Swedish Idol 16.10.2009: Michael Jackson Week

Not my favourite week if I'm honest - purely because you can't really imagine anyone doing justice to Michael Jackson songs apart from...the man himself. Some did better than others though.

In previous weeks I may have rated Calle Kristiansson but I'm beginning to believe that he's out of place in this competition, and unfortunately his "Bad" this week maybe just lived up to its name, even though he made the concession of wearing the Jacko-style military jacket. I think he may be gone next week.

If I ever wonder what happened to my 1979 disco trousers then wonder no more....they found their way to Camilla Håkansson: unfortunately the best I could say about "Human Nature" was the same as last week: cruise ship cabaret. A pity really as initially it looked as if she might have something different to offer.

Someone growing on me as the weeks go on, is Reza Ningtyas Lindh who managed to inject "The way you make me feel" with some of her now customary 'oomph'.

I realise now what unnerves me about the (usually good) Mariette Hansson: she physically performs a song like an arthritic granny. I felt she had an off week this week as I wasn't impressed by her "I want you back".

Eddie Razaz - the mere mention of the name has me weak at the knees of course. But what about his singing ability, I hear you ask? Hard to tell, particularly as "They don't care about us" is probably one of my least favourite Jacko songs, but he did enough to survive this week. He does have very good stage presence, and vocally he was ok. Cue gratuitous Eddie screencaps....




Tove Östman Styrke now has a real chance of winning this, and she poured her usual passionate performance into "Will You Be There". For someone so young, she has a great talent, but again I got the feeling that Jackson-week wasn't really the best showcase for it.

Nicklas Hocker may have ended up in the bottom two, but I thought there was something very likeable about his "Black or White", for some strange reason.

Many of last night's contestants were clearly out of their musical comfort zone but that couldn't be said for Rabih Jaber who to me is probably a 'wannabe' Michael Jackson, so he had no problems with "You Are Not Alone" although, like his previous performances, it left me cold.

Erika Selin, rumoured to be competing in the 2010 Melodifestivalen, is still one of my least favourite contestants this year, because (IMHO) she overcooks every song, every week. As she did likewise this week on "Beat It" and I can't really understand her appeal.

Unlike the young rocker Erik Grönwall; by this stage of the competition I'm now eagerly looking forward to his weekly performances. His "Thriller" was probably my favourite performance from this week.

Idol got a real coup this week, landing no less than Jordin Sparks. The bad news is that she sang the over-played, overcooked "No Air"; the good news is that we didn't have to suffer her duetting with Chris Brown - instead we had none other than last year's Swedish Idol winner ....Kevin Borg! I wish they'd have turned "Battlefield" into a duet instead - this is a song which I initially hated with a passion (and said so on this blog) but then realised that it's actually rather good indeed.

Bottom two this week: Nicklas & Camilla. Camilla goes home, presumably to wait by the phone for that all-important call from Christer Bjorkman. It's her life's ambition to do Melodifestivalen and if I'm honest I'd rather see her do it than Erika Selin, who I'm tired of already.