This week on American Idol (Season 12, Week 11), Smokey Robinson mentors the top 8 as they perform Motown hits. Read Kidzworld’s recap of the “Top 8 Performances,” which aired on March 27th, 2013 to discover what you missed.
This week, the top 8 contestants celebrated Motor City, Detroit, by performing some of Motown's greatest hits. The legendary Smokey Robinson offered the finalists tips on how to improve their performances.
Candice Glover
Candice opened the show with her own twist on "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye. As always, she outdid herself with a flawless performance. She really is better than most pros, since many of today's artists struggle with live performances. It's as if Candice doesn't have the ability to go flat or pitchy. She's just perfection.
Lazaro Arbos
No one was out and out bad this week. However, talent wise, Lazaro still had the least impressive performance singing Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life." Randy admitted that he was certainly better than he had been in the previous two weeks, but he's still not sure that he redeemed himself. Not like it will matter. America seems to adore him no matter what.
Janelle Arthur
Janelle sang "Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Supremes. The judges thought it was her best performance yet. Janelle is a great singer; there's no doubt about that. Unfortunately, her biggest competition this year - Kree Harrison - is a thousand times better. This was made clear when the two sang a duet together. Nicki said that their performance looked as if Kree had just flown in to sing with an Idol contestant. Ouch.
Devin Velez
Despite Devin's amazing, pure voice, he's been under appreciated this season. Perhaps it's his song choice, or maybe it's his lack of connection with the audience, as Keith pointed out last week. Either way, he redeemed himself this week when he sang "The Tracks of My Tears" by The Miracles. It was a faster paced song for him, and it challenged him to go into his head voice in order to reach certain notes. Keith had some critiques, but the rest of the judges loved him.
Burnell Taylor
Burnell sang "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder. For those who know the song well, you may have found his emphasis on the end of "Cherie" annoying. But the judges didn't seem miffed by this. He got a raving review from the judges, mostly for how original he is. Keith said that it's hard to critique him because every melody choice he makes is part of his unique style.
Angie Miller
Well, Angie didn't have her best performance this week. In fact, she had one of the worst. She sang "Shop Around" by The Miracles, eager to show a different side of her vocal ability. Unfortunately, she wound up sounding pitchy through most of the song, and once again, she overdid it with her stage personality. It came across as over the top and insincere.
Amber Holcomb
Mariah called Amber the "tour de force" for her performance of Stevie Wonder's "Lately." It was a great performance with amazing vocals, but there's still something detached about her overall persona, something that is keeping her from earning the votes she deserves.
Kree Harrison
Kree closed the night with "Don't Play That Song" by Aretha Franklin. Kree was completely star struck during her one-on-one mentoring session with Smokey Robinson, and she became even more intimidated when he said he would call up Aretha and tell her to watch Kree's performance. You could see a little bit of her nerves on stage, but she still killed the song. All four judges praised her.
The Group Performances
Tonight, the contestants also performed in groups. Kree and Janelle sang together, Angie, Candice and Amber sang together, and the three remaining boys made up the final group. Everyone received praise except for the boys. Lazaro forgot his words, sending Nicki into an outrage, telling them to get off the stage. Yikes!
Elimination
Last night, Lazaro narrowly made it through to the next round, despite his unfortunate mistake during his group number. All the boys landed in the bottom three. But when it came down to the bottom 2 - Devin and Lazaro - Devin was sent home.
Have Your Say
Do you think Nicki was too harsh on the boys? Tell us in our comment section below!
