American Idol Top 9 Performance Show

The theme of the 3/26/14 performance show was I’m with the Band, and the Top 9 Idols go to pick their favorite song while backe dup by Ricky Minor and his band. Ryan Seacrest asked Harry Connick, Jr. the question that has been on our minds as well: who would they use that Judges’ Save on? We’re willing to make some predictions on that but first, here’s what went down:

Alex Preston – Don’t Speak (No Doubt)
Keith Urban wanted a little bit of an edge but praised his guitar playing as stellar. J-Lo said Gwen Stefani’s version kicks butt. His didn’t. HCJ said Alex had his feet firmly planted in the competition, but he can afford to move around some and not just stand in the center of the stage. (He can afford to put some socks on those feet, too.)

Shoe Jack City
After admiring Alex’ ankles, HCJ tricked Ryan Seacrest into displaying his ankle and then jumped onstage and ran off with his shoe, holding it ransom for $20.

Majesty Rose – Shake It Out (Florence and the Machine)
J-Lo thought it was a 10 performance-wise, but vocally it was a little all over the place. HCJ has been waiting for her to connect and she’s so close, but first he dealt out the diversity complaints. Then he said he dug it and was really proud of her. Keith thought it was a great song choice and showed incredible range. One pointer: she has to learn to be grounded even if the audience goes wild.

Dexter Roberts – Boondocks (Little Big Town)
HCJ thinks these rhythmically driven songs need a big voice and he didn’t hear it. Dexter needs to bring his own stamp to these big anthems if he’s going to keep doing them. Keith Urban gave HCJ a big gummi bear at this point and Dexter had to stand there while they clowned around with it. Back to the feedback — Keith understood Harry’s take but he thought if Dexter put the song out before Little Big Town, it would have been a hit for Dexter. Well, Keith did rock out to the whole thing big time and J-Lo thought he did a great job too. Dexter told Ryan he might go outside his wheelhouse if he gets the chance. We immediately thought of Ben Briley. Careful, Dex! That could be fatal.

Malaya Watson – The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles)
Keith was bowled over by her beautiful vibrato and said she really showed her spirit. J-Lo said she stole the number. Her voice stands out above everyone else. “You’re 16 and you blow me away.” HCJ gave her the award for most improving and called the performance strong. He cautioned her not to worry about stardom but to work on her craft and it will happen.

Sam Woolf – Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s)
J-Lo thought the song suited him perfectly and wanted to know if there was someone in particular he was singing to. “so we really get the feeling that there is a Delilah out there.” HCJ wanted to know whose idea the stripped down performance was. Keith laughed, saying it depends, if you like it, it was my idea. HCJ liked it but agreed with J-Lo that Sam should pull out more feeling. Keith concurred: he should sing it to somebody and be a little looser but admired the beautiful tone of Sam’s voice.

Jessica Meuse – Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac)
HCJ weirdly it might have been one of his fav performances. Might? He did say he was proud of her and she did a great job. Keith thought she looked great, but she should work on being as comfortable without her instrument as she is with it. When Stevie Nicks does the song, Keith goes into Stevie. Jessica needs to be more like that. LOL. Right after HCJ saying how it’s annoying when someone is starting out to be constantly compared to someone else. J-Lo thought Jessica’s voice was beautiful and she could listen to it sing all day, but Jessica has to make people want to watch her, too.

CJ Harris – “If It Hadn’t Been For Love” (The SteelDrivers)
Keith thought the song choice was clever, letting CJ get soulful. He advised CJ not to confuse expressing emotion with your voice as opposed to it coming from within. J-Lo thought that CJ needed more consistency. She couldn’t get into it but blamed it more on not knowing the song better. HCJ talked about all the aspects of a performance – it’s like juggling, you have to keep several balls in the air, audience connection, lyrics, intonation, etc. He advised CJ to work on his pitch (again).

Caleb Johnson – Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin)
Keith and J-Lo were just going wild while Caleb nailed this one. The audience loved it the best. J-Lo said he did his thing and it was very sexy. She said a frontman has to be sexy and you’ve got that. “Holy crap,” Caleb said. HCJ just didn’t know how he could have sang it any better, and it was going to be a hard act to follow. Keith said it was like the band was saying I’m with the frontman instead of the frontman being with the band. “It was killer, like an airbag in slow motion.” All the judges gave big props to Ricky Minor and his band and Caleb couldn’t believe J-Lo called him sexy. He said he’d have to send her flowers and take her out on a date.

Jena Irene – Bring Me to Life (Evanescence)
Looking totes cute, as usual, Jena engaged the crowd and belted it out big time. It appeared that J-Lo was shaking her head negatively at one point during the performance but that must have been in disbelief. She said she was really blown away and her only wish was that Jena would be a little more messy with her hair – let it all hang out. Keith said Jena delivers every time. HCJ retracted his prior worries about the singer who had to follow Caleb. Jena pulled it off and was strong.

Bottom 3 Predictions:
We think Dexter and Majesty are going back to the Bottom 3 this week. We’d flip a coin on CJ and Sam. We actually liked CJ’s performance better than Sam’s but we have to give credit where credit is due. Sam may be a lightweight when compared to the others but he is picking songs he does well and he looks good doing it. That translates to votes.

Judges Save Predictions:
We’re pretty darn sure the judges would whip out the save faster than you can say presto for Caleb, Alex, Jena and Malaya at this point. These 4 are looking like Top 5 definites and we think the winner will emerge from this group. Another trip to the Bottom 3 for either Majesty and Dexter would be a return trip and we can’t see the judges interfering with the inevitable.

So that would leave Jessica, CJ or Sam as a possible Top 5-er. Out of those 3, we see Jessica with a better chance at the save then CJ, based on the fact that she gets less iffy feedback. Sam is like a Wild Card onto himself. We’d be freakin’ shocked if the judges used the save on him, but we can’t see him getting the lowest votes any time soon. Sam could make the Top 6, maybe even 5. Especially if Dexter listens to that advice about getting out of his wheelhouse!