Got You Covered!: TV:Top 7 Round 2. Jessica was great. I'm starting to hate the judges.

by Louie Ross Perez

I wasn't able to put my views on last week's performance and the most talked about elimination. Boracay is the place to be that weekend and I was there. I just watched the performances and clips of the show through youtube. My two cents about last week. I think the elimination was just staged by the producers of the show. Jessica is nowhere near the bottom three, but the production wanted to put hype to the show who's been losing audiences for the past few years because of other singing competitions and great series on American TV. They also want to use the save to give the show a more exciting exposure. Nigel Lythgoe ( Producer) and Ryan Seacrest tweeted that there will be a shocking elimination hours before the show. And that put doubts on me. The question now is, did the save actually helped Jessica or it will hurt her in the next eliminations? Let's see.

Tonight, the contestants were tasked to sing billboard hits for the past ten years and old soul songs. I will go directly with my evaluations, but before that. I think the intro of the show, pertaining to elimination of Jessica last week was just too much. And the pose of the contestants after that intro is incredibly corny.

Hollie - This time Hollie showed why she is in the top 7. She sang Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" pretty decently. This is the first time that I saw Hollie feeling the song, but she's not yet there. She needs to work more, especially in her pitches. She's losing them in couple of her phrases. All of the judges loved it, but Randy gave his criticism on the pitches, that was good of him, but as he always does, give criticisms then praise the contestant in the end. Lame!

On her second song, "Son Of A Preacher Man". I agree Hollie is better this week compared to her completely rehearsed performances she's been giving the past few weeks. But she is overrated. Yes it was better, but not a moment, not as great as the judges want to convey.

Colton - "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. It's very obvious, Colton wanted to steal the show.With the red hair, red pants, metal style like James Durbin. And making that very obvious makes me feel he's not feeling the song, he just wants to make a scene and appeal to her female fanbase. Showmanship was great but I am not sure if the "Little Monsters" liked it.

His soul song is "September" by Earth Wind and Fire. I must say, the version was really corny! Even if it's a different version, in my head, it's still the original version that's playing and I'm like in a retro party and waiting for that song to play. The judges were correct, it's the wrong song. Very very wrong. So wrong. Randy said he should do some Lil Wayne and put his own twist to it. Lil Wayne? Seriously??? Does he sing soul? Is he alive when the genre was at its heights? Come on, Randy!

Elise - This girl for me has the most interesting voice and technique compared to all the contestants and I feel that she's being underrated by the voters. I think America just don't get her, that's why she's always in the bottom three. Her first song is No One by Alicia Keys. She did her thing, the voice, the runs, the technique and it was a nice performance, not great though. She was commended by the judges which she deserved.

Her second song is "Let's Get It On". She did it decently and seductively. I just realized that Elise is the only grown up woman in the roster. She's 29. And she perfectly used that in the song. She was on pitch, showed her power. I just don't understand J. Lo and Randy. J. Lo said in her first song that she like Elise because she's natural at "letting go", but now she's criticizing Elise on her emotions almost on all her performances. How did this lady ended up being a judge?

Philip- "You Got it Bad" by Usher to be sang by Philip is really a bold move. But guess what, it worked. The band was great, the arrrangement was superb, but what I am unsure of is, if the singing was great enough for the competition. It's still a singing competition and not an arrangement competition. Just saying. But you know I predict that he will be safe because he has a solid fan base and hasn't done anything to displease them.

His second song though, "In The Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett is too screamy for me. It's like he's shouting at the audience. I'm not sure if he's still singing. He's like a guy who's singing in videoke, shouting to get a score of 100%. Sorry to the fans, but that's what I think about this performance.

For my views on the next contestants, I will do them differently because I have the same comments in both of their songs.

Jessica Sanchez - Her voice was perfect for the songs and she sang them with angst and determination. She should be safe. As almost everyone wonder, why judges criticized Jessica even if the performances were great. In my own opinion, they are aware that giving Jessica all the praises will be too much for the voters to handle. They may not vote because of confidence that she will surely be safe. They are also aware that the "save" may backfire on Jessica because the fans of the other contestants were offended when Randy said that Jessica is the best in the competition. They have to strategize, because the way I see it, Randy wants a Jessica-Joshua finale.

Skylar Laine - I must say after this night, Skylar proved to me that she's the dark horse in this competition. She might win this whole thing if she continues to perform like what she did tonight. She's the only country singer in this season, and as we all know, country singers have a solid fan base. She's charming, she's fiery. But I don't know if it's just me, I think her singing is kinda nasal and screamy at times, just saying.

Joshua Ledet - Church singing all the way. I'm not saying it's bad but this might hurt thim because he's doing the same thing over again. We already know that he can sing well, he can do adlibs and all that but as the competition is nearing the finale, I'm getting kinda bored in his performances. Also, the question that's running in my mind is that, if he has a future in the current music industry? Does his style now has a place in the market? It's for you to answer.