‘American Idol XIII’ review: Jena Irene, Alex Preston, Caleb Johnson in a sea of nonsense
The moment that we saw “American Idol XIII” tonight begin with some ridiculous performance to a song named “Selfie,” which may be the day the selfie officially died (we wish it was years ago), we knew that we were in for a long night … and the first night this season where we were too visibly annoyed to actually sit here and break down every performance.
Let’s go to Exhibit A as to why this performance show was awful: The obvious anointing of Caleb Johnson as the greatest singer in the history of man. Somewhere, the judges have forgotten that there is more to an artist than being able to sing. Everyone knows that Caleb can do that, and his Led Zeppelin reprisal was pretty good. However, a good singer does not an artist make. We haven’t felt an emotional connection to almost anything that he has performed, and with all of the frequent sympathy-reminders that he was sick, we almost wanted to vomit ourselves. The only thing that was missing was Lauren Alaina’s doctor stepping onstage.
Now, Exhibit B: The bizarre sabotaging of Jena Irene by making her having to perform “Titanium,” a song that really doesn’t suit her lower register. Having to do “Heart Attack” from Demi Lovato wasn’t much better, since it took away some of her richness.
Exhibit C? The same problems that we’ve had all season long. Why do we care what Jennifer Lopez is doing during the performances? At all?
If we had to pick a winner from the night, we’d say that Alex Preston at least took the most risks, and his “Stay” was the best thing of the night unless you really just liked hearing Jena do “Creep” again. These two should be the final two, but we feel the odds are very unlikely that will happen. We’ll most likely have a Jena exit, which is going to cause us to need a shoulder to cry on. She’s the most improved of this season, and it’s not even close. Episode Grade: C-, though we almost want to fail it just for that “Selfie” nonsense. Thank goodness we watched the “Arrow” finale and the first hour of this on DVR; makes pushing that fast-forward button very easy.
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Photo: Fox
Ritchard Findlay
May 15, 2014 @ 12:46 pm
I disagree with Colton Smith. Caleb is a fine, though unidimensional singer. He does one thing, very well. As Matt says above, there has been very little in the way of emotional impact with his performances. His best moments have been because the band has been able to totally cut loose – they’re Tony the Tiger great – and he gets the best stage production by far. Last night’s Zep performance is a perfect example, a really great piece of show, with a pretty good singer (though I loved the mic stand smashing). Caleb needs a lot more work before he is a fully rounded performer. He needs to work on expanding both his repertoire and range, and also his style. As I said, unidimensional; he performs all his numbers in almost exactly the same way.
I think that both Alex and Jena are remarkable performers. Alex is bright and thoughtful and interesting and a real musician, as well as singer. If you want to talk emotional connection, I don’t think any of the Idols this season have engaged the audience as consistently as Alex has. Jena is, at 17 years old, stunning. Such pipes, such presence. I cannot imagine being that put together at her tender age. Emotional connection? Last week’s Elvis cover was unbelievable.
Though the Idol winner that actually goes on to enjoy a massive career is the exception, both Alex and Jena people deserve a real shot. I just can’t imagine how Caleb’s style fits into contemporary popular music. Nothing against the kid, but they’re just not making Iron Maiden music anymore.
I’m not sure what’s gonna happen tonight, but for the last few weeks I have been thinking it would come down to our current top 3, with Alex going this week, and Jena taking it next week. Let’s see at 9 o’clock.
Colton Smith
May 15, 2014 @ 8:24 am
i couldn’t disagree more, caleb and jena has been the best contastants in the show, they gave the most memorabale ,stand out performances all season and if there was justice they should be the final 2
alex is great artist and i like him but he didnt gave much wow performances and he should finish in the 3rd honored place
but i feel that its probably gonna be an alex=jena final because caleb has lost fans in the last 2 weeks and because alex is still the wgwg – white guy with guitar that won a lot of times
so im pretty sure caleb will be eliminated