By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, March 31, 2015
For the first time, "American Idol" will honor itself with a Kelly Clarkson themed week for the top 9. Yes, she has that many hits: 23 have landed on some top 40 chart somewhere. And she is the mentor, too!
Spoilers are here if you want to know what they are singing. One person is actually singing "Beautiful Disaster," which was never a single but a fan favorite in concert. Great song, by the way, if you haven't heard it.
Nobody was dumb enough to sing her original winning song from season one "A Moment Like This." I'm surprised nobody went for "Because of You" because it's a song that you could really sink your teeth into. I also would love to hear someone do "People Like This," a favorite of mine that didn't do particularly well. And you'll never believe who picked "Since U Been Gone." Clark picked a good soulful song. Quentin went appropriately dark. Daniel picked one of her lesser hits in my mind.
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"Idol" has added a Twitter save, similar to what "The Voice" tried last season. This is only useful for the East and Central time zones but you have five minutes after the bottom two perform to vote for which to save. You need a Twitter account obviously to vote.
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My power 9 rankings, which is more based on how they are doing recently, as opposed to whether they can really win, though there is some correlation.
1. Clark Beckham. He is a WGWG who found his groove last week and I am optimistic he'll do well this week as well. (3)
2. Jax. She is almost a fully formed artist. She's getting there. I could see her in the finals at this point. (1)
3. Nick. His "Man in the Mirror" was almost his breakthrough moment. He's so close to opening up. (5)
4. Quentin. He's moving up thanks to some haunting, downbeat moments like his "In the Air Tonight." (7)
5. Tyanna. A bad performance followed by a so-so performance places her middle of the pack.(2)
6. Qaasim. He almost got eliminated, then pulled in a relatively restrained vocal performance that didn't repulse. For him, that's an achievement. (8)
7. Joey. After many solid weeks, she stumbled badly with that Cyndi Lauper song. Heck, even Boy George felt bad for her. Hopefully, she'll bounce back this week (if she isn't eliminated!) (3)
8. Daniel. I thought he wasn't terrible last week. That's faint praise, isn't it? (11)
9. Rayvon - He has become the epitome of dull. (10)
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Joey Cook got engaged over the weekend and celebrated her 24th birthday Monday. Quite a week.
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Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson is doing his first tour and his second stop will be Atlanta's Terminal West on May 3.
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Four of the eliminated "Idol" contestants are trying to crowd source a tour: Riley Bria, Savion Wright, Michael Simeon and Trevor Douglas.
It's cheekily titled the Better Luck Next Time Tour. You can donate here. As of Tuesday morning, after just over a day online, they had raised $1,885 out of a goal of $10,000.
Since they are all from the South, the tour (if they raise the funds) will be focused in July in the region, including a stop in Atlanta.
There are a list of gifts depending on your donation level, including a bracelet, songs, Skype calls and personal written notes. If you give them enough cash (a mere $600), one of them will stop by your house and do a personal concert and for $1,500, all four will pop by in areas near the tour.
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As for whether "Idol" is funding a tour for the top 10, I have not heard any word of that happening. I asked the publicist I know at Fox and she has not gotten back to me.
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Clay Aiken's four-part docuseries "Runner Up" debuts April 7 on Esquire. I will write more about it later in the week, having seen the first episode and interviewed one of the executive producers. It's really well done. I'm both an "Idol" junkie and a political junkie so this like a Reese's peanut butter cup to me: two ingredients blended beautifully together.
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