Things Get Wack on ‘American Idol’ Top 7 Night

Wednesday was a rough night on American Idol, especially for fans of this season’s two outlier iconoclasts, Joey Cook and Quentin Alexander. Joey sadly and undeservedly went home, and now I am worried that, after a heated exchange with judge Harry Connick Jr., her BFF Quentin will get the boot next week.

Before I get into what went down, I just want to say I’m totally #TeamQuentin on this one. OK?

So here’s what happened. Quentin was the fifth contestant called to safety, which meant that Joey and this season’s most tenacious contender, Rayvon Owen, were the bottom two. After Quentin sang, he looked sullen and perturbed, and when grilled by nosy host Ryan Seacrest, he said with a scowl: “This sucks. We have two of the best vocalists [in the bottom two]. My best friend [Joey] is sitting there. This whole thing is wack. But I’m going to shut up right now.”

It was an awkward moment, yes, but Quentin was simply emotional over the possibility of one of his pals leaving the show. (He and the newly engaged Joey have gotten so close, he’ll be officiating her wedding this year.) Quentin’s outburst may have been a tad immature (someone has to go home every week, after all, and he knew that coming into this competition), but it was obvious that his heart was in the right place — and that he was not dissing the show itself.

However, Harry became livid over Quentin’s speech, blurting out: “I don’t understand that! Quentin, if it’s that wack, then you can always go home, because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience. And for you to say that to this hand that’s feeding you, I think that’s highly disrespectful.”

Thankfully, the show didn’t cut to commercial just yet, so Quentin had a chance to defend/explain himself. He walked right back out, got right up in Harry’s face, and assertively stated: “When I said that this was wack… For my personal feelings, it sucks to see two people that I’ve grown to love go home. That’s what I mean by it being wack. So I’m not disrespecting this competition… I’m glad I got to clarify it for you.” Mic drop.

Actually, that really should have been the end of it. But after Quentin’s second performance of the evening, Jennifer Lopez brought up this incident all over again, and she definitely seemed to be #TeamHarry, since her entire “critique” was focused on the earlier argument, rather than on Quentin’s actually excellent rendition of “The Sound of Silence.” Jennifer wasn’t silent, that’s for sure.

After making a snarky comment about Quentin’s “sensitive mood,” J.Lo said: “You displayed something earlier that kind of threw everybody. It was against what I know of you… You always have to know how to control [your emotions].” Quentin then used the moment to apologize (please note, Harry never apologized for the misunderstanding), but when Ryan joked that he’d thought earlier that Quentin was going to punch Harry, that was a really bad look for a contestant who has always seemed a little spooky and threatening to some conservative viewers anyway. “I was raised better than that,” Quentin told Ryan, still keeping it classy.

So now, I wonder if all this will hurt Quentin’s chances next week, and not just because of Ryan’s silly “punching” remark. While I think it was awesome that Quentin stood up for himself after Harry’s browbeating, and while I know that Quentin was only upset about Joey’s imminent elimination, historically on American Idol, voters have not been kind to contestants who sass back to the judges in any way. It’s always better for the contestants to just hold their tongues.

Really, this could go either way: Viewers could rally around Quentin, or they could punish him for being supposedly insubordinate. I seriously hope it’s not the latter, but I’m worried for him.

Side note: This wasn’t the only time Harry was rude this evening. During one of his critiques of Clark Beckham, he called Clark the “only musician” left on the show. The annoyed expressions on the faces of ukulele-strumming Joey, piano-playing Jax, and especially guitar-playing former rock band member Nick Fradiani were priceless. Hatchet Harry never apologized for that remark, either. And that was pretty wack.

All right, let me get off my soapbox now and go vote for Quentin. But before I do that, let’s discuss Wednesday’s elimination and the rest of the night’s performances. Singing for the Twitter Save this week were, like I said, Joey and Rayvon — Rayvon doing so for the third week in a row. The theme was “American Classics,” which unfortunately meant the contestants were singing a lot of overdone, or just plain ho-hum, song choices. Fans supposedly chose the contestants’ first songs, so I have no idea what they were thinking by giving Rayvon the Doobie Brothers’ cheesy “Long Train Runnin’.” (Really, the only Idol contestant who should ever cover the Doobies is Taylor Hicks.) But Rayvon did what he could with it, and his performance actually had a certain fire that’s been lacking from many of his previous efforts. Rayvon’s second performance — really the one foremost in viewers’ minds when it came time to Twitter-vote — of “Always on My Mind” featured an undeniably superb vocal, but I still felt like his wall was up. I wasn’t moved. Alex Preston did a much more emotional version of this Elvis/Willie weeper last season.

Joey went traditional and classy, not sassy, for her first performance of “My Funny Valentine” — eschewing her usual quirk, just like Demi Moore’s Madonnabe character Laura Victor did when she sang the song in No Small Affair. (It’s like the best '80s movie ever. Netflix it.) I recall this was the song that Harry, a guest mentor at the time, totally blasted Season 12 contestant Amber Holcomb for, because she didn’t understand or properly interpret the classic song’s lyrics. But Joey, unlike Amber, pulled this one off, and even got Harry to say: “You’re very, very smart. You thought about those lyrics and did your research… I think you did a damn good job.” I thought she did a damn good job, too, but I missed Joey’s weirdness, and Jennifer expressed disappointment over Joey’s version. Joey’s bluegrassy mandolin rendition of “Somebody to Love” was more rambunctious, the Joey we all know and love, brimming and bristling with energy and personality. It “gave us all the colors of what Joey Cook is,” as J.Lo put it.

Then Twitter voting lines then opened, I hashtagged #SaveJoey in earnest… and Joey narrowly lost, with 48 percent of the vote to Rayvon’s 52. Ryan Seacrest never asked Quentin what he thought of this result, which was probably for the best. But I was very, very sad. I was looking forward to seeing Joey and her squeezebox on this summer’s American Idol Live! tour, but now the tour will only the feature the top five — so that means no Joey. If Quentin goes home next week, as I fear, then he will also miss out on the tour. And then I’ll probably miss it too, and just skip it this year.

Sigh. Here’s how the rest of the contestants fared this Wednesday:

Tyanna Jones – Smiling, adorable Tyanna was giving me young Whitney Houston realness on her first song, Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.” To loosely quote Whitney, I believe the children are our future, and this child really has a future in music, even if the judges were harsh on her. Then Tyanna was like a baby Tina Turner doing “Proud Mary.” No, she didn’t quite have Tina’s edge, but this was a high-energy performance, and the song was a great showcase for her spectacular vocals. Harry even called this “as close to perfect as you can get.”

Clark Beckham – Well, it seems like Clark heeded J.Lo’s advice from last week and underwent a total David Cook makeover, complete with a spiffy new haircut and skinny Knack tie. (“Baby, you look good,” Jennifer purred, probably speaking for many of the show’s female viewers.) But I wasn’t into his fussy, scatty rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” which I thought smacked of novelty. He did a 180 for his second song, a straightahead piano-bar cover of “Moon River,” and again, I wasn’t all that impressed. Clark has been really breaking out over the past few weeks, so this week felt like a regression to me. The ever-flirtatious J.Lo called Clark “smooth and creamy,” and Keith Urban compared this performance to an epidural, and those were supposed to be compliments, but… gross. Who wants to be compared to peanut butter and childbirth drugs? Those aren’t two great tastes and taste great together.

Jax – Jax, who will probably benefit from Joey’s elimination (I imagine many Joey fans will now switch their allegiance to either Quentin or to this fellow quirky girl), was all Jax’d up this evening. She was really in her element. Her “Piece of My Heart” performance, complete with Haley Reinhart wind machine, was cool and bluesy and snarly in the best possible way without seeming contrived, and her cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” had a punk-pop Paramore vibe. And all the static electricity in her hair and the pyro seemed like an exciting taste of what’s to come on next week’s “Arena Anthems” night. OK, if Jax makes it through to the top five, maybe I’ll see the tour after all. This Wednesday, to borrow an old and oft-used Randy Jackson phrase, felt like a Jax concert.

Nick Fradiani – Nick just does what he does. He does it well enough. Tom Petty’s “American Girl” was a great choice for his first song (so thanks, America, for picking that one), even if he did pretty much nothing to change it up. What J.Lo called his “radio-ready voice” sounded good on this track, and the song suited him. (“This is precisely what you need to do,” advised Harry.) I actually preferred Nick’s slowed-down take on Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young,” featuring a unique arrangement that Nick came up with himself with his vocal coach. The vocal was bland, but the arrangement was interesting. So I guess Nick really is a musician after all!

Quentin Alexander – Quentin thought his first performance of Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” was better than his second, Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” but he was wrong. (This was the one time I agreed with Harry instead of Quentin tonight.) Quentin sounded like a rock star on his first performance, and he certainly looked like one in his silver pants and chainmail vest, but he was too much of a Lenny copycat here. “The Sound of Silence” was his true tour de force. That performance was brilliant, actually my favorite of the night. Quentin had me from the moment he intoned, with brooding intensity in his eyes, “Hello, darkness, my old friend.” Quentin was bringing the drama again, but this time in a good way, with his singing. I’m so glad he got a second song. Hello Quentin, my old friend; it was good to this guy see at the top of his game. Hopefully this was his redemption, and we’ll see him next week.

But now, it is prediction time, and I am predicting that the polarizing Quentin will be in the bottom two — along with Rayvon, of course. Can Rayvon win the Twitter sing-off for a fourth consecutive week? Tune in then and see. Until next Wednesday, Parker out.

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