'American Idol' Recap - Top 5 Perform

I was sad to see Joey go last week, especially with Quentin and Rayvon still hanging around. But then again, I didn’t think she’d make it past auditions and every week she delivered a unique and uniquely great performance. When looking at the season through a rear-view mirror, I think Joey will be more than remembered. Plus, having Joey break the top 12 is a great sign of where Idol is going. In the Simon/Paula/Randy era, Joey would have been laughed out the audition room. They would have edited her audition with weird music and made her look like a kook. But nowadays, the judges (and producers) are much more open-minded and the focus is, thankfully, on the music. We need more weird on Idol and Joey is a great way to start.

As I always do, I’ll rate each song on a scale of 0-5 along with a short blurb and then pick my favorite and least favorite performances of the night.

Jax (“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet) – * * * *
Where’s the old Jax, the one who reinvented pop songs on the piano with a rocky, new age spin? In the past couple of weeks, she’s abandoned the melancholy and artistic Jax and went in a more conventional rocker chick mode. It’s not bad –
Jax has the talent and feistiness to pull it off – but there’s a part of leather jacket Jax that feels like an imitation, like a high school girl playing punk. When she makes the music her own, Jax feels completely original. When she’s in mosh pit mode, it just doesn’t.

Nick Fradiani (“Harder To Breathe” by Maroon 5) – * * * * ½
“Harder” is maybe my favorite Maroon 5 song and Nick felt right at home in this fast paced, grungy rock tune. He felt more comfortable on stage and, more importantly, it showed a different side to Nick, a side that we’ll definitely see on his forthcoming album. Really nice work.

Clark Beckham (“Yesterday” by The Beatles) – * * * * ½
First off, I love “Yesterday.” Who doesn’t? But a stadium anthem? Hot damn, that’s one depressed stadium. Clark sounded great, as usual, on the song. He is clearly the best male vocalist left this season and one of the best technical singers we’ve seen in a handful of seasons. But as pretty and technically sound as this song was, “Yesterday” just felt sleepy. Like a double shot of Nyquil before bed sleepy. Like a half-hour in a hot tub with a glass of wine sleepy. Like a Terrence Malick double feature sleepy.

Tyanna Jones (“Party In The USA” by Miley Cyrus) – * * * ½
Coming into this season, Tyanna was one of my favorites but I’m starting to think she’s just too young. Her song choices have been mixed (although I dug the “Party” arrangement) and she’s been hitting some pitchy patches along the way. I could see how the Idols could relate to Miley’s stadium anthem, but she just played it safe with a fairly karaoke-level performance.

Quentin Alexander (“Light My Fire” by The Doors) – * * * * ½
“Light My Fire” is perfect for Quentin – it’s radio friendly enough to satisfy the public but musically intense enough to satisfy Quentin. I loved the rock/R&B arrangement and loved how Quentin felt right at home on the stage. Plus, Quentin had no pitchy moments, a problem that’s been plaguing him for a while now. Quentin needed a standout moment and this was most definitely it.

Rayvon Owen (“I’m Not The Only One” by Sam Smith) – * * * * ½
Sam Smith is such a hard artist to cover and Rayvon did a very admiral job jumping through Smith’s vocal hoops, especially in a song that’s mostly located directly in Rayvon’s vocal break. Sure there was a special kind of Rayvon blandness to it, but no one can argue that his vocals are borderline flawless.

-- Round 2 --

Nick Fradiani (“Maggie May” by Rod Stewart) – * * * * ½
Acoustic rock is a really good vane for Nick and I could again see this song on his record. It was a tad forgettable but then again there’s nothing I can fault him on either.

Tyanna Jones (“Heaven” by Bryan Adams) – * * * *
Tonight’s song choices made me realize what’s missing with Tyanna: her recent choices don’t tell us enough about her from “Circle of Life” to Bryan Adams to Miley Cyrus. What would her concert set list consist of? What is her story? Her pre-taped packages show a complex teen with a large family and even larger dreams. The best artists tell their own story through the music they play. Tyanna’s music right now just doesn’t say anything.

Clark Beckham (“Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber) – * * * * ½
“Boyfriend” has so little in the way of actual melody I orinally thought it was a strange choice, but Clark turned the Bieber track into a beachy, Jason Mraz-like acoustic ditty worthy of my 99 cent iTunes download. The arrangement was cool without being too indulgent and Clark’s raspy vocal delivery was on point.

Jax (“White Flag” by Dido) – * * * * ½
It’s like Jax read my not-yet-published review of the Jet song. Here she is back at the piano with a pure and beautiful ballad. Again, is this a stadium anthem? Not by a long shot, unless there a stadium of heartbroken, depressed folks somewhere I don’t know about. Anywho, I asked for striped down, musical Jax and she delivered. I wasn’t boring, it wasn’t overblown and it didn’t feel derivative. It was just Jax.

Quentin Alexander (“Shake It Off” by Florence + the Mechine) – * * * ½
I like the idea of this more than I liked the execution. Florence is moody and strange (in a good way), so is Quentin. But Quentin’s pitchy and underwhelming vocals just never brought this home the way it should be.

Rayvon Owen (“Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac) – * * * *
While I found Rayvon’s Fleetwood Mac cover a little muddled, a little mumbled and a little bland given his last few sensational performances, clearly the audience loved it.

Show VIP: Jax, for her fantastic Dido cover.

Who Went Home: Quentin. Quentin’s an artist, but he’s a bit unfocused and needs more vocal prowess to live up to his style.

Who Should Go Home Next Week: Tyanna.