Thursday night with over 27 million votes, four American Idol contestants were eliminated. But, first let’s go back and review the ladies.
On Wednesday night the 10 remaining female American Idol contestants performed for the second week in Hollywood, starting with the formerly hospitalized Crystal Bowersox. When asked by show host Ryan Seacrest how she was feeling she replied that she was fine and ready to perform. Bowersox performed “Long As I Can See The Light” by Creedance Clearwater. All the judges agreed that it was excellent and she had set the bar for the night.
Katelyn Epperly, Paige Miles, and Siobhan Magnus’ performances were greatly improved from the previous week. Epperly performed Coldplay’s “The Scientist” with the aid of a piano and although it was the slowest song of the night, the performance was quite good, and that is a difficult song to sing. Judge Randy Jackson did let her know that she had fallen off pitch at the end and Kara DioGuardi told her to figure out who she is since she confuses them a little by changing things up a lot.
Miles performed “Walk Away” by Kelly Clarkson. DioGuardi, who wrote the song, liked the vocals, but told her she was exhibiting the wrong emotion. It was meant to be an angry song and Miles had smiled strongly throughout. Cowell claims she failed to choose the right song two weeks in a row, but I don’t agree. This performance, though not perfect, was much better than the week before.
Magnus made an extremely bold choice by choosing Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” It was a nearly impossible performance that she mostly pulled off. It was a little pitchy, but as Jackson pointed out “It was so bold, so fearless.” There was one note that was brilliant and she definitely made a statement. I would have been very surprised to see any of these four women voted off on Thursday, but they were not and remain safe for the third week.
Lilly Scott performed “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. Jackson called it his favorite performance of the night. DioGuardi claimed she had her first moment of the competition and DeGeneres actually forgot it was a singing competition. Cowell pointed out that she over sang in the middle but he liked it as well. I thought it was the second or third best performance behind Bowersox again and maybe Magnus. Scott was also voted to stay for next week.
The other half of the contestants, though most had improved, were not as good. Katie Stevens decided to take the judges criticisms to heart and go a little more youthful. She performed “Put Your Records On” by Corrine Bailey Ray. It wasn’t bad and the song choice was better than last week, but she still has some improvements to make. Cowell told her that she needs to establish what type of recording artist she would like to be and then portray that to the audience. I think she is still trying to be too mature for her age and DeGeneres agreed. That fact of making herself appear older also goes hand in hand with deciding what kind of recording artist she is.
Didi Benami chose “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers and it was the wrong song choice that almost cost her a spot in the final 12. Jackson told her she shouldn’t have picked a soul song. DioGuardi compared her performance to karaoke and Cowell said it was “frustrating because you’re kind of a cool artist who did something very generic.”Fortunately for Stevens and Benami, America likes them and gave them another chance for next week.
I personally was the most disappointed in Lacey Brown and Michelle Delamor and Haeley Vaughn was just awful for the second week in a row. Brown decided to take DioGuardi’s advice literally and perform “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. I think it should have been a good song choice, but she screwed it up by coming off as too much of a karaoke singer. Cowell remarked that he doesn’t feel like she is showing who she is.
Delamor made a horrible song choice with Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open.” There were several pitch problems during the song and Randy said “It fell flat to me.” DioGuardi remarked that it was her favorite performance of Delamor’s, however, on Thursday she told Delamor “…when I went back and watched the tape, it really wasn’t good.”
Vaughn tried to sing a song from her generation but it was not even remotely the right song or vocal styling for her. Her version of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” was “…a complete and utter mess,” according to judge Cowell. All the judges agreed it was not good and she needs more training. American agreed as well and Vaughn was sent home on Thursday, along with Delamor. Brown was voted to stay one more week, but she needs to step it up or she will be the next to go.
Joining Vaughn and Delamor Thursday in leaving the show were Jermaine Sellers and John Park. Unlike last week, there were no surprises on elimination night and the competition is getting more and more serious. Before the eliminations the 20 remaining contestants performed “I Got a Feelin’” by the Black Eyed Peas. There were individual parts that did not come off well and a more unison performance would have been better. Former Idol contestant Danny Gokey performed his new single “My Best Days are Ahead of Me,” which was a nice performance to break up the sadness of eliminations. Now we are down to 16 and next week we will have our final 12. Stay tuned.
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