AMERICAN IDOL Season 9: Episode-by-Episode | Print |
Written by US Townhall staff   
Thursday, 25 February 2010 17:46

 

CLICK HERE TO JUMP DIRECTLY TO MOST RECENT WEEK

 

American Idol begn in earnest this week, as the top 24 contestants took to the live Idol stage to perform for America's votes.  Last season's format for the semi-final rounds has been scuttled, and it has returned to the format more familiar to viewers of seasons 4 through 7.  Each week, the women and men perform on differnet nights with the bottom two going home each week for the next three rounds.  When the semi-finals are done, we'll have our top 12 that will go on to the big stage at the Kodak Theater.

Looking at the way the competition has shaped up so far, we don't think it's going too far out on a limb to predict that the winner of this season will be female.  Let's take a look at the performances from this week.

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 1 Ladies' Performances, Tuesday 2/23/10

(1) Paige Miles sang "All Right Now" by Free (1970).  Good, but not great, performance.  Verses were fine, but Paige was swallowed up by the background singers and the band during the chorus (refrain).  We'd rate it a B+ and feel that Paige should be safe when the results are revealed.

(2) Ashley Rodriguez sang "Happy" by Leona Lewis (2009).  Subpar rendition that compares noticeably quite unfavorably to the original by Simon Cowell discovery Leona Lewis.  Simon felt that Ashley could be "in trouble" when the results are revealed, and we agree.  Grade: C

(3) Janell Wheeler sang "What About Love" by Heart (1985).  We liked Janell during Hollywood Week with her great, stripped down performance of Estelle's "American Boy" on acoustic guitar, but a Heart power ballad was way beyond the scope of her talent and her voice simply lacks the power necessary to sell that song.  Going off key several times did not help matters.  Grade: C

(4) Lilly Scott sang "Fixing a Hole" by The Beatles (1967).  Although Sgt. Pepper is often cited as the greatest album ever in the Rock Era of music, this minor, unknown cut was a strange song choice, and we didn't feel that Lilly did anything to make us love this song or bring it to life for the vast majority of viewers who have never heard it before.  It was sung reasonably well, but performed blandly.  Grade: B

(5) Katelyn Epperly sang "Oh! Darling" by The Beatles (1969).  Epperly's torch song rendition really worked for us, and it had almost a country flavor to it.  Katelyn delivered a good, solid vocal – the best of the night up until then – and we really couldn't find any faults here.  Grade: A-

(6) Haeley Vaughn sang "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles (1963).  Haely's version of this well-known Beatles classic was youthful and jubilant, and while there were some bum notes, we liked her vocals and performance overall.  Grade: B

(7) Lacey Brown sang "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac (1975).  The worst vocal of the night.  Lacey's voice fell flat many times throughout her performance, and because her voice couldn't reach the rich depths that Stevie Nicks' could, the song was ultimately emotionally uninvolving.  Grade: D

(8) Michelle Delamor sang "Fallin'" by Alicia Keyes (2001).  Good and solid, but we agree with Ellen in that it fell so squarely within Michelle's comfort zone that it was a little too safe.  Still, unquestionably one of the best vocals of the night.  Grade: A-

(9) Didi Benami sang "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson (2007).  We liked this a whole lot more than Simon did and thought it was one of the better vocals delivered by the women that night.  Didi's voice and highly commercial appearance should guarantee her safety when the results are revealed.  Grade: A-

(10) Siobhan Magnus sang "Wicked Games" by Chris Isaak (1989).  Siobhan pleasantly surprised us with this difficult song choice.  Her vocals were evocative and haunting, and she was definitely our favorite of the night.  Grade: A

(11) Crystal Bowersox sang "Hand in My Pocket" by Alanis Morissette (1995).  Crystal accompanied herself on both the acoustic guitar and the harmonica and delivered a solid folk rock performance.  We felt that Crystal was convincing and authentic in that genre, but wonder how she'll fare if she makes it to the top 12 and has to sing more diverse types of songs.  Grade: B+

(12) Katie Stevens sang "Feeling Good" from the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965).  This has been covered more than once on American Idol – Adam Lambert did it last year.  We liked Katie's rendition and disagree with the judges that it was too old for her.  Again, another good, solid vocal, and Katie should have no problem making it through to the next round.  Grade B+

We think that overall, the ladies delivered a solid night of performances especially taking into account that this was the first night and everyone's nerves are heightened.  Our picks for the bottom 2 would have to be from among Lacey Brown, Ashley Rodriguez, and Janell Wheeler, with the first two being our definitive choices.

Who will actually be in the bottom two and going home?  We'll find out on Thursday.

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 1 Men's Performances, Wednesday 2/24/10

(1) Todrick Hall sang "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson (2004).  Todrick gave a funked up version of Kelly's big hit.  Did we say "funked" up?  Hmmm.  We didn't like it, and the judges mostly felt the same.  Grade: C-

(2) Aaron Kelly sang "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts (2009).  Aaron simply didn't have the vocal chops to tackle this difficult Rascal Flatts song, which was co-written by American Idol Season 6 finalist, Chris Sligh.  His voice went off-key several times, and it was a lackluster performance in general.  Grade: C+

(3) Jermaine Sellers sang "Get Here" by Oleta Adams (1991).  Another mediocre-at-best performance.  The loud parts were screechy; the soft parts were underdone.  Overall, not good and way too over the top.  Grade: C

(4) Tim Urban sang "Apologize" by One Republic (2006).  Tim started off decently in the verse, but once he hit the chorus and tried to go to the falsetto range, he quickly showed the severe limitations in his voice.  The song was simply out of his range, and he knew it.  Grade: C

(5) Joe Muñoz sang "You and I Both" by Jason Mraz (2004).  Joe gave the best vocal of the night thus far, and performed the song charismatically.  Jason Mraz is a pretty distinctive artist, but Joe did a respectable version.  Unfortunately, Simon gave damamging criticism in that he called it forgettable.  Grade: B+

(6) Tyler Grady sang "American Woman" by The Guess Who (1970).  Tyler busted out the leather pants and his best Jim Morrison stage moves, and while the vocal was fairly good, we agree with Simon in that his performance was cliche and too on-the-nose in terms of being a 70s rock star.  All the judges gave him severely damaging criticism.  Grade: B

(7) Lee DeWyze sang "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol (2006).  Nice vocal by Lee who reminded us of a more rock version of last season's Danny Gokey in terms of his vocal tone.  His performance, where he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, was energetic and a crowd-pleaser.  Grade: B+

(8) John Park sang "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday (1942).  John's voice sounded fine when he opened up and sang the higher parts of the song, but his lower register was lacking and inconsistent.  Overall, however, it was one of the better performances of the night.  However, we did agree with Simon in that it was performed too devoid of passion and emotion.  Grade: B-

(9) Michael Lynche sang "This Love" by Maroon 5 (2004).  Michael has very much the same stage charisma as previous Idol winner, Reuben Studdard, but without the great vocal talent that Studdard had.  Taking a Maroon 5 song, that contains many falsetto parts, and singing a mid-register version all the way through rendered the song ineffective and compared very unfavorably to the original.  Grade: B-

(10) Alex Lambert sang "Wonderful World" by James Morrison (2006).  Alex has a great, interesting tone to his voice somewhat similar to Lee DeWyze who performed earlier.  There were some rough patches in his performance, but overall, we did like his vocal.  His stage presence needs work, but we did feel that Simon took the criticism too far.  Grade: B

(11) Casey James sang "Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1985).  Beyond all the schtick surrounding Kara's crush on him, Casey did deliver a rock-solid vocal that sat perfectly within his vocal range.  Every year it seems Idol selects a guy to be the designated heartthrob, and this year it's Casey.  That can be a huge disadvantage if it starts to overshadow him as an artist, but so far he has proved himself vocally.  Grade: A

(12) Andrew Garcia sang "Sugar, We're Goin Down" by Fall Out Boy (2005).  Coming into the competition, Andrew was already a fan favorite thanks to both his previous following on YouTube as well as his acoustic rendition of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" during Hollywood Week that has also become a YouTube hit.  Andrew gave our favorite vocal of the night with a highly entertaining version of the Fall Out Boy song.  Every note in tune, this was great from start to finish.  The judges all gave him some really inappropriate criticism and unfortunately put him in the position where he had to compete with himself and his earlier Idol performance and actually made him feel as if he had failed tonight.  Ridiculous.  Grade: A

Our guesses for the two men to be eliminated would be from among Tim Urban, Todrick Hall, and Jermaine Sellers.

Looking at the two nights, it was pretty clear to us that the ladies delivered better than the guys overall, but there were some great performances from a select few of the men.  Some frontrunners are already beginning to emerge to us.  From the ladies, we think Katelyn Epperly, Michelle Delamor, Didi Benami, and Siobhan Magnus will all make it into the top 12.  From the guys, Andrew Garcia and Casey James are pretty much guaranteed to advance.  We also expect good things from Lee DeWyze, Alex Lambert, and Michael Lynche, although with Lynche, it's more due to his charisma and backstory because his vocals haven't wowed us at any point thus far.

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 1 Results, Thursday 2/25/10

The results show both surprised us and did not surprise us.  For the women, we correctly guessed who would be in the bottom two, but for the men, we were completely off.  Tim Urban's backstory about being a second-chance pick after the dismissal of Chris Golightly and his teen-appeal looks may have won him some fans, but he will definitely have to step up his vocals or he'll be gone by the midlist even if he does make top 12.

Joe Muñoz's dismissal caught us completely off guard, but Simon's harsh criticism about his performance being very forgettable might have been the only thing the voting audience remembered about him.  Tyler Grady's being voted off was also a bit of a surprise, but not a completely shocking development.  However, we really feel that all three of our guy nominees to be voted off were more appropriate than the two that America actually voted off, but even if they had remained in the contest, we didn't see either one of them actually winning.

So, in summary, the four contestants voted off after the Round 1 Semi-Final performances were: Ashley Rodriguez, Janell Wheeler, Joe Muñoz, and Tyler Grady.


American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 2 Men's Performances, Tuesday 3/2/10

Due to the illness of Crystal Bowersox, the ladies of American Idol will perform tomorrow rather than tonight as scheduled.  This means the guys have to step it up and go onstage a day earlier than planned.  They only received the news early this morning. 

(1) Michael Lynche sang "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" by James Brown (1965).  Michael started the night off perfectly, and we hope it bodes well for the rest of the men's performances tonight.  Perfectly in tune, perfect attitude, perfect delivery.  We agree with the judges in that it was Michael's best performance so far in the competition.  Grade: A

(2) John Park sang "Gravity" by John Mayer (2006).  John has a nice, rich tone to his voice that is both unique, and, we feel, commercial.  He seems much more relaxed this week, but we weren't crazy about his song choice as it really didn't give him the opportunity to show a wide vocal range.  Further, his performance was capable, but lacked star quality.  Grade: B+

(3) Casey James sang "I Don't Want To Be" by Gavin DeGraw (2003).  We remember Elliot Yamin's version of this song during Season 5, and it was also performed by Bo Bice (Season 4) and Chris Richardson (Season 6).  Casey accompanied himself on the electric guitar, and it may have changed the arrangement of the song too much because we were underwhelmed by his vocals tonight.  His voice fell short in several places and it was swallowed up by his own guitar.  We agree with Simon and Kara's critiques in that this was not a song and arrangement that he could pull off successfully.  Grade: B

(4) Alex Lambert sang "Everybody Knows" by John Legend (2009).  A lot of the guys this season have distinctive tones to their voices, and Alex is one of those.  His performances sound interesting no matter what song he sings.  We liked Alex last week more than the judges did, but we agree that his performance this week felt more natural and relaxed.  His vocals were good-to-great as usual, and we look forward to seeing Alex devleop as a performer over the coming weeks.  Grade: B+

(5) Todrick Hall sang "What's Love Got to Do with It" (1984).  Todrick said he wasn't going to change the song from the original version as much as he did with last week's choice, but we still felt he obscured the classic melody way too much.  For those of us who can't remember his original audition which wowed the judges, we are only left with two consecutive weeks of lackluster vocals.  Last week, we chose Todrick as one of our bottom performers, and thus far he's the worst of tonight's.  Grade: C

(6) Jermaine Sellers sang "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye (1971).  Once again, we didn't care for Jermaine's performance.  His falsetto is way too thin and indistinct to carry so much of the song.  We agree with all the judges in that he took a great, simple song and overstuffed it with tricks and vocal gymnastics that were inappropriate to the meaning and intent of the lyrics with the end result being emotionally uninvolving.  Grade: C-

(7) Andrew Garcia sang "You Give Me Something" by James Morrison (2006).  This performance by the usually-reliable Garcia was surprisingly disappointing to us.  Andrew's voice flattened out in a couple of places, and it was overall the most inconsistent performance from him thus far in the competition.  Andrew is still a fan favorite, but we did see a major misstep tonight.  Probably not fatal at this point, but he does need to recover from this.  His frontrunner status is now not as certain as it was coming into the semi-finals.  Grade: B

(8) Aaron Kelly sang "My Girl" by The Temptations (1964).  Aaron took a very difficult and beloved song and did a fine rendition of it.  Noticeably more comfortable and confident than he was last week, his vocals were much more solid and consistent.  Definitely an improvement, but still hasn't vaulted himself out of the midlist among the guys.  Grade: B+

(9) Tim Urban sang "Come On Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson (2007).  Tim was much better this week, both vocally and in his performance, and accompanied himself on acoustic guitar.  He still doesn't have the best voice among the guys and continues to hit the occasional bum note, but we now at least have some idea of what Tim can do with a song.  Taking the two weeks together, we're still dubious about Tim, and wonder just how far he can go in this competition.  Grade: B

(10) Lee DeWyze sang "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder (2005).  Lee gave another impressive, memorable performance this week.  While Andrew Garcia has been getting the lion's share of the buzz this season, Lee is a potential dark horse and is one of our favorites from among all the 20 contestants remaining.  If Lee keeps improving his performances and stage presence, we can see him in the top 2 this season.  Grade: A-

For us, this week, the guys were overall much better and more relaxed than they were last week in spite of having to go a day earlier than expected.  Our predictions for the bottom 2 this week would be Todrick Hall and Jermaine Sellers.  If Aaron Kelly ended up there, we wouldn't be surprised because his song choice, "My Girl," may simply have been too old for the American Idol audience.

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 2 Ladies' Performances, Wednesday 3/3/10

After a day's delay due to the illness of Crystal Bowersox, the ladies take the stage.  Did they make the most of their extra day?  Read on to see our take on the highs and lows of ladies' night.

(1) Crystal Bowersox sang "Long As I Can See the Light" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970).  Fantastic way to start off the night.  Crystal was in complete control of this song all the way through and delivered a spectacular vocal in spite of being seriously ill just 24 hours earlier.  We didn't "misunderestimate" her last week the way Simon did because we did see her as a potentially great folk rock performer, and she certainly continued to prove us right this week.  Grade: A

(2) Haeley Vaughn sang "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus (2009).  Off-key throughout much of the song, we actually felt that she was better and more enjoyable last week in spite of what the judges thought.  We think Haeley is in serious danger after tonight's performance.  This song should have really worked for her, but her voice needs a lot more work before it can tackle this deceptively simple song.  Grade: C

(3) Lacey Brown sang "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer (1997).  Better than last week in that the song was not beneath her range the way Stevie Nicks was, but still a lackluster effort from Lacey.  We think the judges made the correct decision last season when she was not put through to the final 24.  We agree with Simon in that Lacey simply is not memorable either as a performer or a vocalist.  Grade B-

(4) Katie Stevens sang "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae (2006).  Competent, but not spectacular.  We don't think that the problem is that Katie isn't choosing songs that are "young enough."  We just feel that Katie doesn't have the chops to take a song and make it soar.  Much like Haeley, she can be cute on cue, but as a performer fails to get past a high school musical vibe.  Grade: B

(5) Didi Benami sang "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers (1972).  We love the tone of Didi's voice.  It reminds us somewhat of Meagan Joy from last season, but this was clearly a wrong song choice for her as her alterations to the melody made this classic track unrecognizable in most places.  However, we felt that she took the judges' criticisms way too hard and it showed in her face and body language.  That may transmit to the audience and give them the subliminal suggestion that they should not bother to vote for her, which would be a shame.  Grade: B

(6) Michelle Delamor sang "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed (2000).  Surprising song choice by Michelle, but she simply didn't put the power in this famous power ballad.  For us, the vocals just laid there.  They weren't understated enough to take the song to a melancholy place that could have been different and interesting nor were they bombastic enough to compare favorably to Scott Stapp's original.  Grade: B-

(7) Lilly Scott sang "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke (1964).  Like Crystal Bowersox, Lilly is a performer that one wouldn't ordinarily associate with a showcase like American Idol, but we agree that it's a good thing that she's in this competition.  Like Simon, we prefered her last week, but she's always watchable and interesting each time she hits the stage.  A Sam Cooke song is a challenge for even the most seasoned of performers, but we think she acquitted herself well.  Grade: B+

(8) Katelyn Epperly sang "The Scientist" by Coldplay (2002).  We liked Katelyn last week, and we loved her this week.  Katelyn has such a rich, full voice, and we thought that her slowed down, methodical version actually worked because it allowed that richness to shine through because each note was fully developed and not rushed.  Singing that slowly is actually a risk because if she were off-key or "pitchy," it would really be noticeable, but fortunately she didn't have that problem.  Katelyn's a favorite of ours, and we hope she continues in this competition.  Grade: A

(9) Paige Miles sang "Walk Away" by Kelly Clarkson (2004).  Overall enjoyable, if a little uneven.  When Paige nailed it, she was spectacular.  In other parts, she was good, but not great.  Great song, co-written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, that Paige was able to bring to life with her power vocals.  Not as soaring as the original by Kelly, but one of the better performances of the night.  Grade: B+

(10) Siobhan Magnus sang "Think" by Aretha Franklin (1968).  It started off a little rough, but it got better and better as it went along.  We thought Siobhan's higher-register voice couldn't and shouldn't tackle something as deep and soulful as an Aretha song, but she did an overall spectacular job that pleasantly surprised us.  One of our favorite contestants.  Grade: A

 

Overall, a nice night of performances from the ladies and better than last week.  Following the judges' often puzzling and contradictory advice, many of the ladies experimented a little and made changes to the arrangements or melodies -- with mixed results.  Both the successes and failures were readily apparant.  Standouts include Crystal Bowersox, Katelyn Epperly, and Siobhan Magnus.  Most of the ladies fell comfortably in the middle of the pack and should be in no immediate danger of being eliminated.  Our picks for those in danger of being sent home are Haeley Vaughn and Lacey Brown.  If Didi Benami or Michelle Delamor ended up in the losers' circle, we wouldn't be shocked, either.

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 2 Results, Thursday 3/4/10

Looking at the four contestants who were voted off tonight, only one name truly surprised us: John Park.  We gave him a nice grade, but did note that he lacked star quality.  However, we did think that Todrick Hall performed far worse and should have been the one to go along with the male contestant that we correctly picked, Jermaine Sellers. 

Among the females, both were from among our four picks and, interestingly enough, they were paired off with each other in the way we noted above.  In the first round of female eliminations, it came down to Didi and Michelle, and in the second, it was between Haeley and Lacey.  Last season we had a great track record of picking the ones to be sent home, and, thus far, it has been just as easy this season.

In summary, the four contestants sent home after Round 2 were: John Park, Jermaine Sellers, Michelle Delamor, and Haeley Vaughn.

Next week is the last semi-final round.  On Thursday, four more contestants will be sent home, and we will be left with our top 12 who will compete on the big stage to become the ninth American Idol.

 


American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 3 Ladies' Performances, Tuesday 3/9/10 

Tonight is the final opporunity for the ladies to make a strong enough impression on the audience to land in the top 12.  Any contestant who hopes to be remembered and get a shot at a record deal of some sort must make it to the finals – preferably into the top 10, which will allow him or her to participate in the Idol after-season tour. 

Let's take a look at how each of the ladies did, and we'll give our picks for who should be going home come Thursday.

(1) Katie Stevens sang "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson (2004).  Middling performance of the Kelly Clarkson hit in a week where missteps can be fatal.  Now that most of the weaker females have already been voted off the show, Katie is in potential danger after this performance.  Not terrible, but not noteworthy either.  Grade: B-

(2) Siobhan Magnus sang "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals (1964).  Fantastic, mesmerizing, and superb are just a few of the adjectives that we could use to describe Siobhan's precise and beautiful vocal.  Simon got it way wrong here, and he's been way too critical of Siobhan all along.  Strange.  It's a shame he doesn't realize that he was looking at a one of the few serious contenders for the title of this year's American Idol.  Grade: A

(3) Lacey Brown sang "The Story" by Brandi Carlile (2007).  Just after Simon criticized Siobhan for not having a wow performance, he lavished praise on this low-key effort from Lacey.  However, we do agree that of her three semi-final performances, this one was by far the best.  Saving the best for last does pay dividends and given some of the missteps by the other contestants tonight, Lacey may have done enough to land in that coveted top 12.  Grade: B

(4) Katelyn Epperly sang "I Feel the Earth Move" by Carole King (1971).  Good, but not great performance by Katelyn who accompanied herself on keyboard.  However, this may have been her undoing because it almost felt that she was hiding behind that keyboard and not really pushing herself vocally or in her performance.  Grade: B

(5) Didi Benami sang "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac (1976).  We really liked Didi this week, but not nearly as much as the judges did.  Anything sung by Stevie Nicks is always going to be hard for another artist to interpret due to the unique husky tones of Stevie's voice, but Didi's higher-register version was effective because she slowed it down and accompanied herself on the acoustic guitar, which changed the original significantly enough that it wouldn't be compared to the Fleetwood Mac version.  Grade: B+

(6) Paige Miles sang "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin (1936).  To us, this was a performance that lacked a "wow" moment as opposed to some of the other ones the judges critcized.  We agree that, up until this point, this was the least effective performance of the night.  Paige could seriously be in danger after this.  Grade: C

(7) Crystal Bowersox sang "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman (1995).  Started off a little too low-key, but picked up nicely by the middle, and finished off quite well.  Tracy Chapman songs are such a natural fit for both Crystal's voice and style that we commend her on staying true to who she is and nailing the song choice factor.  We agree that she is a shoo-in to make the top 12 and, if she can successfully navigate the often curious theme weeks of the finals (Dolly Parton week, disco week, etc.), we can see her getting all the way into the top 5 with little difficulty.  Grade: B+

(8) Lilly Scott sang "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline (1961).  Cute song and performance by Lilly, but will compare unfavorably to the similarly left-of-center Bowersox.  Still, the vocals were too spot-on to simply dismiss her rendition.  We think, and hope, that she will make it into the top 12 because we don't think think we've seen the best of Lilly quite yet.  Grade: B

We think this week was quite instructive as the frontrunners continued to give great performances, but now the midlist started to shake itself out, and the few bottom performers have come into clearer focus.  We'd pick Siobhan and Crystal for the best of the night.  Those in danger include Paige Miles, Katelyn Epperly, Katie Stevens, and Lacey Brown.

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 3 Men's Performances, Wednesday 3/10/10

It's the guys' final chance to make a strong enough impression to land in the top 12.  The odds are in their favor as 6 of the remaining 8 will end up in the finals.  Therefore, it's more crucial than ever not to choose the wrong song or deliver a bad vocal.  Let's take a look at how the men did tonight. 

(1) Lee DeWyze sang "Fireflies" by Owl City (2009).  Solid, but in our estimation, the weakest of this three performances thus far.  Should be more than good enough to land Lee in top 12, which he most certainly deserves.  One of the male frontrunners this season so far.  Grade: B

(2) Alex Lambert sang "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne (2004).  We've liked Alex and his unique voice all along, but we felt that this song really brought out the best in him.  Randy harped on the lack of a "wow" moment, and Simon and Kara talked about his seeming lack of confidence, but all of that takes away from his exceptional voice, and we think this was his personal best.  Grade: B+

(3) Tim Urban sang "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (1984).  Probably the best we've heard Tim so far, but given his lackluster performances up until now, it wouldn't be that hard.  Still, this was a more than respectable take on the Jeff Buckley cover, and we agree with the judges that Tim has recovered nicely from his disastrous performance in week 1.  If that didn't kill his chances in this competition, he should sail through to the top 12 with no problem.  Grade: B+

(4) Andrew Garcia sang "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera (1999).  Under pressure to top his much talked about "Straight Up" performance, Andrew tried to do an acoustic version of Christina's first hit.  Quite frankly, it was boring and lacked the surprise factor that his Paula song did.  Andrew is a great vocalist and a true talent, but all these negative comments from the judges seem to be psyching him out, and for the last two weeks, he's made serious missteps in his song choices and performances.  Grade: B-

(5) Casey James sang "You'll Think of Me" by Keith Urban (2002).  We agree with Randy that it was a very safe choice much like Katelyn Epperly's performance last night.  The whole vocal and performance were a little too laid back and lacked star quality overall.  Pleasant, but not particularly memorable.  Grade: B

(6) Aaron Kelly sang "I'm Already There" by Lonestar (2001).  The song was a little too big for him, as Ellen alluded to, but overall, we liked Aaron's version and feel that he acquitted himself well on this very difficult track.  Loses half a grade, however, because his voice did flatten out on the long notes.  Still, better than his Rascal Flatts performance in week 1.  Grade: B

(7) Todrick Hall sang "Somebody to Love" by Queen (1976).  Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest rock vocalists that ever lived, period.  To sing one of his songs, you have to have unbelievable vocal skills.  We liked Elliot Yamin's version in Season 5 even though it landed him in the bottom 3, but Todrick simply doesn't have the vocal talent necessary to pull this off.  The judges were much more enthusiastic about this than we were.  Grade: B-

(8) Michael Lynche sang "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush (1988).  Interesting song choice given a soulful twist by the popular Lynche who took his cue from Maxwell's cover version.  This wasn't quite as good as his performance last week, but just like last week, it was the best of the night.  Michael has a high degree of likeability and charisma reminiscent of Season 2 winner Rueben Studdard, and should have no trouble landing in the top 12.  Grade: A-

 

Interestingly enough the first five guys all accompanied themselves on acoustic guitar, which may have made them feel more comfortable, but it was pretty unnecessary in each case.  There were no out-and-out trainwrecks tonight, which is why the guys all clustered in the "B" range for us, except for Michael.  Predicting the bottom 2 guys will be a lot harder than normal, but we do feel the following guys are in the most danger: Todrick Hall, Andrew Garcia, and Casey James.  If Aaron Kelly also ended up in the bottom 2, we wouldn't be too surprised, either.

Who will be the American Idol top 12 for this season?  The results are tomorrow.

 

 

American Idol 9: Semi-Finals Round 3 Results, Thursday 3/11/10

Tonight's the night when the Top 12 will be revealed.  At the beginning of the show, Ryan teased that there might be a surprise or two.  For us, there are some contestants who are "musts" – those who simply deserve to be in the top 12 and whose absence would diminish the remainder of the season.  These are: Crystal Bowersox, Siobhan Magnus, Lee DeWyze, and Michael Lynche.  There are other worthy contestants, but these four are our frontrunners and are most deserving of a top 12 slot.

 

Ryan calls the contestants in this order:

(1) Didi Benami - Top 12

(2) Siobhan Magnus - Top 12

(3) Paige Miles and Katelyn Epperly - Paige has made it into the top 12; Katelyn goes home

(4) Tim Urban, Todrick Hall, Lee DeWyze, Casey James - Casey makes it into the top 12; Tim does as well; when it gets down to Todrick and Lee, Lee DeWyze is the one who gets put through, and Todrick goes home.

(5) Crystal Bowersox - Top 12

(6) Michael Lynche - Top 12

(7) Lacey Brown - Top 12

(8) Aaron Kelly - Top 12

(9) Alex Lambert and Andrew Garcia - Andrew makes it into the top 12, which doesn't surprise us given his quite large Internet fanbase.  Alex Lambert goes home.

(10) Katie Stevens and Lilly Scott - Katie makes it into the top 12, and Lilly goes home.

 

This leaves our top 12 as follows:

Men: Casey James, Tim Urban, Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia

Ladies: Didi Benami, Siobhan Magnus, Paige Miles, Crystal Bowersox, Lacey Brown, and Katie Stevens

 

In general, we're pleased with this top 12.  All four of our must-haves made it through.  However, of the remainder, we would have switched it up as follows: for the guys, we would have included Alex Lambert and dropped out Aaron Kelly, and for the ladies, we would have included both Katelyn and Lilly and sent Lacey and Katie home.

 

Next Tuesday begins the competition on the big stage, and the theme has been announced as songs from the Rolling Stones catalog.  Remember, that even though America has sent through its top 12 to the Kodak Theater, it's really the top 10 that matters because only they get to go on the American Idol tour that follows the season.

 


 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 1 Performances, Tuesday March 16, 2010

 

Tonight, we move into the American Idol finals as the top 12 take to the big stage and compete to become the last one standing.  The theme for this evening's show is the Rolling Stones catalog, which should yield interesting results given that the Stones' prime demographic are probably these kids' parents.  Still, the Stones' catalog is packed with hits so the Idols do have some great songs from which to choose.

 

Let's get right into our analysis of each contestant:

 

(1) Michael Lynche sang "Miss You" from the album Some Girls (1978).  Overall, a nice way to start the evening, but for us, the performance was better than the vocals, which were good, but unexceptional.  Michael does have a natural charisma and knows how to work the stage, so he should have no problem progressing to the next week.  Grade: B+

 

(2) Didi Benami sang "Play with Fire" from the album Out of Our Heads (1965).  Didi sang this song with lots of conviction, and it's one of our favorite performances from her.  Really nice vocal, and we felt that Didi truly connected with the song and the lyric quite well.  Will be a performance that people remember.  Grade: A-

 

(3) Casey James sang "It's All Over Now" from the album 12X5 (1964).  Solid performance of The Rolling Stones' very first number one hit by Casey who accompanied himself on electric guitar.  This was our favorite performance of Casey's since week one's "Heaven."  After a couple of shaky weeks following, we think Casey has proved that he belongs in the top 12 based on his talent rather than his heartthrob appeal.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Lacey Brown sang "Ruby Tuesday" from the album Between the Buttons (1967).  Way too stripped down and somber version of this rousing Rolling Stones hit.  Competently sang, but we weren't wild about the country twang she infused in it, and didn't like Lacey's phrasing on the lyric "still I'm gonna miss you."  Unless there are serious missteps from the remainder of the contestants tonight, this performance will put Lacey in danger of going home.  Grade: B-

 

(5) Andrew Garcia sang "Gimmie Shelter" from the album Let it Bleed (1969).  Andrew stepped out of his comfort zone of playing the acoustic guitar, and gave his most exciting performance in the competition thus far.  The vocals weren't perfect by any stretch, but in places, this was the most thrilling performance of the night up until this point.  Grade: A-

 

(6) Katie Stevens sang "Wild Horses" from the album Sticky Fingers (1971).  Nicely done and a major step up from Katie's peformances in the semi-final rounds.  We still would have preferred Lilly Scott to be in the top 12, but at least Katie has shown that she does have range and talent and deserves to be in this competition.  Grade: B+

 

(7) Tim Urban sang "Under My Thumb" from the album Aftermath (1966).  Tim's reggae-influenced version of this Rolling Stones classic really did not work for us, and did not allow Tim to fill up the stage with his performance or show off any vocal range at all.  It was midrange and mid-tempo all the way through with tepid results.  Grade: C+

 

(8) Siobhan Magnus sang "Paint it Black" from the album Aftermath (1966).  Siobhan has never disappointed us in this competition; we've felt that she was a standout from day one.  Tonight, she went even beyond our admittedly high expectations for her.  She started off low-key and dramatic and quickly took this song to soaring and thrilling heights and was in complete control of both her voice and the song all the way through.  Now more than ever, we feel that Siobhan is the frontrunner of this season of American Idol.  Grade: A

 

(9) Lee DeWyze sang "Beast of Burden" from the album Some Girls (1978).  Like Tim Urban's performance, this was another curious rendition for us.  Lee's version of one of the better-known Stones' hits sounded like Bob Seger on a bad night.  What could have been an energetic crowd pleaser was turned into something listless and dull.  Rare misfire from one of our favorite male contestants.  Even his normal dependable voice didn't shine here.  Grade: B-

 

(10) Paige Miles sang "Honky Tonk Women" from the album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits vol. 2) (1969).  Probably our favorite performance by Paige thus far in the competition.  She did hit some big notes in spite of having a bout of laryngitis earlier in the week, and overall worked the stage quite well.  Grade: B

 

(11) Aaron Kelly sang "Angie" from the album Goats Head Soup (1973).  Great song choice that sat well within Aaron's vocal range and allowed him to have nice, dramatic moments.  Having this performance come so close toward the end is another advantage that will ensure that it is well-remembered by the audience.  Grade: B+

 

(12) Crystal Bowersox sang "You Can't Always Get What You Want" from the album Let it Bleed (1969).  Crystal is a folk rock artist, and that has been apparant since we first met her.  That makes her one of the most easily identifiable and consistent artists in the competition.  She has become a fan favorite and obviously a favorite of the producers who gave her the coveted "pimp slot" – the final performance on the show.  Once again, Crystal chose a great song that played right into her folk rock strengths and gave a great interpretation.  For us, this wasn't as good as Siobhan by a long shot or even as well done as Andrew Garcia's performance, but still one of the better of the night.  Grade: B+

 

 

Looking back over tonight's performances, we'd say that the top 12 acquitted themselves quite well overall considering it was their first time on the big stage and in front of a studio audience of 450 people.  A few misfires, but overall, a solid night.

For us,  the clear winners of tonight were Siobhan Magnus, Didi Benami, and Andrew Garcia.  Those likely in danger include Tim Urban, Lacey Brown, and Paige Miles.  If we had the only vote, we'd send Tim home, but Tim seems to have a sizable fan following from the teenage girls who vote excessively, which should keep him safe for the next few weeks just as it did Ace Young and Sanjaya, former Idol contestants who stayed longer than they should have.

 

All that being said, our prediction for who will be going home once the results are revealed tomorrow is Lacey Brown.

 

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 1 Results, Wednesday March 17, 2010

 

Looks like our streak of picking the losers each week continues pretty strongly.  All three of our "in danger" picks above landed in the bottom 3, and Lacey Brown did indeed go home.  Our advice to Tim Urban, however, is: get better – quickly – or you'll be gone by midseason like the aforementioned Ace Young or Sanjaya were.

 

The Judges' Save is back again this season with a minor twist: when the contestant sings for safety, it seems they can pick whichever of their past performances they want because, rather than sing last night's "Ruby Tuesday," Lacey opted to sing "The Story" from week 3 of the semi-final rounds.  Still, it didn't help, and we don't think anyone really expected it to be used this early in the season. 

 

Simon did mention that one of the bottom 3 was worth saving, and we're betting it was Paige, but even then, it's doubtful that the judges would have wanted to use their one and only Judges' Save in week 1 of the finals.  The judges can use it any week up until the top 5, so it would make sense to hold onto it in case one of the frontrunners like Siobhan, Crystal, or Michael ends up in the bottom 3.  Using it on Lacey or even Paige – two contestants who couldn't possibly win this season anyway – would be a waste of this valuable power.

 

Finally, in spite of Lacey being one of the more inconsistent vocalists this season, we were happy to see her give it one more try after being cut last season before the top 24.  This time, she not only made it to the top 24, but made it all the way up to top 12.  Well done, Lacey.  Unfortunately, because Lacey did not make it to the top 10, she does not get to go on the American Idol tour that follows this season.  However, she will be back on finale night to perform one last time as the top 12 are reunited on the television stage.

 


 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 2 Performances, Tuesday March 23, 2010

 

Tonight's theme was number one songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.  Miley Cyrus stopped by to coach the contestants (and to come back tomorrow to sing on the Idol stage and undoubtedly promote her new movie).  Let's take a look at each performance along with our predictions of tomorrow's bottom 3 and the person whom we feel will be going home.

 

(1) Lee DeWyze sang "The Letter" by The Box Tops (1967).  Lee's version of this classic number 1 hit began with an almost big band swing vibe that was interesting.  For us, Lee has always been one of the better male vocalists, and we feel that both his performance and his vocals were miles ahead of what he did last week.  He knew he had to work on his nerves and let loose a little bit, and we feel he succeeded.  Nice way to start off the night.  Grade: B+

 

(2) Paige Miles sang "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins (1984).  Very rough vocal by Paige, who still seems to be suffering the lingering effects from her laryngitis.  Lots of flat and "pitchy" notes all the way through.  Really bad transition from her lower to upper register midsong.  In places, her voices cut out on her completely.  Last week, we couldn't even tell she had laryngitis, but this time the vocals were so bad that it was very obvious to the audience, to the judges, and even to Paige herself.  We agree that this was probably the worst vocal of the season.  Grade: C-

 

(3) Tim Urban sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen (1979).  Tim's one of those Idol performers who knows he needs to loosen up and show some personality, but when he tries to do it, it comes off so forced and contrived that it would have been better if he just stood there because it was distractingly lacking.  He's simply not a great stage performer and needs to improve a lot in that area.  The vocals were ok, but nothing exceptional, as is the norm for Tim.  Grade: C

 

(4) Aaron Kelly sang "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith (1998).  Aaron is now coming down with the laryngitis that affected Paige, and there were some definite rough spots throughout the performance, but overall, we feel that he acquitted himself well.  Not the best vocal, but solid enough that he shouldn't be in serious danger of going home in spite of Simon's critique.  Grade: B

 

(5) Crystal Bowersox sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Roger Miller (1969).  Best performance of the night so far.  Crystal started off slow and contemplative, and kicked it up to a fever pitch that got the audience clapping and cheering.  Great vocal and a great performance to go along with it.  Compares favorably to the 1971 Janis Joplin cover.  We've said all along that Crystal brings a folk rock vibe to her performances, and that was made abundantly clear tonight in the best sense.  Grade: A

 

(6) Michael Lynche sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge (1966).  Winning, charismatic rendition by Michael.  Vocals were spot on and soulful all the way through.  Judges' criticisms came across as overly critical, which was unwarranted given the quality of his vocal and connection to both the song and the audience.  Grade: B+

 

(7) Andrew Garcia sang "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye (1968).  Andrew usually sings at a higher pitch than he did tonight, and we were surprised to hear him pitch lower than the song is supposed be sung.  The results were listless and quite boring.  The worst vocal from Andrew this season.  A complete misfire.  Grade: C

 

(8) Katie Stevens sang "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie (2007).  This was Katie's most enjoyable vocal and performance.  She sounded young and relevant even with the occasional bum note on her lower register.  Very solid and much needed given how controversial it was that she landed in the top 12 rather than critics' favorite Lilly Scott.  Grade: B+

 

(9) Casey James sang "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News (1985).  Nice, strong vocal by Casey which sounded like Huey Lewis in all the right places, but with enough of a personal spin to make it his own rather than a verbatim soundalike.  We wish he would have gone without the electric guitar because it was unnecessary and kept him grounded in one place, which made him seem a little stiff in his performance.  Grade: B+

 

(10) Didi Benami sang "You're No Good" by Betty Everett (1963).  Sexy performance from Didi that was quite different from both the original and the 1974 remake by Linda Ronstadt.  However, the endless repetition of the refrain made the song seem a little dull.  Solid vocal, but didn't wow us like she did last week.  Grade: B

 

(11) Siobhan Magnus sang "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder (1972).  Siobhan loves her drama and brought it again tonight.  She's fearless and seems to put a lot of thought into her song choices, her performances, and even her outfits.  She already seems like such a seasoned performer that we can already see her as a top recording artist.  We agree that we'd like to see her not rely too heavily on that closing power note for each song because it takes away from the fact that overall, she is one of the stronger female contestants.  She's got a strong lower and middle range and we don't want to see that get overlooked.  Siobhan's one of those performers who is essentially competing with herself and her prior performances, and this was not in the same league as last week's, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Grade: B+

 

Tonight was filled with lots of good-to-great performances, which made the bad ones really stand out quite noticeably.  As the judges said, and as we've been saying, only the top 10 get to go out on tour in the summer, so to go home now would be especially heartbreaking.  With that said, we feel that the contestants that will likely make up the bottom 3 when the results are revealed tomorrow night will be: Paige Miles, Tim Urban, and Andrew Garcia.  However, if Didi Benami ended up in the bottom 3 instead of Andrew, we wouldn't be too surprised given Andrew's quite large fanbase, and Didi's just-ok performance.

 

Our prediction for the contestant to go home and to just miss out on going on the summer Idol tour would be Paige Miles.

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 2 Results, Wednesday March 24, 2010

 

Another relatively easy prediction based on last night's performances.  We correctly picked 2 of the bottom 3 (Paige Miles and Tim Urban), and also factored in the fact that Andrew Garcia's large fanbase would keep him out of danger.  It did indeed, but we were surprised by the fact that Katie Stevens was the one who fell into the bottom 3 rather than Didi just based on the judges' criticisms, which were so complimentary toward Katie and so damaging to Didi.  In fact, neither one deserved to be in the bottom 3 when all was said and done, and Katie was quickly sent back to the safety couch.

 

That left Tim and Paige as America's, and our, bottom 2.  After an unnecessary performance by Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, the lowest vote getter was announced: Paige Miles.

 

After Ryan handed the microphone to Paige for her to sing for the Judges' Save, Ryan asked Simon to give Paige some words of encouragement.  Instead, Simon told Paige that she was going home no matter what, and that even before she sang, the judges had agreed that they were not going to use the Save on her.  Therefore, a quick switch was made and Paige's Idol journey video package was shown, and then Paige sang Free's "All Right Now" (which she sang in Week 1 of the Top 24 Semi-Final rounds) over the closing credits.  Kind of ironic considering the circumstances, but we wish Paige the best in the future as she is legitimately talented.

 

Next week's theme is R&B/Soul, and the guest mentor will be singing superstar Usher.  It was also announced that Idol Gives Back will air in about a month.

 


 

 

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.

 

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 4 Performances, Tuesday April 6, 2010

 

High expectations and lots of pressure for the top 9 as the theme for this week is the Lennon/McCartney songbook.  Presumably, this means that the contestants are free to sing any Beatles song as well as the solo hits by either Lennon or McCartney.  This gives the finalists lots of material to choose from, but it also will make the audience and the judges more picky than usual.

 

(1) Aaron Kelly sang "The Long and Winding Road" from the album Let it Be (1970).  On this, the final number one of the Beatles' career, Aaron's voice seemed weak and hoarse tonight; he's seemingly still affected by the laryngitis that started with Paige a few weeks ago.  Nevertheless, it lacked power throughout, and this song should have stirred emotions and been epic.  It was not.  Grade: B-

 

(2) Katie Stevens sang "Let it Be" from the album Let it Be (1970).  Katie gave a nice, stripped down rendition of this popular Beatles classic, which was probably a smart thing as it was sufficiently different from the original to avoid unfavorable comparison, and yet it was still recognizable.  This was undoubtedly Katie's best performance of the season.  Grade: A-

 

(3) Andrew Garcia sang "Can't Buy Me Love" from the album A Hard Day's Night (1964).  Andrew has often bent and twisted songs to his liking with mixed results.  The judges went collectively gaga over his Hollywood Week rendition of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up," and that's been hanging over him ever since.  Tonight, he changed it to our liking in spite of what most of the judges said.  However, we agree with Kara in that the breakdown toward the end was hot.  In our eyes, Andrew gave one of his better performances.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Michael Lynche sang "Eleanor Rigby" from the album Revolver (1966).  We liked Michael's vocals on this, but weren't crazy about the herky-jerky arrangement that seemed to throw the timing of the melody off-kilter.  Michael's voice saved the performance, and he killed the chorus, ending the song on a high note.  Grade: B+

 

(5) Crystal Bowersox sang "Come Together" from the album Abbey Road (1969).  If Janis Joplin or Carole King did a cover of this Beatles classic, it would probably sound a lot like this.  Crystal put her usual folk rock singer-songwriter spin on it, and made this extremely familiar song relevant, fresh, and interesting.  Crystal has been on a trajectory to land in the top 2 from the very beginning, and this week only solidifies her place.  Grade: A

 

(6) Tim Urban sang "All My Loving" from the album With the Beatles (1963).  We've been hard on Tim pretty much since the beginning, and deservedly so.  However, he gave a solid performance tonight.  Nothing monumental, as usual, but he sang well and did not mangle the song or embarrass himself.  His changes to the melody were interesting, and we liked the stripped down performance which allowed Tim to shine and not be overshadowed by the band or background singers.  Grade: B

 

(7) Casey James sang "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon from the album Imagine (1971).  Relatively boring song sung well by Casey.  Not a whole lot to complain about regarding the vocals, and he picked the energy level up nicely toward the end, but overall, in spite of the vulnerability he showed that the judges commended him on, this was the least memorable performance of the night for us.  Grade: B

 

(8) Siobhan Magnus sang "Across the Universe" from the album Let it Be (1970).  Siobhan has technically the best voice among the contestants, and she proved it in a big way tonight.  We felt this was heartfelt, controlled, vulnerable, and affecting in a way that Casey's performance simply was not for us.  Siobhan hit a wide variety of notes of varying pitches and intensity levels and stayed in tune and never let the song get away from her.  This is the way vulnerable is done.  Siobhan needed to prove that she was more than the power note gimmick girl, and she successfully did so.  Grade: A

 

(9) Lee DeWyze sang "Hey Jude" (1968).  Lee gave a joyous performance of this Beatles standard that got the crowd going and closed off the night on a soaring high.  We're not quite sure what to make of the bagpipes player, but it surely made the performance memorable.  Another good performance from Lee, who got back into top form last week.  We're glad to see him back on track for a second week in a row.  Grade: B+

 

We're pleased to say that there were really no obvious misfires this week, but that makes choosing the bottom 3 all the harder.  Someone does have to go, unfortunately.

 

If pressed, we'd choose Tim Urban to be in the bottom 3.  He's been there every week, so why break up a good thing?  To join Tim, we'd also select Aaron Kelly and Casey James.  However, even though we liked Katie Stevens tonight, we do acknowledge that because she's been in the bottom 3 for the last two weeks, she probably does not have the same fanbase as some of the other contestants.  Therefore, if Katie were to be in the bottom 3 instead of Casey James, we won't be shocked.  However, we don't think she'll be going home tomorrow.  Teflon Tim may also be safe for another week because he actually gave a credible performance tonight.

 

Therefore, our pick as to who will be going home when the results are announced tomorrow is Aaron Kelly.

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 4 Results, Wednesday April 7, 2010

 

With only 3 ladies left in the competition out of the nine contestants, it was nice to see that all three were safe.  We're still predicting a Crystal-Siobhan finale, and now we're one week closer to getting to that.

 

At the halfway mark in the show, we learned the ladies were safe, and we we got a great performance by Jason Derülo who sang his hit single "In My Head."  Coming back from the break, Season 7 runner up, David Archuleta did a reprise of his Beatles night song, "Imagine" by John Lennon.

 

From among the six guys left in the competition, half of them made up tonight's bottom 3.  Ryan broke them up into 2 groups of three.  Lee DeWyze was sent over to the far side of the stage, and Michael Lynche was sent to the near side of the stage, beginning the two groups.

 

Casey James was told to stand with Lee, and Aaron was sent to join Michael.  Then, Tim was put with Lee and Casey, and Andrew finished out the group with Michael and Aaron.

 

After Ryan put Ellen on the spot to guess the bottom 3, Ellen picked the group containing Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly, and Andrew Garcia.  Ryan confirmed that she was correct, and sent Casey James, Lee DeWyze, and Tim Urban back to safety.  Moments later, Ryan told Aaron Kelly that he, too, was safe, leaving Michael Lynche and Andrew Garcia as the bottom 2.

 

These results surprised us as only Aaron Kelly ended up in the bottom 3 from among our picks.  Further, we picked Aaron as the one to go home based on the traces of laryngitis still in his voice.  We were left to ponder the fates of the bottom 2 as Rihanna took the stage to debut her new single, "Rock Star 101,"  a rather tuneless and uninteresting song that couldn't be saved by the obviously overdone smoke and pyrotechnics or even Rihanna's no-room-to-breathe black PVC outfit.

 

After the last commercial break, Ryan announced that the person with the lowest number of votes and who had to sing for the Judges' Save was Michael Lynche.  Michael chose to sing "This Woman's Work," which he sang in week 3 of the semi-finals.  Following his performance, which brought the studio audience to its feet for a standing ovation, Simon announced that they would be using the single Judges' Save on Michael.

 

This means that the viewers' vote has been vetoed and Michael will be back next week.  However, in order to keep the airdate schedule on track for the finale, two contestants must be eliminated next week.  Did Michael win a single week reprieve or will he now go further in the competition.  We've actually been predicting a top 5 finish for Michael, so we'll see if he can get back in the game with next week's round, which will be mentored by American Idol Season 8 runner up, Adam Lambert.

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 5 Performances, Tuesday April 13, 2010

 

Tonight, Season 8 runner up Adam Lambert returned to American Idol in order to serve as mentor to the final 9 (as well as to come back live tomorrow night to perform on the Idol stage).  The theme was songs by Elvis Presley, which has tripped up more than one Idol contestant over the years, including Chris Daughtry in Season 5.  There was every chance that things could go horribly wrong for a number of contestants.  How did they do?  Read on...

 

(1) Crystal Bowersox sang "Saved."   Another great performance from Crystal who started off the night with a bang.  We appreciated that she took an Elvis song that few people knew and made the audience fall in love with it.  Crystal continues to do everything right, and she continues on the course that will take her straight to the finals.  Grade: A-

 

(2) Andrew Garcia sang "Hound Dog."   OK, but not great performance from Andrew.  We liked the way he didn't make this song seem corny or ridiculous the way Elvis songs can often seem when interpreted by others.  However, we don't think he put enough energy into it to make it soar.  Andrew really needed to knock it out of the park this week, and he simply failed to do so.  Grade: B

 

(3) Tim Urban sang "Can't Help Falling in Love."  Tim's lower register simply isn't very powerful or interesting, and much of this song was sung at that level.  The parts where he took Adam's advice and went higher were much more interesting and effective.  We wanted to see more of that because the liberties he took with the melody were really good.  Still, this should be enough to keep Tim out of the bottom 3 once again.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Lee DeWyze sang "A Little Less Conversation."  Lee did a growly, bluesy take on one of Elvis's later hits.  Performing and connecting with the audience is still Lee's weak spot, but overall we liked his vocal.  We didn't love it nearly as much as the judges did, but it was quite good.  Grade: B+

 

(5) Aaron Kelly sang "Blue Suede Shoes."  For us, Aaron was just too young to perform this song realistically.  He seemed like a little kid playing dress up and doing an Elvis impression because his mommy put him up to it.  The vocals were okay, but this song needed tons more aggression and attitude, and Aaron really couldn't pull it off.  Grade: B-

 

(6) Siobhan Magnus sang "Suspicious Minds."  Siobhan, decked out in a punk version of the classic Elvis white jumpsuit and Elvisesque pompadour, chose the final number one of Elvis's career.  We didn't like the results as much as we thought we would.  We had no problem with the dual nature of her arrangement with the first half being uptempo, and the back of it being cranked down.  Our problem was that her choices didn't allow her to show off her spectacular vocals nearly enough.  This wasn't terrible in the same way as her Chaka Khan performance a few weeks ago, but it was plain and unmemorable, which in a way, could be worse.  Grade: B

 

(7) Michael Lynche sang "In the Ghetto."  This song returned Elvis to the top 10 on the singles charts after a four year absence.  For his rendition, Michael accompanied himself on the acoustic guitar with no backing musicians or singers.  Michael definitely nailed the vocals as he usually does, but we agree with Randy in that it was a little too laid back and understated for us.  Still, it was a good performance overall.  Grade: B+

 

(8) Katie Stevens sang "Baby, What You Want Me to Do."  For us, Katie has been the comeback kid in the last couple of weeks, and tonight continued that trajectory for her.  Katie filled this performance with swagger and attitude, and we believed it.   One of her better turnouts.  Grade: A-

 

(9) Casey James sang "Lawdy Miss Clawdy."  Casey's choice of song was probably the best of the night in that it sat right smack dab in the sweet spot of his voice and also suited him to perfection as an artist.  Believable to a "T," this might have been our favorite of Casey's performances.  We enjoyed this much more than the judges did.  Grade: A-

 

 

For us, the bottom 3 is a little easier to predict than normal because some people were just clearly out of their element.  Our choices for the bottom are: Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia, and Siobhan Magnus.  We acknowledge that Siobhan is the longest shot of the three, but in comparison to the others tonight, she does belong at the bottom.  In spite of the Judges' Save being gone, and the fact that two contestants must go tomorrow, we feel that Siobhan will be safe when all is said is done.

 

Our choices for the two contestants to be eliminated tomorrow are Andrew Garcia and Aaron Kelly.

 

 

AMERICAN IDOL 9: Finals Week 5 Results, Wednesday April 14, 2010

 

Well, we were half right.  Andrew Garcia did indeed go, but it was Katie Stevens' dismissal that provided the shock of the night.  There were weeks earlier in the competition where we would have gladly shown her the door, but she has been getting better and better, and we really liked her last night, so we were sorry to see her go before Aaron who has been rather lackluster for much of the competition.  Ryan also revealed that Michael Lynche was not even in the bottom 3 this week.

 

We also had two guest performances tonight.  First, Season 7's Brooke White teamed up with Justin Gaston to sing their duet, "If I Can Dream."  Who's Justin Gaston?  He was a former model and contestant on the sixth season of the American Idol type series, Nashville Star.  That was the final season of the series, and the one that was broadcast on NBC in summer 2008 after having been on the USA cable network for its first five seasons.  Justin came in 10th place, having been eliminated in week 3 of the competition.  Following this, he dated teen sensation Miley Cyrus for awhile unti she broke up with him in mid-2009.  Justin now appears on American Idol creator Simon Fuller's web series, If I Can Dream, as one of the six houseguests who are followed around by cameras as their attempts to realize their dreams are documented.  Sort of like a career-oriented version of The Real World.

 

It was the second guest performer, however, that the crowd really wanted to see.  Adam Lambert came back to the Idol stage to perform his hit single, "Whataya Want from Me" to roaring fan approval.  Adam gave us a production number that would have done Elvis proud in the King's Las Vegas heydey.  It was a performance complete with fog, lights, lasers, special effects, and – oh yeah – singing.  Adam instantly reminded everyone how it's done and, after a restrained first verse, belted out his number, showing this year's Idol contestants why so many in the home audience have found this season's show to be a disappointment in comparison to previous seasons.  We also appreciate how Adam always sings live with no lip synching.

 

We were glad to see Adam back and take command of the stage once again, but we're surprised he didn't use this opportunity to debut a new single from his album, which, while having sold more than twice the number that Kris Allen's did, hasn't exactly lit the sales charts on fire.  "Whataya" has already reached its chart peak on Billboard, so why continue to push it?  With about 20 million people tuning in to tonight's show, he should have used the opportunity more wisely by premiering one of the other tracks.

 

To recap, tonight's double elimination saw both Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens go home.

 

Next week's theme is inspirational songs, and the celebrity mentor will be Alicia Keyes.  One week from tonight, on Wednesday April 21, the latest installment of "Idol Gives Back" will air.

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 6 Performances, Tuesday April 20, 2010

 

Tonight's celebrity mentor was Alicia Keyes, and in honor of tomorrow night's broadcast of "Idol Gives Back," the theme for tonight's performances was inspirational songs.  With only 2 females left in the competition, it's more important than ever that neither makes a misstep tonight.  Let's take a look at just how inspiring the remaining top 7 contestants were:

 

(1) Casey James sang "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac (1977).  Casey was all smiles during this competent performance that had a few bright moments, but was just ok overall.  Still, we feel that Casey is popular enough to make it through another week as evidenced by the crowd reaction.  Grade: B

 

(2) Lee DeWyze sang "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel (1969).  For us, the clean harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel were at odds with Lee's more raspy voice, and Lee suffered in comparison to the quite memorable original.  Lee's one of our favorite male performers, but this song did him no favors at all.  Grade: B

 

(3) Tim Urban sang "Better Days" by The Goo Goo Dolls (2005).  Like Casey, Tim sang this song competently enough, but he didn't make it soar the way an inspirational song should.  Tim didn't embarass himself, but he didn't create a moment either.  Grade: B

 

(4) Aaron Kelly sang "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly (1996).  It's been quite a few weeks since Aaron has impressed us, and tonight continued the unfortunate trend of Aaron underwhelming us.  Even though he belted out the end and wrapped it up with a power note, it wasn't great, and some notes were just a touch off-key.  Grade: B

 

(5) Siobhan Magnus sang "When You Believe" by Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey (1998).  More often than not, Siobhan impresses us, and she did so again tonight.  Clearly, the judges aren't getting her, but we do.  She was an early favorite for us, and has remained so.  We think Siobhan has one of the most commercial voices among this season's contestants.  We still want to see Siobhan and Crystal in the finale as no other combo would be as interesting.  Grade: A-

 

(6) Michael Lynche sang "Hero" by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback (2002).  Michael delivered the best performance by the men tonight, although that wasn't saying much.  This song, from the soundtrack of the film Spider-Man, wasn't very well known, but we can see that, stylistically speaking, Lynche and Kroeger are worlds apart.  In spite of what Simon said, we did feel that Michael made this song feel inspirational and delivered an interesting take on it.  Grade: A-

 

(7) Crystal Bowersox sang "People Get Ready" by The Impressions (1965).  Crystal stepped way out of her comfort zone and sang without an instrument and performed the first verse a capella.  Crystal did magic with this song, and finished off the night with a bang, giving the best performance of the evening.  Grade: A

 

The two ladies plus Michael Lynche clearly outshone the rest of the contestants tonight.  No one was out-and-out terrible, but many of the guys were just okay and did not make a memorable impression.

 

Our picks for tomorrow's bottom 3 are: Lee DeWyze, Tim Urban, and Aaron Kelly.  Our pick for the person to go home tomorrow is Aaron Kelly.  Results will be announced at the end of tomorrow's extended episode which includes this year's "Idol Gives Back" charity concert.

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Weeks 6 Results, Wednesday April 21, 2010

 

This week's results came at the tail end of the two hour "Idol Gives Back" concert that raises money for charity work around the globe.  Ryan Seacrest hosted from the Idol Stage, while Queen Latifah (who coincidentally has a new movie coming up whose commerical aired during the show) hosted many of the musical performances from a second location in Pasadena.  Among the performers tonight were The Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keyes, Annie Lennox, Carrie Underwood, Mary J. Blige, and Elton John.  There were also comedy bits that fell flat (as comedy bits often do) starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill (who coincidentally have a new movie coming up whose commercial aired during the show).  George Lopez and Wanda Sykes also did a little Idol-related standup.  George's bit, where he read America's vote regarding which Idol judge should be voted off was mostly a miss, but Sykes fared better with her material riffing about how the Idol castoffs are required to look at a video package of themselves when "they thought they were going somewhere" and then forced to sing "to remind America why we voted them off."

 

The bottom 3 contained one unexpected surprise: the presence of Casey James.  We were not bowled over by his performance last night, but we did think his fanbase was vast enough to let him slide through.  No such luck.  However, as expected, Aaron Kelly and Tim Urban rounded out the bottom 3.  First, Aaron Kelly was sent back to safety, leaving Casey and Tim.

 

When the final results were announced, Tim Urban was sent packing, finally.  This is the point in the season when the moderately talented tween heartthrobs of the show usually get voted off (see Sanjaya and Ace Young), and now it was Tim's turn, right on schedule -- although about a month too late for our tastes.

 

Next week, Shania Twain will be the guest mentor, and the theme will be, coincidentally, Shania's songbook.  Seems like a lock for the two ladies left in the competition to hit it out of the park.  We shall see.

 

 



 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 7 Performances, Tuesday April 27, 2010

 

For the first time, Shania Twain joins the festivities at American Idol to serve as guest mentor and to lend her songbook to the contestants.  Who made the grade?  Read on...

 

(1) Lee DeWyze sang "You're Still the One" (1997).  Lee started off lower than he should have and had to make a rather abrupt course correction in the middle of the first verse.  Overall, however, we didn't feel this song suited his voice at all, and thought it was one of his weaker performances in recent weeks.  Grade: B-

 

(2) Michael Lynche sang "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing" (2002).  Michael did a great job on this song and injected a soulful vibe into this country hit.  We did feel the emotion come through from him as the judges mentioned, and he successfully made this song his own.  Grade: A-

 

(3) Casey James sang "Don't!" (2004).  Best Casey performance for us in several weeks, and we agree that it was a much needed change from previous weeks where he was just there doing his same old same old.  We don't know if it was as magnificent as the judges made it seem, but it was quite good.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Crystal Bowersox sang "No One Needs to Know" (1995).  Not a great song choice from Crystal as much of this song was extremely low key and never rose above mid-level in its energy.  Cute and sing-songy, but we expect much more from Crystal.  By far her least notable performance for us.  Grade: B-

 

(5) Aaron Kelly sang "You've Got a Way" (1997).  Great comeback for Aaron, who had underwhelmed us for several weeks running.  This song suited his voice quite well, and he was able to do a lot with it.  He said he sang the song for his mom, which will earn him untold brownie points with the audience.  Grade: A-

 

(6) Siobhan Magnus sang "Any Man of Mine" (1995).  This song really demands a bombastic, sassy performance, and Siobhan delivered that at the end as she often does.  We would have liked to have seen even more attitude during the bulk of the song, but this was a more arena performance, which is somewhat outside of Siobhan's comfort zone, and we think she pulled it off convincingly.  Grade: A-

 

We were all set to write Aaron Kelly off after the last few weeks, but he really redeemed himself in spades this week.  However, at this point in the competition, it's all about the size of one's fanbase, so if Aaron does end up in the bottom 3, we can't be too shocked.

 

With that being said, we do want to make our picks for the three that deserve to be in the bottom 3 this week, and for us that would be Lee DeWyze, Crystal Bowersox, and Casey James.  Of course, we realize that the chances are slim-to-none that Crystal will end up in the bottom 3, much less go home.  On the other hand, we thought the same thing about Chris Daughtry back in Season 5.


If we were to guess the bottom 3 based on size of perceived fanbases, we would choose: Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche, and Aaron Kelly.

 

Overall, we'd probably pick Lee DeWyze to go home in either scenario.

 

Who will be going home tomorrow?  It promises to be quite a surprising show.

 

 

AMERICAN IDOL 9: Finals Week 7 Results, Wednesday April 28, 2010

 

Wow!  When we said that tonight's show would be surprising, we didn't know just how right we would be.  Our pick to win the entire season, Siobhan Magnus, was sent home tonight.  Much like other surprise eliminations in Idol history such as Tamayra Gray and Melinda Doolittle, Siobhan went home on her very first trip to the bottom 3, leaving Crystal Bowersox as the sole female left in the competition.  Given that Crystal has been an audience favorite from the beginning, this only increases her odds of taking the entire competition because anyone who would be inclined to vote for a female contestant now only has one choice.

 

On getting the news, Siobhan kept it together and gave a rousing reprise of her semi-finals performance of Aretha Franklin's "Think."  It was a great way to go out, and we hope this isn't the last we hear of her.  However, being eliminated mid-finals does stack the odds against her because we still have another month to go in the show where the audience will begin to forget her.  Also, we didn't hear any big shocked reaction from the audience the way we did when Tamyra, Melinda, and Chris Daughtry were eliminated, so maybe we were alone in our admiration for her talent.

 

For us, even though the judges didn't always seem to "get" Siobhan, we understood her appeal right away.  She brings a great Irish mezzo-soprano and sensibility to her vocals and can vary her moods from belting out a number to going for something a bit softer -- even a little darker and somewhat melancholy.  We loved seeing her switch it up week after week, and think she has a voice that can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the other great leading ladies in the music scene with similar vocal stylings such as Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries, and Amy Lee of Evanescence to name a few.

 

Quite frankly, of the remaining contestants, only Crystal Bowersox is really doing anything even remotely original or noteworthy on the Idol stage.  If Crystal didn't even get into the bottom 3 after last night's just-ok performance, this season is truly hers to lose. 

 

Given that all of the remaining guys are good some weeks and not so good in others, there is no clear frontrunner from among the males.  The real contest for the remainder of the season will be to see who gets to stand next to Crystal in the final two.

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 8 Performances, Tuesday May 4, 2010

 

Harry Connick, Jr. served as celebrity mentor to the top 5 as they took on the Frank Sinatra songbook.  Further, Connick wrote the orchestrations and arrangements for the contestants' versions of the songs.  Sinatra's two daughters, Nancy and Tina were in attendance in the audience and, in a cutesy TV move, presented judge Simon Cowell with a monogrammed Frankie Hankie.  Note that the dates given next to each song below refer to the year that Frank Sinatra's version of the song was released.

 

(1) Aaron Kelly sang "Fly Me to the Moon" (1964).  Passable, but nowhere near as transcendant as it needs to be at this stage of the competition.  Vocals were too low at the beginning, and as a performer, we agree with Kara in that he doesn't exhibit much stage charisma, which was Frank Sinatra's stock-in-trade.  Grade: C-

 

(2) Casey James sang "Blue Skies" (1946).  Classic Irving Berlin track composed in 1926 pretty much butchered by Casey in 2010.  Off-key from note one, Casey just never recovered.  One of the absolute worst performances in this Idol season, which already has the reputation of being quite lackluster.  Grade: F

 

(3) Crystal Bowersox sang "Summer Wind" (1966).  Not the best we've heard from Crystal, but she didn't embarass herself like the previous two contestants.  We agree with the judges that the second half of the song was stronger than the open.  Still, Crystal should be safe for another week, but we agree with Simon in that we want to see a killer performance from her again, which we haven't seen in the last two weeks.  Grade: B

 

(4) Michael Lynche sang "The Way You Look Tonight."  Classic American songbook track originally sung by Fred Astaire in his 1936 film, Swing Time.  Of the contestants, Sinatra week was tailor-made for Michael, and he nailed it.  He gave a rousing performance that was respectful to Sinatra's style, but still infused with his own personality.  Grade: A-

 

(5) Lee DeWyze sang "That's Life" (1966).  The only song of the night that was actually written for Frank Sinatra rather than being covered by him.  Good vocal by Lee overall, with just a few minor problems during the song.  Lee's voice is very well suited to the swing genre, and he fared better than most tonight.  We disagree that Lee was the best of the evening -- we'd give the crown to Mike, but Lee was a very strong second placer.  Grade: B+

 

Given that there are only five contestants left in the competition, they probably won't be pulling out the bottom three.  They'll likely just give us the bottom 2, which makes this week's choices pretty easy to figure out.  Unless there is yet another cruel twist of fate this season as there was last week when Siobhan went home, the bottom two should consist of Aaron Kelly and Casey James.

 

When the results are announced, we predict that Casey James will be sent home tomorrow.

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 8 Results, Wednesday May 5, 2010

 

Unexpectedly, Michael Lynche ended up in the bottom 2 this week after one of his better performances.  Looks like Casey's fans rallied around him to spare him for another week.  Casey did not even appear in the bottom 2.

 

It was Aaron Kelly who, as we thought, ended up in the bottom 2.  When the results were announced, he was also the one to go home.  At this stage, it's difficult to predict who will end up in the top 2, but we hope at least Crystal Bowersox secures her well-deserved spot.  The three remaining guys – Lee DeWyze, Casey James, and Michael Lynche – all have talent, but have all been uneven throughout the season.  It might just be a matter of dumb luck more than anything else that determines who lands in the top 2.

 

Next week's theme: songs from the movies.

 

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 9 Performances, Tuesday May 11, 2010

 

As promised, this week's theme is songs from the movies, and Jamie Foxx came back as a guest mentor to coach the four finalists with their song choices.  Jamie came armed with two T-shirts, "Contestant" and "Artist," which he said he was going to present to each finalist based on his or her performance.  Cute gimmick which amounted to nothing.  With fewer contestants and an hour to fill, the producers brought back last year's idea of the contestants being paired off to sing duets.  The duets are ostensibly just for fun and do not have the phone numbers shown during the performances, but what the heck – we'll grade them anyway.

 

(1) Lee DeWyze sang "Kiss from a Rose" from the film Batman Forever by Seal (1995).  Lee's voice was all wrong for this song, and that was demonstrated about 2 seconds into his performance.  It was scratchy and off-pitch from the get-go, and he couldn't get anywhere near the high notes that Seal scaled so effortlessly.  We don't know what the judges and the studio audience heard because the judges' comments were way too lenient given what a disaster this was.  Grade: D

 

(2) Michael Lynche sang "Will You Be There" from the film Free WIlly by Michael Jackson (1993).  Michael did an okay, but not great job with this Michael Jackson track.  He captured the underlying gospel flavor, but didn't really push himself or take the song to the soaring heights of the original.  Grade: B-

 

(3) Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox sang "Falling Slowly" from the film Once (2007).  Kris Allen sang this last year, and despite praise from the judges, we weren't knocked out by his version.  This song was originally done as a duet, so it worked better for us this year.  Still, Crystal clearly outshone Lee although both were good.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Casey James sang "Mrs. Robinson" from the film The Graduate (1967).  Low-key effort from Casey, who sang the song competently enough, but didn't do anything interesting with it.  The harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel on the original made it a classic, but absent that, the song just laid there and felt almost phoned in.  Grade: B-

 

(5) Crystal Bowersox sang "I'm Alright" from the film Caddyshack (1980).  Crystal took to the stage and immediately showed everyone why she's the odds-on favorite to win the season.  She took an almost-forgotten Kenny Loggins hit and made it fresh and exciting.  Clearly the best performance of the night.  Grade: B+

 

(6) Casey James and Michael Lynche sang "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" from the film Don Juan DeMarco (1995).  Bryan Adams hit nicely performed by Casey and Michael.  Casey somewhat redeemed himself, but Michael was clearly the star of this duet.  Grade: B

 

The duets tonight were instructive because the weak links of the season became more obvious.  For us, Michael and Crystal were demonstrably better than their singing partners, Casey and Lee.  As of this writing, if the finale consisted of Crystal and Michael, we wouldn't be either shocked or disappointed.  Of course, things can change on a dime given the craziness of this season.  We'll be very interested to get the results tomorrow.  Will Michael Lynche achieve his near-term goal and make it into the final 3?

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 9 Results, Wednesday May 12, 2010

 

Based on last night's performances, we don't think that Michael Lynche should have gone home tonight, but we acknowledge that established fanbases play a lot into who goes through each week no matter how well each contestant actually performed.  Also, although we felt that Lee should have been the one to go home tonight after last night's horrendous performance, he did redeem himself with his duet with Crystal Bowersox and may have been able to piggyback on her popularity to skate by another week. 

 

The top 3 will return to his or her hometown for a hero's welcome and a parade in his or her honor.   If the rules from prior seasons still apply, the contestants will each have to sing two songs next week with one of them being a judge's choice.

 

Who will be joining Crystal in the top 2?  Find out next week.

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 10 Performances, Tuesday May 18, 2010

 

This week, the contestants each must sing two songs to be judged on.  As usual for this stage of the competition, the contestants get to pick any song of his or her choosing, and the judges pick the second song.  Tonight, it is crucial for each contestant to give it his or her all and to leave the audience with a memorable lasting impression in order to get those fan votes.

 

(1) Casey James sang "OK, It's Alright with Me" by Eric Hutchinson (2008).  We agree with the judges in that Casey sang the song well enough, but it really isn't a song that wins competitions.  The judges go on and on about the "wow factor," but tonight each contestant really does need to wow the audience in order to make the fans leap out of their chairs to want to vote for him or her.  Not a bad vocal, but choosing a blah song won't help him at all.  Grade: B

 

(2) Crystal Bowersox sang "Come to My Window" by Melissa Etheridge (1993).  Some good moments from Crystal on this Etheridge classic, but spotty overall for us.  Often, it felt more like shouting than singing.  Still, unless there is a gross miscarriage of justice, Crystal should sail through to the finale.  Grade: B

 

(3) Lee DeWyze sang "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973).  Lee gave the best performance of the first round, no question.  We didn't love it to the same extent that the judges did, but it was clearly head and shoulders above what Casey and Crystal did.  Nice vocal with just a few bum notes, and just as with the other contestants, it was a song that Lee should be singing.  However, Lee simply did it better.  Grade: B+

 

(4) Casey James sang "Daughters" by John Mayer (2003).  For the judges' choice, Randy and Kara chose this ballad from Mayer's Heavier Things album.  We're not sure why the judges felt that Casey's own choice was too low key for this competition, and then they gave him this sleepy ditty to perform.  We think Casey is in serious trouble after these two dull songs.  Grade: B

 

(5) Crystal Bowersox sang "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney (1970).  Ellen's choice was a pleasant surprise because it isn't something we would have automatically associated with Crystal's strengths.  However, this was exactly what Ellen had in mind in order for Crystal to show a different side to herself.  Crystal performed the song well, and didn't even change the male-centered lyrics.  We did see more shades to Crystal's voice than we had before in this competition, and Crystal was able to show that she has a pretty singing voice and can perform without her guitar and still rock the house and be memorable.  Grade: B+

 

(6) Lee DeWyze sang "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (1984).  Flanked by a choir of background singers, Lee gave a soaring performance of this classic song.  Not perfect by any means, but more than enough to ensure a place for him the finale.  Lee brought the audience to its feet and clearly had the biggest impact of the night.  Grade: A-

 

Overall, a great night, but we feel that it is pretty easy to predict who will end up in the final 2.  Setting potential fanbases aside, we feel that, based on tonight's performances, the contestants who should go through to the final round are Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze.

 

Who will the final 2 actually be?  Find out tomorrow at 9pm eastern.

 

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 10 Results, Wednesday May 19, 2010

 

As expected, America made the easy and correct choice based on last night's performances and sent both Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze to the finals.  Crystal has been pretty consistently good throughout the season.  While Lee has his off weeks, he was an early favorite of ours, and when he was firing on all cylinders, he was the best male vocalist and performer of the season.  If Siobhan couldn't have been in the finale with Crystal, Lee would have been our second choice.

 

Next Tuesday, the action takes place in the giant Nokia Theater for the finale, and by next week at this time, we'll know who the winner of Season 9 is.  Or do we already know?

 


 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 11 Performances, Tuesday May 25, 2010

 

After a long season, we're finally here at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles for the showdown between this season's top 2 contestants: Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox.  Obviously, Crystal has been an audience favorite since week 1 of the semi-finals while Lee has been something of a dark horse.  Can Lee derail Crystal's momentum and take home the crown?  Read on for our complete rundown of tonight's festivities.  As usual for the finale, each contestant must sing three songs: their favorite song from this season, a song chosen by American Idol producer, Simon Fuller, and the song they will release as their first single should they win.

 

ROUND 1: Lee DeWyze sang "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel from week 6's inspirational song theme.  Crystal Bowersox sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Roger Miller from week 2's Billboard Number One Hits theme.

 

Round 1 clearly goes to Crystal as she chose a song that was more energetic and crowd pleasing than Lee's more sedate ballad.  We weren't crazy about Lee's performance the first time, rating it only a B, and while we might bump it up to a B+ for his second shot, Crystal was an A the first time, and close to it again tonight.  Crystal understands that you have to work the crowd in order to get the votes, and she did it in spades.

 

ROUND 2: Lee DeWyze sang "Everybody Hurts" by REM.  Crystal Bowersox sang "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles.  Songs chosen by American Idol producer, Simon Fuller.

 

Round 2 also goes to Crystal.  We felt that "Everybody Hurts" was actually a curious choice given that REM frontman, Michael Stipe, sings much of that song in falsetto, which is completely out of the range of Lee's raspy voice.  Even with a chorus of background singers backing up Lee, the song never took off and achieved the effect that he was going for.  Crystal's selection was a much better fit for her voice, and while she was awkward walking down the stairs in her high heels, she successfully took this much-performed classic to a new level.  Not the best we've heard from Crystal, but it was enough to win the round handily.

 

 

ROUND 3: Lee DeWyze sang "Beautiful Day" by U2.  Crystal Bowersox sang "Up to the Mountain (MLK song)" by  Patty Griffin. 

 

Sweeping the night, Crystal Bowrsox brought the house down with her version of "Up to the Mountain (MLK song)."  We aren't sure why the producers chose remakes for the contestants to release as their first singles, however.  Yes, the Idol single has the deserved reputation of being generically fake-inspirational, but we don't think that releasing a remake is the antidote to that.  All that being said, we did feel that Crystal's song was effective and was definitely the highlight of a so-so night of performances.  But is it a little too downbeat for a first single from an a new artist?  Time will tell.  Once again, Lee's voice was an ill-fit for that U2 track, and we think the results, when revealed tomorrow, will show that the voting wasn't even close.

 

Tomorrow, the finale, the results, and Simon Cowell's goodbye to American Idol.

 

American Idol 9: Finals Week 11 Results, Wednesday May 26, 2010

 

Oh, Jesus take the wheel, already.

 

In a season that kept getting more wrong as it progressed, we shouldn't have been surprised at tonight's results, but we were.  Crystal Bowersox was fully expected to win, and based on last night's performances, she should have won.

 

So, of course, Lee DeWyze won the crown.

 

Of the guys this season, Lee was actually one of our favorites, but his performances were so scattershot, so hit and miss, that we just couldn't see him winning this thing.  He simply did not deserve to.  This makes the second year in a row that America got it wrong.  Was it a case of America voting for the safe choice once again as it did last year when the country chose Kris Allen over Adam Lambert?  Lee certainly had a more mainstream sob story: he was a humble, working class paint salesman with a dream.  On the other hand, Crystal Bowersox was a single mom with a decidedly offbeat look.  Was America going to reward that with a record contract?

 

We didn't think that there could be an Idol winner who would go on to sell less than Kris Allen, but we think we got ourselves a real contender for that dubious honor right here.  We think that it speaks volumes when the winner of the contest is actually shocked that he won.  The same reaction by the winner happened with Kris Allen last year, and he has gone on to underwhelming record sales.  Once again, we feel an Idol winner is fated to be overshadowed by the runner up.  There's no doubt that Crystal, along with many of the top 12 will end up with record deals, but we think that it will be Crystal's that will be the most highly anticipated by the record buying public.  For us, however, we can't wait to see what our personal favorite, Siobhan Magnus comes up with.

 

Looking back over the season, it shouldn't be too surprising that Crystal and Lee made it to the final 2.  They were the only contestants in the top 12 to have never ended up in the bottom 2 or 3 throughout the entire season, but we're still puzzled by what people saw in Lee over the other contestants.  He did have some great moments, but had much more just-ok ones.  Crystal, on the other hand, was a standout from week 1, and only had a few lackluster performances.

 

Tonight's results will undoubtedly be speculated on by many across the Internet over the coming weeks, but for us, we're glad that this subpar season is finally over.  We really do feel that this will be looked back upon as the season where the show truly jumped the shark and will never be as popular again.  Simon Cowell's departure after tonight only seals the fate of this once-unstoppable ratings juggernaut.