This week was Rolling Stones week on American Idol and strong performances came rolling out Tuesday night. Michael Lynche opened up the performance show with “Miss You” and, for the third week now, he rocked the house. “…That’s the way to start the night. Amazing,” judge Ellen DeGeneres said of Lynche’s performance. Kara DioGuardi said he performed the way the Stones had by conveying the song’s message while putting on a great performance. Simon Cowell said that some of the performance appeared desperate. Host Ryan Seacrest then got into a verbal confrontation and stare down with Cowell that, I think, was very immature and ruined that segment of the broadcast. Fortunately for Lynche, things got better on Wednesday night’s results show when he was voted safe by the Idol fans.
Didi Benami gave a fiery performance of “Playing with Fire.” Her dark facial expressions went well with the emotional tone of the song and her overall vocal performance was her best one yet. Judge Randy Jackson liked it and told her she was on fire. DioGuardi liked how it was dark because it went well with the song. The judges all agreed with me that she has improved consistently each week since the beginning. Apparently, so did America and she was voted safe on Wednesday.
Casey James performed “It’s All Over Now” and, though it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t his strongest performance. He did give it a country flare, though. Unfortunately, he has yet to duplicate his great performance of the first Hollywood week when he acoustically performed a Bryan Adams hit with his guitar. All the judges, except Simon Cowell, disagreed with me. DioGuardi called him a rock star and said it was his best performance. However America felt, they liked it enough to vote him into the next round on Wednesday’s results show.
Lacey Brown once again gave a slow, non-captivating performance. Her vocals on the Stones’ song “Ruby Tuesday” were good, but the performance didn’t come together the way it should have. DeGeneres commented on how she was standing during the slow part of the song and sitting during the more upbeat portion. That hurt the performance part I think. Though the vocals were good, everything else, from her movements to the arrangement, just didn’t make sense. Cowell told her she was over thinking everything. Unfortunately for Lacey, a lack of votes put her into the bottom three this week.
I was worried for Andrew Garcia this week because I thought that the Rolling Stones would be a hard group for him to duplicate and it was. He performed “Gimme Shelter” and it was one of his weakest performances due to pitch problems. He consistently did not hit the high notes with accuracy and it made for a vocally weak performance. DeGeneres said “What do I know; I think that was your best performance yet.” Well, what does she know…about music anyway. Next to nothing, so I tend to take the other judges’ criticisms as having more weight personally. DioGuardi didn’t feel the message of the song. I thought he might be voted into the bottom three this week, but he was safe and will be back to try again next week.
Katie Stevens picked a great song choice with “Wild Horses.” She normally doesn’t perform anything country-like, but she surprisingly turned a Rolling Stones song into a modern country song. DioGuardi liked her melody variations and Cowell said it’s the first time she chose a strong song, but she lost some emotion during the performance. America seems to like her enough to keep bringing her back as she was safe again on Wednesday’s results show.
Tim Urban put a reggae twist on “Under my Thumb” and, despite my indifference to reggae music, I liked it; The Idol judges, however, disagreed. Randy Jackson called it bizarre and said he didn’t get it. DioGuardi likes that he made it his own with the extreme change, but they all agreed it didn’t work. I think it worked for him and other performances, like Garcia’s, were worse. America didn’t seem to get it either as Urban was in the bottom three of the vote totals on Wednesday night.
Siobhan Magnus’ “Paint it Black” performance was the best performance of the night. She started out sitting on the steps at the back of the stage in an outfit that showed her personality while being completely fitting for the song and performance. Jackson called it hot, DeGeneres loved how it all came together to make a great performance, and Cowell liked how she stirred up a reaction of either hating it or loving it. I loved it and, other than a slight screech at the highest note, thought it was perfect. If she just steams her vocal cords a bit she can open up her voice and project a screech free sound. Again this week, Magnus was announced safe during the results show.
Lee Dewyze performed a good performance of the Stones’ hit “Beast of Burden,” but it wasn’t his best performance. Jackson thought was one of his better performances and DeGeneres said she had expected a little more. DioGuardi thinks he has grown a lot. Cowell loves him and his voice, but thinks he is causing frustration by not having bigger moments that others are having. America still loves him though and voted him safe again.
Paige Miles was another performer that I was worried about being able to perform the Rolling Stones well and she did, indeed, disappoint me a little. With her performance of “Honky Tonk Women” she tried to rock out and perform well, but the song style just didn’t fit her vocals. She apparently had laryngitis during the week and performed without much rehearsal and without being completely over the disease. Her vocals were very good with that in mind, but she isn’t connecting with the audience according to Simon Cowell. He was right as she did not get enough votes to be safe and was the final contestant in the bottom three.
Aaron Kelly, after having a rough week vocally last week, came back with “Angie” and it was a great song choice for him. He changed it up a bit and it fit perfectly for him, thus giving him a great performance. DeGeneres thought he gave the best male performance and DioGuardi thought he really connected with the audience. Since he was voted safe, I guess she was right.
Crystal Bowersox, who has consistently had the best female performance each week, was beaten by Magnus this week. Her performance of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was very good, but not quite the best and the judges told her so. They really like her and her performances but told her she was over thinking this week. She was safe again this week and I think she is a favorite among the voters.
Once the bottom three was announced Wednesday night, host Ryan Seacrest told Tim Urban he could sit back down as he did not have the lowest amount of votes. Lacey Brown, however, did. What was interesting about this results show and about this particular season in general is that a new policy has been put into affect allowing the judges to save one person that America votes off during the season. The vote has to be unanimous and unfortunately we all had to say goodbye to Lacey as the judges did not think she was worth using their one and only save.
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