This week on American Idol, the top eight chose songs based on the theme “The Music of Motor City”. So, lots of Motown. The thing is, at this point a lot of these classic songs have been done to death on singing competition shows. What keeps The Voice fresh is how often the singers perform contemporary hits. American Idol feels tired now. Candice Glover – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” This was a technically good performance, but kind of epitomized what I said above about the show feeling tired. Sure, it’s a great song. But it tells us nothing about what kind of artist Candice would be in today’s music scene. That said, she’s a vocal dream. Lazaro Arbos – “For Once In My Life” Come on guys, it is time to put this kid out of his misery. His performances are lovely for karaoke, but not for a competition of this scale. Janelle Arthur – “You Keep Me Hanging On” Janelle was the first to really impress me, because she took a song and “made it her own”, to use the cliche. The slowed down tempo, guitar, and even the lights, it very much suited her. It was emotional and moving – a great performance. Devin Valez – “The Tracks of My Tears” Devin is another singer that I’ve never been a big fan of, and this performance felt cheesy the way Lazaro’s did as well. There’s nothing creative or special about Devin – that’s the difference between someone like Janelle and him. Burnell Taylor – “My Cherie Amour” This theme is kind of Burnell’s wheelhouse, and I expected his performance to be stronger. I mean, of all the Stevie Wonder songs… this one? Really? It sounded like there were some major pitch issues. And again, it felt so cheesy. Like a cruise ship performance. And for the record, I love music of this era! Angie Miller – “Shop Around” The thing is… I now associate this song solely with a local mall commercial. It’s unavoidable. However, I did think Angie’s performance was fun, full of personality, and still showed off her voice. Not my favorite performance, but I thought it was good enough. Amber Holcomb – “Lately” This is a very pretty song, and Amber sang beautifully. This was a great example of singing a classic ballad without allowing it to seem cheesy. It was just great, and I think Amber has the potential to go very far this season. Kree Harrison – “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” Kree got the pimp spot this week, and for good reason. It was a vocally superb and very charismatic performance, definitely the best of the night. There were also a few duets and trios this week – personally, I think it’s too early to introduce that into the mix. It forces the show to be two hours long when it could have been 90 minutes. I mean, you guys, there were six hours of music competition reality shows on this week! Thank god for DVR and fast-forwarding. I mean, did we really need to see two country girls do an awkward Madonna duet? The boys’ trio was not great (though Nicki, what the hell?), and the girls’ trio was very good, but unnecessary. Can’t this stuff be saved for the results show? Rankings Kree Harrison Janelle Arthur Amber Holcomb Candice Glover Angie Miller Burnell Taylor Devin Valez Lazaro Arbos Really, I thought all three guys were pretty bad and I’d be happy losing any of them – particularly Lazaro and Devin. And, funny enough, they ended up in the Bottom Three. I guess America pretty much agreed with me. Devin Valez was eliminated, which means that we’ll have to endure at least one more performance from poor Lazaro. ...