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TV FLASHBACK: American Idol Season 8 Revisited
Written by US Townhall staff   
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 04:05

American Idol 8: Semi-Finals Round 3 Performances, 3/3/09

Last night was the final viewers' choice round in creating this season's top 12 on American Idol. We get the results tonight, and the Wildcard show is tomorrow where the final 3 contestants, all judge's choices, will be announced.

Overall, the performances last night were far superior to either of the previous 2 weeks. If the contest were structured as it was in previous seasons, most of the top 12 would have come from this group, and 3 or 4 of the six already chosen would not be there right now.

(1) Von Smith sang "You're All I Need to Get By" by Marvin Gaye (1968) and sang it fantastically. We've seen his performances on YouTube and The View where he constipatedly-shouted "And I'm Telling You..." from the Dreamgirls soundtrack. We've seen him do the same type of performances during his audition and during Hollywood week. Last night, we actually got to see him sing, and he started off the night on a very strong note. It's good to see someone who is serious about making a career in music take the criticism he was given by Simon, internalize it, and make the necessary fundamental adjustments to his singing style rather than get all defensive about it. Von had a triumphant moment last night, and he should sail through to the top 12.

(2) Taylor Vaifanua sang "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys (2003). This was one of those performances where it got better as it went along. It started off weakly in the first verse where Taylor's voice struggled to wrap itself completely around the quiet, subdued notes. Once the song opened up into the more robust chorus, she was able to unleash the power vocals, and acquitted herself well. Overall, however, we agree with the judges that, in a sea of above-par performances last night, she will be lost, and will not be voted into the top 12. We also don't believe she will be asked back for the Wildcard round.

(3) Alex Wagner-Trugman sang "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" by Elton John (1983). This started off decently, but quickly devolved into a corny, silly performance with lots of ill-advised growling. Simon said he was like a hamster trying to be a tiger, which pretty much hit the nail on the head. Clay Aiken had a similar dorky persona, but, beyond being one of the best male vocalists in Idol history, knew how to work the stage like a pro. Alex really has no stage charisma. Other than that, the vocals weren't terrible, but this was not a top-12-worthy performance. There's no possible way Alex will be voted through tonight, and we don't believe the judges will give him another chance during the Wildcard round.

(4) Arianna Afsar sang "The Winner Takes It All" by ABBA (1980). Easily the worst female vocal of the night. Arianna, cute as a button as advertised, tried to change this flimsy ABBA oldie into something more contemporary. However, the song, already cloyingly emotive, doesn't lend itself well to becoming even moreso. This could be a case of reacting to the judges too much and trying to make yourself into something you're not. She was trying to be older than her 17 years, and it came across as unconvincingly as a little girl dressing up in her mother's clothes. Beyond that, she did have problems vocally throughout the song as her voice flattened out when trying for the more difficult notes. This is probably the last we will be seeing of Arianna. We don't expect her to be voted through tonight or be asked back for the Wildcard.

(5) Ju'Not Joyner sang "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts (2005). This was a nice, subdued performance of the song, but it didn't quite show off the full potential of Ju'Not's vocals, some of which we saw in the Hollywood week clip. Ju'Not is at a serious disadvantage here in that he's a good vocalist, maybe one of the strongest this season, but he has not been featured on the show until now. If we had seen a lot of him before now, then showing his softer side might have been a good move strategically, but with things as they are, he has the potential to get lost among the more memorable contestants. This would be a shame, and, while we don't expect him to get voted through to the top 12 tonight, we hope that the judges will bring him back for the Wildcard round.

(6) Kristen McNamara sang "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman (1995). The instant she started singing, she reminded us of Kelly Clarkson -- a sentiment shared by the judges. This was a confident performance, and one of our favorite female vocals of the night. Kristen made a strong, positive impression on us, and we hope it's enough to make voters forget about all the drama she was involved in during Hollywood week. We expect her to be in the top 12 one way or another. If she doesn't get voted in tonight, she is a shoo-in to be asked back for the Wildcard show.

(7) Nathaniel Marshall sang "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf (1993). You need a particular kind of vocal talent to wrap your voice around one of Jim Steinman's bombastic musical novellas, and Nathaniel simply didn't have it. The judges tend to overuse the term "karaoke" when describing these performances, but although they didn't call it that, we will. We have all the faith in the world that Nathaniel is the bag of fun that he purports to be, but this is a singing contest, and in order to pull off a Steinman song, you need to have unbelievable power vocals -- something that Nathaniel lacks. Wrong song choice for him, which means we have seen the last of him.

(8) Felicia Barton sang "No One" by Alicia Keys (2007). In general, this was a strong vocal performance, but technically, Felicia did have problems hitting some of the bigger notes. For us, she falls somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as the female contestants are concerned. We don't see her getting through tonight, but we wouldn't be surprised to see her back for the Wildcard episode.

(9) Scott MacIntyre sang "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range (1986). Scott started the song off strong and the vocals remained consistently good throughout. He's been given a lot of exposure on the show, and has become an audience favorite. True, he has a built-in sympathy factor, but like Danny in Round 1, he does have the vocals to back it up. He's got a great shot at being voted through tonight, but will clearly be brought back for the Wildcard if not.

(10) Kendall Beard sang "This One's for the Girls" by Martina McBride (2003). Kendall falls into the same category as Ju'Not in that she was not featured on the show prior to last night. However, she is the only country singer on the show, so she made an instant and memorable impression. Her vocals were a solid B to B+, but her voice did flatten out at the upper register a number of times throughout the song. If she had been in any of the two prior rounds this season, she would have had a better shot at being voted through, but Round 3 was chock full of talent, so her best hope of landing in the top 12 would be to be called back for the Wildcard.

(11) Jorge Nunez sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John (1974). We think the judges overdid it on congratulating Jorge on singing in English and not letting his accent show through too much. It did come across as patronizing as Simon pointed out. We thought we had made up our minds about which male would get the highest votes before he sang, but Jorge really knocked this difficult song out of the park. It wasn't quite the triumph that Clay Aiken had with this song during the Season 2 semi-finals, but it did make us rethink our opinions as to who would be the top vote getters of the male vocalists in this round. Jorge has the added advantage of being the last male to perform, which will make him memorable. It will be difficult to sort through all the great male vocal performances last night, and he would have been voted through with ease in either of the last two rounds, but he still has a great chance of landing in the top 12 either tonight or during the Wildcard.

(12) Lil Rounds sang "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige (2005). Lil brought the house down and ended the night on a great note. In a night full of good-to-great performances, she still managed to stand out. Simon still hasn't managed to say the word "undoubtedly" correctly, screwing it up as "undoubtably," but he was right in his critique: Lil is undoubtedly one of the better vocalists and stage performers this season. A lock for the top 12, Lil will undoubtedly land in the top 5 of this season as well.

It's a shame that the 3 rounds of the semi-finals were broken down in such a lopsided manner because so many more than 3 people deserve to be put through to the top 12. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that 7 or 8 of the top 12 should have come from this week's performers. Hopefully, when the judges review the tapes, they will select all of last night's deserving performers to come back for one last shot during the Wildcard episode, which airs Thursday.

Our predictions for the top vote getters of Round 3 are:
- Kristen McNamara
- Kendall Beard
- Lil Rounds

- Von Smith
- Scott MacIntyre
- Jorge Nunez

For the actual top 3, we'd go with Von Smith, Lil Rounds, and Kristen McNamara.



 

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