American Idol 9: Finals Week 2 Performances, Tuesday March 23, 2010

Tonight's theme was number one songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.  Miley Cyrus stopped by to coach the contestants (and to come back tomorrow to sing on the Idol stage and undoubtedly promote her new movie).  Let's take a look at each performance along with our predictions of tomorrow's bottom 3 and the person whom we feel will be going home.

(1) Lee DeWyze sang "The Letter" by The Box Tops (1967).  Lee's version of this classic number 1 hit began with an almost big band swing vibe that was interesting.  For us, Lee has always been one of the better male vocalists, and we feel that both his performance and his vocals were miles ahead of what he did last week.  He knew he had to work on his nerves and let loose a little bit, and we feel he succeeded.  Nice way to start off the night.  Grade: B+

(2) Paige Miles sang "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins (1984).  Very rough vocal by Paige, who still seems to be suffering the lingering effects from her laryngitis.  Lots of flat and "pitchy" notes all the way through.  Really bad transition from her lower to upper register midsong.  In places, her voices cut out on her completely.  Last week, we couldn't even tell she had laryngitis, but this time the vocals were so bad that it was very obvious to the audience, to the judges, and even to Paige herself.  We agree that this was probably the worst vocal of the season.  Grade: C-

(3) Tim Urban sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen (1979).  Tim's one of those Idol performers who knows he needs to loosen up and show some personality, but when he tries to do it, it comes off so forced and contrived that it would have been better if he just stood there because it was distractingly lacking.  He's simply not a great stage performer and needs to improve a lot in that area.  The vocals were ok, but nothing exceptional, as is the norm for Tim.  Grade: C

(4) Aaron Kelly sang "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith (1998).  Aaron is now coming down with the laryngitis that affected Paige, and there were some definite rough spots throughout the performance, but overall, we feel that he acquitted himself well.  Not the best vocal, but solid enough that he shouldn't be in serious danger of going home in spite of Simon's critique.  Grade: B

(5) Crystal Bowersox sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Roger Miller (1969).  Best performance of the night so far.  Crystal started off slow and contemplative, and kicked it up to a fever pitch that got the audience clapping and cheering.  Great vocal and a great performance to go along with it.  Compares favorably to the 1971 Janis Joplin cover.  We've said all along that Crystal brings a folk rock vibe to her performances, and that was made abundantly clear tonight in the best sense.  Grade: A

(6) Michael Lynche sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge (1966).  Winning, charismatic rendition by Michael.  Vocals were spot on and soulful all the way through.  Judges' criticisms came across as overly critical, which was unwarranted given the quality of his vocal and connection to both the song and the audience.  Grade: B+

(7) Andrew Garcia sang "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye (1968).  Andrew usually sings at a higher pitch than he did tonight, and we were surprised to hear him pitch lower than the song is supposed be sung.  The results were listless and quite boring.  The worst vocal from Andrew this season.  A complete misfire.  Grade: C

(8) Katie Stevens sang "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie (2007).  This was Katie's most enjoyable vocal and performance.  She sounded young and relevant even with the occasional bum note on her lower register.  Very solid and much needed given how controversial it was that she landed in the top 12 rather than critics' favorite Lilly Scott.  Grade: B+

(9) Casey James sang "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News (1985).  Nice, strong vocal by Casey which sounded like Huey Lewis in all the right places, but with enough of a personal spin to make it his own rather than a verbatim soundalike.  We wish he would have gone without the electric guitar because it was unnecessary and kept him grounded in one place, which made him seem a little stiff in his performance.  Grade: B+

(10) Didi Benami sang "You're No Good" by Betty Everett (1963).  Sexy performance from Didi that was quite different from both the original and the 1974 remake by Linda Ronstadt.  However, the endless repetition of the refrain made the song seem a little dull.  Solid vocal, but didn't wow us like she did last week.  Grade: B

(11) Siobhan Magnus sang "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder (1972).  Siobhan loves her drama and brought it again tonight.  She's fearless and seems to put a lot of thought into her song choices, her performances, and even her outfits.  She already seems like such a seasoned performer that we can already see her as a top recording artist.  We agree that we'd like to see her not rely too heavily on that closing power note for each song because it takes away from the fact that overall, she is one of the stronger female contestants.  She's got a strong lower and middle range and we don't want to see that get overlooked.  Siobhan's one of those performers who is essentially competing with herself and her prior performances, and this was not in the same league as last week's, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Grade: B+

Tonight was filled with lots of good-to-great performances, which made the bad ones really stand out quite noticeably.  As the judges said, and as we've been saying, only the top 10 get to go out on tour in the summer, so to go home now would be especially heartbreaking.  With that said, we feel that the contestants that will likely make up the bottom 3 when the results are revealed tomorrow night will be: Paige Miles, Tim Urban, and Andrew Garcia.  However, if Didi Benami ended up in the bottom 3 instead of Andrew, we wouldn't be too surprised given Andrew's quite large fanbase, and Didi's just-ok performance.

Our prediction for the contestant to go home and to just miss out on going on the summer Idol tour would be Paige Miles.

American Idol 9: Finals Week 2 Results, Wednesday March 24, 2010

Another relatively easy prediction based on last night's performances.  We correctly picked 2 of the bottom 3 (Paige Miles and Tim Urban), and also factored in the fact that Andrew Garcia's large fanbase would keep him out of danger.  It did indeed, but we were surprised by the fact that Katie Stevens was the one who fell into the bottom 3 rather than Didi just based on the judges' criticisms, which were so complimentary toward Katie and so damaging to Didi.  In fact, neither one deserved to be in the bottom 3 when all was said and done, and Katie was quickly sent back to the safety couch.

That left Tim and Paige as America's, and our, bottom 2.  After an unnecessary performance by Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, the lowest vote getter was announced: Paige Miles.

After Ryan handed the microphone to Paige for her to sing for the Judges' Save, Ryan asked Simon to give Paige some words of encouragement.  Instead, Simon told Paige that she was going home no matter what, and that even before she sang, the judges had agreed that they were not going to use the Save on her.  Therefore, a quick switch was made and Paige's Idol journey video package was shown, and then Paige sang Free's "All Right Now" (which she sang in Week 1 of the Top 24 Semi-Final rounds) over the closing credits.  Kind of ironic considering the circumstances, but we wish Paige the best in the future as she is legitimately talented.

Next week's theme is R&B/Soul, and the guest mentor will be singing superstar Usher.  It was also announced that Idol Gives Back will air in about a month.