American Idol will close out its 13th season this week, after four months of auditions and competitions, and among a field of thousands, it has been narrowed down to two singers: Caleb Johnson and Jena Irene.
Ever since their auditions last year, it was clear that both these guys had the chops and potential to go far in the competition. While Caleb was consistently strong from day one, it took Jena a few weeks and a few struggles to really find her footing, energy and voice. Both have the rock influence in them, a surprising move for Idol, though Caleb has his roots in blues and classic rock and Jena leans toward powerhouse pop-punk and heavy EDM music.
So, who to pick? Both can sing, both have strong stage presence and both are generally likably characters.
Music Times has been recapping Idol all season and I've yet to come to a true favorite between these two, so even though Idol is based off weekly performances, I'm taking a look back at Caleb and Jena's journeys throughout season 13 in face-offs from their solo performances, to see who has had the best performances overall.
Check out the recaps and videos below, starting with...
Auditions:
Jena Irene: Detroit
Caleb Johnson: Atlanta
Score – Caleb: 1, Jena: 0
Hollywood Week Solo Performances
Jena Irene: Still as Jena Asciutto, the 17-year-old performed one of her original piano compositions, “Unbreakable Me.” This is where it became clear that when she wants to, Jena can rein in her voice when she wants to, as she showed a massive amount of control with the dynamics of the song, swelling high for emphasis and quickly coming back to the surface for added emotional drama. This Hollywood Week performance was simply stunning and helped to show off her soft side, which is really her strong point.
Caleb Johnson: Caleb started off with a little bit of his showmanship, singing an introduction as he strolled on stage for his solo Hollywood Week jaunt. Soon, he chose to tackle Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” likely the rockingest song among his choices and was perfectly solid. His rasp established him early as an old soul in the music world, and his high noted worked insanely well with this song. That being said, this lacked any real dedication or power, which Caleb would later go on to master throughout season 13.
Score – Caleb: 1, Jena: 1
Jena Irene: Despite her drive, early on in the competition, it was never really clear that Jena was going to move on, let alone make it to the final two. Her performance of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" showed off the screechy side of her voice, which isn't really a good thing. Jena also has this thing (which continued throughout the whole competition) where she never really hits the note right on the head, instead wavering around it, and that was painfully clear here. Jena ended up being a wild card pick for the judges on season 13 (alongside Kristen O'Connor and C.J. Harris), and this performance shows potential but why American didn't pick her the first time around.
Caleb Johnson: Unlike Jena, who wavered during her "Rush Week" performance, Caleb Johnson delivered the best song for the boys, far and away, with The Faces' "Stay With Me." The upbeat song was a perfect for his raspy Jack Black voice and swagger, and Caleb was insanely comfortable on the stage, which was a relief early on in the competition. He's clearly having a ball, and that really counts for something. He was a true performer from day one.
Score – Caleb: 2, Jena: 1
Jena Irene: Going back to her top 13 performance, it's really hard to believe that Jena made it as far as she has on American Idol. At the time, I thought her performance of "The Scientist" was strong due to the pure volume and gusto she put forth, but looking back, it was a little sloppy. She was a tad bit off-key throughout the entire performance, and once again, her vocals were wavering. Jena also opted to largely just stand in the center of the stage, making for a frozen presence.
Caleb Johnson: Early on in the competition, every single Idol contestant was frozen onstage in the arguably most amateur crop of finalists to date... but not Caleb Johnson. For the top 13, he chose Rival Sons' "Pressure And Time," and growled his way like the true balls-to-the-walls rocker he is. It was creepy, crawly and, of course, a perfect vocal.
Score – Caleb: 3, Jena: 1
Caleb Johnson: It was always inevitable that Caleb would perform Rush this season on Idol, and it only took him to the second live show to do so. It was obvious that he's a very consistent performer, as he headbanged his way through this ode to the, well, "Working Man." I worried Caleb would grow predictable throughout his tenure on Idol, and in a way, he did, but it never really worked against him. He was predictably solid.
Jena Irene: This is the lone performance that landed Jena in the bottom three, a much needed wakeup call for her during the early stages of the show. She performed KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See," and though she was a little more comfortable on stage than some of her fellow contestants, the vibes and tempo of this song just were not a good fit for her voice, let alone the vocal range. The pep was there, just not the vocals. Luckily enough for Jena, she was allowed to stick around for the top 11 (and on).
Score – Caleb: 4, Jena: 1
Caleb Johnson: Right when it felt like we were only going to hear classic rock from Caleb for three months, he chose to sing Adele's "Skyfall" for Idol's Cinema Week. Adele's voice purely soars in the original, and Caleb is perfectly capable to match her note for note, even soaring above her with an impressive run at the end of the song. Fitting for the track's creeping melody, he stood ominously on stage, just leaning with the mic stand. Maybe he's a dynamic performer after all...
Jena Irene: Caleb was a little surprising with his top 11 pick, but it was a pretty obvious choice for Jena to cover a Paramore track, and she went for the Twilight single "Decode." Smoke and all, Jena opted to sit this one at the piano, a wise choice that gave a her a big recovery from her floppy top 12 song. She didn't quiiiite live up to Colton Dixon's, but the performance was so redeeming, I gotta give her the point here.
Score – Caleb: 4, Jena: 2
Caleb Johnson: Two weeks in a row, Caleb tackled pop megastars, with him performing Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" for the Billboard top 10 week. His vocals were nothing but slay, but he took the song down quite a bit in the tempo, and the normally dynamic performer remained center stage. Great vocal, dull performance.
Jena Irene: Jena had basically the opposite approach for her top 10 performance, getting really into the performance of Zedd and Foxes' "Clarity" and sort of letting the vocals fall to the wayside. She was still more or less able to hit the notes and it was fabulous to see her come into her own on stage.
Score – Caleb: 4, Jena: 3
Jena Irene: It was rock week for the top 9, so both Jena and Caleb were guaranteed to shine, and they did, giving the two strongest performances of the evening by a long shot. Jena logically tackled Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life," a song that demands the kind of insanely loud voice Jena has. Mixed with her gothy energy and always on point interactions with the band, this showed that Jena would make a great frontwoman.
Caleb Johnson: And Caleb did Led Zeppelin's "Dazed And Confused." The classic rock song was just dripping with testosterone as Caleb slayed everything about this performance: his vocals were stellar and raspy (surely making Robert Plant proud), and his interactions with the band were truly something to behold. This was the night that established Caleb as a real frontrunner for season 13, despite his old school rock roots.
Score – Caleb: 5, Jena: 3
Jena Irene: American Idol loves a success story and consistent improvement from week-to-week. Though Caleb was seasoned far before entering the judging room, Jena had a lot of room to grown. When she returned to her audition song, Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep,” it was clear how much confidence she’d gained and how much strength. She took things down a few tempos, but the effect was haunting and vocally effective.
Caleb Johnson: The top 8 found the singers returning to their original audition songs, to show the process and growth throughout Idol’s intensive program and changing, so Caleb was singing “Chain Of Fools” once again. The performance itself left a little to be desired, though his vocals were on point. Caleb shines when he’s owning the stage, running around like a true rock god, here he was (fittingly) subdued, which was musically solid but visually dull.
Score – Caleb: 5, Jena: 4
Jena Irene: If there's one cover that I'm personally super over, it's Joan Jett's "I Love Rock N Roll." Obvious song choice aside, Jena Irene gave a nice little creeping performance of this song. It was damn near gloomy in a cool way, so it was more than bearable.
Caleb Johnson: Jena's song choice was a thing of karaoke anthems, but Caleb was an inevitable, delicious nugget of ballad rock 'n' roll, a little truer to the art form than Jena's Joan Jett. Yes, Caleb went for Journey. "Faithfully," nonetheless, and with a soaring vocal, tons of packed emotion and a beautiful vocal performance, Caleb carried this night away in his pocket.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 4
Caleb Johnson: Caleb just doesn't work that well in the upper mid-tempo musical range, so when another contestant chose for him to sing King Of Leon's "Family Tree," they must have known this. It took Caleb a minute or so to really grow comfortable in the song and find his footing, but once he did, he more or less rocked it for a completely middle-of-the-road performance.
Jena Irene: Conversely, Jena Irene gave one of this season's most beautiful and perfectly fitting performances during the top 7, when she sang Radiohead's "Creep." The blend of an acoustic and harder rock arrangement worked heavily in Jena's favor and that high note was something of legend. At first, I wasn't fully moved by this performance, but during rewatches, it comes off really well.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 5
Caleb Johnson: Here, each performer started singing two songs, and Caleb performed Carrie Underwood's "Undo It" and Black Crowes' "Sting Me." He got his sassmaster out for "Undo It," but really slithered like an old pro during the raucous "Sting Me." Caleb was a true performer from day one, but it really came through during the top 6.
Jena Irene: Jena can live in both the big and small moments, which she did insanely well during the top 6. Let's face it, both these singers were clear frontrunners since the middle of the live shows, so it was just a matter of how well they would do during the top 6. Jena proved her frontwoman finesse once again during Heart's "Barracuda," and her "So Small" was solid, though nothing particularly splendid. But, it was nice to se her hold her classic rock own up against Caleb.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 6
Caleb Johnson: This week showed Caleb’s first real falter of the season, as he totally flubbed Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.” He was exasperated, tired and raspy in a bad way through the first half, only to barely recover at the end. His second take, Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night” was a much stronger showing, with him winding around the vocals like he is always wont to do, but at this point it was becoming clear that Caleb’s vocal chords were a ticking timebomb.
Jena Irene: Jena was similarly inconsistent for the top 5, and gave a wonky, weirdly paced performance of the classic “Valerie.” Like Caleb, though, she was quickly recovered in a big way with a bombastic, explosive and energetic performance of Young The Giant’s “My Body.” She waved her arms like an ol’ hippie and really felt the music, in a nice, genuine moment for Idol season 13.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 7
Jena Irene: And then she stole the competition. Jena's stellar performance of "Can't Help Falling In Love" showed the true strength in the small, quiet moments. Though she's often known for being a loud performer, this subdued performance is thus far the strongest of the year. Her other takes this week, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and Pat Benatar's "Heart Breaker" were just OK and then solid, but her Elvis performance was the true stunner of the season.
Caleb Johnson: Similarly, Caleb also proved the strength in the small stuff, with Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," which was his quietest showing, featuring a sweet falsetto and plenty of high emotions. Caleb also did really strong takes on Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name' and CCR's "Travelin' Band," so while he was more consistent than Jena, he was less purely amazing.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 8
Jena Irene: The top 3 episode of Idol featured a best-of song (picked by the hometown), a choice from Randy Jackson and a choice from the judges. Jena, rightfully, retackled Radiohead’s “Creep” for her actual strongest performance of the night but pulled a real romper out of her pocket with a soaring vocal take on Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack,” a truly powerful moment that broke through after she won with “Can’t Help Falling In Love” the previous week. Her “Titanium…” well, it didn’t live up to Sia, but few can. Her other two songs more than made up for that flub, however.
Caleb Johnson: After singing with an unbridled rasp for months, Caleb Johnson finally shot his voice… just in time for the Idol top 3. His performances of Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” and INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” were far and away his worst of the season, though he was more or less able to recover once again with his standy “Dazed And Confused.” Based on these performances alone, it’s shocking Caleb made it intot he final, but his consistency throughout the rest of the season, luckily for him, proved him worthy.
Score – Caleb: 6, Jena: 9
American Idol's final performance show airs tonight (May 20) at 8 p.m. on FOX. Who do you think has been better throughout the season? Feel free to fire off in the comments below!
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