American Idol 15: Top 4 Recap/Rankings

Disclaimer: All these opinions are clearly subjective  and I am in no way affiliated with American Idol or any other corporation.

First off, did homeboy really thought he sounded like The Sopranos? That was cute... Second, what happened tonight? Everyone was spectacular! Dalton came out of nowhere, Trent threw his shoes at you to remind you that he's in this competition to WIN and La'Porsha made us believe she was a cowboy. What is going on? I think next week's elimination is going to be very interesting.

Also, finally some iTunes versions! I'm mad they waiting until Idol was in it's last season to create Apple Music, but let's enjoy these three weeks of studio recordings. Thanks, Idol, and all...but where is La'Porsha's Diamonds, Halo and No More Drama? Where is Sonika's Bring Me to Life? Where is MacKenzie's You Are So Beautiful and Billie Jean? AND WHERE IS ALL OF TRISTAN'S PERFORMANCES? I feel like she sounds real good all mixed up in the studio because, like I said, she has a potentially really strong voice. Auto tune would have made her sound absolutely gorgeous. And why is their only one song from each contestant? WHERE IS TRENT HARMON SINGING CHANDELIER? This is almost as disrespectful as not having Jena Irene's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" on iTunes.

ROUND ONE:

LA'PORSHA RENAE

"Dead or Alive"

The only thing more unexpected than this song choice are La'Porsha's box braids. I mean, she's working them of course. The thing about La'Porsha is you just need to give her a song and she lights up the flame underneath her ass and comes at you flaming with soul, fire and emotion. She connected as much as she could to a song about being a cowboy by Bon Jovi, but she sounded amazing and that last run at the end was killer (7.5/10)! Not that it matters, because she covered it up with the run, but did she lose that glory note she hit before the last run? Also I cackled at all those white kids in the audience who gasped loud as hell when they found out how long it takes to do black hair. Yeah, girl, it's not pretty but it gives time to eat potato chips.

MACKENZIE BOURG

"I Want You To Want Me"

I was scared, I thought MacKenzie was gonna go all Lee with the arrangement of the song and try and do something Dalton-y. He didn't, bless up, and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. I honestly thought it was a lose-lose situation for MacKenzie, because he couldn't pull off doing a full-out production filled rock song and if he just stripped it down it would have just been a "MacKenzie" acoustic performance. His voice sounded great and I actually liked the arrangement (because I'm trash and I don't really know the song so I don't know what how it is compared to the original) but it wasn't as bad as the judges made it out to be. Wasn't anything to write home about either (6.5/10). When Harry asked "who knows this song?" and everyone in the audience cheered, was I the only one who caught the little white girl clapped and mouthing to her friend something that looked like "I don't know it." Yeah, that's what I think was on the minds of everyone who cheered.

Um, I mean, I liked David's performance. I don't know how this song is compared to his other music because I'm not really a fan of his and never really have been but it was cool. And he still looks like he chews gum when he performs. David is either funny as hell, or rude as hell. I don't mind either because "You're gonna look great in that dress!" got me cracking up.

TRENT HARMON

"Sharp Dressed Man"

I was going to scalp this audience if they tossed Trent into the bottom three. I was going to CUT somebody, it was going to be all over. Dude, wait, could you picture a better song choice for Trent? I never heard the song before, but the title? That's so Trent. And then Trent started singing? Were those his harmonies at the beginning? Geeze, what? He. Can. Sang. I then this man started gliding around the stage and he wasn't jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean this weak. THOSE. VOCALS. THOSE. POSES. THAT. SWAGGER. I don't say swagger, I hate the word but he has so much swag that he made the word for me. He's so natural, he's so confident, ...that is what you call fire. Trent tried to show he could do an upbeat song and sort of failed last week (on a Trent level, he towered over everyone else besides La'Porsha) but this was Trent's breakthrough performance for me (9/10). Let's just get three performances from Trent every week.

ELIMINATION:

First off, when it was down to Trent, Sonika and Dalton, I was fully prepared to flip my bed over if Trent was in the bottom two. Thankfully he wasn't and my prediction was right and our Bottom Two was Dalton and Sonika**. Did anyone else want to cry for Sonika? She knew she was going home from the beginning of the show, you could see it on her face from the moment the show started she just looked a little down the whole time and she just looked so down right before Ryan announced that she was going home. She had a lot of potential but she peaked to early, it's sad. Also it's crap to have her rehearse all week just to be kicked off moments before she sings any of the songs. They could have at least let her sing one of the songs.

**In case anyone's counting, thats 3/4 correct bottom 2 (or bottom 3) predictions for me this season. I'm so proud of me.

DALTON RAPATTONI

"God Only Knows"

I'm so glad Dalton didn't do "Seven Nation Army," he looked so bored. But then he started riding hard for the song at the end so I got shocked?!  What also shocked me? I actually really loved this performance from him! It was stripped back and the song went somewhere really special. He went through so much in the song, the look on his face, his eyes, it looked as if he was unraveling in front of our eyes and it was just beautiful. I'm not sure if he was pulling from his experience in the bottom two, because he looked pretty down after that too, but this was the best I've ever heard him. This performance totally flipped my position on how I feel about Dalton (9/10).  Part of the reason I loved it is that the arrangement was so similar to the one Louisa did on X Factor this year and the slowed down version of this song really just highlights it's lyrical beauty.

Yeah, I was really picky back in the day when I watched Idol (give me some credit, I was like four when the show started). I didn't really mess with season five of Idol, meaning I didn't have a favorite, because for some reason I just paid attention to the girls I sort of had a crush on, which would be funny if you knew me. Lisa Tucker went home in the top ten so I stopped really paying attention so I can't say I remember Katherine McPhee's "signature" moment on the show off the top of my head but it was a beautiful moment that was beautifully recreated. She looked stunning, sounded fantastic and it was a nice little moment of nostalgia. And Oscar is so funny, campaigning was the type of shit I would do back in the day when I was a ride or die Idol fan.

ROUND TWO:

LA'PORSHA RENAE

"Elastic Heart"

Sia. And La'Porsha. How fitting. Sia has some of the most complicated music out there with the widest of ranges and it was excellent for La'Porsha. She's kind of know for being an empowering contestants, having overcome, so a Sia song was a perfect theme for her. "Elastic Heart" was a great song choice from her, it wasn't as emotional as I'm used to from her at the beginning but as she kicked into the last chorus I felt chills and her vocals were clearly as strong as ever (8.5/10). Did anyone laugh when La'Porsha didn't where a Sia wig because it couldn't fit her hair? I did.

MACKENZIE BOURG

"Tiatnium"

Titanium? I thought when he said "it's out of my comfort zone," I thought he was going to go "it's out of my range" and I was going to nod and tell him, yeah! But I don't know, when ever I don't have faith in MacKenzie, he proves me wrong. I'm not sure how I felt about this performance? It was better than I expected from him but...was the high note really there? I was expected something out of the box and high in the sky but it was in his range the whole time (at least the way he sang it tonight) so I wasn't as impressed as everyone in the audience apparently was. The song was really stripped down and fit MacKenzie a lot better than I thought it would so it's not like it was bad (7.5/10).  

Right, I was supposed to review Sia's new album...it was nice, I really liked it. I mean, it's Sia, duh. But it's an album full of rejected potential hits, right? It definitely showed. Her voice is heavenly and her performance was just as good as all of her performances are tonight. Luv u Sia gurl!

TRENT HARMON

"Chandelier"

Trent Harmon? Chandelier? Best night of my life? Okay, let's start with the clip package. When Sia told him to sing it up the octave and he did it I got goosebumps and sat back in my seat. I tweeted that this is probably the best performance of the season before the song even started. ...And then he started singing. And I held myself. I was watching American Idol and I was holding myself because the vocal was so extraordinarily gorgeous. The restraint in his voice was ironically so powerful, him holding back was probably what made the performance so thrilling because we knew he could take it up there at any moment. I honestly don't know what I would have done if he started belting it, I probably would have had a panic attack and had to leave the room. Trent. Owned. Tonight. (9.5/10). 

DALTON RAPATTONI

"Bird Set Free"

"I'm getting all choky." Dalton. Made. Me. So. Choky. Tonight. He really tapped into the softer part of himself tonight and I think it really worked. It was like he picked his performances tonight because he knew he was going to be in the bottom two this week. The lyrics of the song were really interesting, I don't mean to be shady but they go "I don't care if I sing off key...I sing for love" ...That's sort of what I feel like Dalton does? His performance are never really vocally strong but literally everything else he does gives off that illusion and I thought it was beautiful to see him really open up tonight (8/10). Keith hit it on the nose. "I'd rather a failed attempt than soulless perfection" and Dalton attempts to push his limits every week, he's a hard worker and I think I started liking him tonight. I don't know...

RANKINGS:

Performances:

08. MacKenzie Bourg (I Want You to Want Me) (6.5/10)
07. MacKenzie Bourg (Titanium) (7.5/10) 
06. La'Porsha Renae (Dead Or Alive) (7.5/10) 
05. Dalton Rapattoni (Bird Set Free) (8/10)
04. La'Porsha Renae (Elastic Heart) (8.5/10) 
03. Dalton Rapattoni (God Only Knows) (9/10)
02. Trent Harmon (Sharp Dressed Man) (9/10)
01. Trent Harmon (Chandelier) (9.5/10)

Overall night:

04. MacKenzie Bourg (7/10) (Last week's position: #1// -1)
03. La'Porsha Renae (8/10) (Last week's position: #3// -2)
02. Dalton Rapattoni (8.5/10) (Last week's position: #6// +4)
01. Trent Harmon (9/10) (Last week's position: #2//+1)

Right, so, Dalton #2...regardless, my finale is La'Porsha and Trent no matter how well Dalton does next week. He really turned himself around (for me anyways) tonight so at least he got a week off scotch free from me.

Who I Send Home:
MacKenzie

Who America Sends Home:
MacKenzie