Since its groundbreaking premiere in 2002, Fox’s ‘American Idol’ has gradually shifted into an awful representation of the music industry, reality television and pop culture in general. Fans have endured Ryan Seacrest’s horribly cheesy jokes,Simon Cowell’s elitism, Paula Abdul’s drug-rattled breakdowns, Ellen DeGeneres (no comment necessary),and Kara Diog-howeveryousayit’s desperate attempts at proving she is indeed famous.

Fortunately, the show has dropped its nuisances and picked up Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and pop mogul Jennifer Lopez to join veteran Randy Jackson. And get this — ‘American Idol’ is good TV again.

 

Heading back to its focus on vocal talent, the current season seems to feature genuinely talented singers and musicians. This season’s top 13 didn’t even include a token wildcard contestant who clearly doesn’t belong and was chosen primarily for dramatic effect. Plus, these selected individuals are interestingly diverse in genre and talent, so there’s never a dull moment. Rumors of previous seasons being rigged are definitely put to rest with this crew. Executive Producer Simon Fuller must’ve smartened up. 

 

This week, the top six performed Carole King songs, but before you question who this mystery woman is, note that she’s one of the most successful female singer-songwriters in the last half-century. King’s career recap video reminded viewers of her success in writing songs for more than 1,000 well-known artists, as well as her own 25 top-selling solo albums. Also present was guest mentor and Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Babyface. Glad to see the show is selecting prestigious musicians to guest judge, instead of Quentin Tarantino and Adam Lambert.

The show kicked off with Jacob Lusk, the ‘divo’ who sounds like Jennifer Hudson. Lusk has consistently been critiqued well for his vocals, but he decided to show off his stage presence by dancing to King’s ‘Oh No, Not My Baby,’ an over-the-top performance that showed off his good range.

 

Highlights of the show included performances by Hayley Reinhart, Casey Abrams and James Durbin. Reinhart took a risk and performed King’s hit ‘Beautiful,’ an under-the-radar song for younger audiences. Easily the most underrated performer of the night, Reinhart shined. The judges thought his performance was great, but still didn’t give it much praise as they did Durbin’s rendition of the popular ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,’ which has been remade by many artists, including Smokey Robinson and Amy Winehouse.

Durbin slowed it down from his usual dark and heavy metal-esque style, but still gave it an edge with his guitar and spectacular vocals. Abrams’ version of the outlandish ‘Heidi Ho’ proves he can honestly make anything sound contemporary. The man’s an absolute genius with any instrument you throw in front of him, whether it’s the piano or stand-up bass.

 

Just out of the spotlight were Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery. Though Alaina’s choice of the catchy ‘Gilmore Girls’ theme song ‘Where You Lead (I Will Follow)’ received positive reviews from the judges, it was easy to tell she was uncomfortable attempting to pull off the melody and range. McCreery tried to transition his country style into R&B with ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ and received good feedback again from the panel, but failed to wow the audience as the other five.

 

Though he didn’t exactly deserve it, Abrams was voted off the next day. However, from the look on his face during elimination, it seemed as if he knew it was coming.

 

What matters is that this top six really do deserve to be the top six. The show has stopped focusing on the politics and media-oriented aspect of the industry and has turned its attention back to what’s really important: the music. And at this point, it’s anybody’s game for the remaining three guys and two girls. Next week’s theme, ‘Songs from Then and Now,’ will hopefully present an opportunity for the women to perform better than their outweighed male competition.

raparks@syr.edu

Published on May 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm