'American Idol' Recap: Three Men and a Lady

For a while, it seemed like American Idol contestant Rayvon Owen was, as Jennifer Lopez put, “a cat with nine lives.” But apparently, it was more like five lives. After squeaking through four consecutive Twitter Save sing-offs, beating out Idol darling Tyanna Jones last week, and giving his best performance yet with last Wednesday’s heartfelt “Believe,” the Season 14 underdog’s rollercoaster run finally came to an end this Wednesday, as he finished in (a very respectable) fourth place, narrowly missing the finale by just two episodes.

But things could have been much worse for Rayvon. He showed growth over the season. He excelled under pressure week after week. He went farther than many pundits, myself included, ever expected. And at least this week he got his triumphant hometown visit and got to sing all three of his rehearsed songs, since the results weren’t revealed until the very end of the episode. Rayvon’s Jason Derulo cover, overly reliant on his party-piece falsetto, was a little rough, but his lovely Stevie Wonder and Joe Cocker numbers allowed him to finish his Idol journey on a literal and figurative high note.

So now, we are down to the top three. On next Tuesday’s special Idol episode, one of these three contestants will be eliminated at the top of the night, then the remaining two will sing for votes one last time, and then, next Wednesday, we will have our 14th Idol. Will it be Clark Beckham, Jax, or Nick Fradiani? And will that person follow in the successful, platinum-plated footsteps of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Phillip Phillips, or will he/she be cast aside like Interscope tax write-offs Candice Glover and Caleb Johnson? That remains to be seen, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s recap the top three’s combined nine performances — one Scott Borchetta pick, one hometown-themed contestant pick, and one judges’ pick each — and try to figure this out.

BORCHETTA PICKS

Clark Beckham – In-house mentor and Big Machine label honcho Scott Borchetta and Clark supposedly patched things up after their heated exchange last week, but the conspiracy-theorist in me wonders if Scott still holds a grudge. Why else would Scott pick U2’s “Beautiful Day” for Clark, if not to sabotage him? This started out solid enough, with the recently made-over Clark giving me some Brandon Flowers realness, but the performance started to unravel midway through, as Clark hit a series of shrill, ouchy notes that sounded more the noises Bono probably made when he fell off his bicycle last year. This was a bit painful, dawg. J.Lo bizarrely said she thought this song suited Clark’s voice, but there was a good reason why Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban had more praise for Rickey Minor’s house band than for Clark himself. Clark didn’t have the rock-star swagger or, surprisingly, the pipes to pull this off. I know “Beautiful Day” was Season 9 champ Lee DeWyze’s coronation song, but I don’t see Clark winning with this.

Nick Fradiani – “Because the Night” was a much better song choice, possibly revealing Scott’s bias. Of course, Nick’s version was much more Bruce Springsteen than Patti Smith. It was pretty middle-of-the-road, as all Nick performances tend to be, but I’ll give the man credit: He exhibited a swagger and, dare I say it, a certain sexiness that Clark’s attempted rock ‘n’ roll performance lacked. Is Nick finally “embracing his hotness,” as J.Lo has urged him to do all season? Well, maybe not, because J.Lo didn’t think Nick quite connected to this song’s lyrics, but he’s certainly embracing his inner Daughtry. Even if Nick doesn’t win this thing — although it’s beginning to seem like he will — he’ll probably land a record deal anyway, change his band Beach Avenue’s name to the eponymous “Fradiani,” and sell a gazillion records to this nation’s WGWG-loving cougars.

Jax – Jax basically has two modes in this competition. She’s either decked out in her Hot Topic finest, doing her best Hayley Williams impersonation, or she’s stripping it all back and being tough-but-tender at her piano. As much as I enjoy the pure theater of Jax in rawker-chick mode, I prefer the latter incarnation of Jax, the one we saw back at her very first “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” audition. But maybe Scott disagrees with me, since he had her jamming to the Who’s youth-gone-wild anthem “My Generation” for her first number, draped in a tissue tee and a Union Jack flag. Jax committed to this performance 100 percent, giving the most fun and fearless performance of the night as she sprinted across the stage, crawled in the audience, and climbed atop the drum riser. It was a real jolt of energy, with a real concert-stadium feel, and I would love to see Jax do this on this summer’s American Idol Live! tour. But… this smacked a bit of novelty to me. I was glad Jax would have two more performances, and two more opportunities to show her softer, more serious side, because not everyone in America can connect to a wild performance like this one.

HOMETOWN PICKS

Nick Fradiani – Andy Grammer’s “Back Home” was a smart song choice for Nick. If you’re familiar with Nick’s above-mentioned band Beach Avenue, who competed on America’s Got Talent last year, this is the sort of adult-alternative folk-pop they do well, so Nick was very much in his element here. His confidence showed, as he worked the crowd like a real band frontman, comfortable onstage even without his guitar. “Each week you get better and better,” J.Lo told him. Maybe she was right about with her whole peaking-at-the-right-time theory last week. Nick is finally showing some signs of an actual personality, and now that he’s made the top three, he may pull a Kris Allen and ride his momentum all the way to the winner’s circle.

Clark Beckham – After his not-so-beautiful “Beautiful Day,” Clark needed a moment. He needed to take all the passion that was in his impromptu onstage speech last week and channel that into his actual performance. With “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” he didn’t quite do that (and he seemed to have some vocal issues, which he acknowledged early on with a rueful shake of his head). But as he tickled the ivories and got all bluesy and skronky, he looked relaxed, like he was having some actual fun, and he worked out whatever pitch problems he was having by the time he got to that tricky final note. Harry called this “nice” and J.Lo called it “really good.” Is nice and really good enough, though, at this crucial stage of the game? Probably not, but this was a strong second-song rebound nonetheless.

Jax – OK, this was the Jax that I longed to see earlier. Her vulnerable, stripped-bare cover of Evanescence’s piano lullaby “My Immortal” was exquisite, and I hope this is the kind of music she decides to make — or the kind of music Borchetta lets her make — if she wins this show. This version of Jax seems so much more authentic and relatable than the rock-star-wannabe Jax. This felt like a grand finale performance to me (emphasis on “grand”), and the judges seemed to agree. J.Lo couldn’t stop gushing about this performance, while Harry thought it was so amazing, he was at a rare loss for words.

JUDGES’ PICKS

Clark Beckham – Hmmm. I would’ve never expected staid Clark to do the Weeknd’s slinky, sultry 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack song “Earned It,” while all gussied up in a Christian Grey designer suit. Clark usually doesn’t go for such modern fare. But he really should, because this totally worked! He had sex appeal, swagger, and he seemed genuinely relevant. He seemed like a real, commercial pop star! And the vocal struggles he’d experienced during his second song were completely gone. That scream towards the end was everything. “I saw and heard and felt things from you I’d never seen, heard, or felt before,” raved Keith. The ladies in the studio especially loved this; Jennifer in particular was getting her groove on, covered in her goosies from bronzed head to toe. If Clark makes it to the top two, it’ll be because “Earned It” earned him the all-important female vote.

Jax – I thought what Jax did here was genius. I know the judges expected her to do a ferocious pop-punk performance of Paramore’s “Misery Business,” but that would have been so predictable and copycat. Instead, Jax took a chance and did a creative, flamenco-tinged acoustic version. Smart! Or was it? The judges seemed disappointed, since they were clearly expecting Jax to rock out more, and they criticized the arrangement; Keith called it “odd” and Harry said it was “not as strong as the previous two [performances].” But I appreciated Jax’s element of surprise. I just hope this won’t lead to a bad surprise… with Jax going home in third place. Then I’d really know misery.

Nick Fradiani – Oof. Nick was having such a great night. Why on earth would the judges give him Edwin McCain’s tired old “I’ll Be,” a song that was already a hackneyed Idol cliché by Season 3, for his final number? What a waste of a perfectly good pimp spot. I will say, though, that the song suited Nick, and he sang it capably and confidently. This may have been an anticlimactic way to end the episode, but Nick probably didn’t need the pimp spot, anyway, with all the good will he’d amassed all night. “I really think you’d nailed that song,” Harry told him proudly.

So now, it is prediction time. Who’s going to be in next week’s finale? I would like a Jax vs. Clark face-off, but I’ll accept Jax vs. Nick, which is how it’s probably going to pan out. Just as long as it’s not a WGWG-squared showdown of Nick vs. Clark, which would be the most vanilla finale ever, I’ll be just fine.

Tune in next Tuesday to find out who makes the top two… and next Wednesday to find out who wins! Until then, Parker out.

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