American Idol: The top two are named. Who went home?
Thursday night was an extra special American Idol, not just because the final two contestants were revealed but also because, if you watched very closely in the early moments of the show, you can see your favorite American Idol blogger in the audience! Who says that you only get fifteen minutes of fame? When Idol pre-tapes clips the night you're in the audience and airs them later in the season, there's no limit to the minutes of fame you can rack up!
It's a good thing Idol held onto that special footage until tonight, if they hadn't, the beginning of the show would have been all about the technical difficulties with the audio when the three finalists performed, "Who Says." I'm sure that the audio tech who was about to lose his job, felt that cutting out the audio on another lame group performance was totally worth it. Unfortunately the audio guy with standards was obviously quickly replaced by someone who had no qualms about making us endure listening to the girls going to the high school choir during their Fiesta Mission.
But everything felt so much better when we got to take a walk down memory lane with Season 10's runner-up Lauren Alaina's audition. Lauren may have gone on to release an album that topped the country charts and she may have been awarded "Best New Artist" at the American Country Awards (ACA), but Lauren's audition is still her shining moment. It was, quite possibly, the best audition in all 13 seasons of Idol. Lauren is now living in Nashville, preparing to graduate high school later this month and working on her sophomore album. She performed the first single she's ever co-written, "Barefoot and Buckwild," but it didn't quite fulfill the expectations that she set during her audition.
Speaking of not fulfilling expectations, if fans were expecting that a highly-successful career in the music industry would convince Mariah Carey that she had something beyond cheap clothing and hyper-feminine posing to offer the world, they were certainly dismayed to watch the premier of Mariah's music video for her and Miguel's song, "Beautiful." The video was essentially a montage of a 43-year-old woman sexualizing herself for a 27-year-old man. Sure, she looks good for her age but imagine how good she could look if she had any substance and integrity.
After touching base with Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert run and a performance by Alicia Keys of "Tear Always Win," Ryan Seacrest finally got down to the business at hand, naming the first girl who would be competing for the title of American Idol next week.
Thankfully, Ryan relieved quite a bit of stress when he announced that Candice Glover was safe. After a huge sigh of relief, we waited with baited breath to learn who would join Candice in the final two. Unfortunately, it seemed that America voted with their hearts rather than their ears and opted to send Kree Harrison on to the finale after her emotionally touching hometown visit. Despite all of my Angie Miller criticisms throughout the season, learning that her road had come to an end and watching her struggle through tears in her final performance was gut-wrenching, the injustice of the results tinged sadness with anger.
The only positive thing to come with these results (aside from seeing myself on TV again) is the fact that Candice should have an even greater chance of becoming our next American Idol. America can't get it wrong two weeks in a row, can they?
