American Idol Gets It's Groove Back

Part of: Idol Wired

Happy American Idol season 11, everyone!

AMERICAN IDOL: Hollie Cavanagh performs in front of the Judges on AMERICAN IDOL airing Wednesday, March 7 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. CR: Michael Becker / FOX.Idol had its own “Battle of the Sexes” competition last night; the guys sang the songs of Stevie Wonder, and the ladies sang the songs of the one and only Whitney Houston. I was expecting the evening to be quite the train wreck, but I was oh-so pleasantly surprised by the high quality performances.

In this Idol "Battle of the Sexes" competition, the ladies won, hands down. Not to say that the guys didn’t have great performances last night. Joshua Ledet kicked off the night with a rousing rendition of "I Wish," Colton Dixon showed versatility with his vulnerable performance of “Lately,” and my hometown boy, DeAndre Brackensick, rocked it out on “Master Blaster (Jammin’),” which was a huge improvement from both of his performances from last week. And I loved Phillip Phillips’ arrangement of “Superstition."

But the girls truly had something special going on last night.

For someone (read: me) who had been feeling lackluster about Skylar Laine, well she made a believer out of me last night after hitting that incredible note during her performance of “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.” It was simply breathtaking.

Jessica Sanchez continued her streak of outstanding performances with spot-on take of the iconic song, “I Will Always Love You.” I had mixed feelings about this song in particular being performed last night. This was mostly due to the fact that I have a firm stance of “Whitney Houston or bust” when it comes to this song, but I thought Jessica pulled it off seamlessly.

While most are handing the title of “Performance of the Night” to Jessica, I’m handing the title to Hollie Cavanagh, the tiny girl with the big voice, who sang “All The Man That I Need.” In the words of Jennifer Lopez, she gave me “goosies.” This girl is the real deal.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Spread the word
Bookmark and Share
Profile image for kirsten-coachman

Article Author: Kirsten Coachman

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Coachman covers the latest in music, TV, and DVDs for Blogcritics Magazine. She has interviewed various people from across the entertainment spectrum, including Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance and singer/songwriter Rob Thomas. …

Visit Kirsten Coachman's author pageKirsten Coachman's Blog

Read comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own

Article comments

Add your comment, speak your mind

Personal attacks are NOT allowed.
Please read our comment policy.
Please preview your comment.

blogcritics lists for May 18, 2013

fresh articles Most recent articles site-wide

fresh comments Most recent comments site-wide

most comments Most comments in 24hrs

top writers Most prolific Blogcritics for April

top commenters Most prolific Commenters in 24 hrs