Wednesday, April 14, 2010

American Idol 9 - Top 9 (again)

It's top nine week again! Last week brought a potentially shocking elimination when Michael Lynche received the least amount of votes. However, the judges used the power of the save and allowed Michael to return once again. Will Michael ultimately win the competition this season? Likely not. But hey, this season is filled with mediocrity - so why not use it to save Michael? He's been one of the most consistent performers week in and week out. The only individuals I think you might look at needing the save are Crystal and Lee. But they have such strong fanbases, I don't think they'll be in danger for awhile yet. As for this week, the theme is songs by Elvis Presley. And who better to mentor the contestants on Elvis songs than a showman himself, Adam Lambert. Let's see how the contestants fared this week:

Crystal Bowersox - "Saved" : I don't think Crystal has been quite on her "A" game the past few weeks, although she's still been one of the best performers all along. This week she picks a lesser-known Elvis track which I think is smart on her part. Adam Lambert gives her the advice of using the electric guitar over the acoustic. We'll see how that pays off. And I must say, this is the best Crystal has sounded in awhile. Her performance was powerful and you could definitely tell she injected a gospel feel into it. I didn't notice a whole lot of the electric guitar during the performance, but that didn't matter to me. Another excellent performance by Crystal. A great way to start the night on.

Andrew Garcia - "Hound Dog" : So Andrew's up next and I feel he's fallen back to mediocrity after having one decent week since moving past Hollywood Week into the Top 24. And despite his mediocrity, he still hangs around. He was awfully close to going home last week, though. This week it was once again, another less-than-inspiring performance. I don't care if Andrew "has fun" with his performances, you also have to sing well and make a memorable impression to the audience. His rendition of "Hound Dog" once again felt loungy to me. The slowed-down arrangement did not help and it still felt rather boring to me. His vocals were ok, but it shouldn't be enough to save him this week. I think it's his time to go.

Tim Urban - "Can't Help Falling in Love" : So instead of expecting Andrew or Katie to start doing well in this competition, it's actually Tim that's gradually improved week after week. One thing is for sure, he's definitely more comfortable performing when he has a guitar with him. And although he's not the greatest vocalist in the competition (probably the weakest, even), he's learned to sing the songs on key and to change up the arrangement of songs just enough to make them his own. He did exactly that with "Can't Help Falling in Love." He certainly has developed a strategy and as long as he follows that strategy, he'll outlast a lot of the mediocre performers. Another solid week for Tim once again.

Lee Dewyze - "A Little Less Conversation" : Here we have a song that's been done on Idol quite a bit, yet with Lee's interpretation of the song this week, he changed it up very nicely and basically turned it into a completely different song. I actually thought it was a big improvement over last week, as I was not a fan of his "Hey Jude" rendition (with bagpipes and all!). Someone in the blog world mentioned that Lee kind of screwed up the lyrics during the chorus once - but I really didn't notice until looking back and I'm sure the majority of people watching didn't notice, either. I do think that Lee shouted the song an awful lot and the performance would've been that much better if he toned it down just a bit. But still, it was very good.

Aaron Kelly - "Blue Suede Shoes" : Aaron has struggled a bit as of late and its definitely showed in the results - Aaron was in last week's bottom three, although he was the first announced safe before Andrew and Big Mike. Aaron has to be careful of his song choices and start picking smarter. He also needs to perform better. Overall, I'd say he made a good attempt at this week's pick, but it ended up being the wrong song for him. He was moving all over the stage, which was nice to see, even coming up close to Kara at one point. But I think all of that movement kind of through off his vocals. I think he was a bit underwhelming for that particular song and although it wasn't bad, it still wasn't great either.

Siobhan Magnus - "Suspicious Minds" : Siobhan has experienced her own bout of struggles on the Idol stage lately. And it doesn't help that she's been getting conflicting advice from the judges, either. They tell her she shouldn't be using that infamous wail during every performance, yet when he doesn't use it, her performance is regarded as being sleepy. So what will Siobhan do this week? I actually liked it when Adam suggested she pick up the pace of the song, because it worked. She has a tendency to struggle with the lower notes in her register, and that was evident in the first part of the song. I actually think the second half of the song was better than the first, where she really started to ramp the performance up.

Michael Lynche - "In the Ghetto" : Michael definitely did something smart this week. After getting the least amounts of votes last week and being saved by the judges, he performed with an acoustic song and stripped down the arrangement of "In the Ghetto" to the point where the audience could really focus on his vocals. So instead of being flashy, moving all across the stage, and using a variety of hand gestures, he sat still on the Idol stage and performed his song. It was really the right thing to do and his performance was quite beautiful. Sure, you could say it was sleepy but his decision will allow him to stay in this competition a week longer. How embarrassing would it have been to be eliminated this week after getting saved the following week?

Katie Stevens - "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do" : Last week Katie finally lived up to her potential with a strong performance of "Let it Be" and ended up being one of the top performers during Lennon/McCartney week. Let's see if she's able to keep that momentum going. And yet, right from the start, she sounds a bit sharp - not quite matching the pitch that's intended for the song. I actually think she's encountered that problem quite often during her Idol run, except last week it was non-existent. This week it wasn't as bad as it's been, but her vocals weren't perfect. And I don't think this particular song helped her, either. It's one of Elvis' more lesser-known songs and I think Katie does better when she sings ballads over up-tempo songs.

Casey James - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" : So Casey really picks an old-school Elvis song this week. I certainly wasn't familiar with it and I'm sure many others out there weren't familiar with it, either. Sometimes that's not a negative thing for certain contestants, though. I thought it was a decent performance, but it wasn't all that memorable, either. That's kind of how Casey has performed overall this season. Except for last week where he truly had a moment, he's performed songs exactly how they should be sang, with little changes to the arrangement. He'd really be a great performer in an '80's cover band. Something just felt missing in this performance for me, even though vocally it was quite good.

Top 9 Performance Rankings:
1.) Crystal Bowersox
2.) Lee Dewyze
3.) Michael Lynche
4.) Tim Urban
5.) Siobhan Magnus
6.) Casey James
7.) Katie Stevens
8.) Aaron Kelly
9.) Andrew Garcia

Going home: Andrew Garcia and Aaron Kelly. I think Andrew is definitely a shoo-in to get the boot this week. Of course, how often have I said that this season and he's managed to get through just barely! But with two people going home this week, I really think it's his time. As for the other individual, I really think it's a toss-up between Aaron Kelly and Katie Stevens. However, I think Aaron won't get through beyond this week. Katie is probably still riding some momentum from last week and Aaron has struggled a bit lately.

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