Worst Camera Work | Demi Lovato sounded much better on “Don’t Really Care”/”Neon Lights” than she did in her widely panned X Factor performance last fall, and the Season 13 ladies (minus an ailing M.K. Most Awkward Assignment | Who thought it was a good idea to film an entire Ford ad in which eliminated finalists Sam Woolf and Majesty Rose had to drive around Los Angeles picking up items to fulfill Caleb and Jena’s riders? #IdolUncomfortable I mean, if you’re gonna sing about being “the man” on a reality singing competition, you’d better sing it in tune. more than “A-list” guest Aloe Blacc himself. Harris and Ben Briley hit some wonky notes on “The Man” - a song pretty far out of their southern-rock wheelhouses - but nobody needed a lesson in intonation from Prof. Worst Musical Performance | It was one thing to have C.J. And as a huge fan of Jessica’s work this season, it sure was nice to watch her kill it - without getting her confidence killed by Keith and J.Lo as soon as she’d finished singing. Most Unexpected Song Choice | I’m not sure I’d have put Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” on my top 1,000 picks for Jessica Meuse’s duet with country star Jennifer Nettles, but the ladies combined with the ditty like graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallow - which is to say they sounded damn sweet. The Most Memorable Moments (for Better or Worse) From the Season 13 Finaleīest Reminder of Our Top 2’s ‘Top 2 Worthiness’ | Poor Caleb and Jena had to open the show offering scripted sound bites in that ridiculous “Audition Chamber,” but once they were released into their natural setting - the Nokia Theater - they both delivered pretty flawless vocals on “We Will Rock You” (Caleb), “Just a Girl” (Jena) and “It’s Only Love” (a reprise of their Top 8 redux duet). And for once, executive producer Per Blankens didn’t muck it all up with aggressive cut-aways to J.Lo.īiggest Emotional Conundrum | Yeah, it was great to see Season 11 champ Phillip Phillips back with an encore performance of his nifty new hit “Raging Fire,” but what was the point of pairing him with fifth-place finisher Sam Woolf if they weren’t going to bother to switch on the latter kid’s mic? In my mind, Idol finales should always pay respect to the contestants on whose backs the season was built relegating Sam to a short snippet of “Home” felt should’ve made the production turn the shade of Randy’s flamingo-pink jacket. Have I stalled enough in getting to results? (Not as much as Ryan Seacrest!) So let’s tackle… Update: My Reality Check cohost Melinda Doolittle informs me that there is actually such a thing as a microphone with built-in Auto-Tune! on the judges’ performance of “Go Your Own Way”? Or more importantly, what kind of voodoo was used to make this happen? (Quick: Somebody make sure Thia Megia hasn’t been tied to a post on the beach as a sacrifice to the vocal gods!) Did Jenny From the Block outsing Harry Connick Jr. Wasn’t there any song more appropriate for grown and sexy John Legend to perform with bubbly 16-year-old Malaya Watson than “All of Me” - a ditty in which he praises his lady’s curves and imperfections? (Wait, did I just turn into Grampy McJudgerson, shouting “What about the children?”)Ħ. RELATED | American Idol EP Per Blankens on Rush Week Cruelty, Randy’s Mentoring, J.Lo Close-Upsĥ. How did the words “Randy Jackson” and “world-class mentor” get used in the same sentence? (Fun fact: An entire Season 2 episode of Sleepy Hollow will be devoted to decoding this blasphemy.) Did a technical glitch prevent the Idol judges from opening a specially designed Moon Door in the Nokia Theater to flush the lovely and talented Jessica Meuse to an egg-shattering ending or were they afraid that Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles might be taken out with her?Ĥ. RELATED | American Idol Top 2 Performance Recap: Two Close for Comfort?ģ. Whose brilliant idea was it to drop so many giant yellow beach balls into the Nokia theater that Idol‘s camera crew couldn’t get a single unobscured shot of Paramore’s Hayley Williams or her duet partner Jena serving up the night’s hardest-hitting, most effervescent vocals? (My Twitter follower theorizes it must’ve been Randy Jackson, since “the worst ideas are always his.”)