AI 9 3-30-10 A night of soulless of soul

This is their moment. This is your show. This is AMERICAN IDOL!

We have our top 10 and they will be touring this summer. I have attended every concert tour except for Season 3 and as things are shaping up, I might decide to skip the Season 9 tour as well. I am not sure if it would be worth spending all that money to hear the three or four contestants, which are in the running. The next eight weeks will assist with the decision.

I see the producers have moved away from the big announcement about the judges but I am not sure I liked the backstage opening and the uncomfortable judge’s moment with the closeness and kissing was over the top. Yuck!

Tonight’s theme is R&B/Soul.

Usher has a new album dropping on the same day he is acting as a mentor on American Idol. Color me surprise – NOT! Can someone answer me a question about why he needs to wear sunglasses indoors especially when he is not on stage and harsh lights were not reflecting on to his face. For someone who told all the contestants to connect with the audience it is hard to connect if they cannot see your eyes.

I will have more to say about the entire show after we dish about the contestants and the strange twists and turns of last night’s performances.

Let us get to the dirt!

Siobhan Magnus – “Through the Fire”

Please someone call 911 for Siobhan because the start of this song was torture. The first 35 seconds was a fingernail down the blackboard moment. The rest of the first half of this song was bad. There were so many off-key moments I stopped listening. There was a little improvement at the chorus but not much. Siobhan did not have any control over the majority of her vocals. There was one high note she reached but it was lackluster at best and the screaming at the end was pitchy. The outfit she was wearing was freaking horrible. This is not a good sign of what is coming.

Randy – This was all over the place. It was pitchy. This was not one of your shining moments. I admire your courageousness in tackling a difficult song. I love the outfit and boots. This was not your best performance. It was rough.

Ellen – There were off pitch moments but it was a great song choice. Starting the evening with Siobhan is like having dessert before the meal.

Kara – You seemed nervous. This should have worked and parts of it did “the screaming parts” but not the rest. You are entitled to an off night given every performer has one but you are still a great singer.

Simon – This sounded like you were singing while catching your breath while running a marathon. If this was the first time I had seen you I would not be impressed. This was your worst performance. I am getting bored with the screaming at the end.

Casey James – “Hold on I’m Coming”

Casey’s smile and grin is robotic and scary. Is he trying to hold back his nervousness or is he a child screaming, “Look mom I am on television?” Casey’s whole demeanor during the number left me cold. The only time Casey looks comfortable is when he is playing the guitar. I will give Casey his dues. I thought the vocals were decent and his enunciation was an improvement last night. What was up with the back-up singers because they were not helping this song and in fact were a detriment? This was good but not exciting.

Randy – This was another hot night for Casey. You were in your element and showed vocal range. This was a great song choice.

Ellen – You are consistent. I love your voice and tone but I thought it was all a bit generic. I wish you had chosen a different song. You did sing it well.

Kara – You do not always use a huge range. You need to go back to the acoustic guitar and show more of what you can do vocally.

Simon – This was your strongest week so far. You did not do a sound-alike performance. You showed a different side of yourself and you sounded authentic. I am very impressed with you this week.

Michael Lynche – “Ready For Love”

I like the choice of song and I really appreciated the way “Big Mike” scaled the arrangement back. This was a brilliant choice. Given all the theatrics, he has displayed previously this time he was able to sell the song solely with his vocals. “Big Mike’s” vocals were pitch perfect. This is the first performance of the evening, which had some “soul”.

Randy – I like you with the guitar. You were in the zone. The performance was not exciting but it is nice to show your sensitive side every once in awhile.

Ellen – Beautiful and I loved it.

Kara – I have to admit I had never heard this song until you chose it so I went to listen to it. You did an incredible job with it. You mastered the intention behind it.

Simon – This is the first time during the live shows where I took you seriously as an artist. The song is a little gloomy but you finally demonstrated the difference between being original and being a karaoke singer. I believed this performance.

Didi Benami – “What Becomes the Brokenhearted”

There was one positive for Didi tonight she looked fantastic and I loved the outfit. On the other hand, it was the wrong choice of look for the performance. The entire performance was uncomfortable to watch and torture to the ears. Didi was totally off pitch and never connected with the melody. The entire thing felt forced and Didi could not sell the emotion of the song. Didi actually sucked the soul out of the performance. Didi is a soul sucking vampire!

Randy – I felt like the performance flat-lined and stayed in the same place. I was waiting for some kind of moment and while you tried it did not work. The high note at the end was sharp. This was not great.

Ellen – This performance was too dramatic. I love your voice (Are you crazy?) but this was not your best.

Kara – I am confused. You are a singer-songwriter and that is what we loved about you in Hollywood. It seems you have lost your way. I am not sure who you are now.

Simon – This was like swimming in jelly. It was over-the-top and very old-fashioned. It was also off-key. The song just did not do it. I agree with Kara you have lost your way. You are no longer contemporary. It was like a singer murdering a song on one of those dancing shows.

Tim Urban – “Sweet Love”

I really wanted to cry after watching the video introduction and listening to this number. I was shaking my head during the entire performance. Wow another uncomfortable to watch and listen to performance. The vocals were okay but were lifeless and boring. While Tim was sitting on the stairs at the beginning he was flat but he recovered after he stood up. Tim’s movements across the stage were unnecessary and stupid. Tim’s definition of connecting with the audience was to severely open his eyes and just stare. Can I say those open eyes held no emotion and were Stephen King scary dead! The Cheshire cat grin added to the horror. Please just put me out of my misery now.

Randy – There are some pluses and minuses in the performance. The minus is you sounded like a singing waiter. The plus was you sang in tune mostly. You did not have any swagger so the song laid flat.

Ellen – You are adorable and there is a drinking game involving how many times I say it so I want everyone to have a shot right now because after this they may never drink again (Are you saying you feel Tim is going home?). Why did you choose this song? It was mostly in key. Why were you walking around as if you were sneaking into a bedroom? “We can see you. You were heading right towards us. Do not try to be so sneaky.”

Kara – This was part Vegas and part Broadway. You took the soul out of the song and made yourself uncommercial.

Simon – This was like a mouse picking a fight with an elephant. You smile, you are cute, the audience votes for you, and it does not matter what we say. You will still be here next week so “well done!”

I had a tweet during the show indicating Simon’s critique on Tim was the most accurate comment ever on American Idol and I have to agree.

Andrew Garcia – “Forever”

We have another contestant sitting on a stool playing the guitar. I did like the arrangement and the use of just the percussion and strings worked. I think the choice of song was good but the performance itself was just okay. There were some nice vocal moments with the bridge. The rest of the number was in Andrew’s weaker range, which did not help the overall performance.

Randy – Andrew is back! I love everything including the outfit. This was mad dope. This was your best performance in a long time.

Ellen – You were in the zone. Amazing.

Kara – I am happy to say this was one giant leap in the right direction.

Simon – I agree this was miles better than your recent performances. Do not take this the wrong way but my only problem is you as a person because you are coming across as boring.

Katie Stevens – “Chain of Fools”

I wanted to go running from the room after looking at Katie in that ridiculous outfit and the way too many accessories. The performance was awkward to watch. Please I am begging you to stop with the stupid vamping and head bobbing. I will give Katie some credit the vocals were good but very robotic. There was absolutely no soul in this song and she did not sell the emotions or meaning of it either.

Randy – You started rough but you have some pipes. This was one of the best vocal performances of the night. You are like a young Christina (What is Randy drinking?). You need to find a way to connect everything because you had many small moments but we need to see one big moment.

Ellen – You sounded mature not current.

Kara – You have found your niche. This was one of your best vocal performances (apparently Kara is drinking from Randy’s cup) however; you need to sound young and commercial.

Simon – I find the Christina comparison crazy. I think you sounded good but you were robotic and came across as cold. You need to be young and fun. The song choice was not great. I felt like I was watching Star Search. I do not agree with Kara that you should be an R&B/pop star. Listen to me not Kara.

Lee DeWyze – “Treat her like a Lady”

I am telling you this has to be the cast with the most illnesses ever, walking pneumonia indeed. I am giving Tim the credit he deserves. This performance had sterling vocals and he rocked the house. Tim brought real soul and emotion to the song he sold it. Tim is very comfortable with his guitar but he is still very uncomfortable in front of the camera. He really needs to lose the “deer in the headlight look”. My only criticism was his enunciation. I need to hear the lyrics!

Randy – It was unbelievable. This was your best performance from in weeks. It was da bomb.

Ellen – The night has finally started. This was the best performance of the night and possibly your best all together.

Kara – I am happy. This is your world, your record. Amazing.

Simon – I have always believed in you and I have been frustrated because you do not seem to believe in yourself. You do not always make eye contact when you talk which indicates something is off. I want you to watch the show back tonight. This might be the night your life changes forever.

Crystal Bowersox – “Midnight Train to Georgia”

I am still shaking my head as to why Crystal is in this competition because she should already be touring. I realize I am sounding like a broken record but the truth is the truth. Crystal performs like a seasoned pro and this was a freaking stellar vocal performance. Crystal’s voice is amazing and she hit some very interesting notes. I have to agree with Crystal using the piano is not her strong point but it was just a minor misstep she corrected by getting away from it. The only thing, which could have improved the performance, was getting rid of those backup singers. They were not necessary and impeded Crystal.

Randy – I love your outfit and the stilettos. I loved it. I am currently working with Gladys right now (enough with the name-dropping) and I am sure she would say you did the song proud.

Ellen – You are always great and you were smart to switch things up. You are in it to win.

Kara – I am glad you took this risk. I cannot wait to see what you do next week.

Simon – I love the song choice and the vocals. The background vocals seemed old-fashioned. I just want to warn you not to let the process change who you are as a performer because there was nothing wrong with you before. I love your personality and talent. You need to do what is comfortable for you and not change yourself.

Aaron Kelly – “Ain’t No Sunshine”

Aaron gets the pimp slot this week what are the producers thinking. Are we showing favoritism because statistically the contestant singing last rarely goes home? I do not think this was a good choice of song. Kris Allen owned this song last season and you are just asking for comparison. The vocals were okay although he was rough at the beginning but he was on pitch generally. The performance lacked any type of soul and Aaron could not sell this song. Aaron appeared nervous to me or perhaps he was told to rush through given we were almost out of time when he started. Aaron was like a zombie on that stage last night. It was not a good ending to the show.

Randy – The song started rough but when you got to the power notes you worked it out.

Ellen – I thought it was a good song choice and you really did a good job.

Kara – I liked it but did not love it. You could have sung it in a higher register.

Simon – It was okay but comparing it to some of the other performances tonight you were like a cupcake. There is no chance you are going home this week though.

Now that we have dished about the performances I have to rant about this entire show. Can we talk about filler and time wasting nonsense? The contestants had 90 seconds to sing. If you multiple that by 10 there was 15 minutes of singing in a two hour show. What is wrong with this picture since this is a singing contest! It was 9:00 and we had only heard four singers.

I wanted to scream given the time killing going on. The whole opening backstage, the wasted banter with Usher and Ryan, the backstage moments with the contestants when they were finished, the extra time some of the contestants got with the judge’s and Ryan trying to question them or push them into some type of reaction was unnecessary and painful to watch. Given all the time they had to fill the show it still went over time.

We could have lost an hour and still managed to fit in the singing, the judge’s comments and the video introductions.

Thank heavens “Glee” is returning next week because we will be back to an hour. I am more excited about the return of “Glee” then I am Season 9 of American Idol.

The one plus of the evening was Usher as a mentor. He had some very good pointers and advice for the contestants. It is sad there were so few who listened or simply were not able to follow-through.

The best performances were from Crystal, Lee and Big Mike. I voted for these contestants along with Siobhan. Based on Siobhan’s performance I would not have voted for her but I think she has potential and I do not want her to go before Didi!

I think the bottom three should be Tim, Didi and Aaron but suspect it will actually be Didi, Tim, and Katie.

I so want Didi to go but I am going to use reverse psychology like last week and pick someone else.

Tim is going home tonight. America please do the right thing.

Tonight we will see Usher hocking his new album once again. We will also see performances from Diddy (really) and Dirty Money (a group I have not heard of) along with Reuben Studdard. Do all of these performers have album sales to beef up?

I will definitely be watching the results show via tape delay!

Until tomorrow…