Tonight’s theme was Number One Hits of the Billboard Hot 100, and for some reason, Siobhan came on stage with a Sanjaya faux-hawk. But I guess if we could understand Siobhan, she wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.
Lee Dewyze
The Letter by The Box Tops
He seemed off the beat at the start of the song. “This isn’t his type of song,” said the Wife.
At least he’s doing something different, but it’s not quite coming together. With the arrangement he chose, he needed to swing it a bit, and that’s just not him.
Paige Miles
Against All Odds by Phil Collins
Why do American Idol contestants insist on performing this song? It never turns out well.
Well, Paige set a new low for this AI standard. She was well behind the beat, and hit some scary notes. And those were the better parts.
The Wife wondered if she was that far off, or if she changed the song.
It was bad. Really bad.
Tim Urban
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
Ok, again the vocal wasn’t too bad, but the performance was cheesy. He slide across the stage, ran out into the audience, and generally came across as goofy and desperate.
The Wife liked his voice, but thought the dancing was Six Flags show choreography.
Aaron Kelly
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith
Another AI standard that generally comes across badly.
The opening was pretty nice, actually. The song was almost too big for him, but he held on to it. Barely.
The balance between Aaron and both the backup singers and the instruments was way off, but they’ll fix that for the iTunes versions, I expect.
Crystal Bowersox
Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin
Love the song, and love the way Crystal changed it up. She made it new, without losing the core of the song.
It also built very nicely through the song. Loved it. Crystal is amazing.
I wonder what she has planned for next week.
Michael Lynche
When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge
“He sure does sing with a lot of emotion,” said the Wife.
It was very much the same style as the last two weeks, but he does enough with it to keep it interesting. He’s still running the risk of becoming boring, but it’s clear he knows who he wants to be.
Another solid performance.
Andrew Garcia
Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
Very karaoke. At best.
“The only thing he has on Paige is pitch,” said the Wife.
Wow. That was awful. He could be in trouble. This far in, and we have no idea what kind of performer he wants to be.
I don’t think he knows either.
Katie Stevens
Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie
Some rough notes. The second verse was just bad.
“It’s like she screaming,” said the Wife.
For some reason, the judges liked it. Don’t think they heard the same performance that I did.
Casey James
Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News
Good vocal. Very strong.
The song had some strange cuts to it, but that’s probably due to the time restraints. Too much chorus and not enough verse, said the Wife.
She also pointed out that the backup singers weren’t very good.
Solid performance, but somewhat safe.
Didi Benami
You’re No Good by Linda Ronstadt
I thought it was a cool arrangement, but was sure Simon would think it sounded old. The Wife thought her voice sounded good with this song and style.
I really liked it, especially the ending. The judges universally panned it. We’re not exactly in sync tonight.
Siobhan Magnus
Superstition by Stevie Wonder
Ok, I just don’t like this song. Never have been a big Stevie Wonder fan. But Siobhan sounds good singing it.
And, I’m tired of the screams at the end. It’s coming across as gimmicky now, and she’s talented enough that she doesn’t need gimmicks.
The best of the night was Crystal, by a mile. Michael and Casey tied for second, but were a ways behind Crystal. Didi and Aaron were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Now for the bad…
Paige was the worst. By far. I can’t see how she possibly survives this week. Andrew was also bad, but not nearly as horrific as Paige.
VoteForTheWorst.com continues to back Tim, who was bad in a goofy VFTW way. But his vocal was only the third worst. They should have no trouble protecting him for the next two weeks, which should see the departure of Paige and Andrew.
After that, it’ll be interesting to see if they can protect him against the current mid-tier of Katie, Lee, and Aaron.