American Idol 2012 was one of the show’s most exciting seasons ever. There was so much pure vocal talent left on stage by the time they hit the air on April 19th that the celebrity judges and all America was nervous for the singers who were still left at this point in the competition. The elimination of the 7th contestant took the competitive field down to the final six. Here’s a quick recap of who the best competitors are, who was struggling to remain afloat, and spoilers about which singer was eliminated.
The clock is ticking and time is running out. American Idol 2012 moved one step closer to deciding who the next Idol winner of the reality television competition would be on April 19th. While the competitors all seem close, none have forgotten while they are there. In it to win it, everyone is being mutually supportive while trying to knock one another out of the spotlight.
When Ryan Seacrest noted that any one of the singers on this season would have been great on American Bandstand, the celebrity judges all nodded and the camera had to pan away while the TV host had to take a deep swallow. His hero and mentor, Dick Clark, passed away after having a massive heart attack on the 18th of April. No real mention was made the night before on the show, although Seacrest did issue a press release statement expressing his condolences.
The American Idol producers paid homage to the music businessman and entertainment icon with a brief video clip segment that shared a few highlights of his long career. The tribute may have been short, but the death was unexpected. Keep your eyes open for more meaningful tribute documentaries to be made in the future that Ryan Seacrest narrates [we bet because we’d watch if he chooses to participate in such a project].
As for the vote results and predictions about who should continue to progress to the finals, here’s a quick recap that includes spoilers from the shows that aired on April 18th and April 19th:
- Hollie Cavanagh landed in the bottom three again despite knocking it out of the park singing Son Of A Preacher Man and Adele’s Rolling In The Deep the night before. The young blonde power vocalist is very young and her voice is bigger than any songs she could choose to sing that would be more age appropriate.
- Elise Testone made a bad song choice with Let’s Get It On and Jimmy predicted she would be in the bottom three again.Then she really messed up when she said the judges were too hard on her because she was older than the other contestants. [Steven Tyler actually sneered and he’s been her biggest supporter.] America voted and put her in the bottom three as well, but she was saved by her fans who voted for the Charleston, South Carolina rock and roll teacher with vigor.
- Skylar Laine has had lots of support from Jimmy and the judges. Just a teenager but one with a command of her voice and a love of doing live performances, Steven Tyler said she was like a wild horse that can’t be tamed. She was safe again after the vote and already has such a good stage presence developed that whether she wins or not someone will give her a recording contract in Nasheville without a doubt.
- Phillip Phillips was a-maze-ing singing on April 18th, again. He did an Usher song called “U Got It Bad” that simply wowed the viewing audience and was so sexy Jennifer Lopez finally seemed to notice how cool he really is (or how significant that little eye roll and hip wiggle can be when he’s so into the groove that his toes curl). He’s truly a standout as a musician and a singer who would be able to bring a unique new flavor to the music business and American Idol franchise marketing if he wins it.
- Jessica Sanchez has an amazing voice and Jennifer Lopez is glad they used the save on her, but for some reason she simply does not connect emotionally with viewers. Jimmy said when he was watching her last night that she was singing songs that are too old for her and we 100% agree with him. She’s just a teenager and belting out Try A Little Tenderness simply is not a song that her fan base would connect with and because she’s picking such bad songs, she’s blowing it. She did not end up in the bottom three, but man, everyone was sweating it.
- Joshua Ledet has one of the most amazing voices of the competition. All we can say is we hope he stays in it because we love listening to him.
- Colton Dixon lost some of his thrust with the Earth Wind and Fire song he chose to perform on April 18th. A cocky Colton got sent to the bottom three. He did a rendition of Lady Gaga‘s song Bad Romance that apparently no one really liked (even though he personally thought he nailed it). The piano ballad song he did second was not one anyone knew, it had no appeal to a young audience or older voters, and his snarky remarks about not caring what constructive criticism the judges gave him did not win him any friends. Sadly, rather than tweeting support for the singer’s rendition of her song, Lady Gaga tweeted her love to Britney Spears.
When the bottom two were Hollie and Colton, viewers and the judges were shocked to hear that he — not she — had been voted off by America. Dixon apologized to the judges, said he would pay attention to their criticisms when he’s making an album, and kept his head up defiantly throughout the elimination process.
But really, the reason American might have voted him off was because Colton Dixon sang the Lady Gaga tune without ever taking a moment to mention her on stage afterwards. She really was the person he should have most been trying to impress with his rendition was the songstress herself more than the judges.
Not thanking Lady Gaga on camera made him look a bit too much like a male version of a Christina Aguilera. [She’s the heavy-set blonde judge from The Voice who always picks on Adam Levine.] You know she can sing but she’s so full of herself that she’s hard to take seriously. Had he thanked Gaga, odds are she would have tweeted support for him to win the competition.
To that end, Colton’s arrogance may have killed him. He certainly won’t be missed in the competition as much as Dick Clark will be from the music business. He had real class but Dixon will need to mature and learn to be more appreciative of others if he wants to have success in the future getting gigs and record contracts.
At this stage of the game and with Colton knocked out, it looks like the final three might end up being Phillip Phillips, Joshua Ledet, and Skylar Laine but like everyone else we’ll have to keep watching while the competition sorts itself out.