American Idol Final 8

Arg, why can't American Idol ever end on time. I finally had to set my Tivo to record a few minutes longer. Tonight I totally missed the last singer, Adam, which I wouldn't have been sad about, if I wasn't going to review the show. I finally found it on the computer and watched though.

The theme for the night was songs from the year the contestants were born. Wow, another fat topic giving the contestants tons of songs to choose from.

First up was Danny Gokey, who sang "Stand by Me." Some people seem like indulgent posers when they try to riff on a lick. I never get that from Danny. His performances are always true to himself and he puts his soul into every note. Danny had 3 transitions to his song and every phase of the song was great. Like the judges, I wasn't too thrilled about the opening segment of his song, but he so put himself into it, that it worked out great. He brought it home with a fabulous ending. For the first time this season, here was a song I would consider buying. Well not totally true. I really want Matt Giraud's version of Georgia, but sadly it is not on iTunes.

Next was Kris Allen with "All She Wants To Do Is Dance." The very beginning seemed a little rough with the microphone and perhaps a little of the nerves. The horn section was a great addition to the arrangement. It reminded me of a little Tower of Power-esque arrangement. While I don’t think it was one of his greatest performances, it was still probably enough to skate him through. I really don’t see the point of his guitar either, it really didn’t add much. I also don’t like when the singers stand in the middle of a crowd either, like Randy said with the band, I think the singer gets lost when they get to into the crowd.

One of my problems with Lil Rounds who sang "What’s Love Got To Do with It," is that in the last few performances she has come out and basically been somewhat of an imitator. While she didn’t come off as a Tina Turner imitator, the performance was not stellar. It was highlighted by unsupported notes and not much different from the original version. While I think she has a great voice, I fear she may find herself toward the bottom. I had high hopes for her. Kudos for her hair and outfit though, she finally got that part of her stage presence down.

Every year there are one or two contestants that just creep me out. Anoop Desai is one of those for me. So, from the start of his song, "True Colors," Anoop had one strike against him. Then he sang a song from a female artist, difficult to pull off. Strike two. But despite that, Anoop went back to his strength this week, ballads. Usually Anoop tries to pretend to be something he is not, a tough guy. That always ends horribly. But other than a couple of notes that he blooped on, it was a solid performance.

Scott MacIntyre sang "The Search Is Over." Somebody finally got Scott’s hair under control. So much of a better look for him. Usually I don’t care too much for Scott’s performances, but tonight he wowed me. This is the first time I could see him as a contemporary artist rather than a Billy Joel copy cat. While I was totally fine with his look and movements with the guitar, I really think his rhythm detracted. I agreed with Paula though, that the high notes should have been left behind. I thought it was a decent rendition.

Great job Allison Iraheta, with her rendition of "I Can’t Make You Love Me." I usually don’t like her harder gravely voice. Tonight though she laid a out a heart-felt ballad that totally suited both her personality and her voice. I finally heard the creamy notes from her. Speaking of suits though, if you look at her from the waist up, she looked fabulous, but the lower half with the skirt was horrendous. All in all, I could see myself making some memories with that song at a high school dance. Oh wait, I think maybe I did 20 years ago.

When they announced Matt Giraud's song, "Part Time Lover," I thought "Oh no." There are some artists you don’t touch. Stevie Wonder is usually one of them. Matt was one of my favorites from the beginning, but this performance was not one of my favorites. I thought he threw in too many licks, runs, and embellishments and tended not to support the lower notes very well. But what did I miss? Everyone around me plus the judges loved it. Ok, I will admit I started to like it a lot better toward the end.

The final competitor, Adam Lambert sang "Mad World." I hadn’t heard this song from Tears for Fears before, but I don’t think I would have liked their version either. While you can tell that Adam has skills, I just don’t enjoy his performances at all. I will say though that most of the time he had a pretty solid performance, with the exception of the final note and that is the one that sticks in my mind. Annoying falsetto, punctuated with an unsupported final note. To me, he just seems like such a Glamor Rock poser that I have a hard time getting into any of his songs. But at least he didn't scream this week.

So the bottom three is tough for me to pick. I think I am going to have to put Lil Rounds in there with Scott MacIntyre, and Chris Allen. While I just don't think any of them really did too horribly, I think those three performances were forgettable enough to get theses contestants into trouble. Until tomorrow, when we see the results.