America Idol Top 12: The Theme is Home

Here are the songs and scores for the Top 12 American Idols on March 5th, when the theme was home. (We don’t want to call it Home Week — isn’t that when the Top 3 go back home?)

Jena Irene – Suddenly I See (KT Tunstall) +3
All of the judges responded positively to her performance. We didn’t take Harry Connick, Jr.’s comments that he wanted to see more energy and wanted to see her bust out as a criticism and hope Jena took it as constructive advice, too. She’s got such a great smile.

Alex Preston – I Don’t Wanna Be (Gavin DeGraw) -3
None of the judges were keen on this one, commenting that like the arrangement overpowered his vocals. Keith said the word “instability” kept coming to him during the performance. Wow was the word that came to mind when he said that, but Keith Urban did applaud Alex’ originality, if it’s any consolation when someone has just told you that they were thinking “instability” while you were singing.

Jessica Meuse – White Flag (Dido) -2
Uh, oh! Harry said nobody applauded when she hit a high note. A very bad sign in his eyes. Jennifer Lopez agreed that this wasn’t the superstar fare they were seeking but Keith loves the way Jessica sings and her musicality. “If you really really mean it, then no one is going to care about your pitch,” he advised. Really, Keith? After all these years of hearing pitchy, pitchy, pitchy? We think not.

Dexter Roberts – Lucky Man (Montgomery Gentry) +2
Keith and Harry liked this one a lot, but something was missing for J-Lo. She brought up how Scotty McCreery surprised the judges each time he performed and thinks Dexter needs to be doing some of that.

Emily Piriz – Let’s Get Loud (Jennifer Lopez) +2
Boldly capitalizing on her Cuban roots, Emily thrilled J-Lo by “representing for all the Latinos out there watching” plus she was flattered that her song influenced Emily. Keith loved it, too but Harry thought the song and production were just too big for her.

Caleb Johnson – Working Man (Rush) +2
Caleb got mixed reviews from Harry, who doesn’t want him to be so predictable, and Keith, who thinks he has to figure out how to “get it going on without a band.” J-Lo gave him total props, so we gave him a 1/2 point each for the first two.

MK Nobilette – Drops of Jupiter (Train) +1
Keith loved her song choice but didn’t think she was connecting well. J-Lo heard her trying but it just wasn’t in the break out league. Harry was the harshest, actually saying he got the feeling she didn’t want to be here. He advised MK to work really hard on the things that make her uncomfortable.

CJ Harris – Waiting On The World To Change (John Mayer) +2
Jennifer and Harry were on board with this one, with the latter noting that even though CJ sang sharp, he pulled off a good one. Keith cautioned against just doing a “covah.”

A shoutout went to James Durbin and Casey Abrams in the audience, with congrats to James on the release of his new album, “Celebrate.”

Sam Woolf – Just One (Pilot) +1
Keith had great things to say to Sam. The tone of his voice is like “buttah.” If Sam made an album tomorrow, Keith would buy it. That’s high praise, right? Harry was not impressed with the “emotional dynamics.” He’s starting to think Keith is a one trick pony. J-Lo wants to see the super wow. This wasn’t it.

These next two we heard completely differently than the judges:

Malaya Watson – Take Me To The King (Tamela Mann) +3
The judges all dug it and it gave J-Lo gooseys “from head to toe,” but it sounded strained to us when she was yelling out the end. But what do we know? Keith gave her big props for her range.

Ben Briley – Turning Home (David Nail) +1.5
J-Lo thought it was the wow – “It was something we have been waiting for all night,” but Harry thought it felt shouted and wasn’t great.” Keith thought Ben was putting too much emphasis on technicality. Having such a great voice is, he said, both a blessing and a curse. Well, no one asked us, but we think Ben gave the best performance out of the 3 country boys tonight. But at least Ben (and the judges) got some deviled eggs out of the deal.

Majesty Rose – Fix You (Coldplay) +1.5
Funny to see Majesty get criticized for doing the same thing Malaya did — start out soft and build up. Well, they didn’t like how this one went and felt she should have stayed in the soft zone. We love you, Majesty.

Ryan Seacrest ended the evening with a look at the early voting: CJ, Sam and Ben were in the Top 3 spots, followed by the 3 Ms, MK, Malaya and Majesty. If that holds up, the Bottom 3 will be among these 6: Alex, Caleb, Emily, Jena, Jessica and Dexter. We’ll find out tomorrow. If we had to make a prediction, we’d say Alex and Jessica will get to feel how uncomfortable the stools are tomorrow. We can’t see the third one being Caleb just yet. We don’t want it to be Jena. We don’t think it will be Dexter. So that That leaves Emily, but we wouldn’t put money on it.

Watch the performance videos on American Idol.