While watching the show last night, I came up with the title of this post. Originally, I was going to call it, "Simon Cowell's prediction for winner will come true". I decided on the original title because up until the last ten minutes of the show, I was convinced that Simon correctly predicted that a girl would win American Idol this year. I felt Simon would be right this year, because none of the contestants manage to do anything to make me change my mind. That was true, until the last of the top eight males, took the stage.
It will be more difficult to give my review of the contestants' performances last night, but I am going with what I originally jotted down.
Lee Dewyze sang Fireflies by Owl City and although I do like him as a performer and singer, I felt he has not done anything different since his first audition. He reminded me last night of a cross between Danny Gokey and Kris Allen. His voice is similar to Danny's while his style reminds me of Kris. Simon felt he performed well enough to make it into the top 12 tonight, but he also thought he could have done better. I guess it is because as Randy said, Lee was pitchy "here and there" but thought he worked it, so I guess he will be moving on in the competition.
I give him a C because he gave an average performance, nothing special.
Alex Lambert sang Trouble, and I felt that is exactly what he might be in tonight, because he still seems so uncomfortable on stage. He does have a unique sound to his voice and he is talented, but he looks like his parents forced him to do this, and he is not working hard enough to show he wants to remain in the competition. Randy liked it and Ellen thought Alex was getting better every week. I agreed with Simon and Kara who thought Alex was stiff and not relaxed. I am certain he will not relax until Ryan announces he is in the top twelve, and with good reason.
I give him a B for his performance but a D for enthusiasm.
Tim Urban performed Hallelujah and while I thought it was just so-so, the judges were impressed with him. Ellen went so far as to run up on the stage to hug Tim and apologize for being so hard on him in previous weeks. She told him he was fantastic. Kara felt he took responsibility for building his own confidence level. I think Tim has a fan base because he puts me in mind of a teen idol I would have raved about when I was a teenager. I think he did well enough to get him through to the finals.
I give him a B and an A for his 'teen idol' look.
Andrew Garcia did not sing, "Trouble", but I think he is in big trouble tonight. Every week one of the judges mention his wonderful rendition of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" and I guess they are doing this because so far in the competition, Andrew has not done anything better than that performance. He sang Jeannie in a Bottle and I think it will take a Jeannie to grant him his wish of staying on American Idol this season. I thought his singing and performance was bland. Randy did not think it worked for him, and Simon thought Andrew seemed desperate, putting too much thought into his performance, but that instead of getting better each week, he thought Andrew was going backwards.
I give him a D for his performance and feel he may go tonight.
Casey James sang Keith Urban's "You'll Think of me" and I thought to myself that he sounded as bored as I was listening to him. I will side with what Kara thought of Casey's first audition, that he had no personality. This was the point in last night's show when I thought that Simon was 100% right in predicting a girl would win the title this year, even though Simon thought Casey sounded great and sincere. It frightens me to think that I agreed with Kara again last night when she said Casey did not show any spunk. It was just boring for me. I give him a C- and think they should all lose the guitar this year.
Aaron Kelly sang "I'm Already There" and when he finished the song, I made a comment regarding his place in the top 12 finalists, saying that he was already there in the top 12 after that performance. It was the first performance of the night that I really enjoyed. Simon cut Kara off in the middle of her rambling about Aaron not being able to connect to a song about a father talking about being away from his family, and then babbled on until Simon interrupted her (a first I think) and told her what she just said was, "Complete and utter garbage". Simon could not have been more right. Aaron is the 16 year old who told his story early on about his lousy childhood when he was very young, and how his aunt and uncle took him away from a bad situation and raised him. That is more experience for a 16 year old than most experience in a lifetime. Therefore, Kara saying that he could not relate to a song about kids and family was, well, complete and utter garbage.
I give Aaron an A for his performance and an A for his sincerity in his connection to the song in relating it to his personal life experiences.
Todrick Hall sang Queen's "Somebody to Love" and somebody loved him, but I did not. Only a few contestants have ever done a Queen song good enough to satisfy me. One of these contestants was Adam Lambert. Adam performed "We are the Champions" on the American Idol finale last year. The judges raved over his performance, even though Simon said he sounded like a Broadway singer. I do not understand why Simon thinks Broadway singers are not that great but if that is what he means regarding Todrick, I agree with him. The other judges liked him, and the gospel spin he put into the song. I did not think it helped his chances to be in the top 12.
Michael Lynche sang "This Woman's Work". As everyone is now saying, this performance spells out, "Game Over! for a contestant who thought up until that point in the show, that he was at least better than the other five contestants last night. I say this because Michael proved what the judges said was so important about the performances this week. The performance prior to fans choosing their top 12 finalists is the one that can make or break the career for American Idol contestants. Michael Lynche paid attention and knocked it out of the park.
To quote Randy, and I am in total agreement here, "Really? What? Hot! I also agreed with Simon who said that Michael proved 100% that this is what the judges wanted to hear and needed to hear for a contestant to advance to the top 12. I think Michael advanced his chances to become the winner this year, or at the very least, one of the top two going into the finale of American Idol. He moved Kara to tears and I think he even managed to make her forget that Simon pulled a Kanye West moment on her.
I give Michael an A+++!
I am glad American Idol saved the absolute best performance for last and I look forward to what will happen tonight on the results show. Michael may have just saved the reputation of the show last night altogether, because rumor has it that the show lacked the excitement present in previous years for many of its loyal fans.
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