Mariah Carey celebrates birthday with profanity
To celebrate Mariah Carey's birthday, American Idol packed up the top eight contestants and headed to Motown. The contestants were tasked with singing from the famed Detroit label's songbook, with the help of Motown legend Smokey Robinson, and Jimmy Iovine. However any musician with even the most tenuous tie to Detroit was fair game, which is how we got songs ranging from standard Motown classics to Madonna. Sadly nobody went for legendary Detroit punk outfit Death, but I'm confident that if Charlie Askew had survived to Detroit week, he would have. If only Death had written ballads.
There were high points from last night's show, like when Amber Holcomb opted to sing Stevie Wonder's "Lately", a song Smokey Robinson was sure she would "annihilate". And she did. Mariah Carey deemed it an all-caps "TOUR DE FORCE" and when no one responded quickly enough, Mariah stood up and swore (it was bleeped so we don't know what word she used) in the hopes that "taking it to the lowest common denominator" would make people recognize that it was in fact a tour de force. Mariah's feat of profanity finally out-did Nicki Minaj who only managed a relatively understated, "When God created those vocal cords, he was showing off, honey child."
Another Mimi pleaser was Janelle Arthur's subtly overwhelming performance of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On". The second Janelle finished, with her guitar still in hand, Mariah was on her feet hollering, "Janelle at her finest!" Keith Urban agreed, while Randy Jackson couldn't keep his Idol Tourette's in check and shouted, "She's in it to win it!"
There were also low points, such as when Devin Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor finished their pitchy and generally abysmal version of "I Can't Help Myself" and Nicki announced, "I don't know what that was, but I'm gonna act like I didn't see it or hear it." Then she ordered them off the stage, which they did, but only after Devin and Burnell tried to kick Lazaro under the bus.
Most Mariah moment: It was Mimi's birthday so she carried a magical fairy wand, because she's Mariah Carey and she can carry a wand if she wants to. (excerpt from Rolling Stone)
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