If Lilly Scott doesn't win this whole thing on the strength of her talent, she should win just by virtue of the fact that she's infinitely more interesting than, well, everyone else on Idol this season. Really. Her song choices alone ("Lullaby of Birdland," "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "I Fall to Pieces") are head and shoulders above her yawn-inducing counterparts.
Early on, a few of the judges asserted that this was going to be the girls year and pointed out how strong the female talent was this year as opposed to the guys. Really, though, they're all pretty underwhelming. Don't really see any superstars in the bunch. Wouldn't be surprised, in fact, if this year goes down as the least memorable season of Idol.
Hell, even Crystal Bowersox, Scott's chief rival at this point, who, admittedly, delivered a solid performance of Tracy Champman's "Give Me One Reason" struck us as dull. Don't get us wrong, the gal's got a nice little Susan Tedeschi thing going for her; we just happen to find that style as stimulating as filing our taxes -- not to mention, we've heard it a million times before.
And that, of course, only helps Lilly Scott, who sang Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" last night, stand out even more. Whether this will work in her favor or not, though, remains to be seen. Watching the instant reactions on twitter last night, there seems to be no middle ground. Folks either admire her unique voice, which often resembles Joanna Newsom, or they absolutely hate it and find it grating. A small sampling of last night's tweets from idol#:
Lilly's unique voice is killer. Simon's right she is brave & we love it.OK. Enough with this singing style. It's not unique anymore. Now it's just weird.
I don't know why I bother to doubt Lilly Scott. She's just brilliant. And I love people who play mandolins and banjos.
does anyone else want to stab this girl in the windpipe to get her to shut up? a little harsh I know but uh
Lilly wasn't perfect, but she brings some unpredictability to the mix. Thank heavens for that.
the sound of lilly scott's voice is like nails grating on a chalkboard. liked didi and crystal tonight.
I didn't love Lilly's take on Patsy. I thought she said she was going to bluegrass it up? A poorly played mandoline =/= bluegrass.
I like Lilly's voice, but I don't like the faces she makes when she sings
The judges, however, were anything but divided. Even though it was perhaps the least impressive of her performances thus far, Lilly still hung the moon, as far as they were concerned. Well, except for Simon, but what do you expect?
Randy Jackson: "Yo, listen, love the mandolin, love that song, love the original singer of that song. I think it was hot tonight, man. Listen, I like you. I think you're in the zone right now. So, good job. Well done. Well done."
Ellen DeGeneres: "Love your voice. Love your originality of your style. And loved it. Love you."
Kara DioGuardi: "I don't know how you did it, but you kind of made Patsy Cline feel current. You know? Feel like it was contemporary, so I gotta to give it to you for that."
Simon Cowell: "I think you're very brave for choosing that song on a night like this. What it didn't have, unfortunately, being that you've got the last spot -- that didn't have the 'wow' factor. You know, it was cute, it was quirky, it plays into what you're all about, but that could've been a risky thing to do, funny enough."
At this point, Lilly's playing with the house's money, if you ask us. To be honest, it's a bit surprising that she's made it this far. Not that she doesn't have the talent -- clearly, she does -- it's just that she's cut from such a different cloth as everyone else, that it's somewhat surprising that's she seems to have inspired the endorsement of mainstream America -- thus far, anyway. We'll see if this trend continues on Thursday.
