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American Idol 9: Finals Week 3 Performances, Tuesday March 30, 2010
R&B superstar, Usher, was this week's celebrity mentor as tonight's theme was R&B/soul. The performances should be interesting because this genre falls out of the comfort zone of most of this year's Idol contestants. Who hit a home run and who fouled out? Read on...
(1) Siobhan Magnus sang "Through the Fire" by Chaka Khan (1984). Our least favorite Siobhan performance thus far in the competition. Several sharp notes and listless verses made this an uneven performance all the way around. The producers gave her the key last-place slot last week, and the key first-place slot this week because she is obviously a favorite of both the audiences and the powers-that-be, but unfortunately that will make her misfire tonight all the more memorable. The judges gave her her harshest criticism, and it showed on her face, but we agree with Kara in that Siobhan has delivered great performances up until now and even the best artists have a bad night. Grade: C
(2) Casey James sang "Hold on I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave (1966). Casey gave an energetic, rock-flavored performance of this 60's soul classic that got the crowd cheering. Perhaps Casey's shining moment of the season both in terms of vocals and interpretation. Grade: A-
(3) Michael Lynche sang "Ready for Love" by India.Arie (2001). Michael gave a great stripped down performance that showed off the full texture and soulfulness of his voice. He didn't actually perform on the stage, but rather on the platform that is situated behind the judges' table. This more subdued rendition was moodily evocative and poignant, and really allowed Michael to shine as an artist. Like Casey, Michael gave a series best performance tonight. Grade: A-
(4) Didi Benami sang "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" by Jimmy Ruffin (1966). One of the quintessential melancholy ballads of all time was done competently, if not spectacularly by Didi. Didi's limited range simply could not bring such a big gutwrencher like this to life and make it soar. We agree with Randy's criticism in that it started at one level and stayed there through the entire performance. Grade: B-
(5) Tim Urban sang "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker (1986). We just don't think Tim has anything more in him than to be a quite average boy band singer. We can see him try to listen to the advice of the judges and of the guest mentors, but he simply doesn't have the life experience to put it into practice and lose himself in a song convincingly. That was readily apparant tonight in his trying-too-hard rendition of this classic hit by Anita Baker. On the other hand, as the judges pointed out, his vocals were largely in tune, so we won't completely dismiss him. Tim knows his toothy grin is his stock in trade, and he employs it early and often to get those votes from the teenyboppers out there, but he has been in the bottom 3 each week in spite of it, and we do feel his time to go home is soon to come. Grade: B-
(6) Andrew Garcia sang "Forever" by Chris Brown (2008). Andrew got back into his comfort zone of singing on a stool with an acoustic guitar and gave his most enjoyable performance of the last few weeks. Chris's main problem is that he doesn't often push himself vocally; he seems not to have a lot of power in his voice, and that prevents his performances from really taking off in an "Idol moment" way. Interestingly, this song was slated to be used by Doublemint gum (hence the "double your pleasure, double your fun" lyric). Grade: B+
(7) Katie Stevens sang "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin (1967). Katie changed it up this week and tried to get down and dirty with this Aretha classic. Her swagger was even almost convincing – almost – but, like Tim, needs a few more years of life experience to inform her performances and make them feel credible. Her vocals were for the most part immaculate, so she should have no trouble getting through to the next week. Grade: B+
(8) Lee DeWyze sang "Treat Her Like a Lady" by Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose (1971). Lee gave his best performance in weeks and really cut loose in a way that reminded us of former Idol winner, David Cook, in all the best ways. Lee was an early favorite of ours, but stumbled in recent weeks. Tonight, Lee redeemed himself completely and put himself right back in the game with the performance of the night. Lee finally got his "moment." Grade: A
(9) Crystal Bowersox sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973). Crystal's big surprise that she promised us last week was to ditch her acoustic guitar for a sit down at the piano – at least for the first half of the song. For us, the results were mixed, but mostly favorable. Clearly R&B/soul is not Crystal's sweet spot, so she did the best she could with the genre. However, the results were miles ahead of what her co-rontrunner, Siobhan Magnus, did. We agree with Simon in that, as much as the weekly genres allow, Crystal should stick to her folk rock comfort zone. Grade: B+
(10) Aaron Kelly sang "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers (1971). Like Tim Urban and Katie Stevens before him, Aaron is a young guy who just doesn't have enough life experience to sell a song with too much attitude or too much heartbreak. However, Aaron is a solid vocalist and acquitted himself well. Grade: B
The big surprises tonight were Siobhan's major stumble and Lee's triumph. Everyone else performed as expected, relatively speaking. Unfortunately for Siobhan, with fewer and fewer contestants, any bad performance can put them into danger, and we do feel that Siobhan is in danger after tonight's debacle. We expect the bottom 3 to consist of: Siobhan Magnus, Tim Urban, and Didi Benami. Siobhan has given us some incredible performances up until now, so we hope she has, just as Andrew Garcia had in recent weeks, enough fan support built up to carry her through tomorrow's results into next week. If however, she does end up with the lowest amount of votes, there is no doubt in our minds that the judges will use the Save on her to give her another shot because she simply does not deserve to go home because of one bad night.
Taking Siobhan out of the equation for a second, we think that even Tim Urban's contrived perma-grin won't save him tomorrow and that he will be the one going home.
American Idol 9: Finals Week 3 Results, Wednesday March 31, 2010
The only "shocker" regarding tonight's results is that Katie Stevens landed in the bottom 3 (again) rather than Siobhan as we had predicted. It seems that week to week, many of the same contestants end up in the danger zone no matter how well or badly they performed, so it's all coming down to fanbases. Just as Andrew's fanbase has carried him through during his weaker performances, it does seem as though Siobhan's sizable following has not deserted her in her hour of need.
Beyond that, both Didi Benami and Tim Urban also landed in the bottom 3 as predicted, and after Ryan sent Katie back to safety (as he did last week), it was down to Didi and Tim. After fantastic performances by both Usher and Sean Combs (now singing as "Diddy Dirty Money"), it was revealed that Teflon Tim's superpowers are still in effect, and that Didi Benami had the lowest number of votes. Didi sang Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" (which she sang in the semi-finals week 3), but the judges decided not to use the Save on her.
Therefore, Didi Benami is the one to go home tonight.
The theme for next week's show is, once again, the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Given many of the lackluster performances of this season, we wonder whether Sir Paul is regretting allowing American Idol to butcher, umm, sing his songs.
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