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And now ‘Duets’ finally has stakes. Yes, after two weeks of playing nice someone will finally be sent home as the bottom two will be forced to sing acapella for their lives and the judges/mentors will finally have to do some dirty work. I still have some reservations about the voting process, but at least the “superstars” will have lay it on the line and play the bad guy/girl and send the first poor soul packing. We’ve been playing nice for far too long and this feels like a long time coming. What will happen? Let’s find out. .
Jennifer Nettles and John Legend open ‘Duets’ with a fine …well… duet, and they put everyone on notice, though I’m not sure that’s the point.
Up first is Alexis Foster from Robin’s team, a team he insists are the “underdogs” (he’s not wrong). Last week Robin had his two duet partners in the bottom three, so it’s not looking particularly good for him, but he insists he’s always been an underdog because he’s the only judge without songs on pop radio. He is, however, the only judge with a super famous dad so make of that what you will. He and Alexis sing “Killing Me Softly” and it’s not very good. She’s flat and there isn’t much instrumentation to help her along, but he holds her hand during it so it must be working, right? Not so much. Spoiler alert, she ends up in the bottom two. .
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Jennifer Nettles sings “How Great Thou Art” with John Glossen, and we’ve officially got the first sob story of the season. John’s brother died before he was born, but sob story or no sob story, he nails this performance. I tend to have a problem with contestants on these shows singing religious songs, because it always seems like a ploy for votes. At this point in the competition, however, America’s not voting, so I appreciate John’s sincerity and his chops as a vocalist. He’s going to be very tough to beat. .
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Jordan Meredith has been having a tough time connecting with the audience, but all that is officially behind her, as Kelly Clarkson leads her through Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” with aplomb. All of the previous criticisms go out the window as Jordan connects with her audience and proves she’s got the vocal chops to actually make this thing a competition and Kelly likening herself to Jordan isn’t going to hurt her when this thing goes to America’s vote in the coming weeks. .
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John Legend’s first duet is with Meleania Brown and it’s…really good. Just like last week. Not much else needs to be said. She’s confident and she nails it. .
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Last week, Olivia Chisolm was in the bottom for a number of reasons and the fact that she’s one of the weakest vocalists wasn’t even chief among them. Tonight, Robin Thicke had her singing Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” a song that was way too big for her and his embarrassing Jay-Z impression didn’t do anything to help this seem like any less of a mess. She fools the judges into thinking she was singing parts that her back-up singers were doing, but either way she’s safe. .
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J (no period) Rome showed up with a fresh sob story all his own and it took him to the top of the leader board. He sang Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” and dedicated it to his recently deceased grandfather. He sounded fine, but it was “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” which is a really bad song. Nevertheless, he was at the top of the chart. .
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Jason Farrol did “Hallelujah” and he ended up in the bottom two. It’s a tough song. .
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The best performance of the night was saved for last and it was Bridget Carrington’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” but she didn’t have a sob story so she wasn’t in the top spot. She was the best singer, though regardless of what anyone says. .
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In the end, Jason and Alexis duked it out in an acapella sing off and Jason won. No matter, he’s not long for this world and once he’s gone, the competition will really begin. .
