Paula Abdul strikes again. On last night's "American Idol", the pint-sized pixie dropped her judgement on two songs sang by a contestant -- even though he had only performed one song.
On a night when "American Idol" switched up the judges' format by making them hold their appraisals until every contestant had a turn, Abdul offered feedback Tuesday for two songs by Jason Castro — except that he'd only sung one.
Unlike the usual format, in which each "Idol" performance is judged immediately, Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell were made to take notes, then offer individual critiques in rapid succession at the end of each round. The reason, Seacrest explained, was because "this show is so tight."
So after each of the final five contestants sang one Neil Diamond song, Jackson zipped through his appraisals, offering a few terse words for each before kicking it to a visibly flustered Abdul.
"Oh gosh, we've never had to write these things down ... fast enough," she began, shuffling through her notecards. "Jason, first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear, um ... ."
And that's where it started going off the rails.
"The second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn't — it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty."
Indeed.
All six people on stage, including Seacrest, stared blankly (except Syesha Mercado, who wore the furrowed brow of mystification).
"The two songs," she continued, "made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four."
Paula, Love, perhaps a little less self-tanning cream and a lot more brandy. It does the body good.
