Canadian Idol Season 6: Top 200, Part 2

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Let me introduce you to your Top... how many again?

On the last day of performances, Mookie totally nails "These Eyes." Omar tells a very sad story about his murdered brother and emotes his way through Burton Cummings' "Break It To Them Gently."

Piggots. You know there's a whole paragraph (or two) coming just for them. Seb's up first (we're on a nickname basis now), doing yet another classic country song, this time "Your Cheatin' Heart." Okay, you know that I love this guy like mad, but frankly it's the exact same as his original audition. Not to say that's bad, but it's also nothing new. I really hope it's enough, because the judges could pull a fast one on us and only send one of them to the Top 22, OH DEAR GOD NO.

Oliver. I realize that acoustic guitar-driven covers of "Umbrella" are nothing original at this point, but his is, okay? He's got jazz chords and blue notes in there the likes of which Jay-Z can only dream, and his rhythm is impeccable and interesting. If you missed it, I'm really sorry. He's such a professional, too – playing to a crowd that isn't even there, and working the cameras like he's already Top 10. This guy is destined to do great things in music, and if I get the pleasure of recapping him on Canadian Idol for a season, you won't hear me complaining.

Anyway, there are other people on this show. Right. Like Kristine, who belts Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" without much real heart, and Vincent, who shakily works through Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved," forgetting some of his lyrics. Jade makes that god-awful "Big Girls Don't Cry" song even more awful while wearing a shirt as a dress, so kudos for that. Mitch, however, does an admirable job of "She Will Be Loved." This song is so overplayed tonight.

Drew Wright does a really cool, original take on – you guessed it – "She Will Be Loved." He's one of the better guitar players in the competition, and has a great deal of passion. I wish we would have met him earlier.

"Katelyn Dawn" also does "Umbrella," and it's passable, but nothing Marié Digby hasn't already done. Oh, except for the forgetting the lyrics part. Earl also forgets the lyrics to a song that I think is supposed to be "Weak in the Knees" by Serena Ryder, but I can't really tell. His guitar playing is not amazing. Pappy J. Ozmond forgets his lyrics (same song as Omar). Katherine forgets her lyrics ("Complicated" by Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and I'm having massive flashbacks to 2001). Adam forgets the lyrics to "Umbrella," which is especially unfortunate because he's all cocky about how awesome his version is going to be. It does sound like he had some good ideas, but he's no Oliver. I worry for his sake that his attitude toward his mistake could hurt his chances.

Tetiana attempts "She Will Be Loved" in horrible high-waisted, many-buttoned pants, which distract me too much to tell if it's any good. I think I prefer her as a Pigott back-up vocalist. Gary tells us about how the highway between Kelowna and Vancouver was closed when he was supposed to come audition (that will happen in February, yes), so that explains the Cyber Boy thing. He does a straight-up rock version of "Simple Man" and even the judges can't hide their excitement at the strength of his talent and performance ability.

Hey, it's Mark Day! I was wondering what happened to him. He sings "She Will Be Loved" solidly, but I fear his pipes will only get him so far on the show. Carly does the stupid Fergie song, and it's barely recognizable. The song doesn't have much of a melody to begin with, so way to screw yourself over there. Jesse from Calgary does "Simple Man," and the bit we see is nice. Amberly sings "Complicated" and does not forget the lyrics. I love her. Paul Clifford looks like a hobbit, and sings "Simple Man" at the piano; it's raspy, but that's his thing. Shaun wants to prove Jake wrong, and does so with "She Will Be Loved," which he sings simply but with abandon.

And with that, we've seen all we'll see of performances, and it's down to the announcements.

Mark: Through! Loses it. Mookie and some kid named Joe: Nope to Joe, BIG YES to Mooks. Love him! LOVE. You know who else love him? The Pigotts. They freak out on his behalf backstage. Earl and Mitch: Both through! Thank goodness. Omar: Through. Canada doesn't generally tend to appreciate urban artists on this show, so I'm not sure I see him cracking the Top 10.

Kristine: No. Katherine: Through. "Katelyn Dawn," Amberly, Lindsay Robins: Through. Martin: Through. Tetiana: Through. Oliver FLIPS. They're totally doing it. You could sense something before, but it's the way-too-long hug followed by his self-conscious glance at the cameras that convinces me.

Marie-Pierre and Lisa: Through. Adam: Talks way too much. Through anyway. Taylor and Pappy J. Ozmond: Going home. Is that relief I feel? Yes; yes, it is. Gary: Through. Duh. He stabs Ben in the face with his labret spike when Ben asks for a hug and Gary just goes right in for the kiss.

Shaun, Theo and Jesse: At this point, Ben informs us that 8 guys have already gone through, and the Pigotts haven't even gone in, so I'm convinced at least two of these guys are getting cut, bizarre as that would be. Something fishy's going on though, because they're all through. So that means there won't be even numbers of boys and girls. Unless... they're doing a Top 24 with 12 of each? Which would mean one Pigott isn't through. Agh!

Vincent: A no, understandably. I hope he shows up in a future season, though.

PIGOTTS, ZOMG: I am seriously worried for Sebastian's safety. Farley lectures them about support no matter what the judges tell them, and sends Oliver through but definitely makes it look like Sebastian's getting left behind; I mean, Sebastian's eyes are all defeated, and Farley's fully milking it. But... They're both through! You can relax! Deep breath. This means the boy-girl ratio will not be even.

Lindsay Barr: Through. One spot left in the Top 22. Jade and Carly: No to both. Drew: Through! But there are two people left in the holding room! What can this mean for them? It's Paul Clifford and Jessica Sheppard, both of whom have gotten cut at exactly this point before. Ben sends them in at the same time, and they're trying to remain hopeful. And guess what? Top 24! I wonder if this means there will be a Top 12 in the big theatre.

So who makes up the Top 24? Amberly Thiessen (Seven Persons, AB), Adam Castelli (Hamilton), Tetiana Ostapowych (Toronto), Mitch MacDonald (Port Hood, NS), Lindsay Barr (Halifax), Mark Day (Portugal Cove, NL), Lindsay Robins (Montréal), Mookie Morris (Toronto), Gary Morissette (Fruitvale, BC), Lisa Bell (Winnipeg), Sebastian Pigott (Toronto), Oliver Pigott (Toronto), Katherine St-Laurent (Otterburn Park, QC), Earl Stevenson (Lloydminster, AB), Jessica Sheppard (Toronto), Omar Lunan (Scarborough, ON), Martin Kerr (Edmonton), Theo Tams (Lethbridge, AB), Katelyn Dawn (Winnipeg), Paul Clifford (Port Moody, BC), Jesse Cottam (Calgary), Marie-Pierre Bellerose (Quebec City), Shaun Francisco (Vancouver), and Drew Wright (Collingwood, ON).

My apologies for any spelling errors, but they're not up at the website yet. At any rate, we've got 9 girls and 15 guys, and I'm so glad they did this, because the pool of female talent did not run particularly deep this season, while there are a ton of phenomenal guys. Who are also very attractive, many of them. I'm just saying.

Singin' and votin' starts next Monday. Who are you going to be voting for? Early favourites for Top 10? Tell us in the comments below!

Tags: Canadian Idol, Ben Mulroney, Farley Flex

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Original Comments Posted (1)

metal2000 says...

I wish I actually watched this show. :P But I've seen YouTube clips of a few hopefuls, and after watching lots of coffee shop performances by Martin Kerr, I'm definitely a fan. Not sure how he actually is on the CI itself, but in those videos, he's got a British James Taylor thing going on. I'll never actually bother to call in and vote, or watch the show when it's on TV, but I hope I hear more from him in released music form sooner than later.

And "big ups" to my Manitoba peeps (yes, I just wrote that) -- aside from my buddy being Katelyn Dawn's drummer, I realized that Lisa Bell performs on the Mood Ruff CD I Do My Own Stunts. And of course, the extremely talented Odario from Mood Ruff now fronts Grand Analog (his brother Ofield handles beats for both), whose song "Around This Town" was graciously donated to play over the intro to all our ShowbizMonkeys.com interviews.

Here's the video for the song she sang on: http://www.manitobamusic.com/play.php?vc=2

Jun 18, 2008 5:15am

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