Tim Urban

Last week FOX sent out a press release announcing that this week’s theme would be Teen Idols. We’re not sure what happened but they scrapped the Teen Idol theme in favor of Billboard’s #1s but kept the teen mentor, Miley Cyrus.

This week is a crucial one as it pares the group down to the Top 10 who will then get the opportunity to go on the Idol summer tour.

Miley proved to quickly pick up on the main draw back of Lee DeWyze….his stage presence.  We don’t know how much time she got to spend with him or exactly what tips she gave him, but his stage performance level, as he gave us The Letter, was heads and tails above weeks before.  The pitch issues still remain a big hindrance though.  The judges really avoided commenting on the pitch problems because they seemed to be shocked that he was performing.  Simon on the other hand felt it was corny and didn’t show off any authenticity.

A lot of people thought that Paige Miles would have been gone after last week, but she was back again performing Phil Collins’ Against All Odds.  And we thought DeWyze had pitch problems!  Her soft opening of the song had absolutely no breath support going on and pitch was all over the place.  Even when she kicked it in, it improved the tone, but the pitch issue still remained a big, big problem.  Randy called it terrible, Ellen complimented her look only, Kara felt that she had just stopped competing and gave probably the worst vocal of the whole season, and Simon said she was in serious trouble.  We heartily agree.

We think Miley might have been crushing on Tim Urban a bit as she coached him on Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love.  We weren’t feeling the rockabilly vibe for Urban and felt that his “all over the place” performance just felt forced.  Randy complimented him only on an onstage slide, Ellen called it corny and reminiscent of a High School Musical audtion, Kara told him he has a lot of work to do, and Simon called it pointless and silly.

A newly stylized Aaron Kelly announced that he was suffering from laryngitis and tonsillitis.  He must be REALLY small because he looked tiny next to Miley Cyrus.  Performing Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing as a countrified ballad, Kelly appears to be getting much more comfortable in front of the cameras, and those vocal problems he was referring to earlier didn’t seem to effect him much.  We’re thinking these kids need to present doctor’s notes to get us to believe they are really sick!  All  the judges agreed that his song choices are right on point for him, although Simon said that he may be making himself a little old fashioned for his age.

We’ve been waiting for Crystal Bowersox to take on Janis Joplin, and with the help of Miley, she cranked out Me And Bobby McGee.  The performance was pretty much what you would expect from Bowersox, who has been the most consistent performer of the entire season.  The judges unanimously raved, although Ellen said she is still looking for more personality to shine through.  Although we agree with them all, we still don’t see her as becoming a major recording star.

Michael Lynche put his spin on When A Man Loves A Woman putting both his charismatic stage presence and nice falsetto to good use once again.  The judges all complimented him on his consistency as well, but Kara found it boring and loungy at times and somewhat overindulgent.  Simon said it was almost too much and claimed that the performance lacked relevance.

Andrew Garcia, who has been pretty much dogged by the judges the past several weeks, had a lot to prove this week.  Miley suggested he drop the guitar and just work the audience and he took her advice with I Heard It Through The Grapevine.  The judges had commented on his lack of connection with the song choices in the past, and Garcia didn’t seem to have much of a connection on this one either.  A gum chewing Miley looked less-than-enthusiastic as the performance ended.  Randy said it wasn’t good, Ellen said it was a bad song choice, Kara said she felt bad for him, and Simon, referring once again to the Straight Up performance, said that they may have given him too much praise to begin with.

Katie Steven got advice from peer Miley on her performance of Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry.  Stevens tried to bump up the performance, but her lack of vocal control and consistent pitch issues are our biggest issues with Katie.  Randy pointed out the pitch issues, but Ellen said she sounded great.  Kara felt that she’d found her vibe with a pop/r&b feel, but still commented on the pitch issues.  Simon said he was just glad to see her get out of the “pageant horror” outfits.

Miley suggested that Casey James work on connecting with the audience as he performed Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power of Love.  He sounded good, but there still seems to be a disconnect with James and the audience.  None of the judges were crazy about the song choice, but they liked the sound.  All except for Simon, who said it was like watching and listening to an 80’s cover band.  We have to agree with Simon.

Didi Benami, whose name was mispronounced as Didi Benimi in Ryan’s introduction, opened herself up for easy jokes with her song choice of You’re No Good.  She definitely has a unique voice, but it didn’t really work for us on this song.  And the cheesy orchestration didn’t help either.  None of the judges were impressed, and Simon immediately picked up on the easy joke and recognized her performance was stagey.

Our current fave, Siobhan Magnus, was up next with her cover of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.  It still amazes us that the soft spoken Magnus can come out and light up the stage the way she does.  It wasn’t necessarily our favorite performance of hers, but she got the audience and most of the judges going…except for Simon.  He pointed out that her “trademark” scream at the end of her songs may be getting old and she should think of ways to start switching things up.  That might not be a bad idea.

Okay, so who’s going home?  If the decision is made from tonight’s performance alone, we have to go with Paige Miles.  What do you think?

American Idol Top 12

Starting with an über-dramatic recap of the contestants’ journey to the Top 12 position, the American Idol results show kicked off with a St. Patrick’s day salute by the lighting guy, and a performance by season 7 winner, David Cook. Simon also introduced the “judges save” where once again this year if there is a contestant that the judges unanimously feel should not leave the show after they have been voted off by the public, the judges can save them. The judges’ save was used on contestant Matt Giraud last year and is no longer valid once they reach the top 5.

In keeping with the Rolling Stones theme, Cook performed Jumpin’ Jack Flash.  Cook said it was good to perform on the Idol stage again and know that he was not going to have to go home, but if he were judged on it, I have a feeling that his straight-forward rendition probably wouldn’t have won him raves from the judges.

As is the yearly tradition, the Idols all began performing in Idol sponsor Ford’s commercial.  The first one, which included paintball throwing on the drive, was lots of fun.

The bottom three were once again to be exiled to three stools before the final elimination at the end of the night with the first of them being Paige Miles and Tim Urban.  We don’t know what you think about Ryan’s dramatic underpinnings during these reveals, but they just seem like a little much to us, and are completely manipulative concerning the feelings of these kids.

MIX artist Orianthi was up next with her hit According To You.  The Greek-Australian singer/guitarist also recalled her work with Michael Jackson shortly before his passing.

After commercial, Ryan went through all six remaining contestants before he placed Lacey Brown in the bottom three and then sent Tim Urban back to safety, leaving only Miles and Brown facing imminent elimination.

The show continued to bring on the star power with AMP Radio Orlando artist Ke$ha along with 3OH!3 performing Blah Blah Blah. Somehow, her simplistic lyrics and almost sing-song melodies are incredibly infectious.

The show concluded with roommates Miles and Brown awaiting the results. Brown was announced as the nation’s choice to leave and she was given the chance to “sing for the save.” She chose a reprise of The Story, a song she sang last week. The judges weren’t buying it and it was a final farewell for Brown.

We’d had Brown as a departing contestant several times before, but this week we thought it was going to be Andrew Garcia. So once again, we got it wrong. What about you? Did you get it right? Do you think America got it right?

Aaron Kelly

It’s a bigger venue with bigger stakes as American Idol hits it with the Top 12. Michael Lynche, a former UCF football player, started out the night of Rolling Stones tunes with a soulful rendition of Miss You.  Some of his falsettos recalled another Michael, as in Jackson.  It was a decent performance but nothing mindblowing.  Randy said he slayed it, Ellen called it amazing, Kara thought he had a hot attitude, and Simon called the performance (particularly the dancing) kind of corny and somewhat desperate.  We definitely agree on the dancing portion.

Struggling with the lyrics at times, Didi Benami did an interesting take on Playing With Fire.  Her voice definitely lent itself well to the song and she sounded great on all but perhaps her last few notes.  Randy told “dude Didi” that she was on fire, Ellen commented on her two-syllable fi-re, Kara liked the intensity, and Simon thought that she was finally showing the artist she is capable of becoming.

Casey James broke out the electric guitar for a bluesy/country rendition of It’s All Over Now.  We’ve seen people in the past choose songs with predictive titles, so we hope this won’t be the end of James, but the performance didn’t really impress us.  Randy loved it (but he seems to love everything tonight), Ellen found it fantastic, Kara called him a rock star, but our kindred spirit Simon found it like an audition performance.  We definitely agree.

We still haven’t figured out what we think of Lacey Brown’s voice,  There are times we find it incredibly annoying, and others that we think her unique tone is amazing.  Her performance of Ruby Tuesday included both of those sentiments on our behalf.  At her best she has the uniqueness of Cyndi Lauper.  At her worst…well…we’re not sure who to compare that to, but we know we don’t care for it.  Randy complimented her on “kind of holding it together,” Ellen critiqued her standing and sitting, Kara called it a 50/50 performance, and Simon dubbed her performance as more of an actress and less an instinctual singer.

Still trying to overcome the curse of his hyped Straight Up, Andrew Garcia came out sans guitar for Gimme Shelter.  Garcia introduced a rougher sound than he had in the past and we weren’t really digging it.  Randy called it pitchy all over the place, Ellen loved it, Kara said he didn’t have a connection with the meaning of the song, and Simon said he felt he gave it 100%.

Katie Stevens, who we expected to leave the show last week, came back with a strong rendition of Wild Horses.  She looked better, she sounded better, and we finally saw a hint that she may have what it takes to become a true teen star.  Randy had some issues with pitch (but when doesn’t he), Ellen complimented her voice, Kara said that it was never technically perfect with her, and Simon said it was the only week she’d chosen a strong song.

Adding a little reggae feel to the proceedings was Tim Urban with Under My Thumb.  He’s definitely come a long way from his Apologize performance but the voice still has some issues.  The judges were particularly unimpressed.  Randy called it weird and both Kara and Simon applauded his attempt but said it just didn’t work.

Siobhan Magnus turned the opening of Paint It Black into a waltz before singing it straight forward with dramatic intensity and launching into some piercing screams that have seemed to become her trademark. It wasn’t exactly our favorite Siobhan performance, but the judges were quite complimentary, with Kara comparing her dramatic flair to that of Adam Lambert last season. And Simon said, “It’s now almost like you’re gonna have to scream at the end of every song.”

Getting even more gravelly, Lee DeWyze performed Beast Of Burden.  It wasn’t until this show that we finally realized that DeWyze bears an uncanny vocal similarity to Uncle Kracker.  Once again there were still some pitch issues, and DeWyze just isn’t a very dynamic performer.  Randy thought it was dope, Ellen expected a little more and Kara thought he showed a lot of growth.  Simon commented that his personality has held him back and that he chose an unforgettable song.

We’d reported earlier in the day that Paige Miles was suffering from laryngitis.  While her voice tonight had a somewhat different quality than we were used to hearing, she definitely had a voice tonight.  We actually liked the sound she was putting out tonight, and Honky Tonk Women (changed to Honky Tonk Woman for the first person experience) allowed her to explore a bluesy country soul we hadn’t heard from her yet.  Randy liked it, Ellen commented on her star quality, Kara applauded her for singing through the vocal difficulty, but Simon said she still hasn’t found her place.

Aaron Kelly, who we’ve not been a big fan of so far, won us over this week with his take on Angie.  One of our favorite Stones ballads, Kelly sounded great on the song, with an arrangement that was just perfect.  The judges soundly agreed with Kara calling it really great and Simon noting that he 100% chose the right song.

The final performance of the night belonged to Crystal Bowersox and her rendition of You Can’t Always Get What You Want.  There’s no denying that the girl can sing.  She has great control of her voice and an amazing raucous sound.  It’s just not a voice that we think we would like to listen to much.  While the judges all like her, they didn’t find this her strongest performance, and Simon said that although a lot of people had seen her as the leader in the competition, he would officially call Siobhan the winner of the night.

Tomorrow night the cast will dwindle from twelve to eleven.  Who do you think the departing contestant will be?  Once again, it’s difficult to call, but given the unenthusiastic reception from the judges and his inability to ever top the Straight Up performance, we’re going with Andrew Garcia.

Paige Miles

We had pegged Idol contestant Paige Miles for elimination last week but she made it through.  She may not be quite so lucky this week.  Rumors of a Paige illness had been swirling around for the past couple of days, and with this post she just made to the Idol Twitter page, all is confirmed.  Take a look below:

We don’t know for sure what “VC Laryngitis” means, but it doesn’t sound good.

Lee DeWyze, Siobhan Magnus, Katie Stevens and Aaron Kelly

Tonight’s results show started out with a dramatic flourish as the most important elimination round of the season prepared to take place.

The cheesy group number this week was Michael Buble’s Haven’t Met You Yet. Love the song, hate the group numbers. Enough said.

Ryan announced that the first theme week for the Top 12 would be The Rolling Stones and that you could log on to iTunes to download the playlists that the contestants would be choosing from.

The first elimination came down to a a toss up between Paige Miles and Katelyn Epperly. Based on her lackluster performance Tuesday night, we had chosen Miles to leave. We got it wrong, and Epperly sang her way out with a reprise of I Feel The Earth Move.

Ryan really built the suspense when it came to the elimination of the first male contestant. Left standing next to each other were Todrick Hall and Lee DeWyze. Ryan asked Randy which one he thought deserved to stick around. He called out DeWyze for sure, and he was correct. Todrick Hall was out, and we were now one for one on our calls for the night.

Two of last season’s Top 12 contestants, Scott McIntyre and Matt Giraud were up next with a dueling pianos rendition of Billy Joel’’s Tell Her About It. We would have preferred a solo performance by Giraud, but the duet was mildly entertaining nonetheless.

The final eliminations were done slightly differently than in the past, with guys and girls alternating taking their spot in the Top 12 seats. The first male to leave from this round was a real disappointment to us, and apparently, by their emotional reaction, a huge surprise to the other contestants. Ellen had felt that his “banana was ripening” well, but apparently not well enough for the voting public. Alex Lambert sang his way out, and we’re truly going to miss him.

By her appearance throughout the night, 17-year-old Katie Stevens seemed to think it would be the end of the road for her. She was pitted against Lilly Scott to determine the final slot in the Top 12. And what a shock! Scott was sent home and Stevens made it into the Top 12. Wow! In our opinion, America REALLY got it wrong that time.

So…the Top 12 will consist of Tim Urban, Crystal Bowersox, Aaron Kelly, Lacey Brown, Casey James, Paige Miles, Andrew Garcia, Didi Benami, Michael Lynche, Siobhan Magnus, Lee DeWyze and Katie Stevens.

Is this a Top 12 you were expecting? Definitely not one that we foresaw, but that’s all part of American Idol.

Lee DeWyze

Tonight’s show opened with a bizarre introduction of the top 10 guys with Ryan Seacrest acting the role of a drill sergeant. What was up with that?

Lee DeWyze opened the show with an interesting take on the Owl City song Fireflies. It was one of the better performances that DeWyze has had this season, adding a little bit of grit to the otherwise melancholic tune. The judges were into it, with Kara saying that she thought his rendition may have been even better than the original. Simon wasn’t that impressed, claiming that he thought DeWyze was actually better than the version of the song that he did.

We weren’t familiar with the Ray LaMontagne tune Trouble that Alex Lambert performed, but it ws a good fit for Lambert’s bluesy sound.  We love the tone, but in addition to the stage presence issue he faces, he could use some true work on his phrasing.  Randy wasn’t a big fan, but Ellen raved, and Kara and Simon once again urged him to relax and just have a good time with the performance.

Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah was a big hit for Jason Castro a couple of years back, but poor Tim Urban is no Jason Castro.  And that’s not saying a lot.  We have to admit that it was a slight improvement from his past performances, but he still has major pitch issues.  The judges unanimously changed their tune on Urban this week.  Ellen even left the judges panel to give Urban a hug and call him terrific.

Playing on the judges’ constant reference to his performance of Paula Abdul’s Straight Up, Andrew Garcia took the stage with another unlikely song choice- Christina Aguilera’s Genie In A Bottle.  Backed with only an acoustic guitar, we liked Garcia’s take on it.  Garcia has a great tone that we love listening to.  Randy wasn’t a fan, calling the performance pitchy.  We have to disagree on that one.  Both Kara and Simon reflected that they thought he may have peaked during Hollywood week.  We have a feeling that he’ll definitely be in the game for a while though.

Casey James, who hit the gossip rags today when his mug shot from a DUI arrest was dug up, went completely country this week with Keith Urban’s You’ll Think Of Me.  In our opinion, it was a solid performance, but like many of the girls’ performances last night,  it just didn’t contain that “wow” factor.  Randy thought the song choice was a safe one and just all right, while Ellen thought it was great.  Both Kara and Simon thought it was better than last week.

Once again taking the pop/country route, Aaron Kelly delivered Lonestar’s I’m All Ready There.  The somber opening really demonstrated the fact that Kelly still lacks quite a bit of control over his instrument, and his performances have all faced some pitch issues.  While he apparently has stage experience, his performances just don’t feel real honest to us.  Ellen, who loved the performance, seemed to disagree with us on the stage presence, but did agree with us about his control of the song.  Kara honed in on that “honesty” factor, saying she didn’t think he could relate to the song and it made him a poor choice for him.  Simon disagreed, saying that Kara’s comments were only confusing the contestants.

Todrick Hall Queened out with Somebody To Love.  Obviously trying to prove to the judges that he is a singer and not just a dancer, Hall took on one of the best singers in rockdom, Freddie Mercury.  That gamble didn’t pay off for us.  Hall has huge pitch problems, and the voice is just not very unique.  It did pay off for a few of the judges though, with Randy and Ellen loving it.  Kara said she felt the singing was good, but both she and Simon agreed the performance was uneven, with Simon calling it American Idol: The Musical doing Somebody To Love.

The night’s final performance found “Big Mike” Lynche taking on This Woman’s Work.  We love the original Kate Bush song as well as the Maxwell rendition which Lynche mimicked.  Considering that the song was used to dramatic effect during a scene of child birth in the John Hughes film She’s Having A Baby, it was a perfect choice for “new dad” Lynche.  He used the song as a showcase for just about everything he’s capable of doing.  The falsetto, the control, the performance, it was all pretty amazing.  The performance brought Kara to tears and Simon proclaimed it the best performance of the entire season so far.

So who’s out tomorrow?  So far we’ve gone with who we think should go, and not who we “forecast” to go.  We’re sticking with that and giving the boot this week to Tim Urban and Todrick Hall.  Your thoughts?  Let us know!

Siobhan Magnus

Poor Katie Stevens.  The 17-year-old got raked over the coals by the judges tonight for a rather lackluster performance of Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway.  Not that we don’t agree with them.  Blame it on youth possibly, but she really is just finding her voice.  Granted, it’s a big voice, but she definitely isn’t in a place yet to define herself as the “artist” the judges want her to.

Siobhan Magnus, who has been our favorite the past couple of weeks, belted out a soulful version of The Animals’ House of the Rising Sun.  Once again she didn’t fail to impress.  It’s quite a voice.  The only judge who was “underimpressed” was Simon who called the performance plodding, boring and dark.

One of our mistaken choices for departure last week, Lacey Brown, found the perfect song for herself this week with Brandi Carlile’s The Story.  It’s a song that fits well with her voice, but unlike Carlile’s version which has an incredibly dramatic build, it didn’t quite go anywhere musically.  The judges all agreed that it was the perfect song choice for her gave her a bit of redemption after some forgettable performances the past few weeks.

Deciding that a keyboard under her hands was working for her, Katelyn Epperly manned a Wurlitzer with a bland performance of Carole King’s I Feel The Earth Move.  It was like a piano lounge audition.  The judges agreed there was no true wow factor to urge the audience to vote.

Didi Benami, who had an extremely emotional reaction last week to the judges’ criticism,  donned a guitar for a low-key and flirtatious version of Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon.  She has a voice remarkably similar to that of Lacey Brown, and like Brown, the song didn’t really go anywhere.  As Randy said, there was no true “wow” moment in the song.  Kara on the other hand, called it one of her favorite moments of the show so far, with Simon echoing her sentiments, calling it far and away the best performance they had heard tonight.

Legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin made an appearance on the Idol stage this week via the Paige Miles rendition of Smile, a song which Chaplin penned.  Like many others this week, she added nothing new to the song.  She also had little control over her voice displaying a vibrato with a mind of its own.  The judges were not complimentary, with Simon calling it a “peanut performance”, saying that it was like eating peanuts at a bar and paying little attention to the lounge singer.

Crystal Bowersox showed her hand at the electric guitar with Tracey Chapman’s Give Me One Reason.  There’s  no denying that Bowersox is an incredibly talented performer, who has definitely found her own voice as an artist, it’s just not an artist that we think we would have any interest in buying her CD.  The judges were uniformly gushing.

Funky Lilly Scott closed the show with Patsy Cline’s classic I Fall To Pieces.  While the arrangement was standard Nashville, her vocals continued with her unique sound.  This was another performance that we didn’t really think went anywhere, although a lot of the judges disagreed.  Only Simon agreed with us, stating that it just didn’t have that constantly quoted “wow” factor.

We’re thinking that this could be the last time we’ll hear from Paige Miles and Katie Stevens.  What about you?  Let us know.

Didi Benami and Michelle Delamore

Wow!  Another embarrassingly awkward opening group number.  This time out, the kids lip-synced and finger-snapped to The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling.  They should at least let the contestants use the teleprompters during these chaotic nightmares.  It was apparent that plenty of them had no idea what words were supposed to be coming out of their mouths.  Of all the Idol “traditions”, this is one that should have become history a long time ago.

The first elimination was for the guys.  Being a little sneaky, Ryan kept Todrick Hall (one of our picks for elimination this week) standing while he cleared a couple of others.  The final showdown was between Hall and John Park.  Park was dismissed and Hall was kept in.  We missed out on that one.  Surprisingly, Park’s final performance, John Mayer’s Gravity, was better than it was on performance night.

The next guy showdown pitted Andrew Garcia against our other pick, Jermaine Sellers.  We finally got one right!  Sellers, whose annoying banter with the judges on Tuesday night confirmed for us that we were ready to see him go, won’t be missed here.

Last season’s third place contestant, and favorite of the judges (not us) for most of the season, Danny Gokey came on to perform his new single.  Apparently Gokey has crossed into country territory these days.  Surprisingly, we actually enjoyed the song, My Best Days (Are Ahead Of Me) and thought that it was a pretty good fit for Gokey, even though his performance seemed slightly “pitchy”.  Things seem to be going well for the very chatty Gokey who is getting ready to tour with Sugarland.

Elimination time for the girls was next, pitting Didi Benami against Michelle Delamore.  Delamore is out, and that leaves one less Floridian in the competition.  Another one we didn’t call correctly.

The final departure saw both of our picks, Haeley Vaughn and Lacey Brown, vying for a chance to stay on the show.  If we had to choose between the two, we would have definitely picked Vaughn to leave.  Surprisingly, America agreed and Vaughn left the show performing The Climb, and performing it poorly, one more time.

Do you think America got it all right this week?  Should the vocal limitations of pretty boy Tim Urban have sent him packing this week instead of Park and Sellers?  Chime in below and let us know what you think.

After a night in the hospital, Crystal Bowersox returned to the Idol stage to open the show with a bluesy rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Long As I Can See The Light.  For someone who was out due to illness, she did an amazing job.  Kara congratulated her on hitting a new level of performance.  And Simon, who last week compared her to a subway performer, said that he had completely underestimated her.

Haeley Vaughn, who introduced her love for making headbands, tried to target her talent to her age group with The Climb. It’s a big voice, but she doesn’t have a much control over it and is sorely lacking in the phrasing department.  We realize she’s only 16, but this is a competition.  And when she obliterated the final phrase, it seemed to us like this could definitely be her last week.  The judges all pretty well agreed with us with Simon calling it a “complete and utter mess.”

One of our choices for leaving last week was Lacey Brown who happened to hold on.  Last week Kara told Lacey that she could hear her singing Sixpence None The Richer’s Kiss Me, which is exactly what she brought to the stage tonight.  It was a so-so performance and it didn’t seem like she had any clue as to what she was singing about.  Randy felt it was karaoke-like, Ellen disagreed, Kara said she really needs to step it up, and Simon called it only marginally better.

Idol’s other teenager, Katie Stevens, tried to show her youth marketability this week with Corrine Bailey Rae’s Put Your Records On.  She has a nice voice with a good sense of control of her instrument, but she definitely didn’t “shine”.  It was more like a performance from a Junior Miss pageant.  Randy critiqued her confidence level, Ellen and Kara both said she still needs to go younger, and Simon felt that he was still unsure of what kind of recording artist she wanted to be.

Didi Benami tried to bring a bit of soul to the competition with Bill Withers’ Lean On Me.  She has a unique voice, but the song didn’t serve to show that off much.  As Randy said, it showed more of her imperfections rather than heightening what she did well.  And Kara noted that if she sees herself as a singer/songwriter, to do something in that vein.

In an attempt to do the unexpected, Michelle Delamor chose Creed’s With Arms Wide Open to prove that she was capable of taking risks.  In the hands of a more talented vocalist, that risk may have very well paid off.  But Delamor just doesn’t have a strong enough voice or (what seems to be the key word for the night) control to make it work completely. Kara told her that it may not have been technically perfect, but she thought Michelle believed in it and she bought it.  Simon agreed.

Quirky Lilly Scott brought Sam Cook’s A Change Is Gonna Come to the Idol stage along with her unique talent.  Unlike all other contestants so far excluding Bowersox, she came on with complete confidence.  Some of the vocals weren’t exactly stellar, but she definitely exemplifies the “artistry” the judges are always looking for.  All judges were extremely complimentary, with only Simon saying that he thought Bowersox outsang her.

Katelyn Epperly, who failed to impress us last week, really brought something new this week with her rendition of Coldplay’s The Scientist.  Randy and Ellen both based their somewhat negative critique on the “slowness” of the song.  We totally disagree, as did Kara and Simon who both felt she was rising to the challenge.

Paige Miles brought an R&B feel to initial American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson’s Walk Away.  It worked well for her vocally, although her interpertation, particularly the ending, was rather lackluster.  Ellen loved it, but Kara, who wrote the song, agreed with us on the physical performance aspect of it.  Both Simon and Randy felt that it was a forgettable performance.

Our favorite from last week, Siobhan Magnus, closed the show with a showstopping rendition of the Aretha Franklin classic Think.  We agree with what Simon said, that she’s a “funny little thing” but we love that about her.  Sure, there were some technical issues with the performance, but when she belted that insanely high note at the end, she brought the house down and earned well-deserved praise from the judges.  As Randy would say, she’s definitely “dope” and our choice for favorite female performance of the week.

Last week we predicted a departure for Lacey Brown, which didn’t happen, so we’re going with that one again this week in addition to Haeley Vaughn.  And you?  Let us know what you think.

In an unprecedented Idol move, the show’s producers made a last minute switch-up, putting the guys on the Tuesday night epsiode due to an illness of one of the girls. It turned out that the earthy Crystal Bowersox had been hospitalized earlier that day and was not allowed to perform due to doctor’s orders.  Reports had said that she was suffering from complications due to Type 1 diabetes.

Idol has a standing tradition of placing the “most anticipated” performance at the end of the night, and starting out the show with the “lower end” performers.  This week’s wide open Billboard hits show began with Michael Lynche who put a kink in that theory with a nuanced and soulful performance of James Brown’s It’s A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World.  According to Kara, “Tonight you went from someone who was a singer to someone who could potentially be a great artist.”  Simon said it was like going from “a pussycat to a lion.”  While we hadn’t exactly been a “Big Mike” fan up until now, we were pretty impressed with the performance.

Next contestant, John Park started out by revealing his game plan, to take an honest approach to his performance.  Performing John Mayer’s Gravity, it WAS a more honest performance than he did last week, but there still wasn’t much interesting about it.  And he definitely has strong intonation issues.  The judges pretty much agreed, with Simon calling it a “so what performance.”

Casey James was up next with Idol standard I Don’t Wanna Be.   His vocal was all right, but nothing exceptional, and there was nothing electric other than his guitar about his interpretation and performance of the Gavin DeGraw hit.   Randy disagreed and gave him “mad props” for his guitar work, although this is a vocal, not instrumental competition.  Ellen seemed to be more in line with our opinion, saying that he needed to loosen up in his performance.  Kara, his initial number one fan, also let him know that in her opinion he had taken two steps back.  Simon said that he didn’t have the grit in the voice, claiming it was more like sand.

The novice stage performer Alex Lambert was up next with John Legend’s Everybody Knows.  We felt that last week’s performance was really nice vocally, but the stage presence was completely void.  All we can say about Alex’s improvement is WOW!  Liked the song, LOVED the vocals (one of the most “listenable” voices we’ve heard in a long time) and we actually weren’t uncomfortable watching him perform this week.  The judges all agreed, and with any luck, we’ll get to hear more from Alex Lambert.

Todrick Hall came out with a mission to prove that he was just as much of a singer as a dancer with his interpretation of Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It.  He’s definitely a performer, but there is absolutely nothing unique nor impressive about his voice, which suffers the most when he tries too hard to put his own mark on a tune.  The judges were rather harsh with their critiques, with Simon, who butchered his name and called him Tondrick, comparing him to a theme park performer.  We have to agree.

Jermaine Sellers, who we thought would be leaving the competition last week, took the stage with the Marvin Gaye classic What’s Goin’ On.  When he stuck to the original melody he sounded good, but much too often he launched into strange variations of the melody that just didn’t seem to work.  The judges weren’t impressed.  Kara said that his performances feel forced and Simon said that they were all frustrated with his choices.  Sellers concluded the critique session by asking what song he should sing next week, with Simon stating that needed to first worry about still being there next week.

Andrew Garcia, whose calling card so far had been strumming his guitar to offbeat arrangements of familar songs,  took a different course this week by peforming James Morrison’s You Give Me Something with only a stool and a microphone.  The judges weren’t impressed and once again brought up their disappointment after being so gung ho on him after his Hollywood week straight up.  It definitely did little to bring him back to the forefront.

Aaron Kelly said that he was going to prove that he had the confidence to be there this week.  That included some rather quirky dance moves to start it out.  We’re still not big fans of his raspy country-styled vocals, but the judges seem to really like Kelly.  All except for Simon.  He critiqued Kelly’s lack of focus in terms of his artistry, while Kara still maintained her support.

Last week’s disaster Tim Urban came on to redeem himself with Matt Nathanson’s Come On Get Higher.  It was definitely a major improvement over last week, but Urban has some serious problems with singing in tune.  As the judges would say, it’s all kinds of pitchy.  His voice also just doesn’t seem to have a real focused tone.  Randy called it karaoke, Ellen said she doesn’t think his stong point is his singing, Kara said he didn’t make the song his own, and Simon gave Urban a jaw-dropping surprise by saying that he completely disagreed with the others saying “Congratulations, I thought you did great.”

Closing the show was Lee DeWyze with Hinder’s Lips Of An Angel.  DeWyze is another one of the contestants that seems to be uncomfortable without an instrument in their hands.  This was particularly noticeable when he took time out to hike up his pants during a short vocal break.  DeWyze also has lots of pitch issues, which came to the forefront last week when his selection on iTunes was questioned as being enhanced by Auto Tune.  He’s another contestant that the judges appear to really have a soft spot in their hearts for though, with all of them acknowledging his pitch and confidence issues, but calling him one of their favorites nonetheless.  He just sounds too much like David Cook and countless others to us, without a true identity of his own, for us to jump on the judges’ bandwagon.

There are two more male contestants heading home this week and we’re sticking with our predictions of last week and going with Jermaine Sellers and Todrick Hall.  Maybe we’ll get it right this time.  What about you?  Who do you think is out of there?