Ray Mickshaw / FOXIt was a marvelous night for a moonwalk...but these finalists showed up to sing.
One by one, American Idol's first-ever Top 13 dipped into Michael Jackson's expansive songbook Tuesday, some confident that their vocals would shine, some hoping that passion, personality and sheer will would help their performances rise above the already karaoke-favorite material—some of the hardest out there to imitate, let alone make new.
Still, the choices were still endless and the contestants chose accordingly, spanning the comebacking King of Pop's career from the Jackson 5 era to 1995's HIStory. (Wisely again, they stopped there. And, as expected, no one dared touch "Billie Jean.")
By the way, do you remember a time when hopefuls by the name of Alexis Grace and Michael Sarver were competing? We barely did, considering it's been weeks (a lifetime in our TV-addled brains) since they were voted into the finals. But before they showed up to rekindle their flames, the night started off with the more recently talked about Lil Rounds...
Lil Rounds: The 23-year-old frontrunner—the word brilliant has been getting a lot of play lately—channeled Josephine Baker from the shoulders up and Etta James with her sound on a bluesy version of "The Way You Make Me Feel," one of the hittiest of the Jackson hits we heard tonight. Randy Jackson declared for the 80th time that season eight had really kicked off on the right note, and Paula Abdul called Lil "the force to be reckoned with."
Scott MacIntyre: This season's walking inspiration took to the piano for "Keep the Faith"—a wise choice considering that song isn't a Jackson fave and he really thrives on the ivories. His strong vocal was more than enough to keep him sailing on through, although Simon Cowell warned him, "It's fine being artistic, just not on this show."
Danny Gokey: The soulful church music director with the groovy glasses lightened the mood a bit with "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and reaped the rewards—although his performance proved there's not an impromptu dance step in the book that will please Simon. "It doesn't matter, I really like you tonight," the Brit added.
Michael Sarver: "I just wish we knew what you did for a living," Simon deadpanned as he critiqued "You Are Not Alone," as done by the country's best-known oil-rig roughneck. The ballad, one of the harder Jackson songs to get out of your head, served Sarver well, complementing the burly family man's warm, solid (if unextraordinary) voice.
Jasmine Murray: The 16-year-old wild-card finalist assigned herself quite the task with "I'll Be There," a tune that has been covered by none other than Mariah Carey, one of the artists most in danger of making singers sound like pageant contestants. Murray did a solid job, hitting enough big notes to avoid embarrassment, but, although Jackson pulled it off when he was barely 13, Murray's performance ventured into high school concert-night territory.
Kris Allen: Having already tested the water with "Man in the Mirror" a couple weeks ago, Allen theoretically could have been more jaded than the rest as far as trying to impress the judges with Jackson goes. But he managed to do something different by injecting guitar into "Do You Remember the Time." His voice hit a few bum notes, but everything's better with guitar (even though it was hard to hear against the backbeat). "It was kinda cool for me, kind of Jason Mrazy," Randy the wordsmith said.
Allison Iraheta: Like Jasmine, she's 16, but Allison boomed and rasped as if life had given her a reason to sing "Give in to Me." Having solidly established herself in the semifinals, the crimson-headed teen proved she has the chops to play with the big girls. "You're a rock star up there, keep doing what you're doing," Paula said, though Simon advised her to "lighten up a bit." The kids can't win with him, can they?
Anoop Desai: Someone was due to bust tonight, and unfortunately it was lucky finalist No. 13. The fan favorite tried his hand at "Beat It" and it came out as you might expect—like the most-played track in a karaoke bar. Even Paula thought so. "To me, that song is untouchable," she lamented. "And it actually looked a bit stupid," Simon added, somewhat unnecessarily.
Jorge Nuñez: Simon couldn't wait for it to end, but we thought Jorge made the most out of the Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye." Of course, we tend to like the old-fashioned stuff...Like with Anoop before him, Kara DioGuardi couldn't feel the emotional connection.
Megan Corkrey: So, Jackson sang "Rockin' Robin" when he was a kid, but really it's Bobby Day's song. Oh well, Megan tackled it anyway. We felt it totally suited her rough 'n' tumble voice, but Simon called it a "stupid song choice." Meanwhile, Paula thought the song choice great but didn't hear the sound she's come to love.
Adam Lambert: Alert the Los Angeles Times! At the other end of the spectrum lay Adam's version of "Black or White," which was rockin', current, jazzy and jaunty all at the same time. A really good vocal and, while it was a risky song choice, he did more to make it his own than all the other contestants put together. Paula predicted an appearance in the finals for him, while Simon deemed the performance "In a totally different league" than everything else that occurred onstage tonight.
Matt Giraud: Of course the dueling piano player accompanied himself on "Human Nature," and he sounded quite soulful—and looked quite sexy. But at the risk of sounding like a pack of swooning schoolgirls, we admit it was hard to focus because we were still wrapping our minds around Adam's performance.
Alexis Grace: The first through to the Top 13 and the final performer tonight, the velvety voiced chanteuse ripped into "Dirty Diana." She hit fierce note after fierce note, but Simon—running out of time at this point in the broadcast—warned her about oversinging. "You're back!" Kara exclaimed, though it was more of a "long time no see" than a "that's the ticket!"
So, first Idol-style elimination tomorrow—or is it? Ryan Seacrest warned that things are going to be done a bit differently Wednesday, in a way that, according to Simon, kind of turns the show's entire concept on its head.
We're thinking the bottom three are going to have to sing for their lives, à la So You Think You Can Dance. What do you think?