We've all seen the ratings. Everybody loves American Idol.
Including Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino was this week's celebrity guest and mentor, which was...strange. I know QT is a huge fan of pop culture in general, especially Idol, but it's a very weird juxtaposition. His audience isn't necessarily the Idol audience, and vice versa. Think about it, he's there promoting a movie with a title they can't even say on the show.
This week's theme was songs from movies, which probably means we're up for a lot of big ballads.
Allison opens the show with "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing," which if I recall correctly, was from one of the big meteor movies. Or the volcano movies. Or the tidal wave movies, maybe? The nineties were pretty rough in terms of disaster movies. Simon tells her she's the girls' only hope, which has to make Lil' feel just absolutely swell as she waits to do her song.
Another big ballad is next, with Anoop doing "Everything I Do, I Do It For You." Not bad for Anoop, he's got a good voice for balladry, if that indeed is a word.
Adam picks "Born To Be Wild" as his song, and surprisingly isn't as good as he usually is. Simon calls him on it, with basically the first negative comment Adam's heard in months. In honor of my obscure Sonia Dada reference a few weeks ago, I'll follow it up by saying Adam's big-rock-song voice reminds me of Jimmy Barnes. That's a good thing.
We get our second big Bryan Adams moment, as Matt does "Have You Ever Really, Ever Ever Really Really Ever Loved A Woman Really Ever?" Seriously, Bryan Adams had 8-10 songs that weren't big movie ballads. Why don't we ever hear those?
Danny does "Endless Love," thus covering Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, and Luther Vandross all at the same time. He sings it so powerfully, you can't help but wonder if he was thinking about his wife. Honestly, if he had shed a tear during that performance, there wouldn't have been a dry eye in the country.
We get our first curve ball, as Kris sings "Falling Slowly" from "Once," a song most people aren't familiar with. The judges were split, but I thought it really worked. As far as movie ballads go, the cheese factor was very low, and Kris had a little bit of Damien Rice in his performance.
If Kris' song was a curve ball, Lil finally gives us the big meaty pitch right down the middle we've been expecting since the start of the game. She does "The Rose," a song done so often it's really hard to stand out doing it. Simon calls her on it, then she fights back on stage. She might actually win some votes by calling him out.
Final score, seven songs from movies, six ballads. It was like a junior high dance out there.
Top Three: Allison, Kris, Danny
Bottom Three: Lil, Anoop, Matt
Going Home: Lil
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