American Idol Results: Lady Gaga Performs, David Cook Returns and Megan Corkrey Crows She Does Not Care

American Idol Top Downloads Week, otherwise known as Top 9 Week until one gets eliminated, surprisingly had a fairly good results show, if a bit on the strange side.

For once, the group song wasn't too bad. Singing the ever-so-appropriate Journey tune "Don't Stop Believing," the nine finalists prepared themselves for elimination. To be honest, only four or five of them should have had their doubts. Finalists like Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds, and Kris Allen shouldn't have had anything to worry about.

And they didn't.

But there was one in the bottom three that shouldn't have been there.

After a good-natured round of the finalists mimicking each other, Ryan Seacrest started everything off by dividing everyone on the blue couch, the "safe" blue couch, into groups of three. Matt Giraud, Megan Corkrey, and Kris Allen were placed stage left. Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds, and Allison Iraheta went to center stage. He then proceeded to pull one person from each of the three groups and place them in the bottom three. Scott MacIntyre, Danny Gokey, and Anoop Desai traveled the shortest distance (someone must have been thinking about Scott, which is a good thing).

David Cook, last year's American Idol winner, performed his new single, "Come Back To Me." Not as good as many of his American Idol numbers, but not too bad. I'll wait until the next single, though, which is guaranteed to be at least partially written by David Cook.

Before David Cook left the stage, though, Ryan talked to him about life after Idol (which, when you think about it, hasn't completely started yet, considering he's on American Idol). He was presented with a platinum album award for his eponymous first album, which actually went platinum in January and is working on mult-platinum status. Gracious, David Cook thanked his fans, saying it was hard to believe that his first album (which was self-produced in 2006) sold 1,000 copies in a year and his latest sold a million in three months. Now, that's life after American Idol (sort of).

This writer was somewhat surprised that Matt Giraud wasn't in another group to be placed in the bottom three. And Ryan did not help things when he told Matt to have a seat. When Matt got to the silver chair, Ryan added, "On the sofa." While everyone got a good laugh, Ryan said, "April Fool's."

There always has to be one...

Megan Corkrey deservedly got a silver chair, an "unsafe" silver chair (and they do look unsafe), out of the first three. And the mood of the show got a little strange. As Matt and Kris were taking their places on the "safe" couch, Megan Corkrey told them not to forget to call ("caw?"). When Ryan asked what she thought of Simon's critique of her rendition of "Turn The Lights Down Low," she said she didn't care. As a disclaimer, she added, "I love you, Simon, but I really don't care." But she sounded like a wounded crow as she stutter-stepped her way to the seat, making a "cawing" noise as she went. She even flapped her arms. Was she a bird flying the coop? A freebird? Did she have a feeling, some inner knowledge that she was headed home? It was downright strange...

From the second group, Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert were declared safe and Allison Iraheta got to sit with Megan. Allison's inclusion in the bottom three was a bit of a shocker. Her performance of No Doubt's "Don't Speak" had been pretty good. Perhaps it was the cleaned-up bag lady wardrobe she chose for Tuesday evening's performance that caused some 36 million voters to vote for someone other than her? No matter. She shouldn't have been in the bottom three.

But she was.

Ryan sat Danny Gokey down immediately from the third group, and rightly so. Danny Gokey's "What Hurts The Most" had been very well played. Besides, with the death of his grandfather, he deserved a bye to the next round no matter what. Still, sympathy vote or no, Danny Gokey will most likely - and deservedly -- make the Top 3 and might just win the competition.

With Danny Gokey on the blue sofa with Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, and Kris Allen, that left Scott MacIntyre and Anoop Desai to fill that last "not safe" silver seat at stage left. After the obligatory recapping of the judges' critiques from the night before, America decided Anoop Desai would be in the bottom three.

The second musical guest of the results show was Lady Gaga, who currently has the No. 1 song in the country, which she performed. Dressed like cross between something out of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and Kiss' axeman Ace Freeley, Lady Gaga sat behind a beautiful white piano and performed an intro that was passing weird and vaguely reminiscent of the beginning of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." This intro led into a full stage production, dancers and all, of "Poker Face," the aforementioned No. 1 song.

Give Lady Gaga an "E" for showmanship. Give her an "C" for song styling. Too clunky, overdone. But the presentation was entertaining.

Then it was back to the results. Ryan immediately sent Allison back to the safety of the blue sofa.

And the inevitable occurred. Megan Corkrey was told she was headed home. Anoop Desai joined the blue couch surfers.

Earlier, Ryan had asked Simon Cowell if there was any of the bottom three he thought was worth a judges Save. Simon said, "One of them." One got the feeling he did not mean Megan Corkrey or Anoop Desai. And when Ryan asked after revealing that Megan Corkrey had received the least amount of votes, Simon lowered the boom.

He said, "With the greatest respect, Megan, when you said that you don't care, nor do we. So I'm not gonna pretend that we're even gonna contemplate saving you. So this is your swan song. Enjoy it.''

Some think Simon was a bit harsh, that he showed that Megan's words might have stung him personally. But Megan Corkrey deserved the abrupt dismissal and not just because her vocal stylings for the past several weeks have been atrocious, because they have. No, it has been her entire demeanor, her flippant precociousness, especially after her last two performances, which the judges critiqued negatively. She showed a childish petulance when they judges turned on her for the first time in the competition, both times delivering a verbal shrug and saying that her fans would decide.

She was wrong. Her fans decided nothing. The judges placed her in the Top 13 when she clearly did not deserve to be there. And her "fans" barely kept her in the competition. This writer, who has maintained that Megan Corkrey's marginal talent should not be rewarded by keeping her on the show, was beginning to be afraid that American Idol Season 8 had found it's Brooke White, it's John Stevens. I was even beginning to miss Sanjaya Malakar. But this week, her loyal fans could not amass enough numbers to keep her in the running. Regardless, it was past time she departed the show.

Now the show can get down to deciding who will be the next American Idol. Ant I can honestly say that any one of the Top 8 would be a good representative. Although Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Anoop Desai, and Matt Giraud seem to be the best vocalists, Lil Rounds, Allison Iraheta, and Danny Gokey give them a good run for their money. What Scott MacIntyre lacks in vocal skills, he more than makes up for in heart and piano virtuosity.

It will certainly be interesting.

******

Source:

"American Idol," Fox Television