — chose lesser- known hits which can be risky… unless of course you are able to knock ’em out of the park! Jacob however, has the edge in showmanship, effortlessly adding a little sass to his performance. Pia has The Voice, but she needs to connect more if she wants to win it all.
I have to say the voting results surprised me — but not just for the obvious reason. I feared that the bottom three was going to be an all-(non-Asian) girl chorus again. Instead it indeed included two of the weakest performances.
Stefano (or as I call him, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Broderick’s secret love-child) chose a cheesy song that David Cook memorably reinvented, but Stefano looked like he was holding back the mother of all sneezes as he tried to keep his eyes open. I thought the tweens would melt at his final doe-eyed glower and tear up the phone lines, but not so.
Thia is cute as all heck, but she just hasn’t had strong showings, so her inclusion also made sense. But of course, the stunner — for even being in the bottom three, let alone the lowest tally — was Casey with his comeback rendition of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” No screeching this week, just soulful strains.
Chalk it up to performing first and the voters thinking he’s a shoo-in? Who knows, but the judges were spot-on — though they scared the “shhh-tuff” out of Casey by stopping him from singing for a save — when they immediately decided to bring him back next week.
As he staggered about, visibly stunned, Casey had me and my husband convinced that we were about to see AI’s first instance of on-stage regurgitation. Yeah, sure, nothing new for the likes of The Jersey Shore — but thankfully, it was simply sincere shock from a young man who felt he had been pulled back from oblivion.
– Colette Moran is the author and proprietor of the fine blog, Clearly Nebulous.
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