Idol’s ratings had an impressive bounce-back from last Sunday’s all-time low when it was up against the American Country Music Awards. 8.4 million viewers watched Sunday’s first performances by the Final Fourteen, up from the 7.4 million the week before. Moreover, Monday’s elimination show gained slightly over the prior Monday at 7.6 million AND almost pulled even with The Voice whose ratings dropped to its lowest of the year at 8.3 million. This is an interesting and surprising development that bears watching. Three weeks ago, the head-to-head gap was over 3 million viewers. Two weeks ago, that gap was over 2 million.
As you know, one of my pet peeves is when Idol fails to credit the original artist with their song. Examples this season include All Along the Watchtower credited to Hendrix rather than Dylan and And I Am Telling You credited to Jennifer Hudson rather than Jennifer Holliday. Never mind that I seemingly ignore that rule on Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You which I credit to Whitney Houston. The rule does get murky when an Idolist does the iconic version of a song, e.g. Whitney’s. It gets further murkier in situations like when David Cook did Chris Cornell’s version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean; or when Adam Lambert did Gary Jule’s version of Tears for Fears’ Mad World. Both the Cornell and Jules’s versions were very different from the originals.
Basically, I reserve the right to get peeved when I want to. 🙂
I bring this up because I just learned that I accepted Idol’s crediting Maxwell with This Woman’s Work, which was sung successfully by Dennis Lorenzo resulting in the judges keeping him in the competition. It’s actually a song written by Kate Bush in 1989 and was featured in the rom-com movie She’s Having a Baby. Maxwell’s version is the better known as he recorded it twice, once for MTV Unplugged in 2000 and again in 2001 for his album Now, the latter version appearing in the movie Love and Basketball. Still, my apologies to the fabulous Ms. Bush.
The final musing on my mind is this week’s upcoming eliminations which will reduce the field from ten to seven. I do not know what the process will be but I hope it includes the judges again. As to these cuts, you have to figure those Idolists the judges had to save – Ada, Michelle, Jurnee and Dennis – are at a disadvantage. They will have to pick great songs and perform them well, so I’ll really be looking to see who among them is in it to win it.
Until the next time, I hope you get to listen to some good music. I know I will.
Ray's Musings 