...unfortunately, others drew blanks while the judges misfired
So many American Idol fans all over the Internet are complaining about the difference in the overall setting of the show this season. The show is placing a nauseating amount of emphasis on the judges, and wasting too many minutes of their critiques and annoying nuances.
One gesture I enjoyed seeing last night was the look Simon Cowell gave to Ryan Seacrest after the amiable host tried to comfort one of the contestants Simon railed into, causing one to become so upset that she could not speak. I do not mean to keep ragging on about the judges this year, but what is with Kara and Simon sitting so close together? I thought it last week as well, but forgot to mention it. I think it goes back to what I have said before about four judges being one too many. Either Kara has been sitting on top of Simon because she someone told her that she should tone her flirtations with Casey down or they cannot all fit into the camera at the same time. You may wonder why I watch when I sound so frustrated with the judges, but that is part of American Idol's appeal. People argue about the contestants, the performances, and about which judge is the best. It is what keeps it interesting and keeps us watching, because we are addicted to the show.
The top ten girls' performances showed me that some of them paid attention to the judges' criticisms last week, some paid too much attention perhaps, and still others completely ignored what the judges told them.
Crystal Bowersox, who became seriously ill earlier in the week, performed better than the other nine in perfect health. As I listened to her, I thought that she was the first contestant, at least the first female contestant that I have heard through all the years on American Idol, who has a natural raw talent. Yes, for me that includes Kelly Clarkson. In all fairness, I did not watch all of season one of American Idol, but I have heard Kelly perform. Crystal sang CCR's "Long as I can see the light", and Ellen parroted what I felt about the performance, saying that she has a natural talent. She performed with the ease of a truly gifted singer. Nothing about her voice or her performance seemed strained or pushed. Kara could not bring herself to give the girl the props she deserved, and instead repeated the negative comments the judges gave her the previous week.
Simon did something last night he only did one other time. He apologized to Crystal about his comments from the week before. He apologized to David Cook last year for the stupid remark he made about how the runner-up, David Archuleta, won the fight with a knockout on the last night of performances. I do not know what prompted Simon to apologize to David Cook, but I suspected that he read the chatter on the Internet and knew that David Cook would receive more votes than David Archuleta would. Everyone knows how Simon hates for fans to prove him wrong. After hearing Crystal's flawless performance last night, Simon again apologized because he did not want his comments about her performance from the week before, to come back and haunt him. Crystal is one of four girls who will be the one for the other six to beat.
Haeley Vaughn may be in trouble tonight during the eliminations. I personally thought she improved quite a bit from the previous week. I also thought that the judges would be less critical of her than they were last week. I was wrong. I guess it is because I am a parent of teens, but to hear what sounds like the words of a bully in the playground, come out of the mouths of the judges, is over the top.
I like Haeley and her voice is nowhere near as bad as the judges try to say it is. She sang, The Climb by Miley Cirus, whom I personally cannot stand, but would not berate her in public. Randy said he saw no connection to the song from Haeley. Does he see once with Miley Cirus? If he does, what is the connection because I do not see it?
Simon felt that telling Haeley her performance was 'a complete and utter mess', was not enough to express his distaste of what he heard from her. He also wanted to be clever by using the name of the song, Climb, to let Haeley know how unhappy he was with her performance. He first said that he could not think of anything to say because he "didn't want to make it any worse" than what she heard from the other judges. Then he tells her, in reference to the 'climb', that she "fell off". I thought it was cruel and uncalled for, and we will see if the voters agree with Simon or me when we find out if she goes home tonight or not. I did like it when Ryan asked how what he said could possibly have helped Haeley, but Simon did not and gave him the Cowell stink-eye.
Lacey Brown performed Kiss Me, presumably on the suggestion of Kara from last week. She was much better than last week, but still did not do much for me, and I am still not a fan. Simon told her she was marginally better, and I guess she was because she did not sound as nasally this week while singing, but her voice is too squeaky and for me, her voice cannot compare to some other girls in the top ten. She should have gone home last week, and maybe tonight she will.
Katie Stevens is one of the girls who bLee away some others for me last night. I do not care if she has an older-sounding voice as the judges appear to, because she has a strong voice with a nice tone to it. She performed, "Put your records on", and it reminded me of one of my favorite females from last season, Megan Joy, who also sang that song. Kara began to babble like Paula during her comments to Katie, Ellen thought she should sound more young and hip, and Randy wanted to hear her do a 'bigger song".
I think, and this goes back to what I said about too much time spent on the judges that they were so busy focusing on the negatives for Katie, that they failed to see her pure talent. Moreover, while the judges are saying Katie sound older than 17, they should also realize that they are adults speaking like 17 year olds when you try to reason with them and they still do not get it.
Didi Benami was one of my absolute favorites coming into the competition this season. I wished she had picked a song other than, Lean on me by Bill Withers. I could still hear the unique sound in her voice as she sang, but I had trouble hearing that song performed by someone other than the original artist, because it is just that kind of song for me.
If I were not already a fan of Didi's, I have to admit that I would make a point of voting for her to spite what the judges did to her last night. Controversy surrounded the third season, "the nightmare of Fantasia", when Jasmine Trias stayed, and Jennifer Hudson was eliminated. Rumors swirled that because the judges brought Jasmine to tears with their comments, voters felt sorry for her and voted for her to stay.
The judges repeated their usual lines to Didi saying that she was pitchy and it was the wrong song, and on and on they went, until they caused her to fill up with emotions in such a way that she was unable to answer Ryan when he tried to comfort her. Do they have to berate and embarrass contestants? I think they could give her constructive criticism without leaving her an emotional wreck. I hope she gets to stay because I do like her unique voice and she should pick songs that will show it.
The situation got progressively worse when the judges fell all over Michelle Delamor's performance of With Arms Wide Open by Creed. While she sang, I thought I would have liked it if she kept her mouth less open. My husband, who rarely watches American Idol, happened to be in the room and listened to Michelle sing. He knew the song, but I did not, and he sound she ruined it and sounded terrible. When she finished, I was shocked at how much the judges liked it. Randy said she had a couple of pitchy spots. I thought she had a couple of spots that were not pitchy. Ellen said she was a little pitchy, and again I have to say that she is no more qualified to hear what is pitchy and what is not, than I am. Kara lost the rest of whatever credibility she may have had with me when she said Michelle's performance was her favorite ever. "What?" This was definitely my "What the heck were they listening to" moment so far this season.
Lilly Scott, for the second week in a row, did not disappoint me and she is still one of my choices for the title this year, along with Crystal Bowersox. She sang "A Change is Gonna Come' by Sam Cook, the same song that American Idol season 7 contestant, Syesha Mercado sang. I never thought Syesha should have been one of the three top contestants with the two David's but that is another story.
If anyone else remembered that Syesha performed this song, he or she forgot all about it after Lilly's rendition. I like her looks almost as much as her voice. She has the star presence that the judges always talk about, when talking to the contestants about Kelly Clarkson and well...Kelly Clarkson. Personally, I get a little sick of Simon telling the world that she was one of only a few contestants he wanted to win, who actually became a success. He was way off with so many other contestants he raved about, but he thought Lilly 'over sang'? He did give her the comments she deserved, but the over sang remark was ridiculous. Lilly will definitely be safe tonight.
Katelyn Epperly, as Ellen stated and I agree, could have put many people to sleep during her performance last night. It was so agonizingly slow and long, and I do not think her voice affords her the privilege of boring us so early into the competition. Along with Lacey, she overstayed her welcome for an extra week, in my opinion, and cannot compete with the front-runners of the night. She sang Coldplay's version of The Scientist, and I hope scientists can use her performance for their treatment of insomniacs. Even if she had performed Natasha Beddingfield's version, it would not have earned points for her with me. It might have actually made it worse, but I do not see how it could.
Paige Miles is one contestant I still do not remember from any of the auditions. She sang a Kelly Clarkson hit, and Simon, of course, insinuated that no one can sing like Kelly Clarkson, by telling Paige that for the second week in a row, she picked the wrong song to sing. I actually liked her voice, which I thought was strong and I like the husky tone to it. The only problem I found with the performance was that I, like Randy, had a difficult time understanding the words. I understood a little better why, when Randy mentioned the pace of the song and how so many words had to fit in with the beat or something. I think on her vocals alone, Paige will stay with the competition after tonight.
Siobhan Magnus did Aretha Franklin's "Think", and I think that Simon should think about how many times he stop mention Kelly Clarkson, including mentioning her after Siobhan's performance. Siobhan sung the song without screaming the notes. Randy said she was bold for taking it on, and rambled on about how Aretha's the best, which I am also tired of hearing because the only song I liked of Franklins' is, "Until you Come Back to me", but Siobhan gave the other girls a run for the money last night.
In order, this is how I rank the girls' performances last night, with #'s 9 and 10 my picks for going home:
1. Crystal
2. Lilly
3. Siobhan
4. Katie5. Didi
6. Paige
7. Haeley
8. Michelle
9. Lacey
10. Katelyn
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