Now, it’s really a competition! Still in the running:
Lee Dwyze, Michael Lynche, Crystal Bowersox, Casey James, Aaron Kelly, Siobhan Magnus
Last week they did Inspirational songs, mentored by Alicia Keys. The week before that, it was Elvis week, mentored by last year’s Adam Lambert. Last night, they did country.
Judging from last weeks elimination, I suppose Casey and Aaron are in trouble. Little Aaron is running out of tricks, except for his great tone (for-a-17yo), Casey is no longer relying on his looks or hiding behind the perfect guitar licks.
So for last night’s theme, which was Country mentored by Shania Twain, the idol hopefuls went all out. I wasn’t crazy about Lee’s Still The One rendition, it was way rough (I missed his whole performance though, and the critique), Siobhan did something weird and country but I do like her belt-outs more than when she sings without. Crystal did something laidback (but she still looked stoned), Big Mike did a Maxwell-esque number and it was good; both were praised but not as high as before.
The big surprises came from Casey James, whose vocals totally shone through without any fancy guitar licks and Aaron Kelly.
The funniest thing about last night’s show was: Simon. He looked like he had diarrhea and couldn’t wait to get out of that country-hellhole.
I was actually pretty disappointed with both AI and GLEE last night. After so much hype? After all the cooking prep i did for our private viewing party? LOL. I did a crockpot recipe of pot roast and successfully created meringue with strawberries and mango flavored whipped cream…but I digress. Dinner was the highlight, as AI unnecessarily ran 90 minutes long and ate up Glee’s airtime. Sue Sylvester did a copycat music video of Madonna’s Vogue (with some nasty modifications – will post it up later) made of pure awesome. But aside from Rachel’s new bf, Mr Shue’s new gf and paramour, well, Glee’s second season premiere left me hanging. It’s like a shabbily composed song that cuts out abruptly without the proper musical progression.
AI also had its share of disappointments. I mean, its ELVIS/ADAM LAMBERT week. I love A.L. for all his shrieky glam-ness. He also gave spot-on critiques on the kids… I was a little surprised that he was mentoring this week. Then again, even with one year of musical experience under his belt, I’d respect him more than Miley Cyrus, who may be writing her lyrics, but is still produced and backed up by the musical bigwigs.
Anyway, I figured Andrew Garcia, who lacks the singers know-how to do proper phrasing, took the boot tonight, quite abruptly (thanks Ryan!). And it really has been a long time coming… I understand that he really needed to go, despite his original and surprising Straight Up cover of Paula Abdul during Hollywood week. However, he’s been crawling slowly since then, whatwith bad choices, bad arrangement, bad attack/phrasing… even the mixing of his voice is awful. How sad is that? To be part of American Idol’s top 24/12 and have people think you didn’t belong there! I don’t even remember any good performance he’s done since Hollywood week, and yet week after week I rooted for him. The judges are over him, weeks ago, so they readily accepted the fact.
He also could’ve done something more. His guitar performances were kind of weak, making his guitar somewhat unnecessary. If he was more of a dancing performer, he would’ve done appealed to more people. The AI voters have already picked their favorites. Think you he didn’t try hard enough to win?
In the final bottom 3 were: Tim Urban, Big Mike and Katie Stevens. Tim Urban did surprisingly well! I noticed Adam Lambert gave him solid suggestions (as compared to flimsy advice to the older ones) and Tim took it. If the unripe banana (whatzisname?) made it this far, I would think he would dominate this tender-guitar-moment schtick.
Big Mike… he did well with In The Ghetto, as suggested by crazy ole Siobhan, and I felt that he did not deserve to go this week…it would be a waste of a Judge’s Save from the previous week, wouldn’t it?
As for Katie…we-ell, I am getting bored with her low register, her range seems extremely limited, almost nasally. There’s texture there, and she’s super cute, but really, there are plenty other great ones.
My top picks are still: Crystal, Casey, Big Mike, Lee
So at the end, the second victim of double elimination night turns out to be Katie, because she’s been sucking half the time during the top 24 shows. And that’s okay. Because they show her grandma recorded AI on her tivo and has been watching her so proudly in between Alzheimer attacks. Dammit! I hate these AI backstory-sob stories! *cries*
Bonus: Elliott Yamin , as he promised on Twitter LOL, showed footage of heading back to Africa for more Idol Gives Back. Aww, E. You’re adorable when you do outreach! None of your fellow AI alums can be as cool as you!
