Three Of A Dull Idol Kind

09/02/08 4:34pm

by Michelle Singerman (CHARTattack)

The trio of remaining Canadian Idol contestants have proven one thing: they're all boring. Two of the final five contenders at least had some vitality spread amongst them, but nothing memorable or noteworthy came out of Monday night's performances. Special guest Bryan Adams didn't up the ante, either. What host Ben Mulroney labelled the "final showdown of the year" wasn't nearly as intense as he anticipated.

Drew Wright kicked the night off with a tone and mood that carried through the remainder of the evening. His performance of "Cuts Like A Knife" was mediocre. Adams was impressed that the rookie was brave enough to change the arrangement of his song, and even approved of it. Judge Jake Gold was even more impressed and said, "I finally figured out who you are."

Wright's second song offered more of the same, though he managed to get the girls in the crowd shrieking like the 13-year-olds they are. I can confidently say that Wright's performance of "I'm Ready" certainly didn't have the same effect on me. But as usual, the judges and I didn't quite see eye-to-eye. Gold said it was the first time he saw a "star" in Wright. I thought the opposite.

Then came Theo Tams, whose constant routine of turning songs into love ballads is really starting to annoy me. He committed the crime again on Monday with the overly covered "Heaven." He followed that with "When You're Gone." The judges were all over Tams as usual, though. Gold ran the furthest with compliments about his "vocal pyrotechnics." I found it even weirder that Tams chose a duet for his second performance. Why choose a song that can only showcase you half the time? Either way, it didn't seem to bother the judges.

Mitch MacDonald sang "Heat Of The Night," which wouldn't have bothered me if he didn't decide to use his guitar as an accessory. It doesn't count when you start playing an instrument halfway through a song. But judge Farley Flex was impressed by the performance and told MacDonald it was "refreshing" to hear him sing with a full voice. My favourite moment of the episode came during this adjudication session. Gold called MacDonald out on trying to play tough and told him to not even bother pretending. I'm just happy someone said it to the guy's face.

MacDonald's performance of "When You Love Someone" was a bit of an improvement from his first attempt. "You absolutely, completely redeemed yourself," judge Sass Jordan gushed after the song.

What was even weirder was when judge Zack Werner seemed to have an out-of-body experience when he said that MacDonald has a recognizable voice. Werner only made it worse and lost himself some credibility when he compared the contestant to Paul Simon.

I can't even guess who'll be kicked off the show next, since all three contenders are on an equal playing field of sucking. I'll root for MacDonald, though, since he's annoyed me the most of the three.

Past contestants will return and Adams will perform on Tuesday's results show at 8 p.m. ET/PT.