DeAndre Brackensick goes homeWell, this was the second time this "American Idol" season that Jennifer Lopez didn't get her way. Earlier in Season 11, she fought valiantly for her beloved "Jere Bear," Jeremy Rosado, making him her Wild Card pick--before America voted him off the very next week. After that, her favoritism quickly turned to the equally sweet DeAndre Brackensick. J.Lo never made any secret of her affection for young DeAndre, even shouting to the camera last week, "America, pick up your phones and vote for DeAndre! I need to hear his voice some more!" America listened to J.Lo's plea that time (DeAndre wasn't even in the bottom three last week), but this week, DeAndre actually received the fewest votes. And when Jennifer tried to bestow upon DeAndre the one Judges' Save of the season, she was totally outvoted by Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson.
"We've been watching you for two years, and you're an amazing performer; I stand by that," Jennifer told DeAndre sympathetically, after he'd reprised his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster" in his attempt to get saved. "But I only get one vote. I'm sorry. We're not saving you tonight."
"Are you saying you wanted to save him, and the other two judges didn't?" asked Ryan Seacrest. "Yes, that's what I'm saying," Jennifer answered, straight up. And I'm sure in-house mentor/Interscope Records honcho Jimmy Iovine was thrilled with Steven and Randy's majority decision, since Jimmy was particularly hard on DeAndre this Thursday, bellowing that he was "NOT great!" and "the worst of the boys!"
Ironically, DeAndre had been very much in his element on this week's '80s Night doing DeBarge--the dude seriously seemed like he was born in the wrong decade, and I still think he just might be a long-lost member of the DeBarge family. The '80s suited DeAndre well, and "I Like It" was actually one of his best performances of the season. But DeAndre had been in jeopardy before, and he sang first this week in the kiss-of-death spot, so it still was not a massive surprise that he was in the bottom three. It was just a minor shock that he got the fewest votes of all.
Hollie Cavanagh joins DeAndre in the bottom threeOtherwise, this was actually one of the less shocking bottom three results of this "Idol" season. It had been widely predicted that Hollie Cavanagh and Elise Testone would be up for elimination, after Hollie failed to take her passion and make it happen during her not-so-flashy "Flashdance" performance, and Elise suffered from what she called an "old-fashioned choke" during her snoozy Foreigner cover. Still, I'd expected it'd be Hollie who'd ultimately get cut this week, so when she was the first contestant that Ryan sent back to the safety of the sofa, I feared for my girl Elise. I'm still afraid for Elise, but obviously that Judges' Save is still up for grabs, so when Elise ends up with the fewest votes--which unfortunately seems inevitable at this point--hopefully it will be used on the talented likes of her.
Joshua Ledet suffers onstageAnother odd moment Thursday came when Ryan announced that a glazed-over, turning-purple Joshua Ledet wasn't feeling well and was on the verge of passing out...and then poor Joshua was forced to remain onstage for another 10 minutes before learning his fate. Why didn't they just tell him he was safe right away, so he could go backstage and rest? Were producers keeping him in suspense so he'd possibly create a TV-watercooler moment when he nearly upchucked onstage, a la Casey Abrams on last season's top 11 results night? Maybe not, since Joshua apparently chose to remain on the stage for the duration of the episode, when he was later given the option to leave early. But I still felt bad for the guy. I just hope Phillip Phillips's kidney doesn't act up on any upcoming results show, or he's going to be in real trouble.
Also, sadly, there was no group performance this evening, which meant no '80s medley, and no realization of my pipe dream of the top eight recreating Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (complete with Colton Dixon as Paul Young, Jessica Sanchez as Sade, Phillip Phillips as Bono, Joshua Ledet as George Michael, and maybe DeAndre as Boy George). Oh well, at least this week's Ford music video was soundtracked by Supergrass's "Alright," so I got my Britpop fix, if not my '80s British Invasion fix.
Parker out.
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