Tuesday night’s American Idol show was the make it or break it performance for the ladies. The final 12 contestants will be announced on Thursday night and the performances needed to show that each person not only has what it takes to be the next American Idol, but that they know who they are and want to be there. Five women did just that…and three didn’t.
Crystal Bowersox and Lilly Scott gave their normal great performance, though I personally didn’t like Scott’s song choice of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces.” Judge Kara DioGuardi said “You made Patsy Cline feel current.” Judge Simon Cowell thought it lacked a wow factor and I agree, but it was still pretty good.
Siobhan Magnus performed The Animals’ “House Of The Rising Sun.” She chose a good song to show off her range. It has difficult transitions from the alto to the second soprano to the first soprano range and made each transition quite well. Both Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi remarked how she surprises us week to week. However, Cowell remarked how she didn’t have any great moments as opposed to the previous week and she didn’t do much with the song itself.
Lacey Brown and Didi Benami, two of my favorite voices in the competition, showed great improvement this week. Brown performed Brandi Carlisle’s “The Story,” which was very slow, but, as Simon Cowell stated, she sang it very well. Ellen DeGeneres told her it was her best performance yet. DioGuardi said “Performances like this are why you got here. It was a brilliant choice.” Benami played her guitar for the first time in Hollywood and performed Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon.” It was a risk that, performed well with the right voice, could really pay off…and it did. Jackson said it was much better than the week before but she could probably do a little better. Cowell thought is was well balanced and one of the best performances of the night.
Katie Stevens, Katelyn Epperly, and Paige Miles not only fell short of the other performances but fell short of their own previous performances. Stevens took the judges advice and performed a younger song with Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway.” Unfortunately, she was off-key on the opening verse and Randy Jackson compared it to karaoke. DeGeneres said it lacked personality. DioGuardi and Cowell both think, as well as I do, that she doesn’t know who she is yet or what kind of artist she is. Until she figures that out, she isn’t going to have stellar performances and be ready to really compete in the competition.
Epperly doesn’t appear to be trying as hard as the others and I just don’t think her voice is good enough. Her performance of Carole King’s “I Feel The Earth Move” should have made the audience feel the Earth move and we didn’t. Jackson called it sleepy and said it lacked a connection with the audience. DioGuardi and Cowell feel as if she isn’t trying hard enough either.
Miles’ performance of the classic hit “Smile” was completely the wrong song choice as the performance was off-key and didn’t have any interesting moments. Jackson thought it fell flat, DioGuardi said it was all wrong, and DeGeneres told her “…it was supposed to be inspiring, but it was sad and heavy.” Cowell claims they don’t know what kind of artist she is and neither does she.
Though anything can happen in the Idol voting, I think Bowersox, Scott, and Magnus are definitely safe. I personally think Epperly has the least interesting voice and no great performance so she should be eliminated. Stevens, though I like her and her voice, really is unsure of who she is as an artist and needs more experience and maturity before she can really compete, so I think she should be eliminated also. I’ll give Miles one more try, but she needs a fantastic performance. I think if she figures out who she is as an artist and makes a right song choice then her voice is strong enough to pull it off.
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