This past week was one of the most stressful weeks of the American Idol season 9 competition. Only the top 10 contestants go on the Idol tour, so whomever did not perform well was in grave danger of not only being eliminated, but missing the tour and missing out on a career. The topic was Billboard’s #1’s. Some contestants performed as if they belong on the Billboard charts and, as usual, some did not. Miley Cyrus was the guest coach for the week. I personally thought that was only a good choice for 17-year-old Katie Stevens as she can relate to Cyrus, but Cyrus doesn’t have enough musical or life experience to coach the other contestants.
Lee Dewyze started off the performances Tuesday with “The Letter” by The Boxtops. The judges loved how he loosened up and had more fun with it. “You’re finally owning the stage…you’ve raised the bar for yourself,” said Kara DioGuardi. Simon Cowell thought it was a bit corny, though. I personally really liked it. I think he can do better, but he did improve as far as relaxing and not over-thinking it.
Paige Miles performed “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins and it may have been the worst performance this Idol season. She was off-key the whole time and didn’t seem like she was as into the competition as in previous weeks. Randy Jackson called it terrible, said it was quite pitchy. Ellen DeGeneres complimented her on her looks, but not on her performance. DioGuardi said it was possibly the worst vocal yet.
Tim Urban performed “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. His performance was great, including a stage slide, but his vocals were not exciting and that hurt him with the judges. DeGeneres said she didn’t get it. DioGuardi said he didn’t do much with the song so it was a little boring. Cowell said “It was completely and utterly pointless and silly.”
Aaron Kelly performed “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith and I was worried he would screw up the pitch, but it was actually quite good. Randy Jackson complimented him on performing well with a bad cold. DioGuardi complimented him on consistently picking pretty good songs.
Crystal Bowersox performed “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin. Like Dewyze, she also loosened up this week and just really rocked it. When I closed my eyes during the chorus I thought Joplin had come back from the dead. Randy Jackson called her a dope singer and basically said she defines American Idol. DeGeneres just wants more of a connection from her. Cowell said her version was as good as Pink’s version of the song.
Michael Lynche performed “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Michael Bolton. It was a nice performance but missed the big moments that he’s had in the last two weeks. Jackson loves that he knows who he is, but it wasn’t his best song choice or vocal. DioGuardi said that while it was technically good, it was a bit loungey and Cowell agreed.
Andrew Garcia performed “I’ve Heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye. Again, not a good song choice. It was flat and uninteresting. He is in real danger of going home soon I think, which is disappointing because I think he’s better than that. He’s been the prime example of an excellent recording voice that is going to be eliminated due to poor song choice and poor performance each week. Jackson told him it wasn’t good and was the wrong song choice. DeGeneres echoed Jackson’s sentiments and wished him luck in garnering enough votes to stay in the competition.
Katie Stevens performed “Big Girl’s Don’t Cry” by Fergie. She performed better than some of her other performances, despite being off-key, but she is still lacking that big moment. DeGeneres called her the Dakota Fanning of American Idol. DioGuardi believes she should go down the Pop/R&B road and continue performances like that and Cowell believes she should go down the Country music road.
Casey James performed “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis. The judges didn’t seem to love it, but I disagreed. I thought it was great, especially with his guitar playing talent. The judges weren’t a fan of the song choice, but loved the vocals, except for Cowell. He compared him to an 80’s cover band.
Didi Benami performed “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstandt and it was one of my favorite performances of the night. Although I think Bowersox had better vocals, Benami had a great performance with the right attitude and facial expressions. Jackson loved the idea, but said it was pitchy. DeGeneres didn’t like the song choice. DioGuardi thought it was over-dramatic and confusing. Cowell compared it to a part in a musical and said it didn’t sound like her.
Siobhan Magnus performed “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and to me it seemed a little redundant. The screaming at the end is starting to get monotonous. Jackson and DeGeneres loved her performance though. DioGuardi loves how she expresses herself in every performance, as do I, but she can’t do the same type of arrangement each time or she has a good chance of not winning.
On Wednesday night, Paige Miles, Tim Urban, and Katie Stevens were the three contestants with the lowest votes. Miles was the one they sent packing with not even a chance to sing for a save as the judges kindly told her she didn’t even need to try.
The results show opened with the 11 contestants performing “Jitterbug” by George Michael. Some vocal pairings meshed, some didn’t, which has been typical. Miley Cyrus performed “When I Look at You” part way through the show and was actually not so good herself, which just reinforced my previous statement that she didn’t have enough experience to coach the contestants. Next week is R&B Soul week with guess coach, Usher.
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