American Idol Final 2! Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen

Last week I developed a theory that was proven true for last week’s vote. Basically I believe that Adam Lambert won’t have the universal appeal to make him win the competition, but that both Kris and Danny were similar enough that they would split the fan base and one of those two would be eliminated. Then my theory continues that whichever of Danny or Kris that remained from the vote last week would end up winning the competition. So, if my theory is true, then Kris Allen will ultimately win this week. We’ll see! Actually, Kris Allen is my favorite and I really hope he wins.


After an especially long intro, we were finally treated to the singing in this singing competition, which began with Adam Lambert reprising his very popular version of the Tears for Fears song, “Mad World.” Actually, my 9-year-old daughter really loves this song and plays it over and over. I really believe that the Judges desperately want him to win for some reason. I agree that he’s very good, and his performance on this song was very good, but I just wish the judges would quit drooling all over him and would actually critique him. Simon is the only one with any sense of reality in his comments.

For Kris’s personal pick of the night, he chose Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Usually this song is performed by the R&B leaning contestants, so it was definitely refreshing to hear it sung in Kris’ personal style, which is mellower alternative, which is the kind of music I like. I’m still rooting for him. It was also nice to see the judges praising him as much (although not as passionately) as Adam. At least it doesn’t feel like they are trying to stack the deck for Adam.

The next songs of the night were picked by American Idol creator, Simon Fuller (not to be confused with Simon Cowell). For Adam, Mr. Fuller chose Sam Cooke’s classic song, “A Change is Gonna Come.” I really loved how the song began, but I must confess, I really hate it when Adam screams his songs. It’s probably just personal preference, but it’s the kind of stuff that I’d mock the glamour rock guys for doing in the 80s. Maybe I’m just getting old and maybe this style is going to make a comeback, but it’s not for me and he probably won’t be singing music that I’ll buy in his post-Idol career.


For Kris Allen’s song, Simon Fuller went back to the same era as Adam and chose Marvin Gaye’s song “What’s Going On?” Again, I really like the choices he makes in his songs and I think it’s great that it’s a competition between two very different styles of music. I think when all is said and done; it’s going to be a clear winner. By the way, I don’t think it was too laid back, as Randy and Simon said. It was in Kris’ style. Anything much more would have been something other than Kris’ style and that wouldn’t be fair to us as audience members.

Next up, Mr. Guyliner (Adam) gave his take on Kara DioGuardi’s original song, “No Boundaries.” It sounded to me like the standard inspirational anthem that the American Idol winners are generally saddled with, and his performance was just OK for me. It didn’t seem like he put as much into it as he has his other songs.

In all fairness, I was hoping that Kris’ would be a bit more mellow and acoustic than what he ended up with. Also I was disappointed that he sounded pretty flat through most of the first part of the song and forgot a word. Since Adam’s version wasn’t very interesting either, I’m writing this off as a bad song, and not that the contestants were bad. It’s too bad that the Judges were all but saying to him, “well you should be proud of yourself for coming in number two, clearly Adam has already won.” I for one, am voting for Kris and I hope that more than 50% of America agrees with me.

Well, that’s it! Tomorrow is bound to be a long and grueling event designed to get in as many commercials in front of us as possible as we anxiously await the results. My fast forward button on my Tivo is bound to have quite a workout tomorrow night!

American Idol Final 5, Songs From The Rat Pack

Tonight’s American Idol on Fox focused on songs from The Rat Pack and the Big Band Era. This theme always bugs me a little because they always keep the songs in the original genre. The problem with this is that the big band sound most definitely isn’t going to be the kind of music they’ll perform once their career starts, so it’s not a very good gauge of what they will record once they are released into the wild. Besides, I like hearing covers that twist songs into other genres.

The Mentor for tonight’s American idol was Jamie Foxx and since he’s not a regular in the music industry, so I wasn’t sure what kind of advice he was going to be giving. After all was said an done, I thought that his advice was pretty productive and was a good addition.

Kris Allen sang, “The Way You Look Tonight” to open the show. I really like Kris’ simply sincere vocal and this song was a good showcase for him. While listening to it I wasn’t a big fan of the way the tempo picked up toward the end of the song, but given the mellowness of the next two ballads, it was the fastest the songs got for quite a while.

Newly 17-year-old Allison Iraheta was up next and took on the song, “Someone To Watch Over Me.” This can tend to be a rather boring song if it’s not done right. I think it was a good choice for her to go into the bridge of the song early on because that is the more interesting part of the song. This was a good showcase of her vocal talents, but I didn’t find it overly thrilling.

Matt Giraud chose to sing yet another ballad, “My Funny Valentine.” I was thinking that he’d be singing “Georgia On My Mind” again which was one of his breakout performances in the preliminary auditions. I think he did a good job with the song, but with this being the third ballad in a row I thought that no matter who ended up being the first to sing a fast song, either Danny or Adam, they would bring the house down.

I think that Danny Gokey’s voice sounded really good for this genre, and although he sang another ballad with “Come Rain and Come Shine,” by the end of the song he had picked it up into a very big jazz song that made full use of the big band and, just as I thought, brought the house down. I really enjoyed him tonight.

Last one up tonight is Adam Lambert who sang “New Dawn, New Day.” I was hoping that Adam was going to change it into more of a rocking song, but instead it was a very energetic big band song. I liked his performance and think he’s in a league of his own. He definitely has the confidence that it takes to make it big in the music industry and I feel a little sorry for the other contestants.

After the three ballads, it’s no surprise that the powerful performances Danny and Adam brought the house down. In my opinion, it’s a competition for third place because I think that Adam already has first place locked up and Danny Gokey a virtual shoe-in for second.

Even thought Matt’s performance was very good, I’m thinking that out of the 5 finalists, he’s generally the weakest. Of the other two, I think that Allison will go after Matt and then Kris will be the third.

American Idol Final 7, Double Elimination

Thanks to Matt Giraud’s save last week, tonight’s American Idol on Fox came complete with two eliminations and David Archuleta. After over 45 million votes, here’s how it played out.

Tonight’s filler material started out with a video that showed Paula Abdul choreographing the contestants for their group song. I actually found this a little more interesting that I thought I would. It was nice to see Paula actually do something other than stutter and stammer through a critique. Anyone who’s familiar with her work in the 80s probably saw many of the same moves she’d use in her own music videos and work she did with other artists like Janet Jackson as they danced to their version of Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground).” I say “danced” because I’m pretty sure they were just lip-synching to a previously recorded track.

The first batch of results revealed to us quickly that Lil Rounds is not only in the bottom three, but is actually one of the two being eliminated tonight. Big surprise that they revealed it so soon and I’m actually surprised that she really was eliminated. I really thought it would be Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai tonight. I think she used the emotion and energy from her elimination to do a really good version of her song from last night, “I’m Every Woman,” by Chaka Kahn.

Next up was a medley of Disco songs sung by the original artists which included “Band of Gold” sung by Freda Payne, “Don't Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston and “Get Down Tonight” sung by K.C of K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Of these three performances, I enjoyed Thelma Houston the most. K.C. and Freda seemed a little out of breath during their songs.

Back in voting results-ville, we learned that Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, and Danny Gokey were all safe from elimination tonight. Anoop Desai and Allison Iraheta however were in the bottom three as Matt Giraud was declared safe for one more week. I’m disappointed that Allison is in the bottom, but at this point after Anoop goes home, it really could be just about anyone who goes home at any time, really.

To break up what we really want to see we got to watch David Archuleta come out and sing his new song, “Touch My Hand.” It never fails that no matter how exciting these contestants’ performances are while they're contestants on American Idol, I’ve never heard a song from one of their follow-up albums that are as interesting as anything they sang while they were on the show. This song was OK, but nothing special.

Down to the second person being eliminated tonight was, no surprise to me, Anoop Desai. Generally, I like him but I don’t think he measures up to the other powerhouses left in the competition.

I’m thinking that the final three contestants are going to be Adam, Danny and Kris. I’d like to see Allison in there somewhere, but with her being in the bottom three so much, it’s probably not meant to be. Next week will probably be a toss-up between Matt and Allison for elimination, but we’ll see… Adam, Danny or Kris might slip on some soap, or something.

American Idol Final 7: Take Two

Tonight’s American Idol on Fox had a traditional theme that is usually quite a challenge for vocal and dance competitions alike, and that is Disco. The missing element of tonight’s show was that there was no mentor to coach the contestants in their song choices. Either someone had a head cold or the producers are trying to keep the masses from revolting by ensuring that they don’t go overtime like they have the last couple of weeks. With how many people sang from the Donna Summer songbook, she could have been the coach, though.

Lil Rounds started out singing a predictable song, Chaka Kahn’s “I’m Every Woman,” for Disco night in a traditional way that didn’t show much originality. I think the problem is that there have been so many R&B/Soul performers that there isn’t much that someone with the singing style of Lil has that can be much different from Latoya London or Fantasia.

Kris Allen picked what seemed like an odd song, Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money,” and did one of my favorite things with it, which is to take it into a totally different genre in a way that transforms it into something entirely different. I absolutely loved it. This just goes to show that “Disco Night” doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be able to dance The Hustle to it.

Bringing the Disco beat back into the show was Danny Gokey singing Earth Wind and Fire’s “September.” After Kris’ performance I couldn’t help but be disappointed by how close to the original Danny’s version of this song was. Yes, he had very good vocals, but he might as well have been singing with the original band. I actually don’t think he did much better than Lil.

Allison Iraheta rocked it up with Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff,” which I loved as well. I can see a real division forming between contestants who will be content to perform other people’s music and those who will make their own unique mark in the music industry.

Adam Lambert was up next with another transformed song with his version of “If I Can’t Have You” by the Bee Gees. I liked the way it was going for the most part, but I wasn’t crazy with the chorus—I wanted it to speed up a little. But all in all, I thought it was good and justified his continued presence in the competition. I love the unique takes on these well known songs!

Hoping to stay alive, Matt Giraud chose to sing the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive.” For his version he chose to do a funkier version of the song that I liked quite a lot, but I doubt if it was earth-shattering enough for him to shake the cloud that’s over him from his near-elimination last week.

Finishing up the night was Anoop Desai singing Donna Summer’s “Dim All the Lights.” At first I thought he was going to sing it as an altered version like Kris, Allison and Adam—which might have been good because then it wouldn’t have been so similar to the original, but by the time it was over I was feeling pretty bored.

I think that tomorrow we’re going to see a rerun of last week’s show with Lil, Matt and Anoop being in the bottom three. This time I think Matt Giraud will finish what was started last week and will go home, and I think he’ll take Anoop Desai with him.

In the end I think that the three who will finish out the competition will be Kris, Adam and Allison with the possibility of Danny and Kris swapping places. My favorite tonight was Kris. What did you think?

PS, if you’re inclined to buy the performances from iTunes, please support Groundlings Review by clicking on the iTunes links before you make your purchases. Thanks!

American Idol Final 7, Results Show

It’s results night on American Idol and even though they could just come out and tell us who’s going home, they have to stretch it out into an hour long show with tons of hype and made-up drama with a couple of guest performers thrown into the mix.

The show opened with the group singing Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” from the 1983 movie, Flashdance. Of all the music from movies, I wouldn’t have thought that particular song would be high on the list to be featured on results night, but what do I know?

After a little cross-promotion of the new movie, 17 Again, starring Zac Efron we got right into revealing the results where we were quickly informed that Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert were declared safe, but Anoop Desai was the first shuffled into the bottom three.

Following the bad news for Anoop, we were presented with a quick bio of Jennifer Hudson followed by her singing “If This Isn't Love” from her self-titled album. She’s definitely a great vocalist, and while it’s not the kind of music I get excited about, I can see why she’s had so much success.

It seemed a little silly for Ryan Seacrest to try to get the judges to say whether or not Anoop “deserved” to be in the bottom three. Really, at this point they’re all really good and the only one left who has a history of being consistently bad is Anoop, so it only makes sense that he’s there.

After dragging it out a while longer it was revealed that Kris Allen was safe but Lil Rounds was in the bottom three as well. Immediately after that, they revealed the last member of the bottom three is Matt Giraud and Danny Gokey was safe.

As we were watching, my wife observed that they could wipe out this bottom three of Anoop, Matt and Lil and it we could just happily go on with the competition. None of these three really have a chance of winning, ultimately.

The first member of this three declared safe was, surprisingly for me, Anoop Desai. I suppose it’s because he got high marks for his song choice last night, but I thought it was time for him to go.

Miley Cyrus came out next to fill in some of the extra time by singing her song, “The Climb.” I was hoping that this was going to be a cover of No Doubt’s song by the same name, but no dice. That's fine, it probably would have been terrible anyway. I guess I’ve never really heard a song of Miley's—does she normally not enunciate her words? There were some phrases that just sounded like she was slurring. Oh well, I guess her music isn’t really my cup-o-tea either.

After all the delays, they finally revealed that Lil Rounds was safe and Matt Giraud had to “sing for his life” in hopes that he’d receive the judge’s save. From how giddy Kara and Paula were being during his performance it was clear that he had earned the judge’s save and so he’ll be in the competition for another week. The twist with the save is that next week two people are going home no matter what—and it’s Disco Week!

I’m pretty happy with this result. I really like Matt Giraud and I’m hoping he can improve on some of the things that are holding him back. While I do think Matt will have a successful post-Idol music career, I agree with Simon that his chances of winning the competition are pretty slim. Still, I’m happy to have him around for a while longer.

American Idol Final 7

Contestants Perform Songs of the Cinema

On tonight’s American Idol on Fox, the contestants consulted with Quentin Tarantino to pick out songs from the big screen to perform.


Allison Iraheta started off the night singing Aerosmith’s “I Don't Want to Miss a Thing” which was featured in the Bruce Willis movie, Armageddon. With a very subdued beginning she took her time really getting into the mood that the story of the song sets and then towards the end she built up into a very big ending. I liked her version of the song and I think she’s going to be in the final two of the competition.


Next up was Anoop Desai singing Bryan Adam’s song “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” from the Kevin Costner movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Once again he took the safe route by singing this ballad because that’s where he’s received the best feedback from the judges. There were a couple of sour notes, but for the most part he did a fine job, although he wasn’t as bold as Quentin Tarantino had coached him to be, I thought. Sure enough, he got the praise from the judges that he normally gets from ballads but I wasn’t as impressed. I thought it was kind of boring.


Adam Lambert came up next and sang a rocking electronic version of Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” from the Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda movie, Easy Rider. There was plenty of energy in his performance and I liked his spin on the song, although I usually don’t care much for his screeching vocals. If he’s in the final two, I wouldn’t be surprised if the glam band Scissor Sisters performs with him that night because it seems like that will be the kind of music he's going to release. I’m not sure if I’ll be buying this performance this week. I prefer the original version of this song.


Usually when Matt Giraud picks his own songs, they end up not going over well with the judges. In this case, his choice of singing the Bryan Adams song, “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” from the Johnny Depp movie, Don Juan DeMarco. I’ve always really liked this song with it’s Spanish-style guitar, but I also really enjoyed Matt’s version that featured piano as the lead instrument. Towards the end I thought his vocals got a little shaky, but all-in-all I thought it was a good choice for a song and a good interpretation of it.


Danny Gokey was next in line to sing a song from the cinema, sans glasses. He chose to sing Lionel Richie’s song “Endless Love” from the Brook Shields movie Endless Love. I was relieved to see him sing a song that didn’t erupt into a peppy pop song like he has done in recent weeks. There’s something that does not impress me with his vocals as much as during the audition weeks. In singing this song so much like the original I couldn’t help comparing his vocals to Lionel Richie and I have to say that I prefer Richie’s version. The harp was a nice touch, but I don’t think he’s the sure-thing to win anymore.


Kris Allen chose to sing a song that I wasn’t familiar with from a movie that I’d never heard of—Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova’s “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once. Without anything to compare it to I really liked the song as if it had been a Kris Allen original. I really like it when they pick obscure songs because then we get the chance to judge the performance for what they’re doing rather than comparing versions. This will probably be a song that I’ll buy this week.


Lil Rounds chose to sing Bette Midler’s song, “The Rose” from the movie, The Rose, which Bette Midler also starred in. For me, this was Lil’s best performance and will most likely justify her continued place in the competition. Finally, she sang a song in a style that wasn’t just a knock off of the original. I really liked it.

With the group winding down, it’s getting harder and harder to predict who will be in the final two and who will be eliminated next so I’ll just say who my favorites and least favorites are and just take it as it comes.

Personally, my favorites in this competition are Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud and Kris Allen. All of them are singers that I would buy music from. My least favorite tonight was Anoop Desai and I think that he, Matt and Lil will most likely be in the bottom three tomorrow with Anoop being the one we say goodbye to.

American Idol Final 8, Results Show

Well, two out of three isn’t bad. With yesterday’s review I estimated that it would be Scott, Lil, and Kris in the bottom 3, but America surprised me by sending Anoop to the bottom. With Seacrest’s usual cruel shenanigans, he led Matt Giraud on and then mercilessly let him sit back down. With the few that were left, it was obvious that the bottom 3 would be rounded out with Lil and the new piano man, Scott MacIntyre.

I usually don’t care for results nights because it so painfully obvious that the producers are trying to stretch out the full hour. Perhaps I am alone in that, but tonight was no exception. Extended behind the scenes Ford commercial anyone? Although I must say that this was the first one of their commercials that I didn’t just fast forward though. I even had a big grin when Scott tried to get reassurance that they weren’t trying to put him in pink.

With a quick release of Lil, we were left with Anoop and Scott to sweat it out during the interlude. I will probably get a lot of comments about this, (like the guy who roasted me for not being a Lambert fan), but I never enjoy the group performances. My opinion is that all the contestants are trying to stand out, and therefore, they never blend in well together.

We also had an appearance from Flo Rida. Not my usual type of music, but not bad. Although, was I alone in only being able to understand about 5% of his lyrics. I didn’t care much for the Kesha features; great voice, but it didn’t seem to fit. (By the way, have you ever surfed on a Flow Rider? Too cool! I did last weekend, but I’ll have to save that for another review.) I guess I was lucky I didn’t understand the lyrics, as they are pretty suggestive (Bill Clinton’s theme song, perhaps). Frankie Avalon was a fun addition and I thought Kellie Pickler did a pretty good job, until she started wandering around the stage and it seemed like she struggled a little.

Finally we got back to Scott and Anoop. I was at least right in one thing, that Anoop did well enough to save himself from elimination and was sent back to the couch. Scott delivered an encore performance of Survivor's ''The Search Is Over,'' and arguably did better than the previous night, until he reached the falsetto portion, which once again proved not to be his forte. Simon tells Scott that only two of the judges are in favor of saving him, which ultimately prompts a final plea to the judges, that he would show them that he could be better.

I hate that they string people along so much. When we were first introduced to the Judges’ Save, we were told that the decision had to be unanimous. If the judges were split, then why were they pretending that they were deliberating on saving Scott? It seems cruel. Also, it seems to deprive the contestant of their dignity. Just lower the boom and let them get on with it. Scott had a great run, but I don’t think he could have lasted much longer. I do hope he is able to find an audience though, perhaps as the new Piano Man.

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.

American Idol Final 9, Results Show

Let me start by sharing my opinion about something that I’ve heard people say over the years about American Idol and how more people vote for this show than people vote for the President. Well, let me just throw my 2¢ in the ring by saying that you can only vote for President of the United States once, but I know there are many people who gang up and vote multiple times for their favorites.

Well, tonight there were 36 million votes for contestants I think that Ryan Seacrest was looking for new and creative ways to reveal the results by breaking the 9 contestants into groups of three. The groups were Scott MacIntyre, Danny Gokey and Anoop Desai; Kris Allen, Megan Joy Corkrey and Matt Giraud; and Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Lil Rounds. Right off the bat I would have guessed that the group that was in the bottom three would be Kris, Megan and Matt, but whenever Ryan does something like this it’s because the results go against what would be usual reasonable instinct. At the beginning of the show when Ryan referenced the Judge’s Save and said, “based on last night’s show, the judges might have a tough task ahead of them.” I know Ryan knows who is being eliminated so it made me think that we would be surprised at tonight’s result.

Before we got any further with the results last year’s winner, David Cook, visited the show and sang his new song, “Come Back to Me.” Of all the years of American Idol, last year was my favorite so far and hearing David Cook tonight reminded me why I liked him last year. I may just have to pick up his new album. Good song!

Back to the contestants, it turns out that they weren’t going to eliminate them by the groups that they were divided into and the first contestant declared safe was Kris. Next up was Matt who was not in the bottom three either. But confirming that they weren’t going to eliminate by group, they put Megan in the bottom three.

In the next group they visited, Lil and Adam were safe, but Allison was in the bottom three.

The most obvious safe contestant in the next group was Danny Gokey. I honestly think that either Scott or Anoop could have been in jeopardy, because I don’t think either of them were outstanding last night. And sure enough, Anoop Desai was in the bottom three. I got two of the three of them right.

In order to keep us in suspense a little longer, they brought out Lady Gaga to sing her song, “Poker Face.” I must admit, I’ve never heard of her or this song before. I guess I’m probably the wrong person to be reviewing American Idol if I’m not up to speed on our current idols. All of these piano-playing women like Alicia Keys, Nellie McKay and Norah Jones are really interesting to me, but Lady Gaga was truly a sight to behold—kind of a cross between the Eurythmics, Cyndi Lauper and Joni Mitchell.

Back from the break, they quickly revealed that Megan Joy Corkrey was the bottom contestant and was ultimately eliminated. From the beginning she was one of my favorites, but she was also terribly unpolished and seemed like she was just winging it most of the time. In some ways that might not have been bad, but she was consistently going down in quality. I’m hoping that we can see more of her in the future but I’m sure it’ll be in smaller more cultish venues.

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.

American Idol Final 10, Results Show!

Thrills! Chills! Surprise Endings! And Romance! All on tonight’s exciting results show on Fox’s smash hit American Idol!

Ok, so it wasn’t all that exciting, but after a lot of manufactured tension and suspense, and a measly little 36 million votes, here are the results.

The finalists opened tonight’s show with a Medley of Motown songs which was followed up by a performance by American Idol Season 2 winner, Ruben Studdard. It’s been a while since I’d seen Ruben, but I know he’s been busy in “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with disqualified Idol, Frenchie Davis.

The first contestant declared safe was Adam Lambert (no surprise), but right away we learned that Matt Giraud was the first to be placed in the bottom 3. Shortly after that, Kris Allen and Lil Rounds were declared safe, but Michael Sarver wasn’t, he was also in the bottom 3.

Joss Stone and Smokey Robinson sang a duet of the song, “You’re the One For Me” which conveniently showed up on iTunes today.

Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey and surprisingly Megan Joy Corkrey were declared safe, while Scott MacIntyre was placed in the bottom 3. Shocker! Scott didn’t stick around with the 3 very long, though as he was quickly declared safe… psych!

To serenade us as we patiently waited for the final results, Motown legend Stevie Wonder came out and sang a few of the songs that terrible American Idol hopefuls have massacred over the years.

Ultimately, I wasn’t surprised at all that Matt Giraud was declared safe and Michael Sarver was the one who had to sing for his life. I also wasn’t surprised that the judges chose not to save him this week. There are only a couple of contestants that I think would be worth saving in that manner, and I don’t think Michael Sarver was one of them.


So what thrills and chills await us next week? Hmm... I'll betcha someone sings well, and someone sings bad, and that bad singer may actually go home! But I've been wrong before.

On another note, if you're at all inclined to purchase the contestant's performances from Apple's iTunes Music Store, you'd better do it before the finale, because if this season is anything like the last one, as soon as the final episode airs, the only songs that will be available will be the ones the two finalists sing. Last year all of the other performances were taken down immediately. Just a "head's up."

American Idol Final 10

Another week, another American Idol on Fox. This week’s theme was The Songs of Motown—something that has become a recurring theme in every season of Idol so. In my opinion, the best thing that a contestant can do is change a song into something different enough from the original so they can’t be accused of sounding karaoke. If they sing it too much like the original, the best they can do is qualify for a retro band. Of course, it’s important that they perform something that we like too. So here’s what I thought of tonight’s performances.

One of my favorite contestants, Matt Giraud, started off tonight’s performances by singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” I really liked Matt’s reserved introduction with piano and voice only, but once the band kicked in, it was very much like Marvin Gaye’s version and I don’t think I’ll remember much about it in the future.


Kris Allen sang “How Sweet It Is” which I think was a good choice because, although it’s originally a Motown song, it’s also a very popular James Taylor song which lends itself well to Kris’ guitar strumming. Just like the last time he performed with his guitar, I was disappointed that I couldn’t hear his guitar at all. It was fun to see him play, but it would have been nice to be able to hear it better. Ultimately, his performance was like a cross between the original Marvin Gaye version and James Taylor’s. Not bad.


Next up was Scott MacIntyre playing his piano and singing “You Can’t Hurry Love” originally by Diana Ross and the Supremes. This song is such a signature song for the Supremes so it was interesting to see him slow it down in the beginning and I was wondering if he was totally going to make it into a ballad, but the beat quickly picked up into the style that we’re all very familiar with. While it wasn’t terrible and it was nice to see him do something that’s not one of his inspirational ballads, I didn’t think it was the best choice of song for him to break out of his shell with.


Quirky Megan Joy (sans Corkery) sang “For Once in my Life” by Stevie Wonder. Watching her, it’s plain to see that she probably doesn’t put much time into practicing what she’s going to do with her limbs while she’s singing. Often she looks a little out of sorts. Vocally, I think this was probably the weakest I’ve seen her for a while since her quirky style did not fit with this song. Maybe she needs the flu back?


I think Anoop Desai tried to suck up to tonight’s mentor, Smokey Robinson, when he sang the Miracles’ song, “Ooh, Baby Baby,” I think that after Anoop’s fiasco of singing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” that he’s hesitant to sing anything other than a ballad. Unfortunately, I was totally bored within 10 seconds and before it was over I was fighting back hitting fast-forward on my Tivo remote. It’s possible that he might be the reason Megan Joy doesn’t get eliminated tomorrow.


The next contestant up was Michael Sarver who sang who I’ve always seen as a more country singer, but he definitely has a soulful sound to his voice too. The song he picked was “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations. I think he did a fairly good job and I like the sound of his voice, but it sounded like he was just slightly behind the music a lot of the time and trying to catch up. He’s someone who was one of my favorites in the audition weeks, but I’m not expecting him to last much longer.


Lil Rounds decided to do Martha Reeves and the Vandella’s “Heatwave,” which was a very good choice of song for her style, but I can’t say that her performance was anything that I’ll remember in an hour. It seemed like she too was having a hard time keeping up with the band in parts. I’m sure she’ll stick around for a while, but I don’t think she’s anywhere near as good as some past American Idol contestants like Fantasia, Latoya London, or Jennifer Hudson.


I have to say I was wondering most of the night what Adam Lambert was going to do with his Motown song tonight. He always does exactly what I think all of them should do, which is take the song and change it up and make it his own. The problem is, I usually hate what he changes it into—but he does get points for not being boring. Tonight he sang Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears” looking quite a bit like Elvis. I loved his interpretation the song though. I love acoustic “unplugged” versions of songs, and this one was great! Made it his own in a great way.


Okey dokey Danny Gokey was up next singing “Get Ready” by The Temptations. He definitely didn’t have a problem keeping up with the music like Lil and Michael did, but it was so much like the original that unless you’re a fan of him specifically, there’d be no other reason to listen to his version. I thought he did a good job, but there wasn’t anything memorable about it for me. There are plenty of weaker performers so I think he’ll be around for quite a while, still.


Another one of my favorites, Allison Iraheta, sang “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” by The Temptations. I could tell from the sound of the guitar in the beginning that she was sticking very closely to the original, which was a bit of a disappointment for me because he usually has a nice rock vibe that I like. I’m still a fan and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t stand out as much as I’d hoped.


The best of the night was Adam Lambert. The worst was a toss up between Anoop Desai, Michael Sarver and Megan Joy. I’m sure those will be the bottom 3 tomorrow.

What did you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

American Idol Final 11, Results Show

At the beginning of tonight’s American Idol on Fox, Ryan Seacrest teased us by saying that tonight’s results “may shock you.” The thing is, though, that I think they are all so good, that any of them could go at any time, really.

The contestants began the night performing the song, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” by Travis Tritt. I was amazed by how in sync they all were with the fast lyrics of the song. Having that many people sing at the same time, it would be easy for it to end up being an unintelligible mush. So either they were amazingly well rehearsed or they weren’t really singing it.

After 31 million votes, here’s how it all went down. After a lot of chitchat, the first contestants declared safe were Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds, and Anoop Desai. The first revealed to be in the bottom three were Allison Iraheta and Michael Sarver. I’m actually surprised that Allison was in the bottom three, but I’m not surprised that Michael was; in my opinion his was the weakest from last night.

Brad Paisley then came out and performed his song, “Then.”

Scott MacIntyre was then declared safe which wasn’t very surprising either. Then Megan Joy (are they dropping her last name, Corkrey?), Matt Giraud, and Kris Allen were all declared safe in short order. Then it came down to the final two contestants, Alexis Grace and Adam Lambert of which, the bottom three position went to Alexis. Bummer.

I have to say that I agree with Simon that Adam’s performance of “Ring of Fire” was ridiculous.

Allison Iraheta was the first of the bottom three finalists revealed to be safe. Then they left us to wonder who was being eliminated while was watched a duet from Randy Travis and Carrie Underwood as they sang, “I Told You So."

So, after Ryan got the judges to admit that they would consider using their save on one of the bottom two contestants, Ryan revealed that the person eliminated tonight is Alexis Grace. This was a big surprise to me! In an act of what I thought was utter cruelty, they made her sing while they deliberated whether or not to use their save on her. Once she was done singing the judges quickly revealed that they would not be saving her tonight. I'm sure they're waiting to use the save for when America comes to their senses and votes Adam out so they can keep him around for a while longer. Ugh.

Actually, referring to Ryan's tease at the beginning of tonight's episode, I am quite shocked. Although her performance last night wasn't one of the better ones, I thought overall she was one of the stronger contestants. I guess it's bound to happen to almost all of them, so I'll get over it.

Now that Country night is out of the way, I'm looking forward to the coming weeks. I think it'll only get better! Next week, because President Obama is speaking, American Idol will be on Wednesday and Thursday. See you then!

American Idol Final 11

The theme for tonight’s show is the music of The Grand Ole Opry as coached by Country Music star, Randy Travis. Anyone who has watched the show over the years will know that Simon Cowell has a particular dislike of Country Music so it was interesting to see how objective he could be or if he would let his musical preferences cloud his judgment. I don’t really care for Country Music either, so I wasn’t optimistic about finding much joy in tonight’s performances.

Michael Sarver started off the night singing Garth Brooks’ “Ain’t Going Down (Til The Sun Comes Up),” which I thought should have been a no-brainer big hit for him. The problem is, I think he had to struggle so hard to focus on the lyrics that he was having a hard time walking and singing at the same time. I remembered back to when Josh Gracin sang this same song a few seasons back and knocked it out of the park. I don’t think Michael’s version had the energy that particular song needs and I’m actually thinking it might have put him in jeopardy.


I don’t think that Country is going to be the style of music Allison Iraheta will perform when she inevitably ends up with a recording contract, but with that said; I think she’d be very successful as a country singer judging by tonight’s performance of “Blame it On Your Heart” by Patti Loveless. I think she secured her position for one more week in the finals, but I know I’ll enjoy her more when she’s back to singing her standard Rock songs.


It was nice to hear Kris Allen sing the very nice country ballad “To Make You Feel My Love” without the country twang that Garth Brooks sang it with. Kris Allen was able to sing it as a nice, easy pop ballad. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of him as well.


In her interview, Lil Rounds said that she wasn’t going to sing Martina McBride’s “Independence Day” in Lil’s regular R&B style but that she was going to “honor the Country genre.” I think this was a mistake. I couldn’t help but think that, instead of making the song her own like Kris just did, she sang something that sounded a little more like karaoke and it didn’t show off her natural skills. A little slow and plodding in the beginning, and hard to get into. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and show that R&B isn’t the only thing you can do if you don’t do the other stuff very well. I’m assuming that she’s built up enough of a fan base from previous weeks that she’ll be here again next week, but that probably wouldn’t be the case if this was the first performance we were seeing from her.


Adam Lambert’s interpretation of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” definitely lives up to the whole glamour rock feel that he’s been giving off lately as he reached deep into the song to pull out drama that didn’t exist there in the first place. Personally, I really didn’t like it and I can’t imagine that the majority of America is going to like it either. The judges sure seem to love just about everything that he does, but I’d really like to get an idea of how many people in America actually like him, or if it’s all just manufactured hype. I’m hoping that he doesn’t last as long in the competition as they’re setting him up to.


I’m not familiar with “Wild Angels” by Martina McBride so I don’t have any way to compare it to the original. What I can say about it is that I appreciate how Scott MacIntyre performed it in such a way that I can easily see it showing up on an album he would release, which I’m sure I would go out and buy. I love his piano playing and singing and I hope he’ll go far.


For me, Brooke White sang my favorite version of “Jolene” that I’ve ever heard so I found myself comparing Alexis Grace to Brooke more than Dolly Parton. Of all the songs she’s done this season, this was probably the least interesting for me. In my opinion, it’s a more tender song that didn’t really warrant some of the extra drama she tried to add to it. In this case, I’m hoping that her past success will outshine this dud and keep her in for a few weeks more.


I’m going to check my Man Card at the door now and say that Danny Gokey’s version of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take The Wheel” gave me shivers. I’ve heard the title of the song before, but I’ve never actually listened to the song. I really liked the feeling that he sang the song with and the power that he sang the chorus with. He sure has a special talent for singing earnest ballads; it’ll just be interesting to see if he can ever really pull of a faster pop song.


I’m more familiar with Elvis Presley’s version of “Always on My Mind” than I am Willie Nelson’s or Johnny Cash’s, so that was the version I was thinking of as I was listening to Anoop Desai’s performance. I liked the restraint that he showed in the way he sang it without trying to color it up with a lot of decorating the notes. As I’ve said before, I really like it when the contestants sing the songs in ways that don’t compare to the original, and I think that tonight he really stood out. I just hope that the stinky performance from last week doesn’t spill over into this week and get him booted off.


“Walking After Midnight” Patsy Cline. In a lot of ways Megan Joy Corkrey reminds me of the lead singer from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Katharine Whalen, and tonight she really cemented that association in my mind when she sang Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight.” I’d like to see what Megan would do with a pure Jazz or Swing song and I hope that we’ll be seeing enough of her to find out.


Matt Giraud’s rendition of Carrie Underwood’s “So Small” was my favorite performance of the night. I love his singer/songwriter piano player style that he has which reminds me of Elton John, Marc Cohn or Joshua Kadison. I also can’t help but compare him with Scott MacIntyre, which I thought Matt’s performance was the better of the two. He had more power and feeling in his vocals than Scott. He’s pretty consistently good and I hope he’ll be around for a long time.


In my opinion, the bottom three should be Michael Sarver, Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert. My votes tonight are for Scott MacIntyre, Allison Iraheta and Matt Giraud. My choice for elimination tomorrow is Michael Sarver, which is weird because you’d think he would have shone with tonight’s Country theme.

American Idol Final 13, Results Show

Tonight on American Idol they introduced a new twist to the competition. Probably in response to the times when contestants like Jennifer Hudson are eliminated, much to the surprise of the judges. Now the judges are given one opportunity this season to save a contestant from elimination. Since they can only do it only once per season, it'll be interesting to see who they decide to save.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about my predictions. I didn't think that Megan Joy Corkery or Anoop Desai (two of my personal favorites) had a chance of staying in the competition, but they were both safe from elimination this week. Instead, I was surprised that Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nuñez were sent packing.

I can't say that I'm upset by the results. As I've said before, this is an extremely strong group of contestants. While I have my own personal favorites, there are are only a couple that I can't imagine winning the whole competition.

So next week we'll be hearing from Adam Lambert, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy Corkrey, Michael Sarver, and Scott Macintyre. My favorites are Alexis, Allison and Scott. Who are your favorites? Who do you think will be heading home next week?

American Idol Final 13

At the beginning of tonight’s American Idol on Fox, we learned that two finalists will be eliminated tomorrow. This will get them back on track with the episode count to finish out the season on time.

Tonight they sang the music of Michael Jackson, which gave them some good music to draw from, but I think that with as much of an iconic singer as Jackson is, they really needed to do whatever they could to make the songs their own and remove any resemblance to the original, or else they’d pale by comparison.

There is no doubt that Lil Rounds can sing really well, but her version of “The Way You Make Me Feel” just seemed to me to be the female version of a Michael Jackson song, and I didn’t really hear anything in it that made it different or better than the original. I wasn’t as amazed by it as most of the judges were but I’m sure it’ll be enough to keep her around for a while longer.


I’ve never heard “Keep the Faith” before, but I definitely loved it as sung by Scott MacIntyre. He’s definitely in his element when he can play the piano and sing—it made him so much better than he was in previous weeks. So far I’d say he’s my favorite of the season. I totally disagree with Simon who thought the contestants should pick songs more familiar to the audience. I love it when they sing more obscure songs because then we’re not comparing it so much to the original and we can just enjoy how they’re singing it.


In the beginning I thought Danny Gokey was going to change “PYT” into one of his standard, earnest ballads, but when the music picked up and he went more in tempo with the beat of the original, I was much more interested. It was good to see a more active side of him. Although the song was not as vocally a challenging as one of his ballads, but he did great with the melody that was there and he showed that he’s a very good stage performer.


I think Michael Sarver will appeal to the country fans and that might keep him in the competition longer, but I don’t think his vocals on “You Are Not Alone” were up to par with the first three contestants and I don’t think he’ll make it much longer than maybe a few more weeks at most.


Jasmine Murray sang “I’ll Be There” complete with original Jackson 5 era harpsichord, which was an element that I very much enjoyed. I liked how her version of the song harkened back to the original more than Mariah Carey’s version. Also, I thought this was a very appropriate song for her age as well.


Kris Allen’s vocals were very good, but it sounded like his guitar wasn’t plugged in properly and so there was this odd, out of tune, strumming that seemed to be creeping into his vocal mike that I found a little distracting. I thought that if he was going to play the guitar, I wish he would have done a more acoustic version of the song instead of the R&B version with an acoustic guitar along with it. I hope to see him go far because I like him, but I don’t think he was the best performer of the night.


Allison Iraheta’s version of “Give in to me” sounded absolutely nothing like a Michael Jackson song, which for me was a great thing! I absolutely loved her performance. She definitely made the song her own and in my opinion that was the stand out performance of the night. I hope to see her around for a long time.


My wife’s favorite, Anoop Desai sang a song that I was hoping nobody would attempt, “Beat It.” It’s so iconic that unless you’re totally changing it like David Cook did with “Billy Jean” last year, the best it could be is really good karaoke. It didn’t show his vocals at all. Against such strong competition, I’m afraid that this might be the last night he’s here.


I love the sound of Jorge Nuñez’s voice and the little effects that his accent gives to his pronunciations as he sang “Never Can Say Goodbye.” In my opinion this was definitely one of the strongest vocals of the night. I think he’ll be around for a while.


Probably one of the strangest song choices a contestant could have chosen to sing tonight, apart from “Ben” is “Rockin’ Robin,” but I can’t say that it didn’t fit Megan Joy Corkrey’s personality. The song only has about a 5 note range so it’s not the most vocally challenging song, but she was able to add her own trademark quirks to it. I like her a lot, but I’m afraid her fun personality probably isn’t enough to keep her in the competition.


Adam Lambert is way too glamour rock for me. Oddly enough, I thought that his version of “Black and White” with his high singing voice seemed to be the closest to Michael Jackson that we heard tonight. It was as if Michael Jackson and Axel Rose had a child and his name is Adam Lambert. I don’t know if his style just doesn’t suit me or if I just haven’t connected with him yet, but he’s not my favorite. I’m sure he’s many other people’s favorite, so he’ll be around for a while. And when Paula Abdul stands up and dances during their songs she looks like the lone drunk girl at the party.


Generally I like it when the contestants can perform with instruments. They usually seem a bit more connected to the song. Vocally Matt Giraud seemed to be singing “Human Nature” like Michael Jackson did an awful lot, but I much prefer Matt's voice to Jackson’s. I thought it was a really very good performance, but I don’t know how strong he’ll seem when compared to some of the other powerhouses who performed tonight.


Alexis Grace really took the judge’s advice from the initial tryouts literally when they told her to “dirty it up” a bit by singing “Dirty Diana.” I really like the harder, more rocking, blues version of this song. I really think—and hope—she’ll be around for a while, and I think that when comparing her to the other performers tonight, she’ll definitely be safe for another week.


One thing I just realized about American Idol is that it gives people the opportunity to be discovered who are in situations where the normal path to stardom really wouldn’t be a reasonable option. Normally people with families just trying to get by, like Lil, Megan and Alexis, wouldn’t have a chance in the world of being discovered in their normal lives. It kind of makes me respect the show a little more.

I actually think that the weakest performances of tonight all came from the 4 Wild Cards picked from last week. I think the two contestants in real danger of going home tomorrow are Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai.

American Idol Results Show, Group 3

Tonight’s results show began with the group doing a peppy job singing Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold.” It looked like the created choreography for it that would accommodate Scott MacIntyre’s sight impairment that allowed him to remain sitting throughout the number. It seems like a sensible solution.

Lil Rounds was the first contestant reviewed and the first one through to the top 12. She was very good last night so it’s no surprise that she’s through. There were so many other good performers that it was to be hard to predict the rest.

I wasn’t shocked, though, when Arianna Afsar, Taylor Vaifanua, Alex Wagner-Trugman, and Kendall Beard were eliminated in short order. Neither was I surprised when Scott MacIntyre was the second one through to the top 12. He deserves it and I’m sure we’ll see him around for quite a while.

Next up were Nathaniel Marshall and Kristen McNamara and they were both the next ones down. No surprises there.

The Felicia Barton and Von Smith were both up and both of these guys were singers that I really enjoyed last night. So I was disappointed that neither of them were chosen, but that left Ju’not Joyner and Jorge Nuñez, so this was a hard two to decide between as well. I was happy that Jorge Nuñez made it through.

That leaves the Wild Card show tomorrow (Thursday) where only 8 will be performing for the final 3 spots on the final 12. There are a few that I really like so I’m looking forward to this coming show. The Wild Cards are:

• Von Smith
  
• Jasmine Murray
  
• Ricky Braddy
  
• Megan Joy Corkrey
  
• Tatiana Del Toro (oh, brother.)
  
• Matt Giraud
  
• Jesse Langseth
  
• Anoop Desai
  

Well, dang. There are a few that I was hoping would be on this show that aren’t there. Oh well, hopefully those who were picked will make better choices.

American Idol Top 36, Group 3

This was a really good night for the contestants. So many good vocals that I think a majority of the Wild Card show will be filled with people from this group. Here are my thoughts with my predictions.

Tonight’s festivities began with 22-year-old Von Smith’s rendition of “The Better Part of Me” by Marvin Gaye. He definitely has a good voice and marketable looks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it through to the next round—he’s really very good and this was a breakout moment for him. If this were one of the earlier weeks I’d have said he’d be one of the three to go to the finals, but I’m hoping he’ll at least be a Wild Card.

Taylor Vaifanua neither looks nor sounds like she’s 17 years old. I found her walking around while she sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keyes a little distracting. It was like she had to punctuate every word with a step. I thought her vocals were ok, but I don’t think the song was a good choice because it wasn’t anything that could show any personality. I don’t think she’ll be going any farther.

Wow, Alex Wagner-Trugman really tried to liven up a slow swing song “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues,” by Elton John, in all the wrong ways. It was kind of fun to see and I think his personality showed through, but I didn't like the grunting and growling. I’d like to see him go farther because he’s funny but I think that this group of capable contestants probably just killed any chance of him progressing.

In choosing “The Winner Takes It All” by Abba, I think Arianna Afsar took a song that was too mature for her and then added too many vocal improvisations to try to liven it up. In doing so it looked more like she was singing it in a school play than in a national professional singer competition. I don’t think she’s ready to go any farther.

Ju'Not Joyner’s sensitive rendition of “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s really impressed me. I like how he slowed it down into a very nice and soulful ballad. I like how he personalized it in his own style the way the David Cook would take songs in the rocker direction. I really liked it and I hope that we’ll see him in either the top 12 or having another chance as a Wild Card.

Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” is one of my favorite songs so I was interested to see what Kristen McNamara would do with this slower blues. To me, this song is mostly about feeling a vibe as it starts out slow and then gradually builds more power before the song ends. On a show like American Idol, I don’t think the 2 minute song length limit gives a performer enough time to make an impact with a song like this. The melody itself isn’t all that difficult so she had to liven it up quite a bit to make it impressive enough for the show. I’m not sure if the things she did to it were enough to make it all that memorable. I liked her in the audition weeks, but I’m thinking if she doesn’t make it to the Wild Card round, this is probably the end of the line for her.

The problem with Nathaniel Marshall’s presentation of “I Would Do Anything For Love” was that it was so much like Meatloaf’s version that I couldn’t help but compare his vocals to the original and I don’t think he was anywhere near as good. He’s also one of those contestants like Tatiana Del Toro… memorable for all the wrong reasons. I suppose that there may be some weird 80s throwback niche that really digs him and tries to vote him through, but I’m guessing that this is the end of the road for him.

At the end of Hollywood week, Joanna Pacitti was told that she had made it through to the finals, but the day after that episode aired, Fox announced that Joanna wasn’t eligible to continue in the competitions, presumably because of her record deals. So they brought back eliminated Felicia Barton in to take her place. I really like Felicia’s comeback story, but “No One,” by Alicia Keyes, really didn’t do anything for me. She had very good vocals, but the song seemed to be ramping up the whole time and never really got interesting. Wild Card is probably the most we can hope for her right now which if she ended up making it past that and then far into the final 12, then THAT would be an incredible underdog story.

I expected Scott MacIntyre to be saved to be the last performer tonight because of his inspirational story. His performance of “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby really seemed to fit in with the style of music that I’d expect from him—although he sounded a little more pitchy and awkward than I expected him to. I wish that he could have had a keyboard in front of him because I’m sure he would have been indisputably the best of the night. Either way, I expect him to be one of the 3 that goes right into the top 12 tomorrow.

Kendall Beard’s version of “This One’s For The Girls” by Martina McBride was too much like the original song. I know that if I wanted to hear it again, I could just go buy the single. I’d have no reason to buy her music. I’m thinking that unless all the country folk vote her in just because she’s country, this will be the end of the road for her too.

It’s probably Jorge Nuñez’s Latin heritage that makes me think this, but I often think of Jon Secada when I hear him sing. Which isn’t a bad thing because I really like Jon Secada. He did a really good job singing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down” by Elton John—accent and all. I expect him to make it through to the next round.

I have to admit something here, contemporary R&B really isn’t my kind of music, but it has populated so many of the previous seasons of American Idol so I’m sure Lil Rounds singing “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige will be plenty to get her through to the top 12. She is very likable and talented, so don’t think I’m saying she wouldn’t deserve it, but If I was basing my pick for the winner on whose albums I’d buy, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be voting for her.

So my three picks to move through to the final 12 are Von Smith, Scott MacIntyre and Lil Rounds with Ju'Not Joyner, Felicia Barton and Jorge Nuñez as the Wild Cards for next week.

American Idol Results Show, Group 2

Well, tonight’s the night we found out who the second group of 3 will get to proceed into the finals on Fox’s American Idol. After 25 million people voted, here are the results:

The show began with the group performing “Closer” by Ne-Yo. They did a really good job, but for some reason I kept watching Nick “Norman Gentle” Mitchell and it looked like he was lost—as if he hadn’t attended any of the rehearsals… weird.

The first contestants to receive the results were Allison Iraheta, Jesse Langseth and Matt Breitzke. It doesn’t really come as a surprise that Allison Iraheta would be the one out of these three into the top twelve.

Between Kris Allen, Megan Joy Corkrey, Matt Giraud, and Jeanine Vailes I was hoping that the next finalist into the 12 would be Megan but I did actually enjoy Kris Allen’s performance too, so when he made it through to the top 12, I can’t say I was disappointed. I am expecting Megan to be one of the Wild Cards in two weeks.

Brook White came on at ‘half time’ to perform her newly released single, “Hold Up My Heart.” I actually think Brooke White is a former American Idol contestant that I could continue to follow. Nice song.

The last of the final 12 finalists were Mishavonna Henson, Kai Kalama, Nick Mitchell, Adam Lambert, and Jasmine. It was no surprise to me that they ejected Mishavonna, Kai and Jasimine Murray straightaway and left us with Nick and Adam for the climax of the show. Neither of these knocked my socks off, but I was happy that Adam Lambert made it through because I don’t really think that this is the right venue for “Norman Gentle.” I’m sure we’ll see him around though.

That’s it for this week on American Idol. While there are some very good performers, I haven’t found any that I’ve clicked with as well as I did with some of last season. Who knows, maybe my American Idol match will be in next week’s group.

American Idol Top 36, Group 2

Jasmine Murray’s version of Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” Sounded a little flat in the opening and ended up being just kind of OK. Presentation-wise, she sang it basically how I’m familiar with it so I’m not sure if she made herself stand out. Overall it sounded rather dull.

I really love the song “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay, but for Matt Giraud to have an arrangement that is basically the same one that Coldplay recorded but to try to sing it in a jazzier way, really didn’t seem to work. He also sounded a little nervous too. I like Coldplay and I like him, but I just don’t think the two of them should get together anymore.

Have we seen Jeanine Vailes before? It seems like the producers don’t want her to progress very far because I don’t think they’ve shown anything of her in the past weeks for us to form any positive opinions of her. I think that her performance of Maroon 5’s “This Love” showed that it was a song that she knew well and was comfortable with and because of this I think she did a very good job—at least I thought it was much better than the judges thought.

Nick Mitchell is an anomaly on the American Idol stage. Usually people who come in with a gag or a gimmic aren’t anything that can or should be taken seriously, but when Nick came auditioned as “Norman Gentle” he surprised everyone by actually being entertaining. After watching him perform “You’re Gonna Love Me” from Dreamgirls, I realize that he’s a better fit for a grab bag show like America’s Got Talent than American Idol. He reminds me of Jerry Lewis when he’s playing the fool with Dean Martin.

Allison Iraheta sounds a lot more polished and much older than 16, but boy can she sing! And the way she belted out “Alone” by Heart really made think she definitely deserves to go through to the finals. It’ll be fun to see the range of songs she sings.

Kris Allen is another contestant I didn’t see featured in the weeks leading up to tonight’s show, which makes me think the producers aren’t hoping he progresses in the competition. I thought his performance of “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson was a nice clean performance that didn’t include any of the vocal ticks that Jackson is known for. I think he should do well in spite of what the judges say. So if he doesn’t make it past tonight is it because we haven’t seen him enough in the previous weeks?

Megan Joy Corkrey sang “Put Your Records On” Corinne Bailey Rae. I really liked her during the audition week, but it seemed like she sang this song in an exaggerated Corinne Bailey Rae. Almost like a vocal caricature. Her movements were kind of weird too. I’d vote for her, but hoping that she makes different, not as quirky, choices in the future.

Welder fabricator guy, Matt Breitzke sang “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. I hate to borrow a standard critique from Simon, but it seemed like a Karaoke performance. His vocals didn’t really seem all that impressive either. Maybe it was just the wrong song but I don’t think he should go through.

Jesse Langseth’s choice to sing “Betty Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes seems like an odd choice to me. She sang it much like the original, but her voice is different enough that it didn’t sound like she was impersonating Kim Carnes. It’s not the most vocally difficult song, but I think she did an ok job. She was probably not good enough to win the competition, but I thought it was one of the stronger performances of the night.

Kai Kalama sang “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” By Jimmy Ruffin. Basically he did a good job vocally, but nothing exceptionally memorable and I had was negatively distracted by his movements and expressions.

I really liked Mishavonna Henson’s performance of “Drops of Jupiter” by train and I think she should make it through to the next round. I was a little annoyed by her “ay aaaaay ay ay” stuttering parts but I definitely disagree with the negative critiques of the judges.

“Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones was not my favorite choice of songs, but Adam Lambert was able to take a song with a 5-note range and improvise enough on the melody to show his vocal talents. It’s apparent that the producers are saving their favorites for last, and I think he’s one of their them, but I’m not really a huge fan. He reminds me of an 80s glamour rocker. I’m sure Randy won over a lot of fans for him by comparing to Robert Pattison as Edward in Twilight, though.

My vote tonight would be for two people, Allison Iraheta and Mishavonna Henson. I’m sure the two of them will be in the group of three to proceed to the finals with Adam Lambert being the guy in that group. I don’t have a Wild Card pick from this group.

So far I don’t think that this season’s contestants are measuring up to what they were promising during the audition weeks. Maybe they sent some of the wrong ones home? I can think of a couple that I would have rather seen, like the blonde-haired earthy girl with no shoes, Rose Flack—I think she got a bum deal.

American Idol Results Show, Group 1

Ryan Seacrest announced at the beginning of the show that a record 24 million votes were cast for this show, which is a record high for this point in the season. This brings to mind how people like to complain that more people vote for American Idol than vote for the President of the United States. Let me remind everyone that you can only vote once for Pres, but you can vote as much as the buttons on your phone and your fanaticism will permit.

After some annoying judge banter the semifinalists came out and sang “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. They did a pretty good job, but I’d say the country guys looked a little uncomfortable with the reggae beat.

They began revealing the results with a no-brainer, and eliminated Casey Carlson. No surprise. I’m sure her performance last night had everyone questioning how she made it to this stage of the competition. Stephen Fowler was no surprise either. I’m actually surprised he made it here after walking out on his last song in Hollywood Week.

Alexis Grace was the first contestant revealed to be in the top 12. No surprise for me, I think she was one of the best singers from last night. But given some of the train wrecks we witnessed, that’s not saying much.

Between Ricky Braddy and Jackie Tohn, neither of them made it through to the 12. No surprise for me about Jackie, or Ricky for that matter, but I fully expect Ricky to be one of the wild cards in a few weeks.

Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver – Michael made it through to the top twelve. Surprised that Michael made it through. I thought there were much better vocals, but I think that he must have gotten the country vote. I’m sure Anoop will be a wildcard too. Maybe Michael’s song was just better than his delivery? I’m sure enough people liked him from the auditions too to put him through. He was one that we liked.

Carly Smithson and Michael Johns from last season appeared on the show and performed a duet of the song, “The Letter.” I have to say it really didn’t do anything to make me nostalgic for the old contestants.

Brent Keith, Stevie Wright and Ann Marie Boskovich were all eliminated in one fell swoop. None of them were surprises to me, or to them by the look of things.

When the two remaining finalists were brought up, Danny Gokey and Tatiana Del Toro, I fully expected Tatiana to faint on stage for the drama of it all. When they announced that Danny was the last of the three to proceed into the final twelve, I was surprised that Tatiana didn’t make more of a spectacle of herself. I really hope that she won’t be one of the wildcards, but for the sake of good television, I’m sure they’ll put her in that pool, especially because they couldn’t keep the camera off of her during Danny’s reprise of his song.

Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see the contestants to quite a bit better than they did this week.

Thoughts on American Idol Top 36

Group 1

American Idol is like 4 shows in 1. The one-the-road auditions are barely tolerable, but I rather enjoy Hollywood Week. But tonight was the first of the live shows and this is where the excitement really begins.

I liked the funked-up version of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation” that Jackie Tohn performed but I thought that her dancing and outfit were terribly distracting. From the auditions I thought that her style was more folky than what we saw tonight. I don’t think she’ll make it any farther.

I didn’t remember Ricky Braddy from the auditions at all. I’m sure that’s because the producers are so focused on Danny Gokey being the front-runner this season, that they’re passing over other real competitors—which is a real shame because he really does have a nice voice. He sang “A Song for You” which is a good song but he did sing it in very much the same way that I’ve heard it sung many times before. He did have good vocal control and form, but did he over sing it a little?

I’d never heard of the song “I Never Loved a Man,” previously recorded by Aretha Franklin, before and it was not really the sound that I was expecting from Alexis Grace. It was probably because of the pink hair I was hoping for something a little more alternative or edgy from her. I didn’t think it was a very good song choice but the judges sure liked it. If history is any predictor, though, the pink hair will get her through to the finals. Think Nikki McKibbin. Maybe then I’ll have a better idea of what kind of music to expect from her.

Brent Keith’s choice of “Hicktown” was probably a good choice for him so that people could appropriately view him as a country artist but it doesn’t seem like country singers ever make it farther than maybe halfway through the finals. Sorry, but country music really isn’t my bag so I can’t really say too many good things about his performance but I’d be surprised if he makes it past this stage of the competition. The problem is that as country goes, there are so many more impressive songs than the one he sang.

Stevie Wright really reminds me of Evangeline Lilly (Kate from ABC's Lost). I think it’s her eyes. I don’t think it matters that I’ve never heard the song “You Belong With Me” that she sang because she was unfortunately very nervous and it showed. It’s too bad that she probably won’t make it past this stage of the competition because I had high hopes for her—probably because I’m such a fan of Lost. Heck, she’s only 17, maybe we’ll see her try out again next year? Maybe she'll get the Lost vote?

Besides the fact that my cosmetologist wife said that his eyebrows need to be taken down a little, Anoop Desai really sang his song, “Angel of Mine,” very well! Again, I’ve never heard this song before, but I would imagine that he probably sang it similar to the original. I do like it when a guy sings a song originally recorded by a girl, and vice versa. That alone has a way of changing it up enough to make it memorable.

Casey Carlson’s version of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” was simply a train wreck. I don’t agree with the judges that songs by The Police are “untouchable”, I just didn’t agree with the touches she put on it. Aside from being too nervous to sing it well, I really hated the gender switching in this song—I think “she” and “her” are too rooted into the lyrics. I thought it would have been good if she would have sung it like the original “Every little thing she does is magic”, but then it would have made it sound like she was switching teams. It also looked like a beauty pageant performance or something from a talent show—might have gone over well in high school, but not on a national stage.

Michael Sarver made a really good impression on me during the auditions. Although I’m not a country fan and could tell that he would probably lean that way, his vocals and his personal story made me root for him to make it far on the show. His choice of the song “I Don't Want to Be” was a bad choice in my opinion. I don’t think anyone has sung this song as well as Bo Bice did a few seasons back, so I was left a little flat by this performance. He was a little stiff to be singing a song as energetic as this one. It would have been nice if he would have sung a song that showed more of the tender vocals that we grew attached to in the auditions.

Ann Marie Boskovich delivered another beauty pageant performance of “A Natural Woman.” The arrangement and performance seemed like just about every other version of this song that I’ve ever heard, and it wasn’t sung nearly as well. Very forgettable.

Stephen Fowler made a huge mistake in singing “Rock With You” by Michael Jackson. In my opinion when someone chooses to sing a song so closely associated with the original artist, they need to make drastic changes to it in order to make it theirs—similar to what David Cook did with Jackson’s “Billy Jean.” The arrangement was very much like the original but he seemed like he was singing to a totally different arrangement in his head. I don’t think that fast songs are very good at this stage because they don’t show how good the contestant’s vocals can be. This will probably be the end of the road for him.

What’s worse? Someone who shows up with at the auditions with a huge ego and thinks they sing perfectly but can’t sing at all, or someone who has a huge ego and thinks they can sing perfectly and they actually do sing very well? Such is the case (or problem) with Tatiana Nicole Del Toro. She’s pretty good but she’s convinced that she’s fantastic and she doesn’t shy away from flaunting it. As could have been predicted, she sang a very dramatic, but surprisingly vocally restrained version of Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You.” She’s a pretty good singer but often her personality overshadows her ability to sing. I think she has been coached to tone down her personality because she seemed controlled, like she was acting the whole time. I think she’s actually the psychic they keep referring to… probably one of her many personalities.

I’m sure they saved Danny Gokey for last tonight. He was the most comfortable of tonight’s performers as he sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” I think it’s clear that the producers think that he should be one of the front-runners too, which explains all of the hype he has received throughout all of the audition weeks. I think it’s also a real shame that they cut Danny’s friend Jamar Rogers. Jamar was so much better than almost all of the other contestants we saw tonight.

I think that the standard that will determine if the contestants progress to the next stage is whether or not the vocals and performances are good enough to inspire people to fork out their hard earned money to buy their music. If you stumble upon one of these people in a bar or in a park you would enjoy it, but would you become a fan and seek out opportunities to financially support them?

I think it’s obvious that my vote along with most of America tonight will be for Danny Gokey. The three that I think will be voted through to the finals in this group are Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace, and Anoop Dasai with Ricky Braddy being one of the wild cards added in week 4.

Out of all of them though, I don’t think I heard any that I would actually buy records from based on what they sang tonight but I guess we’ll see what the other contestants come up with in the future.