‘American Idol’ top 6 review: Are Lazaro Arbos and Candice Glover on the same show?

We’re not quite sure that there has ever been a season of “American Idol” with so much parity. On one side of the coin, we have someone in Candice Glover who pretty much tore the roof off of the show’s studio with her bare hands. Then, we have someone in Lazaro Arbos that just gets a massive finger wag of our finger for doing one song that he’d already performed in Hollywood Week, and completely butchering the other.

As always, our reviews are not complete without your thoughts! We want to hear some of your thoughts at the bottom of this article, including who you think will actually be leaving the competition following this mash-up of the songbook of Burt Bacharach and Hal David and songs that the contestants wish they had written.

Round One – Bacharach / David

Angie Miller, “Anyone Who Had a Heart” – It’s never a good idea to have a subpar performance while also being the first singer on the night, but unfortunately for Angie, this happened to her tonight. Her vocal was great, but it was almost too great. The theatrical elements came out a little bit again, and it was all about sounding fantastic versus getting a connection to the song. For whatever reason, Angie struggles when she is not performing her own music to find that emotional link.

Amber Holcomb, “I Say a Little Prayer” – We’ve gotten this sense as of late that Amber is a producer / judge darling with all of the Whitney Houston comparisons and the top 3 placement, and we definitely feel that way now more than ever. Don’t get us wrong: we like that Amber sped things up, but this performance still felt dated and a little bit dull.

Lazaro Arbos, “Close To You” – And now, for the weekly adventure in trying not to sound too mean to Lazaro during our critique of his performance. The problem is that this has to be in the top three of the worst performances we’ve ever seen on the show. His notes were off, he didn’t change key, and his pitch was all over the place. It’s ultimately sad that out of all the talented guys in America, he is the last one standing this year.

Kree Harrison,  “What the World Needs Now” – Kree’s run on the show reminds us a little bit of Scotty McCreery’s. There are times that you want her to do a little bit more or stretch herself a little bit vocally, but what she does she does so well and professionally. This was another outstanding vocal that gives no one a reason to vote her off, and at the end of the day, isn’t this the most important thing to do in this competition?

Janelle Arthur, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” – This was not the sort of performance Janelle needed after being in the bottom three. We actually liked the direction that she was going the past few weeks, but this was just in the wrong direction in a pretty big way. Based on round one, she was deserving of the bottom two … but not leaving the competition.

Candice Glover, “Don’t Make Me Over” – Wait, are Candice and Lazaro in the same competition? Also, why didn’t most of the judges have Candice in their top three? She’s just so consistently good that she’s easy to forgot about, but this was stellar. Like, looking down at earth because you’re up in space stellar. It was also creative, and didn’t just feel like Candice was rocking to someone else’s song.

Round Two – Songs You Wish You Had Written

Angie Miller, “Love Came Down” – This is probably Angie at her best, singing slow worship ballads with the help of her piano. She certainly seemed much more at ease, and it was beyond the shadow of a doubt the best thing she’s done in weeks on the show. Does she need a little bit more range to win the show? Sure, but for now we’ll take this with a smile on our face.

Amber Holcomb, “Love On Top” – We really appreciate Amber doing something current with “Love On Top,” and we also like that she had a ton of fun with it. While her vocals were just a little bit strained, it was still a solid performance. The only thing we would have changed was to make sure Amber looked like she was having a little bit more fun at times.

Lazaro Arbos, “Angels” – Lazaro has to be pretty happy that this was his second song. He clearly knows it, as he has performed it a number a times. It also was largely in tune. But here’s the rub: are we going to overpraise Lazaro for doing a good performance? Even the judges were just kind of like “whatever” and “send in the girls!”. Randy Jackson pretty much pretended that he didn’t exist.

Kree Harrison, “Help Me Make It Through the Night” – This performance is why we’re rooting for a Kree / Candice final two more than anything. On one side, you have the ultimate vocalist in Candice; meanwhile, you have the ultimate storyteller in Kree. That’s not to say that the two don’t struggle in some of the other departments, but they’re fantastic in their strengths. This was just beyond beautiful, and especially moving.

Janelle Arthur, “The Dance” – If you love country music, you probably know this Garth Brooks track rather well. Janelle sang it beautifully, but there was almost too much of an emphasis placed on making this as “country” as possible; and with that, it lost a little bit of the emotional impact. It was still miles ahead of her first performance, though.

Candice Glover, “Love Song” – For once, we agree with Randy: that was one of the best performances in the history of “American Idol.” Bar none. We were up on our feet, celebrating, moving around the room, and occasionally screaming. This makes up for almost everything annoying we’ve dealt with this season.

Who was your favorite among the top six this week, and do you think it is time for Lazaro to finally hit the road? Be sure to vote in our poll below, and check out some of our pre-show predictions over at the link here.

Photo: Fox