American Idol does Queen!

It’s Queen night on American Idol…the next in a long line of questionable theme choices for this season’s show. It seems that any singer or band who agrees to be on the show can ensure that their songs (or era) are the theme for the week. And did anyone else notice that Mandisa was in the videos with Queen? I guess that answers the question of how far in advance they start preparing for the next week.

Bucky kicked off the Queen lovefest, and he sounded better than he had in weeks, but that bad hair is back. It was a great song choice for him…it might just mean that he lasts another week.

Singing “We Will Rock You” is such a strange choice. There’s no way do this song justice, and everyone knows it. Just say no. And did Ace just ask Queen to change their own song? Oh dear. You know it’s bad when Randy admits that he was just trying to be nice…you’re not rocking anyone Ace.

I had been saying earlier that I thought that the Queen theme would be hardest on Kellie. But she actually did a decent job. Now, she definitely had the advantage of singing right after Ace. But she “worked it out.”

No surprise that the first person that Queen was really complimentary of was Chris. He’s the only one tonight who can really do these songs justice. And he did more than just do the song justice – his performance was incredible. I disagree with Simon’s comments about song choice…I was actually really pleased with Chris’s song choice. Since he has some knowledge of Queen songs, he was able to pick a song he really likes instead of just choosing something from the “best of” album.

Katharine also had a strong performance. Her voice fit that song really nicely, and even though it had its moments, she was one of the best of the night. Elliott’s performance was also excellent – I was actually shocked at how good it was.

Oh Taylor. When it takes you two tries to kick over the mic stand, you lose the cool factor completely. Hee hee! It really was a good song choice for him…much better than “We are the Champions” would have been. And he managed to dance around like he was having a seizure while he sang. Way to go.

Paris’s performance was interesting. If you just listened to it, you probably though (and rightfully so) that she was amazing. But if you had your eyes open, you probably have the same questions that I do. She looked, well, funky. The outfit and hair extensions made her look way older than she is, and it wasn’t a good look. And she really shouldn’t dance. Maybe she and Taylor can take some classes…

So, until they did the recap, I honestly had forgotten how bad Ace’s performance was. And hearing Kellie’s again in the context of the others showed just how much she was helped by singing early in the evening and after Ace. I think the two of them will be the bottom two tomorrow. Not sure who else will be in the bottom three…maybe Paris or Katharine or Bucky? Off to vote…