Sorry all – Garnet has been way to busy with her real job to wax poetic about reality TV! Also after Lilly Scott got kicked off of Idol, I just didn’t care anymore. I did watch the rest of the season, but it was really disappointing right down the line – there were almost no stand-out perfomances – almost no “moments.” Maybe next year…
Short Story: Overall a disaster. Just awful
Worse Story: The judges have apparently clued in to the disaster that this group of contestants are and are now trying to CTA by talking them up. Truly this week they seemed to me, to grossly exaggerate the success of some of these performances.
The Best:
Siobhan Magnus
Song: Paint it Black
First Impression: Well, I liked it because she used so much of the stage and went for the “Adam Lambert –Over-The-Top-Drama-Award.” She wasn’t perfect, but she certainly wasn’t boring.
Judges: Randy: “that was hot!” Ellen: loved her “look and sound.” Kara: “having flashbacks of Adam Lambert.” Simon: “the standout performance of the night.” Read more…
No time for additional comments tonight – here’s how it played out.
The Best
Tim Urban
Song: Halelujah
First Impression: I love this song so I’m a bit prejudiced right off the bat, but I think he did a fine job with this and really put his heart in it.
Judges: Randy: “you did a good job.” Ellen leapt on stage to tell him he was, “fantastic.” Kara: “your in it!” She loved his honesty. Simon: by far his strongest performance so far.
Michael Lynch
Song: This Woman’s Work
First Impression: His vocal and intensity were very strong. He really showed off what his voice can do. However, the bizarre arrangement of this great Kate Bush song was pretty bad. If you’ve never heard the original – do seek it out.
A night that starts with Ellen canoodling with Simon whilst sitting on his lap could become very strange. I was wondering what was going through Simon’s mind. First off as we all know, Ellen is a lesbian, but she was cuddled up to Simon. Now Simon might still enjoy this, as she’s an attractive woman, but she was wearing a shirt and tie – that reminded me of the “old school ties” of British boarding schools. So did it remind Simon of school? Girls in school uniforms? Boys in school uniforms? Good, bad, or he doesn’t care because he’s in the bloom of new love? Or maybe it says more about the weird way my mind works. Later there was also some singing:
The Best:
Crystal Bowersox
Song: Give Me One Reason
First Impression: A great competent performance as always, but I just don’t think she’s ever current or relevant. Maybe when we get to theme weeks we’ll see something new.
Judges: Randy’s “a fan.” Ellen, “the best performance of the night.” Simon thinks she’ll definitely be in the Top 12. Simon thinks she’s the one to beat.
Lilly Scott
Song: I Fall To Pieces
First Impression: A perfect song choice for her. She is such a natural it’s amazing to see. I think she’s the one to beat – not Crystal.
Judges: Randy, “it was hot tonight,” “well done.” Ellen, “loved it,” “loved you.” Simon, didn’t feel it had the “wow factor.”
Didi Benami
Song: Rhiannon
First Impression: Wow. Spectacular. Just perfect. She made this song her own, and brought something truly new to it – I understood it differently than the thousand times I’ve heard it before – I will download this performance.
Judges: Randy, didn’t love it but thought it was better. Ellen, liked what she did with the song, and liked her resilience. Kara, “one of my favorite moments of the show so far this season.” Simon, “head and shoulders above anything we’ve heard tonight.” Felt her whole performance was a “wow moment.”
Lacey Brown
Song: The Story
First Impression: Quiet, emotional and sweet. She really is a charmer, vocally and her charisma shines forth so strongly. Maybe if it doesn’t work out on AI she should go into acting or selling jewelry on television! I hope it works out for her though, because I’d be happy to hear her recordings.
Judges: He thought it was a little sleepy, but her best to date. Ellen agreed. Kara enjoyed her vocal gymnastics, she’s “back on her path.” Simon, didn’t love the song, but she sang it really well and it sounded like a song on the radio. He wants her to do something more memorable.
The Worst:
Katie Stevens
Song: Breakaway
First Impression: She’s just good, not great, and she was pretty flat, in some places. If you can’t control your lower register – don’t go there. Nothing’s worse then sounding like a frog in distress.
Judges: Randy thought the song was too big for her; it didn’t “work for him.” Ellen like that she chose a young song, but she didn’t feel it. Kara felt she just hasn’t figured out who she is as a performer. Simon thinks she’s been confused by all the advice and he agrees with Kara that she hasn’t found he style. He gave her “ten out of ten” for trying hard.
Paige Myles
Song: Smile
First Impression: I think Paige may be gone after this performance. The whole things seemed off key, really painful, in the wrong key? Bizarre. Maybe she is sick? The arrangement was odd. She seemed like a contestant who had already been eliminated and was almost crying her way through the final performance on Idol.
Judges: Randy loved the song, but it didn’t work. “It went completely flat.” Ellen felt it was sad and flat. Kara felt it was “all wrong.” Simon – a “horrible arrangement” and performance.
The Rest:
Siobhan Magnus
Song: House of The Rising Sun
First Impression: To my ear a nearly perfect rendition of this song. The problem is, what’s the relevance? Are the kids calling in familiar with this “so old no one knows how old it is” tune that’s generally agreed to be about prostitution in New Orleans? I’m guessing they’re not. It was beautiful but possibly a tactical mistake.
Judges: Randy loves her unpredictability and uncoachability. Ellen says she’s, “spectacular.” Kara loved the a cappella beginning though she’s still confused about who Siobhan is. Simon felt the whole thing fell a little flat and didn’t have a memorable star moment.
Katelyn Epperly
Song: I Feel The Earth Move
First Impression: Utterly derivative and dull. Just cause you have big hair, does not make you Carole King. Zzzzzzzz….. There was just no point to this. Simon’s gonna get her.
Judges: Randy: “felt very put on;” Ellen: “not the song to choose to wow people with;” Kara: “going through the motions;” Simon, “it may have been a mistake for you tonight.”
Thoughts After The Show
I declare this the best show of the season so far as there were four rock-solid, star-caliber performances. It’s no surprise to my readers that Lilly Scott was one of those.
I’m starting to get really excited about the upcoming theme weeks! What will Crystal Bowersox do with Disco week?
I’m afraid though, that as the girls get whittled down, that we will start to see that Didi Benami, Lacey Brown and Lilly Scott are all chasing the same “quirky angels” vibe and it could get annoying.
I think Kara made a really brilliant comment tonight summing up this year’s talent falling into two camps: people who know who they are as performers, and people who don’t. It’s so clear that Crystal Bowersox and Lilly Scott know exactly what the want to sing, and how they want to perform.
I expect that this will be the last mile for Paige Myles and the end of the road for country sweetie Katie Stevens, although it’s possible Katelyn Epperly will get the boot too.
After watching both nights of Idol’s top twenty in one night – a lot of American Idol – I strongly believe that Lilly Scott is the voice to beat. A few others really own the stage – especially Crystal Bowersox, but I don’t see her style of music winning, though she is amazing. Overall I’m afraid this top twenty is pretty weak. I still can’t imagine a very promising top ten, but it’s early.
Unfortunately I’ve got no time for a big commentary today. Here’s how the Top Twenty did:
Boys are up first, the girls are switched to Wednesday due to Crystal Bowersox being ill.
The Best
Tim Urban
Song: Come On Get Higher
First Impression: Nicely done, heartfelt and emotional. The best performance of the night so far to me — great song choice by Tim.
Judges: Randy didn’t get it, didn’t hear anything special about it. Ellen didn’t like it, doesn’t feel any charisma, and once him to be an actor. Kara, liked the song choice, but felt he didn’t make it his own. Simon, thought it was a “marked improvement on last week” and that he was “more relevant tonight” than the other performers. Simon thought he did great. Read more…
Bottom Four Girls:
Katie Stevens
Janell Wheeler – Janell is out
Didi Benami
Ashley Rodriguez – Ashley is out
Bottom Four Boys:
Tim Urban
Joe Munos – Joe is out
Tyler Grady -Tyler is out
Alex Lambert
Well I would certainly have kept Tyler over Alex Lambert or Tim Urban – but it’s already starting unfortunately – cute boys can beat talent. Gross. At least Casey James has talent to go with the cute.
On another note, and speaking of cute boys, Kris Allen delivered a great performance of “Let It Be” to raise money for the crisis in Haiti.
Please donate by buying his single of the song on iTunes or going to the American Red Cross website:
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_subsrc=RCO_ResponseStateSection
I’m looking forward to tonight’s show. I have some favorites amongst the guys: John Park, Casey James and Andrew Garcia, I hope they impress. Here’s how it went:
The Best
Todrick Hall
Song: Since You’ve Been Gone
First Impression: Todrick came to play and brought his “A” game, a totally effective and restyled version of Since You’ve Been Gone. Slammin!
Judges: Ellen: “a great performer” liked everything but the chorus. Randy: didn’t like that he completely changed the song. Kara agreed. Simon: A “dancer trying to sing,” thought he “murdered the song.” I completely disagree and I bet America does too.
Casey James
Song: Heaven
First Impression: Well, let me go on record as saying, I hate blonde guys as a rule, and Bryan Adams songs for the most part, but this guy’s got an outrageous amount of charisma. He’s also so comfortable with himself, his voice, and his guitar; I suspect he’ll be very hard to beat in this competition. He really brought the star power.
Judges: Kara was verklempt, and overcome with the vapors. Everyone else really liked him.
Andrew Garcia
Song: Sugar We’re Going Down
First Impression: I waited all night for Andrew and he doesn’t disappoint. He seems like a pro already. He did a great job with a complex song – the opposite of Michael Lynche’s boring approach. He proves that you can add a lot of nuance to a rapid-fire song.
Judges: Simon was disappointed, felt he was too serious, thought he was forgettable. Kara didn’t like the song as an acoustic version. Randy didn’t like it. Randy is a big fan of his as is Ellen. They all hope he’ll be back. Read more…
If you didn’t follow my reviews last season on http://www.Firefox.org – here’s my approach to reviewing Idol: I listen to the song and give you my gut reaction before I hear the judges take. That way I’m not prejudiced by their answers. Sometimes I find I wholly disagree with them and so it’s good to put my thoughts out there first. I also review and post these thoughts quickly without benefit of an editor, so a few mistakes are bound to slip through.
Tonight we get to hear our Top 12 ladies. I’m pretty excited to hear them have a chance to shine.
Before they sing there’s a little silliness about Simon flirting with Ellen. Even though that’s fabricated, I think it’s right to separate them. Simon represents the past, and Ellen, the future, of the show.
Paige Myles
Song: It’s Alright Now
Intial Thoughts: I didn’t like this. The song was OK, but her performance didn’t have any emotional heft, no connection with the audience or material. Her voice sounded rather thin and her outfit was an unfortunate choice.
Judges Reaction: Simon thinks she has the best voice? He didn’t like her song choice. Kara disagreed; she thought the song was brilliant. Randy didn’t like the song, thought it was a great job. Ellen thought she was great. Read more…
Well I’m just popping in to say it wasn’t a very memorable or intersting Group Day, lots of unnecessary drama, prima donnas, and people crumbling under the pressure. What made me sad was that none of the performances were really memorable, yep, I’ve already forgotten them. I’m ready for the real season to start.
No time to polish this up! It’s been a crazy week!
So here is the raw data dump:
Ellen – what’s with the owl look? Something about her make-up made her look like an owl. Overall her judging was laced with humor, and a bit like Randy Jackson – if he communicated clearly.
The biggest surprises today were Mary Powers really bringing it and Didi Benami wowing the judges.
Katie Stevens – great and very poised –and through to the next round.
Skiiboski – paced and acted weird – I didn’t think he sang poorly, but he’s out.
Andrew Garcia – I’m really looking forward to Andrew – a great cover of Straight Up – with straight up starpower Kara said, “that was genius.”
Vanessa Wolfe – Before she sings my heart is in my throat – I want this for her – she’s obviously so sweet, but it doesn’t come together, and I’m sorry. And then she breaks my heart by saying, “I blew it, I’m sorry momma” OMG, poor baby.
Cornelius Edwards – split his pants to get to Hollywood – not enough to move ahead – he should have brought a pair of breakaway pants
Maegan Wright – flat pitchy and way to nervous. She’s out.
Amadeo DiRocco – Over sang? Clip to brief to tell. He’s out.
Janelle Wheeler – well done, played guitar OK, really a professional performance “amazing,” “well done” from the judges.
Haeley Vaughn – to me a bit of an awkward performance, on guitar and vocal, however, her talent does shine through – she needs to leave the guitar behind
Mary Powers – great powerful performance – I liked her much better today than at her audition.
Jay Stone – beat box nightmare – and he’s out. I’m relieved.
Lilly Scott – beautiful performance, sweet voice with range and style – did we see her before?
Michael Lynche – great performance, to bad his family allegedly can’t keep their traps shut.
Tim Urban – Has a very pretty quality to his voice, but he is pitchy, inconsistent – maybe he can become more confident- he goes through
Justin Williams is out – sorry girls, I know you think he’s pretty, but seemingly, so does he. He just reeks of insincerity to me – or trying to hard.
The Jersey Sisters out. Page Dechaunce (sp?) out.
Maddy Curtis – I think she picked a so-so song, but her natural talent is stunning. She doesn’t go through.
Casey James – great bluesy performance on guitar. He really came alive and livened up the room. He moves on.
Didi Benami – Glides on through with a strong performance that even Simon had to like.
Crystal Bowersox – More bluesy Joplinesque singing. She makes it through, but I don’t think she can win.
In the clip they also showed that guy who looks like Animal from the Muppets – he made it through.
To see how my season-wide handicapping is going check out my Season Nine Favorites Page
Official American Idol News
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