Pbmom's Blog

Since there are only a few hours left, I’d better get my thoughts up about Wednesday night’s show. The theme was “songs from the year you were born.”

This week I was not cranky. Everyone was having an off night. When the earth shifts on its axis, you can bet that many other things in life are out of harmonious sync with each other.

Naima chose “What’s Love Got to Do with It” from 1984. It started the night off rocky. I assumed she took the criticism last week that she was pitchy but because the song was done so well, they were giving her a pass on the song being out of tune. This did not have a lot of dancing in it, but it, too, was out of tune. I was worried for her until…

Paul McDonald. He was feeling under the weather (so I think voters will be less harsh on him). “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” from 1984 was horrible. Paul’s father sang better in the interview.

Today happens to be my birthday (March 17), so when I heard that Thia was born in 1995, the same year as I son, I suddenly felt old. She sang a boring rendition of “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas that had way too much vibrato. I secretly smiled when JLo brought up the same issue.

Having recently undergone a makeup that debuted at the Paley Center, James Durbin chose “I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi from 1989. It was a little off key, but at that point was the best song of the night. I like this new look for James. For what he lacked in his song he made up with his personality when he invited Steven Tyler to sing Aerosmith with him in the finale.

And then we had Haley who I predict is going home tonight. She chose a Whitney Houston song, “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” During the interview, she said, “I don’t know where I get my talent from.” I was shaking my head in agreement. I don’t know where the talent is either baby. The outfit, too, was horrible. She reminded me of that crazy girl from “The Stand.”

Stefano needs to stop looking up in the air and singing for himself. From 1989, he chose, “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” If I looked away and didn’t look at him singing, I enjoyed the vocals. Now he needs to make a connection to the audience. After I made the comment on Twitter, so did JLo. Can I have her job?

This week was not a good week for Pia Toscano. I believe, in fact, it was her worst Idol performance thus far and I’m a big Pia fan. She chose “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” that sounded like a disco in the background, but she remained trying to sing it like a ballad which made for a very awkward sound. She wasn’t getting up with the tempo. The pantsuit was horrible as well. She’ll be safe though.

When I saw the interview about Scotty doing Elvis impersonations and heard them, I shook my head and said, “This is going to be a disaster.” But he sang a country song instead. I can’t critique him. I don’t know country music.

Karen Rodriguez, also born in 1989, did “Love Will Lead You Back.” It needed to be better than Taylor Dayne’s version and it wasn’t, but it was much better than last week’s. Her outfit was funny. People on Twitter were comparing her to a cross between Uhura and Snooki.

Performing the first Nirvana song, Teen Spirit, from 1991, Casey was the only performer this evening who played with a musical instrument. It was for the most part wonderful, but even Casey was off. He needed to be a bit more serious when singing it though; I felt like he was doing something for some Halloween show where he was just goofing off. Wonderful talent though and he will be safe for next week.

Lauren Alaina has the flu and I can already tell you that will keep her safe this week. She decided to switch back to a little bit rock-and-roll and I liked the Melissa Etheridge song, “I’m The Only One.” Even with the flu, she sounded better than some of these contestants tonight.

Jacob Lusk (a.k.a. “Lusky”). He is another contestant that when I close my eyes and do not look, I like his singing a lot better. He did the most overused song in Idol history: Heart’s “Alone.” He, too, did well for the most part, but there were a few sharp notes in there but he did recover well.

My prediction is: Haley will go home.