Canadian Idol: Goodbye St-Laurent

07/23/08 3:26pm

by Michelle Singerman (CHARTattack)

Canadian Idol's Tuesday night elimination was spot-on, as Canadian voters finally got rid of the non-talented. Katherine St-Laurent is finally out of the competition. Her performance of Janis Joplin's "Move Over" from the previous night was her losing ticket home. What a relief. Now there's just one female and seven male Idol wannabes.

Tuesday's show began with a "rock 'n' roll heaven medley" performed by groups of contestants. The first group was full of softies (Mark Day, St-Laurent and Amberly Thiessen), who sang The Mamas And The Papas' "Dream A Little Dream Of Me." Then there were the rockers (Drew Wright, Earl Stevenson and Mitch MacDonald), who reworked The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Purple Haze." Finally, the cool crew (Mookie Morris, Sebastian Pigott and Theo Tams) arrived to perform the Elvis Presley hit, "A Little Less Conversation." I think Tams and Stevenson probably should have swapped groups.

If that wasn't enough, last year's second-place finisher, Jaydee Bixby, performed his new country single, "Old Fashioned Girl." It was a good performance if you like that new country sound. It's just too bad that host Ben Mulroney tried to sell Bixby as one of "the biggest names" in music.

While Bixby was a letdown in terms of star power (actor Bill Bixby, who's been dead for 15 years, might have even been a step up), next week will more than make up for it. Hottie and former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale will hang with the remaining eight contestants and hopefully teach them valuable lessons on how to cope with having a washed-up career (step one: marry someone who's very popular and wealthy) before appearing on the July 29 show as part of Idol's "Unplugged" week.

Other recognizable names that will grace the Idol stage in future episodes include Tom Jones, Bryan Adams and Simple Plan. That's rough. Where's Jully Black through all of this? Even she can look cool when paired with some of the people in that lineup. (Editor's note: This doesn't apply to Tom Jones, who rocks and rules). Black has only made brief appearances sporadically throughout the season — just enough to earn some positive publicity and a nice cheque, without actually doing any real work for the show.

With just 10 minutes left in the half-hour episode, Mulroney revealed that Sebastian Pigott, Amberly Thiessen and Katherine St-Laurent received the lowest number of votes from across the country. I wasn't surprised to find Pigott in the bottom three for the second week in a row, although I was hoping otherwise. He's hit-and-miss with his performances. While he has great stage presence, his song choices haven't been quite on the past two weeks. But I was quite satisfied that the two girls landed in the bottom, and I was elated when St-Laurent was announced as the one to go.

Week after week we've had to watch this teen, who's not yet found her own personality, perform songs you don't want to hear her sing. Age isn't always a factor. Morris is only 18, but rock history almost exudes from his pores as he performs. The same can't be said for St-Laurent. Her voice isn't bad; she just has a lot of growing up to do.

Hopefully, this week was a wake-up call for Pigott. I really enjoy his style, but I can't foresee him sticking around much longer if he doesn't step up his game.

The surviving eight Idol contestants will perform "unplugged" (which is what some of you may want to make your television set before the show starts) at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 28.