Topic: Idol-Talk
American Idol Season 9: Top 24 (Top 12 Male)
Airdate: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 [8-10pm]
Theme: Hot 100 Top 10's
On Tuesday night, the girls gave just average performances overall. Would the guys be able to step up and outperform them, and prove the judges wrong that a girl is gonna won? Well, it turns out the guys are even worse than the girls. I guess this can happen during the semifinals. Maybe it was just because it was the first live week; I don't know, but this was just a strange week, and not a good one to start off the voting part of the season. After the first half of the night, I was worried that there wouldn't be any guys good enough to warrant my vote. Fortunately, the last half was better. Let's get started:
- Todrick Hall ["Since U Been Gone"]: I applaud him for attempting to change up such a great Kelly Clarkson song. But by doing it in the way that he did, it ruined the song. He changed it into an R&B version, and I didn't even know what song it was after a little while. Because of that arrangement, his vocals suffered.
- Aaron Kelly [Rascal Flatts' "Here Comes Goodbye"]: I found his performance to be a little uneven, unlike what the judges thought. There were many moments where his voice was shaky; I think that was his biggest problem, because the song choice itself wasn't a hindrance. The final power note was great, though.
- Jermaine Sellers ["Get Here"]: I love this song (and Justin Guarini sang it in season 1), and it's a great song to show off one's range and vocal power, but Jermaine, as Simon said, blew it. He does have a great voice, but it was sharp when he hit the high notes, and was pushing it too hard, as Ellen said.
- Tim Urban ["Apologize"]: No wonder he was cut in the first place. He shouldn't have chosen this song, because he can't hit all the many falsetto notes that appear in it. And even outside of the falsetto's, it wasn't good. It was amateurish, with him looking like a small fish in the big, wide open sea.
- Joe Munoz ["You And I Both"]: I'm not going to remember his performance in a couple of minutes. He was playing it safe, and doing nothing to stand out. That's all I can say about it, because there was nothing special.
- Tyler Grady ["American Woman"]: I think he probably has a good voice (there was a little hint of it here), but the song didn't allow him to bring it forward. I'm not sure what musical style he is, but it isn't classic rock (or maybe just not that song; I don't know). This song works if you can pull off that style, but it came off as karaoke-like.
- *Lee Dewyze ["Chasing Cars"]: He's been the best so far tonight. Besides a few pitchy moments, everything was great. The song fit his vocal style perfectly. One suggestion, though - next time he should pick a song where he can really rock out and use that gravelly voice to its fullest potential, instead of holding back a little as this song made him do. But for this first week, it was great.
- John Park ["God Bless the Child"]: I closed my eyes for most of it to really hear his voice. And I'm still not sure what to think. He has a great tone to his voice, no doubt, but I can't really figure out who he is. I want him to have another chance, because I need to hear more to gauge what I think.
- Michael Lynche ["This Love"]: He's definitely an entertainer and performer. I think he has gotten to this point mainly because of his personality. And while he has a great voice, he needs to step it up more so we can focus on his voice.
- Alex Lambert [Wonderful World]: I really like his unique voice; I'm intrigued by it, and want to hear more. But I agree with the judges: he needs to work on his stage presence. But he still has a great voice.
- *Casey James ["Heaven"]: He's been one of my favorites this year, and he didn't disappoint tonight. I love how his voice sounds, and he definitely chose the right song. He may have sounded too much like the original, but it fits and he pulled it off.
- *Andrew Garcia ["Sugar, We're Going Down"]: I wasn't expecting him to exceed his version of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" from Hollywood Week, but I was hoping he would keep the momentum going, and I think he did. I do not agree with the judges at all. I loved this performance. Do they expect him to be at that "Straight Up" level at all times? Based on their comments, he may fall victim to being the early front-runner who stumbles and doesn't regain their footing, but I hope he doesn't and he hasn't so far.
Favorite Performances: Lee Dewyze / Andrew Garcia / Casey James
My Vote(s): Lee Dewyze [15 votes]
Elimination Predictions: Tim Urban / Joe Munoz
I had a hard time making my predictions this time, since there so many horrible performances. I initially pared it down to three: Jermaine Sellers, Tim Urban, and Joe Munoz. I finally pared it down to Tim, because he was the worst of the night and proved why he was cut in the first place (BTW-Tim is the Vote for the Worst pick), and Joe, because he had the most forgettable performance of the night.
Now for a few notes about this episode: With Kara sitting next to Simon now, it seems like those two are interacting really well in a way that seems like Simon could very well start picking on her in the way he did with Paula. After Alex Lambert's performance, Ellen started talking about an unripe banana; when she first starting talking about bananas, I thought she was going to pull a Paula. And during the judge's comments of Casey James' performance, it became even more apparent of Kara's adoration of him. Now it's Kara who is turning into the new Paula. What is going on with the judge's?
And one final comment on the judges. I've said this many times before that I love Ellen DeGeneres and was excited that she was going to be a judge on American Idol. Yesterday, I said that Tuesday's show was only her first live episode and we should give her some time to get situated. I still stand by that, but I noticed last night that it seems like she doesn't really know how to end her comments, so she repeats what she just said, which causes her to be a little rambly. Just a little observation, and I look forward to seeing her finding her footing at the panel, because it seems at the moment that they've stuck her at the end of the table and there isn't much interaction between her and the other three at the moment. There's talk going around that the rumored tension between Ellen & Simon is the reason that she was sitting away from Simon. Who knows what the truth is, but like I said, I look forward to seeing her in the weeks to come.
Before I end this post for today, I want to pose this question: Is anyone else tired of seeing the Kris Allen/Ford commercial over and over and over again with each episode? At this point, the commercial is now boring. They need to bring in someone like Adam Lambert or Allison Iraheta to make it exciting. Sorry, I just had to bring it up; it's been bugging me lately.
If you want to buy any of the audio performances from last night, head on over to americanidol.com/itunes. (On a related note, I might become an iTunes Affiliate soon, which means I would be able to provide my own links to where you can buy the music on iTunes).
Tonight is the first live results show of the season. Since it's an hour, they obviously have to use filler. And tonight, we have footage of season 8 winner Kris Allen in Haiti for Idol Gives Back, plus a performance by him. Also, season 8 fourth place finalist Allison Iraheta will perform her new single, "Scars," which I can't wait for. If you haven't heard her debut CD, Just Like You, you really should. Oh, and there's results to get to as well; we can't forget about that (lol). See ya then...
