One more episode and it’s all over.
The final performance episode of Canadian Idol opened with a montage of Brian Melo and Jaydee Bixby from their first audition to tonight’s showdown, while “I Want it All” by Queen played in the background.
“I think in Brian’s case, he’s been steady and probably the most consistent we’ve ever had, he earned his spot,” Farley Flex said about Brian, adding that Jaydee began as a novelty but proved his worth as the summer went on.
“Two men enter, one man leaves,” Zack Werner said about what the night comes down to.
Bon Jovi was the guest mentor for the week, Jaydee and Brian flew down to New York to work with them shortly after the results show last week. The band had also worked with American Idol last season.
For their first song, both Jaydee and Brian had to sing a Bon Jovi song. Jaydee was the first up.
“He’s really likeable,” Richie Sambora said about Jaydee, who performed the country-esque, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” (probably not the best choice of songs on a show where your survival is dependent on people believing you don’t want to go home).
“I think you sang it well, as much as I could hear. But I don’t feel that you made the words believable to me,” Jake Gold told him.
Sass Jordan told him he did what he did, and did it well – whatever that means.
Werner was booed when he explained that Jaydee held the microphone so far away from his mouth, he could barely be heard in the theatre, so his performance to Werner was nothing more than someone singing along to the radio.
Brian chose to sing “This Ain’t A Love Song,” and his performance blew Bon Jovi away.
“I love the interpretation, there’s not that much to critique,” Jon Bon Jovi told Brian after his rehearsal with the two.
“Brian, that was exactly what we’ve come to expect from you,” Jordan told him.
“I try to avoid repeating my puns, just as I try to avoid repeating my clothes – but that was Melo-dramatic,” Flex told him.
“Brian Melo: one; Jaydee: no score,” was all Gold said.
The second song of the night sung by both Idol-wannabes was “All I Ever Wanted.”
Jaydee lost his twang for most of it though, which makes me wonder if that was his decision, or someone elses – because is he sang like that all of the time, I might not have minded him as much this season.
Flex echoed that sentiment, saying he wished Jaydee had put his own twist on the song, much like he did with “Break it to Them Gently” last week.
“Everybody relates differently to pressure and right now you are cracking, my friend, like a bad egg,” Werner told him.
Then we got to Brian’s performance, where once again he blew it out of the park. There was no doubt that Brian meant every word – that this was all he ever wanted.
“It sounds like you wrote it, it’s that simple,” Gold said after giving kudos to the songwriters.
“You owned it, there’s not much more to say,” Jordan told him.
Jaydee’s final song was “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones – the song that “could change the rest of my life,” as Jaydee put it before starting the performance.
Also in the tape, Jaydee stressed the importance his stage presence and movement would be during the song, since that is one of the things Tom Jones is known for. However, moving his way through the crowd, is not really the same as the movement exuded by Tom Jones.
“I thought that was entertaining in the way you were entertaining,” Gold said.
“That was much more in your comfort zone than the first two songs,” Flex said.
Brian’s final song of the night was “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, the judges were amazed.
“One thing that keeps shining through with every performance you do is the humility you have, and the grace you have,” Gold told him, before reminding voters that Canadian Idol is a singing contest, and Brian was the better singer.
So there we go. By the time the sun rises, it will all be over, even though we won’t know the results until tomorrow evening at 10 p.m. I’m running on two weeks straight with picking who was going home, but now I have no idea.
Statistically speaking, Jaydee has the edge because he’s from Alberta, and no other province gets behind their Idol-hopefuls more than Alberta. However, Brian is the better singer and gave the better performances hands down tonight. He also has a huge fan base in Hamilton (I got in trouble this weekend when I admitted while home in Hamilton I haven’t voted for Brian).
So I’m going to make a two-fold prediction: who should win – Brian, hands down. Who will win though? Sadly, I think Alberta trumps talent and Jaydee will still go home with the title.
We’ll find out soon enough.
