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The girls were scheduled to sing tonight but Crystal Bowersox is in the hospital so they switched the girls’ night with the guys’ night. I like Crystal and all but I am not sure this decision is fair to the guys who lost a day of rehearsal while the girls gained one. It’s not like Idol to be so accommodating so the “word” that they want a female winner this year gains credibility tonight.
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I hate this feeling that I have to dumb down my expectations for this year's Idol hopefuls but that's how I feel tonight. Last week's shows were very weak so I'm not putting much store in finding any "stars" this week. If I were to be as critical as I normally would be, I wouldn't have much to like. "sigh"
On a side note, the judges have done a switcheroo as well. Randy is now back to his usual spot on the left end, then Ellen/Kara/Simon; and they stopped alternating who goes first. Glad they got rid of that source of confusion. Too bad they can't seem to eliminate the confusion in their criticisms ("Change it up, make it your own" "Don't mess with the melody, sing it straight").
# 1 - Mike Lynche - "It's A Man's World"/ James Brown: Big Mike has a theatre background. Who knew? He does a good job on this song; far better than last week. I know Mike likes the John Mayer type of songs but this song seems to suit him better. Maybe it's partly a perception on the part of the audience that this is what he "should" sing but it worked for him. I stop short of raving about it though. This is a powerful song and I felt his voice didn't quite live up to the passion of the song, but good job and enjoyable to watch.
# 2 - John Park - "Gravity"/John Mayer: John moved to Korea at 6 yrs old and grew up with Korean as his first language. When his family moved back to America when he was in 4th grade, he had to learn to speak English. I had high hopes for John tonight, but while he sang a perfectly respectable vocal of the song, there was nothing special about it. He was on the right track, but I felt he should have chosen a more upbeat song so we could see some personality. I'm sure his voice blends beautifully with the members of his a capella group back home but it's not shining on its own. At this point he is not connecting well with the audience and I feel he is in major trouble after tonight.
# 3 - Casey James - "I Don't Want To Be"/Gavin DeGraw: Casey's family didn't have a TV when he was growing up so he never got in the habit of watching much. In fact, he has never watched American Idol so he didn't realize that the song he chose had been done several times before (Bo Bice, Eliott Yamin, Chris Richardson). He appears to have even more skills than we've seen: the before and after shots of his house show his ability in construction trades. And - he plays a mean electric guitar. That rocks! He says he isn't the best singer in the group so he needs every advantage he can get. He's right - he isn't the best singer in the bunch but I like hearing him sing anyway. He is so charming in his laid back way, and seems so sincere and real. Apparently Kara took a lot of crap over the way she acted toward Casey last week so this week she dumped a load on him. She told him he took two steps back this week and went on with more negative criticism. Simon says to Kara "Did he not return your calls?" and it did feel just like that; getting even. She was much too heavy handed and it felt like she was trying to regain her control rather than offering a real critique. Simon was a bit negative as well but not in the nasty way he sometimes has. He told Casey he didn't have enough grit in his voice for that song, it was more like sand. Kara inexplicably said it was more like dirt. Enough already Kara. You were the one who acted foolish and unprofessional last week; no need to blame Casey. I do think Casey did enough to secure his spot, with the guitar licks a nice bonus.
# 4 - Alex Lambert - "Everybody Knows"/John Legend: It wasn't surprising to find out that Alex has only sung in public a couple of times before this. He gets so nervous, he often throws up beforehand (like last week). He tells us he will play his guitar tonight to help calm his nerves, and I think it must work because I don't recognize this Alex as the one who (tried to) sing last week. We now know he has a great tone to his voice that is very pleasant to listen to. This is one performance tonight that I thoroughly enjoyed even if it was just in normal English and not the language he made up when he was a kid. (Really. He even sang an original song in Alexese in the video intro.) I thought he was in trouble coming in but this performance should save him.
# 5 - Todrick Hall - "What's Love Got To Do With It?"/Tina Turner: Todrick has been dancing since he was 9. Tonight he will be trying to hold back on the dance moves since he was criticized last week for being a dancer trying to be a singer, and lessen the changes to his arrangement since he was told he shouldn't change a song as much as he did. He does change the song some and it's fine, but when I sit in total silence during a whole song without formulating any particular opinion, that's not a good sign. I didn't get his choice of song at all. He was clearly feeling it but I wasn't. Then Randy tells him he shouldn't change the song at all next time; just sing it! Huh? Which is it? Change a song or don't change a song? This is so aggravating. Can't imagine how Todrick must feel hearing this. Ellen gave the best advice, telling him to stay true to his strengths (his dancing).
# 6 - Jermaine Sellers - "What's Going On"/Marvin Gaye: Jermaine is a church singer back home and to keep warm, he rocks his onesie! He does a much better job this week than last, but I'm not exactly moved by this performance. This is another instance where the singer is told he is changing a song too much. So I guess the message is: change the song but only exactly as I (judge X) want it. Jermaine doesn't help his cause in his conversations with the judges, and only makes his departure this week more probable.
# 7 - Andrew Garcia - "You Give Me Something"/James Morrison: Andrew break dances! We get a demo in his video intro. In response to the criticism last week, Andrew plans to minimize any rearranging of the song and sing it mostly straight. I gotta say, this was just not good at all. He was pitchy throughout the entire performance. And in the new crazy norm for this judging panel, they say it wasn't tricked out enough. "sigh" ("Too much" "Not enough" "Sing it straight" "Change it up") Simon sums it up by saying that he picked the wrong song 2 weeks in a row and it's a disappointment once again. I was disappointed too, but I doubt Andrew will be sent home. I think his following is enough to keep him around until he finds his groove.
#8 - Aaron Kelly - "My Girl"/Temptations: I didn't like this song on Aaron. His voice is too thin and shaky, and he needs to play up his youth by picking current songs the kids his age can relate to. He has pitch problems again this week. The judges are amazingly kind to this kid, critiquing in a way that shows how much they just do not want to say anything negative to him. I don't know that he will go home yet but he has to get better soon. Besides, his lack of positive response to whether he likes Justin Bieber could potentially set a whole bunch of girls against him.
# 9 - Tim Urban - "Come On Get Higher"/Matt Nathanson: The way Tim controls his nerves is to say a little prayer before he goes on stage. (After hearing last week's "Apologize", I can only conclude that this just demonstrates that God doesn't answer all our prayers.) Tonight Tim is doing better. It's a song better suited to him than last week's and he does a decent job with it but it's nothing I'm going to remember tomorrow. He should still be in some danger but I suspect he will make it through again.
# 10 - Lee DeWyze - "Lips Of An Angel"/Hinder: Lee says he got himself in trouble when he was in school and ended up in an alternative school. I believe it; he has that "bad boy" vibe going on. Last week, Simon told Lee he had the best performance of the night, and that could be argued again tonight. He still had some pitch problems but not as much as last week. Without his guitar, he appeared decidedly more uncomfortable, but his voice is very appealing and I appreciated his song choice. Simon told him he had the best voice of all the guys. He needs some honing but Lee is someone I would like to see go far.
Well, the guys got through it even without the extra day they should have had to prepare and did much better this week but I don't see that I need to start polishing any crowns yet. I was just relieved that it wasn't a train wreck. Crystal Bowersox owes each of these guys big thanks for allowing her another day to get better. Hopefully it helps and she is on hand Wednesday night to sing.
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