This week we have a true dramatic opening... that is more like it! An actual reason to have a dramatic opening unlike last week's boys performance show where it just seemed stupid and awkward.
We get to watch a clip about the Rolling Stones... and I have to admit that I can't think of more than four Stones songs off the top of my head (sorry classic rock lovers... I'm a pop music fiend). It should make my opinion of tonights performances a bit more interesting. Let's get started!
(video) Mikes family was very musical... his mom was a big supporter of him in music and in sports, but passed away when he was in high school. His wife didn't know he was so musical until one day he picked a guitar up out of the blue.
(performance) It's got a good neo-soul rockish vibe to it. His falsetto is really good. I think Big Mike is someone who could really surprise us in this competition. We knew he was good during Hollywood Week, but did we know he was this good? He's the antithesis of Andrew Garcia who peaked early... Mike is just now coming into his own and really impressing me. Kara says Mike was "hot on stage"... Simon thought it was a bit corny, but he sang it well. He even called it "a bit desperate". I couldn't disagree more. I actually really liked this performance... and I think its definitely solidfied a spot for him in the top 11.
(video) We meet Mommy Benami (which I love that nickname by the way! lol...) who seems like a sweet supportive mom, and Didi is happy to have some family support out here in L.A. She hasn't had any family out here for her since she moved here 6 years ago. We also learn that her mom is too nervous to actually be in the room while she sings because she is afraid she will make her daughter nervous. Cute!
(performance) This performance is very serious, and its weird to watch Didi perform without smiling. This song isn't really made for Didi... but I'm not sure if there is any Stones song would be. I think she really tried and gave it her all though. The end notes were definitely a bit shaky. For me, this is probably my least favorite Didi performance so far. And of course... the one week I am kinda unsure about Didi, the judges like her and think it is a great song choice! FIGURES! Why is it that the judges and I always disagree about Didi? One thing I love about Didi is that what you see is what you get. I don't feel like she is putting on this fake persona for the camera. With some of the other contestants I am waiting for them to break out of this holy-crap-I'm-on-TV shell that they are in. With Didi, I don't get that... I think she's being true to herself, which I appreciate.
(video) Casey is from Cool, Texas. How ironic is that for the "coolest" contestant of this season? Casey's family is also musical and actually admits that he's the least talented out of everyone. Not sure if that is slamming himself, or giving props to his family? lol...
(performance) As this performance starts, I'm glad that Casey has the electric guitar back out and that he's choosing to do a rock performance versus the slow acoustic performances that we become accustomed to. One thing I notice different about Casey tonight is a look in his eyes where he seems like he is actually really trying hard to give the best performance possible. I agree %100 with Randy that Casey could have a career in the line of Kenny Wayne Sheppard or Johnny Lang. That rock/blues guitar is the way he needs to go. I love Ellen's comment about "most women" will love him... LOL. I really love Ellen. Kara thinks its Casey's best performance to date, and I have to agree! This will help him sail into next week!
(video) Lacey is a pastor's daughter. I actually wouldn't have suspected that with her semi-antiestablishment vibe she's got going on with her hair and everything. Her dad is super supportive of her and talks about how proud he is because she used to be so shy and now she's on a stage in front of millions.
(performance) The song starts with strings. I think this is a great choice for matching Lacey's delicate voice. OK... here's my deal with Lacey. Her voice is actually very distinct and recognizeable... and that is one quality that is definitely needed to be an Idol winner. My problem is that this distinct voice is often pitchy and almost sounds under developed. It's so shaky in parts... and maybe that is because of her nerves. Her dad did talk about how shy she was growing up, so maybe she still has some nerves being in front of this bigger audience. The judges are a mixed bag. They aren't jumping out of her skin about it. Simon says she over-thinks it and just needs to go with the flow a bit more. I think instead of going with the flow, she should just go..... home.
(video) Andrew's dad said that he thought he son was going to be a custodian because he had a thing for keys! Way to have some high aspirations for your son Mr. Garcia! Plus...I'm gonna need Andrew's mom to look a little more awake in the next video clip. Go to the Mrs. Yamin School of Idol Parent Excitedness or something! She looks unexcited about this whole thing.
(performance) Andrew takes the stage with no guitar tonight. Maybe he actually is trying to get away from the I-acoustically-remake-female-pop-hits vibe that he is known for. Unfortunately for me, I think Andrew without a guitar is somewhat boring and unmemorable. This performance wasn't anything to get excited about. Kara says that Andrew didn't conenct to the song... and I agree. Seriously, what is happening to tonight? I'm agreeing more with Kara than Simon? This is not usual. And OF COURSE, because it's impossible to go an entire episode without it, Simon has to name drop the "Straight Up" performance. Let's make that four straight performance shows in a row that the judges HAVE to mention it! It's making me grow more and move over Andrew.
(video) The only thing I got from her video clip was that ADORABLE picture of her as a baby in a cooking pot holding a wooden spoon. On second thought, its kinda weird and scary. Keep your children out of cooking pots! That is dangerous.
(performance) In terms of this performance, I think its definitely a small step of improvement for Katie. For once, I didn't get a total pageanty vibe from her. She definitely is likable and had a lot of potential to be a pop star... especially in the young Disney pop of today like Demi Levato and Selena Gomez. I think she COULD get there... and may actually be a contestant that could surprise us. She hasn't peaked yet... and if she improves a bit more and peaks at the right time, she could stay a while.
(video) Tim comes from a family of 10 kids... and is happy to finally be Tim Urban instead of "one of the Urbans". We see a bajillion family photos and in every one of them Tim has that horrible cheesy smile. Errr.... Resting on your laurels, eh kid?
(performance) Tim arranges this song with a reggae vibe and tries to pull the Sublime card with an acoustic guitar performance. To me, he's selling it... but I'm not buying. I'm over his boring wholesome, cheesiness. Note to Tim: We already have a previous winner that did your whole schtick, but did it better than you. His name is Kris Allen. He was a little more real and likable. It was his down-to-earthness. Everytime you talk, I feel like you are trying to hard. And I thought the performance this week showed you were trying too hard too. Please go home. Soon.
(video) Whats up with Siobhan's crazy hair tonight? Holy makeover! Especially compared to the video clip where she's wearing those horrible glasses. She is so weird! I don't know if I can get over the weirdness. She's got a big family too. Maybe this explains her weirdness because she had to take on some sort of persona to stick out amongst all those other kids!
(performance) The song starts off almost sounding like a deranged music box... like you would hear in a horror movie. She speeds up the song a bit and it seems to get a bit better. But... it's like she's trying hard to be Evanescence. Then... she hits that note. For those of you that watched, you know what I'm talking about. You know... THAT note. To me, its as bad as Danny Gokey's note he hit last year during "Dream On" (click for a short reminder). I really cannot understand this performance. Simon puts it best when he says that some people will love it, and some people will hate it... but its better than being boring and in the middle of the pack. I have to agree with him. That is exactly what got Adam Lambert to the finals last year. I actually had some reservations about Siobhan this whole night... and then at the end, when Ryan gave Siobhan those horrible glasses again.. for some reason there was something likable about her. She's quirky and weird, yes... but she's just a fun awkward girl who now gets to be fun and awkward in front of America. She's growing on me, but I think I may fall into the "some people will hate this performance" category.
(video) Lee's pictures from his past were adorable... and its cute that he didn't want people to watch him practice. He's very down-home and so is his family. This makes me appreciate and like him a bit more.
(performance) Lee definitely had a good look to him... but I still just see him as a drunk, stoned frat guy. Lee did a good job of switching up the arrangement and the vibe of the original song. He did a decent job with the performance... but it was kinda boring. I still don't understand Simon's claims that Lee has this wonderful fantastic voice. I'm not sold on that. I think he has a very limited range as compared to almost every other contestant. He hits certain notes and his raspy voice sounds more than strained and underdeveloped. I'm unimpressed tonight.
(video) We learn the sad story that Paige's dad passed away when she was just four years old. For those of you that didn't read the reports, Paige was SUPER sick this week and the doctor diagnosed her with laryngitis... so I am really interested to see if she can pull tonight off.
(performance) The song choice was interesting for me at first... but as she got into it, I think it actually worked for her. She's not going to go the country route... but she did have those semi-yodeling notes in there that actually sounded good. For being sick, she did a great job. She hit some big notes and actually hit them pretty accurately. I would have loved to see how good it could have been if she wasn't sick. Although I still feel like I would have rather seen Katelyn or Lilly in her place, overall this wasn't as big of a trainwreck as I had originally expected.
(video) He's been in lots of talent shows and we learn that Aaron's mom isn't his biological mom. I have to say that the makeover was good for Aaron! He looks a bit older and definitely more appealing to the camera. The fauxhawk is kinda working for him.
(performance) I'm actually not hating this performance, which is surprising me because he was one of the contestants that I thought deserved the boot last week. He actually did really well, in my opinion. The song choice was pretty good and it was in tune, which with those two qualities alone makes it much better than other performances tonight. It may have been a bit safe... but at this point in the game, a safe performance may have been exactly what he needed so I don't necessarily disagree with him for that. All in all, this was better than expected.
(video) Crystal started writing music when she was 10 years old?!? That is awesome. It makes sense why she is so good now. As we see video of her dad and pictures from her past, you know that Crystal hasn't had an easy life. This makes her all the more appealing and makes her story of making it to Idol even more endearing.
(performance) I love the look on Crystal's face as she walks down the stage to the microphone. It is almost as if you can see a thought bubble above her head that says "You people have no idea what is about to hit you after all the crap you've heard tonight... I'm about to blow this thing out of the water". And what can I say other than she did! There is a reason they keep Crystal to last. Idol knows that she is the only thing making this somewhat exciting this season. I mean, can we even consider what this top 12 would look like without her in it? OMG... it already is the worst top 12 ever, but it would be ATROCIOUS without Crystal. The thing that makes Crystal better than all the others is that she is very organic. When other contestants like Lacey and Aaron are practicing each line of the song riff by riff, Crystal just performs and riffs come when they come. It's natural for her. I will say right now... that if Crystal doesn't win this season, there is a huge problem with Idol.
Here is how I rank the contestants after tonight's performances:
1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Casey James
3. Michael Lynche
4. Didi Benami
5. Siobhan Magnus
6. Aaron Kelly
7. Paige Miles
8. Katie Stevens
9. Lee Dewyze
10. Andrew Garcia
11. Tim Urban
12. Lacey Brown
Elimination predictions: One thing that makes the top 12 results show a bit more interesting is that we now have the "bottom three" back into play. During the semi's, the producers could set up the show however they wanted, putting people in what would look like a "bottom two" next to eachother, but if you listened carefully they never actually said it. So tonight will be the first time when we will actually see who is near the bottom in the polls. For example, Andrew Garcia made two appearances in the "almost-got-eliminated" spot, but for all we know he could have had more votes than any other guy and Idol is just playing with us. (Personally I would like to hold out hope that he actually DID have a low amount of votes!)
I think that the bottom three will be interesting tonight. I think Lacey should and will be there for sure. The other spots could surprise us. The next two logical choices would be Paige and Katie. I think we could see an appearance from either Lee or Tim, but the whole "Vote fot the Cutest" brigade may keep them both safe. I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw Mike or Didi in the bottom three, only because their performances were very early on in the show, and although in my opinion good, they weren't huge standout performances to make people remember to vote for them. Personally, I would love to see Andrew in the bottom three.
OK... I'm gonna give this my best shot: The bottom three will be Lacey, Didi and Andrew. Lacey will be the one eliminated.
Overall, tonight was not as much of a trainwreck as I anticipated. What are your thoughts?
Please vote in my poll below. The widget I use for making the poll only allows 10 choices, so I've removed Crystal and Siobhan from the running because there is 0.000000004 percent chance either of them are going home.
Posts
Mmmmmmmkay. First of all, Lee was my favorite of the night. Kara was right when she said he is improving. Give him some time...and he'll be up there. Secondly, Shiobban. I hated that song last night. Hated. Thirdly, If Crystal doesn't win...Idol's credibility is downgraded. Seriously downgraded.
ReplyDeleteFunny Story...I thought Lee was #8 in the line up and so I called and voted for him 50 times. Epic Fail. Lee's #9, and Tim is #8. Also, did they change the phone lines?!? I got through each and every time I tried. That never happened before!