American Idol Final 9

Ok, so this is a belated review of American Idol, but I had a big project to work on so I didn’t get to watch it until tonight. Thank goodness for Tivo. Anyway, on with the show!

If it wasn’t obvious that American Idol is heavily sponsored by iTunes, it was made sure by last night’s theme of anything that can be downloaded from iTunes, which is virtually anything. So what would you pick if you could choose anything from iTunes? Well, personally my favorite band is Crowded House, so I’d probably look at them first but it probably would be a little too obscure for Idol

Anoop Desai decided to draw from the catalog of Usher for his performance last night of the song, “Caught Up.” For some reason it seemed like he mumbled a lot of the song. Was it just me? I’m not familiar enough with the song to know how much he personalized it, I just had a hard time understanding him.

Megan Joy Corkery picked the great song by Bob Marley, “Turn Your Lights Down Low.” I really love this song but her warbling vocals are starting to wear on me. I don’t know if any song by Marley would be a good choice for the show because even his fast songs are terrifically mellow—not great venues to show vocal prowess.

Danny Gokey decided to sing the Country song, “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts. As I’ve said before, I’m not a huge fan of Country (at all) but I did like his version of this song. It really suited his style. By the way, he must have a bajillion pairs of glasses and tonight’s pair that he wore look a lot like mine. Nice.

Allison Iraheta sang a song that I thought would be a really good choice for her when she sang “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt. The problem was that she added playing the guitar and it sounded to me like she was distracted with trying to concentrate on the guitar so much that she couldn’t keep a consistent rhythm. Once the music picked up and she was singing only with the band I thought it was much better. Not her best performance, but I think that there were enough stinkers last night that she’ll stick around for a while longer.

I really like the singer/songwriter feel that Scott MacIntyre has, and although I really like Billy Joel for the same reasons I think that his song, “Just the Way You Are” is terribly cliché and has been way overplayed over the years. I’m sure he too will be around for a while, but this wasn’t one of my favorite performances. And honestly, I don’t think his vocals are as strong as his piano playing and I don’t think he’s be around if it was just him.

Matt Giraud sang a fairly new song by The Fray called “You Found Me.” I like The Fray and I like the song, but Matt’s vocals seemed too lazy and mumbled. Once the intensity of the song picked up it got much better, but for some reason tonight’s performances seem like the people just don’t really care—like it’s a competition to get us to vote for the worst.

Lil Rounds gave another somewhat mumbling performance. Was there something wrong with my TV? Usually these people are much better than this, I was quite surprised. But signing Celine Dion’s song “I Surrender” seemed like a good fit for her, but I doubt if that will be the style of music she’ll sing when she gets a recording contract so I think she’s doing herself and her fans a disservice by not showing us who she really is.

Adam Lambert knocked last week’s song out of the park when he sang his toned-down version of “Tracks of My Tears. However I was disappointed, as well as some of my friends, that he didn’t do a studio version of that for purchase on iTunes. I see that he decided to keep channeling Elvis with his looks as he screamed Wild Cherry’s “Play that Funky Music.” The crowd sure seemed to enjoy it but, as always, it left me a little cold. I guess it’s just a personal preference thing.

The last performer of the evening was Kris Allen who I think is one of the most under hyped talents on the show, but I think he’s one of the best. I really enjoyed his version of Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” because he really put his own style on it. I hope that he stays in the competition for quite a while and I hope that he starts getting the attention that he deserves.

Well, that’s it. It’s just mere moments away from learning who will go home tonight, but I’ll go ahead and make my predictions now. I think that the three who are in the greatest danger tonight are Anoop Desai, Megan Joy Corkery, and Matt Giraud. I think Matt Giraud will be declared “safe” first and between the last two I think Anoop Desai will be eliminated. I think he was better than Megan, but I think she shows a little more personality than he does and that might keep her around one more week… but just one.