With American Idol devoted the show to Idol Gives Back next week, voters will eliminate two of the nine remaining contestants tonight on American Idol's results show.
Last night the contestants took on Elvis Presley songs, with the help of Adam Lambert, American Idol's season 8 who lost the title of America's favorite singer to Kris Allen.
I think that Adam gave wonderful advice to the contestants. He did it with humility and grace, and it was a refreshing change from some of the other so-called legends in past American Idol shows. Adam did not pretend to be a big know-it-all rock star, and he just gave them honest opinions on what they should and should not do during their performances last night.
Adam Lambert is the first American Idol contestant to be a mentor for the aspiring singers and I think he is because he is the most talented singer Idol has ever had on the show.
With so many songs to choose from the King of Pop's legacy, some of the choices disappointed me, for several reasons and I will explain why.
Crystal Bowersox performed a song I am not that familiar with called Saved. I think the reason I do not know this song may be that when the song was popular, my parents did not allow me to listen to it, because of the lyrics.
Crystal, as everyone including Ellen, is growing tired of saying, has raw, natural talent, and sounds fantastic in every performance. I wonder about the choice of song though, given that many of American Idol viewers are pre-teen and perhaps younger.
Kara said she had to hand it to Crystal for tackling a song with considered controversial lyrics for its day, but I think American Idol producers should remember what age group the majority of their viewers is in, and that is the group too young to drink or smoke. I am not a prude but if my kids were younger than their late teens, I would have told them that it was a stupid song to sing on American Idol.
After Crystal's performance, Simon announced he thought the night "would be filled with" karaoke-sounding performances. I announced that the judges would definitely like to see Crystal crowned this year's winner of American Idol. For talent alone, I agree, but the judges should make it less obvious to viewers that although Simon still talks about Kelly Clarkson as though she won yesterday, Idol is looking for another mainstream artist, in the form of a female contestant.
Andrew Garcia sang Hound Dog, and slowed it down a bit. While it did show off the uniqueness of his voice, it lacked the energy of the song as Elvis recorded it. Adam Lambert kept saying that the contestants all had talent and great voices, but needed to put more energy and 'oomph' into their performances. I think the oomph was missing from Andrew's performance, and the judges agreed with me.
I do have to say that I have been hard on Andrew, but he does seem like he is well liked by the other contestants, and the judges seem to think he lacks personality. Ellen thought Andrew pulled the song off, however.
Tim Urban, whom I think Ryan Seacrest referred to as, Turban, last night, sang Can't Help Falling in Love, and I thought he sounded great. I think this is exactly the way Elvis meant for the song to reach his adoring teenage fans, and Tim just might have picked up more of them last night. In the mentoring phase of the performance, Adam encouraged Tim to use his falsetto in the ending of the song, but Tim apparently decided against it, but the ending was still good. I hope that Tim is not in the bottom three tonight again. I am in awe every week of how few of the young female viewers' vote for Tim.
Lee Dewyze is the contestant who is becoming stronger each week for me, in the competition. He performed, A Little Less Conversation, a song I also was not familiar with until Jon Peter Leeis sung it in what I called the Nightmare of Fantasia Season of AI, in season three.
By this stage, the other contestants should be coming out and delivering stronger performances, but I do not think some of them have been.
All of them seem more concerned and more nervous about what the judges will say about their performances, than I have noticed in previous seasons. I still do not care for the new concept of asking the contestants what they thought of the judges' criticism.
All of the judges, except Kara had nothing but good things to say to Lee about his performance. Kara wanted more from him, and Simon asked if she wanted to see Lee bring kittens up on the stage, and wanted to know what more she wanted from him. He then told Lee his performance was "on the money". I agreed.
Aaron Kelly, in my opinion nailed the song, Blue Suede Shoes. I thought he brought more energy to the stage than the other contestants did last night. I also think he was one of the few who heeded Adam's advice on that very subject.
For a 16 year old to sing this rocking, energetic song of Elvis' and appear to be someone quite older, I was surprised at the judges' reactions. Simon insulted Broadway and high school performing arts' groups; insinuating his performance was only as good as a musical. I have to take issue with Simon when he says these things because I have been to several high school musicals and the singers are extremely talented, just as the singers in the show, Glee, are. Speaking of which, cast member of Glee were in the audience. What did they think of Simon's remarks? Kara liked Aaron's performance and liked that he left his comfort zone to perform it, and I agreed with her, one of the rare times that I have so far this season.
Siobhan Magnus is one of those contestants that make me think to myself that this one is one that the judges do not want in the finale. In the beginning, the judges praised Siobhan for her strong vocals and her amazing range, but lately they are beating her down no matter what type of song she sings.
Siobhan performed Suspicious Minds, one of my Elvis favorites and I loved her performance. It was slower than the original and I wish she had shown a little more energy with a song that just makes you tap your feet instantly. Other than that, I had no complaints about her performance. Kara had the nerve to tell Siobhan that she was confusing her, but I think that the judges are confusing the contestants this season. They are not consistent with their thoughts on what genre the contestants should be singing in, and I think they are leaving the contestants worried for another week about song choice and style for the next performance. I think this accounts for their obvious lack of self-confidence in some.
Michael Lynche made me happy when he chose to sing In the Ghetto, another one of my absolute favorites of Elvis Presley's hits. Still reeling from the shock of seeing Michael too close to going home last week if not for the judges saving him, I think he redeemed himself to the doubting voters with last night's performance.
Randy was correct in stating that Michaels vocals 'were hot', and all I have written for Ellen's critique in my notes, is "moron", so she must not have liked the performance. However, Simon did and said it was one of the favorites of the night of his. He would not say "the favorite" because we know he is looking to discover another Kelly Clarkson.
Katie Stevens, in my opinion, is one of the contestants I liked earlier on, but seem to like her less with each performance. She is one of the youngest contestants and she does have talent, but in her more recent performances, she has sounded pitchy to me. I think it is the strange tone of her voice, and I think I finally understand what Simon is talking about when he says that Katie should be in the 'country' genre. She has the voice for that, I believe, and when she applies that voice to rock or pop, it sounds pitchy.
I agreed with Simon again, that the performance was loud and annoying. The song, Baby, What do you want me to do, was another song I did not know. I grew up listening to Elvis and I have a ton of his hits on my IPod, so I found it weird that too many songs last night were unfamiliar. Casey James also performed a song unknown to me, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, and after last night, I hope it remains unfamiliar. The judges have managed to make Casey overconfident in himself, I think, and the disappointment on his face while the judges criticized his performance, confirmed my suspicions.
Frighteningly, I again agreed with Kara when she told Casey that he wasted an opportunity to show what he had to offer, given that Elvis was a rocker, as Casey is. I think it was a 'blah' performance and I think he bLee it last night as well.
Elvis Presley would have turned 75 this past January 8, had he lived to see these nine contestants perform his songs. I wonder what he would have thought about a new generation introduced to his songs. Elvis Presley is a legend, in a league all of his own, and I think most of all, he would have been proud of the job Adam Lambert did with the contestants. I just wished they had listened more closely to what Adam advised them to do. The show was less electric than I thought it would be for being the night they honored the King of Pop, and because LOST followed the Idol's 90 minute program, I was glad when it finally ended.
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