Coming into tonight's episode, we have just a month left of this season and at the end of this journey, a new Idol will be crowned. I hate to be so negative, but I just have no enthusiasm for the finale this year. I don't know if it's because of the lackluster talent or the predictability of this season (not that I've been picking correctly in who goes home each week), but something is totally missing. I miss season seven and eight! Anyway, let's try and make the most of season nine and enjoy as much of it as we possibly can. This week the contestants perform songs from one of the legends himself, Frank Sinatra. And what a great mentor the contestants have this week in Harry Connick Jr. He's even helping to arrange the songs for them! What a cool guy. I hope this is a home run for all of the contestants this week.
Aaron Kelly - "Fly Me to the Moon" : Aaron has had his fair share of struggles as of late (however, last week was quite good for him, not surprisingly), and despite the criticism he gets from the judges, he's always positive and strives to improve. That's one thing you have to like about this high school student. As for tonight's performance, it was just okay for me. I wasn't jumping out of my seat because he didn't really do a whole lot vocally. I noticed a few pitchy notes and I thought the second half was better than the first. Sometimes when he stretches out a certain note, he goes off pitch. He has to continue working on his pitch problems, especially those in his upper register. He trended to strain a bit on some of those higher notes towards the end of the performance.
Casey James - "Blue Skies" : Casey has been molded into a decent lead singer in a cover band. However, there are times when he has shined on that big Idol stage - it seems to be during those performances where the tempo is softer and where he's able to show off his vocal talent. This week could work out very well for Casey if it's executed perfectly. However, it's executed horribly. It just goes extremely bad for Casey. He clearly shows that this is the wrong kind of music for him and he looks totally uncomfortable on stage. He tries moving to different points on stage but he looks so stiff. The singing is just way off; he's pitchy and his phrasing is horrible. Oh man, I had high hopes for Casey this week but it's just not working tonight. I'm afraid this may be the end for him.
Crystal Bowersox - "Summer Wind" : It'll be interesting to see how Crystal adapts to singing Sinatra songs tonight. What am I saying? She can sing anything! So far this season, she's stepped outside of her comfort level and have taken some pretty large risks, probably more so than any other contestant in season nine. So I am sure she can adapt quite well to performing a Sinatra song. And I must say she did a pretty good job tonight. I won't say it was her best and I am not completely comfortable hearing her perform these kinds of songs. However, she made it enjoyable to listen to and we got to see another side of the music machine that is Crystal Bowersox. I did think the beginning of the song was rather underwhelming compared to the last half of the song. Also, the band tended to drown out her singing towards the end. But vocally, it was quite good.
Michael Lynche - "The Way You Look Tonight" : Out of the five remaining contestants, I can definitely see Big Mike having the most success tonight. This is the type of music that he excels on. Maybe not so much the Sinatra-style of music, but more along the lines of a ballad. Those seem to be Mike's most memorable performances, when he's able to be vulnerable, emotional, and sing from the heart. And I must say, Mike was quite good tonight. Again, am I going to remember exactly what he sang tomorrow and how he sang it? Most likely, no. But so far tonight, he was far and away the best. Again, he sang the song with such emotion and you could feel his connection to the song. And yes, he still tends to be over dramatic on that stage, but that's just how he is. That's how he's able to remain comfortable on that stage and at least it's not completely awkward like Casey's stage presence.
Lee Dewyze - "That's Life" : First let me just say, nobody did "My Way" or "New York, New York"? That's rather surprising and a bit disappointing for me. Anyways, Lee is on tap with the pimp spot tonight. Let's see if he can close the show in a proper and memorable way. I've got to admit, I was a little worried with the way it started for me. I noticed a few off-pitch notes but Lee recovered quite nicely and made the song his own. Again, like a few of the other contestants, this is outside of Lee's comfort zone but he did a nice job of incorporating it into his style. Towards the end of the song he did get drowned out a bit by the band, but you could definitely tell it was Lee singing. He just continues to step it up week after week and after a couple of okay performances from Crystal the past two weeks, Lee is starting to inch his way ahead of her.
Top Five Performance Rankings:
1.) Lee Dewyze
2.) Michael Lynche
3.) Crystal Bowersox
4.) Aaron Kelly
5.) Casey James
Going Home: I think Casey's journey comes to an end after tomorrow. Last week he was in the bottom two, and that was after he delivered the best performance of that particular night! To me, that spells doom and gloom, especially after tonight's dismal performance. I think Aaron can be carried over one more week by the tween votes and Crystal is still a lock for the finale. As for Casey, I just think it's time.
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