So I hear our Top 12 will be cut prematurely this week with the departure of Gentle Giant Jermaine Jones, who (possibly?) has a criminal history he left out of his bio when he applied/participated in the show. Sad, but the show must go on.
As the contestants get younger and younger I get further away from my music of choice (1970s/80s.) It's hard to narrow down an entire year's worth of music when I was too busy raising small kids to even worry much about Billboard's Top 40. But this is a pretty wide open theme night with tons of possibility and fortunately for several of our girls the whole Whitney Houston thing is out of the way for the season (I hope.)
We'll start with our oldest contestant, Elise Testone, who was born in 1983. Like any 13-year-old I was plastered to my radio and I had several favorites I think she could do serious justice to with that smoky voice of hers. Hits like Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Or Laura Branigan's "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You"
are tailor-made for a contestant like Elise. Call me crazy but I kinda want to see her take on more of a vocal challenge - maybe someone like.... Steve Perry?
Whatever it is I think it needs to be light years away from any kind of uptempo dance tune. That's not who Elise is, and she desperately needs to remind us this week who exactly that is.
(Song she's not allowed to sing: "True" by Spandau Ballet. It will result in an Instant 0 I don't care how good she sings it.)
Erika Van Pelt, or EVP, was born in 1985. Fortunately she already burned through a Heart tune and I hope she steers clear of any of the other Heart hits from that era because it is clear that does not resonate with the audience. Instead she needs to rock. Fortunately for her Pat Benatar had a big hit that year with "We Belong:"
If she wants to go a little rougher around the edges vocally, she could lay down the law with Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me"
Anything by Heart or Whitney Houston will earn her an Instant 0.
Heejun Han was born in 1989, which is a year I strongly connect to Guns N' Roses. I have to admit the thought of his tackling a GNR hit kinda makes me chuckle to spite myself. There was also a lot of fun music that year, which I would really desperately like him to incorporate into his stage persona. He's the class clown, but he gets behind that mic and he's a serious crooner. Too serious, actually. It's kinda Dr. Chuckle and Mr. Bored Stiff.
It's kinda ... confusing.
It's a challenge to get him out of the box and perform but I kinda think maybe he should tackle Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative."
He could also have a little fun with Milli Vanilli (no DeAndre hair jokes please) or even Tone Loc.
If he absolutely HASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS to do a slow one, let him try to conquer the last note of this ballad by Sheriff:
(It was actually released in the early 80s but re-released and hit the charts in 1989, so... it qualifies.)
Phillip Phillips was born in 1990, which makes him as old as my son Timothy.
I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that year, so I don't remember much of it. He's a hard one to predict even if I remembered every single song released that year. He has shown the propensity of taking a song you wouldn't expect and doing something you wouldn't expect him to do with it.
The impish part of me wonders with Mr. Steven Tyler would say if he Phillified something like..."Janie's Got a Gun:"
Talk about your challenge. He could also tackle something like "Epic" by Faith No More. With all the balladeers this season it may do him some good to do something that rocks in order to set himself apart from the pack.
Colton Dixon is a child of 1991, and the biggest hit that year was "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," by Bryan Adams. I kinda heard that enough the 90s so he'd really have to knock it out of the park for me to get behind it again. Another oldie but a goodie, if not exceedingly slow, is "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak.
How he could totally win my favor? Do a little Queensryche.
Joshua Ledet has some good R&B tunes he could choose from in 1992, including a couple of old soul remakes:
Hollie Cavanagh has some serious vocal chops, that much is clear. She could close the show with a gospel-infused rendition of the MJ classic "Will You Be There." (I get chills just thinking about it.)
She could also branch out and appeal to one of the judges with her rendition of "Crazy."
Skylar Laine can use this opportunity to bring some of that fiesty fun that made her an early favorite for me, and fortunately for her 1994 had some big hits from country powerhouses like Martina McBride:
Reba McEntire:
and Patty Loveless:
I think DeAndre Brackensick should play to his base with something for thah ladies...
or maybe... if Prince is feeling especially generous...he could allow DeAndre to sing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."
(As you know we can't link or embed songs from his Royal Badness. But DeAndre was tailor made to sing his music, so let's hope our favorite eccentric musical genius lets go of the reigns *a little.*)
Shannon Magrane survived to fight another day and God only knows we'll get another ballad to show for it. Maybe something Disneyfied:
Or take on the King of Pop with one of his ballads:
But she could amp up the tempo just a tad and still give us something inspirational:
Jessica Sanchez is our youngest contestant, and unlike her toughest competitor Hollie, Jessica has shown a bit of versatility when it comes to music selection. She does ballads really well but she doesn't HAVE to do ballads, which makes it more fun to see what she is going to do.
I'd love to see her do something more upbeat with a little attitude.
And though I'd normally caution anyone away from Mariah, she could do something a little more youthful with:
This is my fantasy list for tomorrow's idol. Which means NONE of the songs I chose will likely be picked.
But it sure is fun trying to put a singer to a song, isn't it?
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