American Idol: Casey kisses J-Lo!

Pub date April 21, 2011
WriterTim Redmond
SectionNoise

Wow, a real-life Idol moment: Casey, who was voted off and saved by the judges a few weeks ago, who is by far the most emotional contestant, and who Jennifer Lopez has twice called cute and sexy, took things to a new level on 4/20: After offering a pretty strong rendition of Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe,” he ran onto the judges platform and planted a kiss on the cheek of the world’s most beautiful woman. And damn, J-Lo looked surprised and almost flustered; if it weren’t for all the makeup, I think the world would have seen her blushing.


That, and James doing a rocking “Uprising” made the show. Because the rest of it, frankly, was boring.


The theme: Music of the 21st century. That means pick any song of the past 11 years; lots to choose from. Scotty, who is still one of my faves, crooned a decent version of “Swinging,” but come on: He can do a song like that any time, anywhere, without an effort at all. Even the way-too-nice judges were a bit harsh on him — if only because he’s so naturally good that it sounded like he was slacking.


Haley did the best she could, and she’s got a great bluesy voice, but she’s just so goddam bouncy and happy and smiley and perky; doesn’t work with Janis, and it didn’t work with “Adele’s Rolling in the Deep.” Hard to watch her and Stefano, who also did the best he could with “Closer,” but he’s out of his league now.


Lauren? “Born to Fly.” Boring, boring. Jacob? An effort to be meaningful with “Dance with my Father,” but sorry: Boring.


Really, except for the kiss, the dullest show in weeks. Casey and James brought it; the rest were just phoning it in.


Tonight’s bottom three: Stefano, Lauren and Haley. Stefano, dude: it’s time to go home.