Duets: Songs from the 2000s, America Votes

Songs from the 2000s Night on Duets (6/28/12) was brought to you live and after the performances, the vote was turned over to viewers so that we won’t know who ended up last until next week, because this ain’t American Idol and there ain’t no separate results show.

Now we have already seen three eliminations: Alexis Foster, Meleana Brown and Jordan Meredith. There are three strong singers: two of them, J Rome and John Glosson, belong to Jennifer Nettles; and Bridget Carrington belongs to John Legend. But with viewer votes, there’s no guarantee they will remain the top three. So let’s see what they had to offer this week:

John Glosson and Jennifer Nettles – “When You Say You Love Me”
Surprise! It’s another ballad from John and Jennifer, who also announced prior to the performance that she is expecting her first child. Of course, they sound wonderful together with the Josh Groban tune, but they look well, bizarre is the only word that comes to mind. Newly blonde Kelly Clarkson, who is looking a bit bizarre herself, thought it was beautiful. Robin Thicke said it was legally a trio now that Jennifer is enceinte, and called him “Georgia Bocelli.” John Legend thought the song was too syrupy. WTF? It’s a syrupy love song, bro.

Olivia Chisholm and Robin Thicke – Need You Now
Olivia wants badly to prove she’s not just this “soft-voiced girl” but she seriously doesn’t have a chance with Robin Thicke as her partner and this Lady Antebellum hit. She could have done a better job on this solo, we thought. Really. Or an entirely better choice would have been “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira. So what if Olivia has 4-syllables? As we’ve said, we look at whether the established artist is carrying the amateur, so we don’t know what to think when the established artist is worse than the amateur. Kelly Clarkson thought Olivia was “pretty pitchy,” but loved her tone. In that order LOL. It would be better to say it in the other order. Jennifer loved the song choice and said Olivia looked like a million bucks. John Legend confined his opinion to the country music genre and said it was fun.

Jason Farol and Kelly Clarkson – Mercy
Kelly’s advice to Jason is sing strong on this Duffy number and he certainly gave it his best shot, but clearly, Kelly was carrying this one. Jennifer loved it and predicted he’ll get the teenage vote. Robin wouldn’t know — he couldn’t take his eyes off Kelly. John Legend found Jason’s dance moves unnatural. What is up with that? It was an unnecessary criticism. No wonder the audience booed.

Bridget Carrington and John Legend – Halo
Bridget and John Legend are totally pleased with their Beyonce choice but again, we’re thinking her mentor screwed up with this song choice. Robin liked the song choice, though. Jennifer noticed pitch problems in the lower register but loved Bridget’s high notes. Kelly was impressed by Bridget’s head voice.

J Rome and Jennifer Nettles – Without You
J Rome opens up their duet of this Usher and David Guetta number. J Rome opens it singing alone. Jennifer’s in overkill drive and it’s killing us. You-oh-oh. The faces! John Legend says it was totally professional yet weaker than his other performances. Robin just liked watching Jennifer “drop it like it’s hot” whatever that means. Kelly threw her big platform shoe at J Rome to demonstrate her “I hate you” shtick in action. Quddus said to keep it as a souvenir. Yeah, J Rome, get it autographed and someday he can tell his grandkids, “This is the shoe Kelly Clarkson threw at me when I was kicking amateur ass on Duets.” We no longer see J Rome as an amateur.

 
So because we won’t know how the voting will go and there is no leaderboard, this week, we can create our own leaderboard and here is how we’d line them up and what advice we would offer.

1. Bridget Carrington – Watch out for John Glosson. If he gets out of ballad mode, you’re screwed.
2. John Glosson – See No. 1 – get out of ballad mode.
3. Jason Farol – Keep it up and you could be there longer than John Glosson, especially if he stays in ballad mode.
4. Olivia Chisholm – talk Robin into a song where the male part is really minimal.
5. J Rome – give the real amateurs a chance, bro.

Yes, we would send J Rome home. And time and again, we have watched America send home the singers they considered professional on American Idol, like Adam Lambert and Melinda Doolittle.

So what do you think? Do you think J Rome will really win Duets and get that recording contract with Hollywood Records?