It's not my town, it's not your town, it's MOTOWN!

After suffering through a less than stellar country music themed week, Idol returns to more familiar footing with the sounds of Motown. I wonder if when they planned out the season they thought ‘hey we are doing white people music one week so maybe we should do the exact opposite the week after.’ I’m still in mourning from Alexis’s far too early departure. Really America? You voted more for Michael Scott than Alexis? Not since the 2004 Presidential election has America spoken with as much collective stupidity. I understand the judges’ decision to not ‘save’ her, but their power only lasts until the Top 5, which means they only have 4 more chances to remove a contestant from death row. How hilarious would it be if the judges never even used their new power? And what if Scott and Michael make up the bottom two tomorrow night, will Simon say the judges won’t save either of them before Ryan announces the one leaving?


With the exception of Megan, everyone should be able to slide right into the Motown groove. Especially Danny, Lil Rounds, and Anoop – this is their week to shine. The biggest unknown heading into tonight is Adam Lambert. Will he defile a classic Motown song, sing the song like the original, or modernize the song without offending half the judges and half the voting public. Michael Sarver wound up in the bottom three last week, so he might want to sing a song where we can actually make out the lyrics this time. Finally, Scott needs to find his inner coolness; if he can’t do it with these songs his blindness may save him no longer.

Ryan asks what happens when you mix the most talked about singers in America with some of the most influential songs of the world. Of the world? Sure Motown has some great songs but I don’t think the Warsaw Pact countries were jamming to Motown during the Cold War. Again with the way over the top judges introductions while Ryan walks down the lighted staircase. Sigh. I guess this new introduction is the new official beginning of the show. Everyone is healthy this week, but they haven’t recovered from the shocking elimination of Alexis. Ryan asks Randy if last week felt brutal for him, and he says yes. Kara also felt it was tough, and although Alexis was a good singer, she says Alexis picked some bad songs the last few times. Ok let’s analyze this brilliant judging moment from Kara. Alexis sang during her Group week, then during the Top 13, and then during the Top 11; a grand total of three performances before the American public. Kara said she picked bad songs the last few times she sang. Few normally means ‘three,’ so Kara is saying every time we saw Alexis sing, she was singing a bad song choice. Of course, with the exception of last week, Kara gushed effusive praise for Alexis and never once questioned her song choice. Thanks for the great insight Kara. Ryan asks Paula what she wants to see tonight and she says she wants the contestants to challenge their artistic integrity. She wants them to mix it up and surprise the judges. Simon says he wants the contestants to make the songs original. Unless of course it’s Adam, then he will hate it and call it rubbish. Lil leads the contestants out on stage. She is like a full 5 feet in front of everyone. She really wants to hit her mark quickly. Michael is on ‘Scott duty’ and helps him walk to the front of the stage.

The Idols get to visit Motown’s home office. They received the grand tour of all the Motown memorabilia. Lil is so moved by the things hanging on the wall she tears up. Michael and Megan, apparently too sick to travel, did not make the trip. Hear that Michael’s wife? Megan and your husband spent a few days alone together in the mansion, probably in the hot tub with each other. Smokey Robinson flew back to LA to help out the Idols. There is a random slightly overweight white kid sitting next to Smokey in the audience. He looks terrified when the camera moves into his personal space.

Matt – Let’s Get it On

Matt never thought he’d get to play piano in front of Smokey. Smokey thinks Matt did more than justice to the song and thinks Marvin would love his version. This compliment blows Matt’s mind. Matt hit the falsetto note in pitch during his run through with Smokey, but will he find the right pitch tonight? He starts the song with just him on the piano. He is hitting his falsetto notes at the start, especially the ‘big one.’ He has a little trouble hitting the low notes in the chorus. He gets up from the piano and starts to move around; he has three back up singers on stage behind him. Poor Scott. How can he get up and move around the stage like Matt can? Simple, he cannot. I think he should go for the sympathy vote and get up from the piano, and then ‘accidentally’ fall off the stage. Sure he will probably break a few bones, but he is a lock for the finals if he pulls off that type of stunt. Matt makes it all the way down in front of the judges. He sounds very good, and this is not a copycat version. He hums for a few measures in the middle of the song and I wonder if he took out a big falsetto note or if he just decided to hum this part. It still sounds good, but it feels a little out of place. This is his first performance without any major pitch problems. Matt is normally good for one or two ‘dude what the heck was that’ moments, but not tonight. Really other than his inability to get low enough on the ‘let’s get it on’ he is flawless. He is easily the best of the night so far. Randy is really happy about Motown night and thinks Matt set us off on a tone. He knows that there are some other frontrunners in the competition, but he thinks Matt has worked it out and put himself in position to be real contender. Kara thinks a lot of girls want to ‘get it on’ with Matt. She is happy he left the piano and did his thing, but she wouldn’t mind him pushing it a little more next time. Paula is glad he showed off his sexy cool vibe. Unlike so many current artists, she says Matt doesn’t over riff; he respects the melody. She says he is like wearing a great pair of old jeans. Simon calls the song choice brilliant, and other than the corny part when he came up to the judges, he says the performance was cool. He says his voice absolutely suits this song. He says Matt is officially one of the frontrunners now. Matt tells Ryan he is trying to step up his game a little bit and keep getting better every week.


Kris – How Sweet it Is

Not only are all of the songs available on Itunes, but the contestants will be singing with the original band recordings. Wait a minute, that means if someone sings their own new version of the song we cannot download it right? Last week we saw Kris’s sensitive side, this week we get to see his black side. Kris was really nervous singing for Smokey. Smokey’s great advice to Kris was to laugh hysterically while clapping and then utter a barely audible ‘alright man.’ You can’t buy this type of mentoring. Kris asks Smokey a question about how to start the song and Smokey says he should do exactly what he just did. Smokey was really impressed with Kris’s ability to chew gum and walk at the same time, no wait, it’s his ability to play the guitar while he sings. Because you know, hardly anyone ever does that. Kris does start off the song with the chorus; he does so acappela. He also has back up singers on the stage. Maybe they are there all night. Kris must have found some confidence last week, because he sounds great. He always manages to infuse the song with his likeability. His version sounds current – a mix between early John Mayer and Jason Mraz. Throw him on the Disney channel and this song would sells millions. Maybe he could be the fourth Jonas Brother. Paula is loving the song and dancing along. He hits a huge note to end things off followed by a nice riff. What a great song choice. He gets a chance to show off his voice while having a really good time. He even showed off some originality with his arrangement. The first two performances tonight are already better than anything we saw last week. This might be my favorite Kris performance so far. A beaming Kara says she loved that he didn’t do James Taylor, he didn’t do Marvin Gaye, instead, he did Kris. His phrasing and rhythm were different than the original. She says he did everything right on that performance. Paula says he has such a comfort level and an infectious personality. She says he was brilliant and she is really proud of his growth every week. Simon says he did a smart version of the song, but thinks he has to start believing in himself; he says he is standing on stage like he is waiting at a bus stop. He wants him to be a ‘star,’ and stars are conceited. Randy thinks he hit his zone and shouldn’t change anything since it’s “all good right now baby.” Simon still wants Kris to watch videos of him to learn how to be confident. Kris understands the judges’ comments and agrees he needs self belief, but isn’t sure about the conceit part.

Scott – You Can’t Hurry Love

Scott gets a sit down with Ryan. I wonder if Ryan will be the one to walk him onto the stage during the video introduction. Scott is all up for taking risks, but the piano is part of who he is, so he cannot abandon his ivory friend. Paula thinks Scott is going to bring it and up the ante tonight. Scott says being a guy and singing Diana Ross is difficult. Umm Scott have you ever heard of Phil Collins? He did a version of this song when you were a kid, maybe you should look that up big guy. Smokey thinks Scott brought the song up to date and made it very contemporary. Scott is single right now and still waiting for the perfect girl. Smokey says he had no negative comments for Scott, but he doesn’t seem as excited about him as he was with Matt and Kris. Foreshadowing anyone? He starts the song as if it’s a very slow and boring ballad. I hope he gets faster or at least one person watching will take their own life. The back up singers are now directly behind the piano. They are getting more screen time tonight than they did all last season. This is the most stripped down we’ve heard Scott and the thinness of his voice is really clear now. This beginning makes it sound like it belongs in a Disney animated movie. The song picks up tempo, but Scott is still very bland. When he tries to ‘dirty’ up his voice, his pitch control disappears. I’ve never actually seen a lounge singer in person, but I imagine it’s a lot like this performance. Decent voice, decent piano playing, but nothing you want to listen to if you are not drunk. I had high hopes for Scott when he started his Idol journey but after this train wreck I think he is officially on life support. I wonder if the judges will flash their fangs to the blind guy or give him faint praise. Paula thinks Scott pleased both Simon and her by bringing something different. She liked the fact the singers were around the piano. She liked his chord changes to start the song. Simon quotes the song, ‘how much more can you take,’ and says come on his version wasn’t great. He did not like his piano playing nor the back up singers. He thought it was completely the wrong song for him, and a little cheap. He thinks Scott is better than that as an artist – he keeps picking the wrong songs to stand out as a relevant artist today. Randy says he doesn’t often agree with Simon, but…at this point Paula starts interrupting Randy assuming he is about to disagree with Simon, but she missed the part when he said ‘but’ and screams YES YES, until Randy says he agrees with Simon. Then a very confused Paula says she cannot believe he is agreeing and disappears into her own confused little world. Randy says each contestant is getting tougher, but he picked the wrong song and nothing great happened. It was very average. Kara likes the song’s tempo, but she wasn’t crazy that he took liberties with the melody. She doesn’t think he perfectly executed his good ideas. Scott wanted to accelerate the tempo of his song choice. He still wants to do a song with just the piano. Simon says his back up song choice would have been much better. Randy agrees. Is it too late to bring back Alexis? Ryan asks Paula how Scott compared with Kris and Matt and Paula doesn’t answer the question. Simon demands she does and she says she has something for him and then her head disappears below the table, near Simon’s lap. Ryan, unable to resist the chance to make a sexual joke, says they aren’t allowed to show that. Ryan just made the most obvious sexual reference in Idol history. Paula pulls out crayons and a coloring book for Simon and calls him a child. As they go to commercial Simon is coloring Paula’s face with a crayon. With all the make up she wears I doubt it would even make a difference what he draws on her cheek.

Megan – For Once in My Life

Simon and Paula are coloring the new books when Ryan asks Paula what else she has under the table. Her answer, “it’s under my skirt.” It’s only a matter of time until the FCC takes this show off the air and we will be watching this on HBO. Simon covers her mouth so she can’t say anything else fine worthy. Smokey says Megan is half jazz half cabaret, and very refreshing. Megan is overwhelmed Smokey likes her. Smokey either really likes the contestants or doesn’t care, because Megan asked him what she should do and told her to do it the same way on the show as she did in her run through. He says she is one of the most original contestants in Idol history. A fully recovered Megan starts the song with a full horn section. Like always, I can’t tell if she is missing the pitches or just ‘doing her thing,’ until the second verse, where she definitely has some pitch issues. She has the same odd body movements as she makes her way behind the judges. I feel like this performance should be in the recent Hairspray movie. Compared to the boring and predictable Scott, Megan is a breath of not quite technically proficient but enjoyable fresh air. Paula is playing with Simon’s face once Megan returns to the stage. Megan has a little trouble with the higher notes and screams them instead of sings them. I think Megan lovers will like this, but those outside her fan base will not be impressed. Randy says he has mad love for her, and he loves her outfit, but dude this song was a train wreck for him. That type of song doesn’t fit with what she does; he wanted a slower less rushed and hectic mad crazy song. Kara agrees with Randy and says she should have picked another song. She says the phrasing and rhythms were weird and the song took her over. Paula compliments Megan’s beauty and then agrees with Kara and Randy. Simon says the good news is she looks good and the bad news is it was horrible. He suggests she fire whoever is giving her musical advice. He says it was a terrible arrangement and the vocals were all over the place. The crowd isn’t booing their disagreement, which usually means they didn’t like the performance either. Megan is tearing up. I actually think the judges are being too harsh. I liked her performance, flaws and all. Maybe it’s just because she followed Scott. I would have enjoyed hearing almost anyone sing after his borefest. Ryan asks Megan if she was comfortable and she says she had fun and asks her fans to ‘give a call guys.’

Anoop – Ooo Baby Baby

Smokey explains the origins of Anoop’s song choice. Smokey felt the song with Anoop and AGAIN tells the contestant not to change anything. Come on Smokey step up and give some advice dog. Anoop is sitting on the stage to start the song. He still dresses like he is on his way to class at Chapel Hill. He has a nice tone when he goes into the falsetto notes. Anoop can definitely sing, but this is borderline boring. He seems to prefer the slow ballads to the up tempo numbers; his fan base seems to want the faster songs, which could be a problem in a few weeks. He is hitting all the right notes but I’m just not feeling his song choice. Back to back weeks with slow Anoop songs is one week too many. Since he doesn’t hit any bad notes, other than a few issues with his falsetto, I suppose this is a good performance, but I wish he did something with a little more personality. His parents are very happy in the audience. Kara says this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and one of the hardest to sing. Kara thinks he missed a few notes, but overall he did a pretty good job on a hard song. She says he can sing and has a skill set. She wants him to be more creative with how he changes up the melodies. Paula cannot imagine singing this song in front of its creators sitting in the audience. She wants to see more confidence, but for the most part his phrasing, delivery, and falsetto is not only spot on, it’s sweet. Simon says it was a great vocal, but he felt like Anoop looked half asleep the entire song. He warns Anoop to not be boring when he sings. He says he had two good weeks in a row now. Randy wants more energy next week. He thinks he is more than the balladeer guy. Next week Randy wants him to ‘get the party on.’ Ryan asks Randy where he ranks with the other guys and he says he is right up there with the other guys. Anoop tells Ryan he believes he can win this competition.

Michael Sarver – Ain’t Too Proud to Beg

He gets a sit down with Ryan and discusses his sickness. He missed the trip to Detroit, but is healthy now. Michael says he is going to ‘take the song to church’ and get back to his soul roots. Smokey wants Michael to use his big voice on the song. Wow, Smokey actually gave advice. Holy cow, he is trying. Smokey doesn’t want Michael to sweet talk the song; lay it all out on the line. I really wish Anoop picked this song instead of Michael. Michael is giving the song an almost country feel. I guess this is what he means by giving it soul. He looks so goofy when he sings and he adds to his goofiness when he reaches down and touches the hands of a few people in the mosh pit. He sounds alright but this is very karaoke and he is doing the random microphone hand switching thing again. His attempts to add his own originality are pretty weak and then the train officially comes off the tracks during his big finish when he totally misses a note. He sounds awful on the note, but quickly recovers. He is vying with Scott for worst of the night. I hope the judges are as critical of nice guy Michael as they were with Megan. Paula says the performance was tough because it had a Las Vegas lounge feel. She says he needs to dominate the song and drive it, not the other way around. She says he didn’t always reach the right note. Simon says he couldn’t wait for it to end because he was screaming and shouting the song. He doesn’t think he has any chance to win the competition with these type of vocals. In the real world it just isn’t good enough. He says he was below par. Michael agrees with Simon and says he knew he was in trouble tonight. What? Wow! A contestant that agrees with Simon that he sucked. This is a first. If he knew he wasn’t going to do well tonight why did he stick with this song? I hope Ryan asks him about that comment once the judges are done rambling. Randy says this song is unbelievable and just a little too big for Michael. He doesn’t think he had the right vibe to pull it off; he made it corny because he tried to do too much with it. Kara says it’s not about singing anymore, it’s about artistry. She wants someone that interrupts it in their own way and makes it their own. She wants him to show who he is an artist and what he can do different to a song to make the judges say ‘wow that is hot.’ Now Kara is quoting Paris Hilton. Ryan asks Michael how it feels to get destroyed by the judges and he says the truth is he is having a blast and being true to who he is, even if they don’t get him as an artist.

Lil Rounds – Copycatwave

Ryan again reminds us of Itunes and the original instrumental recordings they are offering this week. Oh no, Smokey goes all Randy and says Lil can sing the phone book. Smokey come on baby you really need to try harder. Lil talks to Smokey about Detroit and how far he made it from that point to now and she gets emotional. Smokey is touched she feels his legacy. Lil wants to do well tonight to make all the old Motown artists proud. When Ryan introduces Lil from the mosh pit there is a girl in traditional Islamic headdress next to him, which just looks odd. I mean sure everyone watches this show, but I’m a little surprised the Idol producers didn’t replace her with a hot blonde before the show began. Lil has another new hairstyle (is it really her hair though), but she still has no originality. She is doing a very copycat version, just like very other song she performs. I still have no idea what type of album she would make and I know nothing about her as an artist. I wonder if Kara will repeat all the stuff about artistry with Lil, as she should, or just ignore her previous comments and says she was brilliant. Come on judges, one of you needs to point out this girl has less originality than Rocky 5. Sure she sounds good, but I’ve heard this before, about 100 times on the radio. She is doing NOTHING to make this song her own. She is just singing the same exact version we’ve heard for 40 years. Please judges criticize her for this karaoke performance. I don’t care she is hitting every note, not when she is either unwilling or unable to add any of herself to her singing. Randy says the song was torture for him at the front. He felt like she was rushing through the song because there are so many words. He wants her to sing a song with a little more room for her voice. Kara compliments her looks and then says this night was her chance to become a diva and nail the performance, but she doesn’t think she picked the right song. She says she stayed true to what the song was, but she wants more from her at this point in the show. She thinks Lil was screaming at points, and Kara never wants to hear her scream. Kara is actually not contradicting her comments to Michael. You go girl, I’m impressed. Paula disagrees with Randy and Kara, except for the fact they think she looks good. Paula thinks Lil’s vocals feel fresh and make it feel like she is hearing it for the first time. Simon says she did an authentic tribute to Motown tonight, but he wouldn’t have picked this song since it doesn’t give her a moment. He reminds everyone that she is one of the best singers in the competition and wants her to do what she did a few weeks ago and blow them away. Lil says she understands the judges’ comments and agrees with both Kara and Paula. She promises to execute their comments if she remains another week. Ryan says if we think we have Adam pegged get ready for a surprise and the camera shows a non-emo suit wearing Adam – this should be interesting.


Adam – Tracks of My Tears

Adam is really nervous standing next to Smokey. Smokey loves to hear other people interpret his songs and he has never heard anyone sing the song like Adam. He was very proud of Adam’s interpretation. Adam asks Smokey what inspired the song and Smokey says he imagined what it would be like if someone cried so much you could see the tracks left on their face from the tears. Adams appears emotionally moved. His goal is to do the song justice. He is on a stool surrounded by an acoustic stripped down band. He looks like he might if he was singing on Ed Sullivan in the 60s, except maybe the earrings. His falsetto is amazing, easily the best ever from a male contestant on Idol. In fact, I think Anoop and Matt should just stop using their falsetto from now on. Paula and Kara both put their hands up in approval. He transitions down into his normal voice for a second and then goes back into his falsetto. It’s a lot harder than it looks boys and girls. This is almost mesmerizing. Anoop, take some notes, because this is how you sing a slow song without it being super boring. Adam is perfect on all the notes and finishes the song with an unfinished phrase that really leaves you wanting more. He has the ability to hit subtle falsetto notes. If the judges don’t like this performance I might have to stop watching Idol. When he is finished he shakes the hands of his band mates and thanks them; Adam is such a seasoned performer, I don’t think any other contestant would have the composure to do the same thing. Smokey gives Adam a standing ovation. I think Adam is genuinely moved by the gesture. Paula is also standing. Kara stands up too. She says she has six words for Adam, “one of the best performances of the night.” Um Kara, that’s umm 8 words. Nice job. She seems so intelligent until she starts speaking, and then it’s all down hill. Maybe Paula should give her a few coloring books. Kara says Adam showed artistry on the stage. Paula loves this season because someone like Adam, who is completely in his own league, comes along with the element of surprise. She loves his look tonight and thinks he is handsome and classy. She says he is exciting. Simon disagrees with Kara because it was the best performance of the night. He says Adam just summed up everything they have been saying tonight about being original. He says Adam has really emerged as a star tonight. Randy says from day one he felt Adam had the range and now he showed he isn’t just a cool rocker; he can straighten it up and sing tender moments. He calls him the unbelievably hot bomb tonight. Ryan says there is nothing to talk about and quickly goes to commercial. This is probably helpful to Adam because the only thing he could do wrong at this point is to say something stupid.

Danny – Get Ready

For some reason Ryan is holding a horn while he introduces Danny’s video. Geez, Danny walks in calling his mentor Smokey. What, no Mr. Robinson? Danny is no longer wearing his glasses. Smokey, for only the second time tonight, gives some helpful comments and tells Danny he shouldn’t let the back up singers sing a part by themselves, instead he should join in. Danny says Smokey has been in the business a lot longer than him (40 years vs. 40 days) so he will listen to the advice. Smokey gives Danny a big hug and predicts Danny will be wonderful tonight. So far through the first verse, Danny (who is wearing his glasses again) is completely ignoring Smokey’s advice and letting the back up singers sing that part. Maybe he is doing this so he can build the song and then sing the part next time around. If that’s the case I understand, but if he totally ignored Smokey he won’t get the coveted standing ovation from Mr. Robinson. Danny sounds more and more like Taylor Hicks every week. Nope, second time through he is still totally ignoring Smokey’s advice. Dude, you said he knew more than you did, so why aren’t you listening to Motown’s finest? In a very fun moment he walks back to the back up singers and momentarily does some choreography. Well done Danny; Motown deserves at least a few dance moves. Danny sounds great and is adding a lot of himself to the song with different phrasing and he is emphasizing certain words in his own style. But I can’t get over the fact he just gave Smokey the proverbial middle finger by ignoring his mentor. I guess Danny felt he couldn’t sing the song if he had to include such complicated lyrics like ‘you’re alright’ and ‘you’re out of sight.’ I hope the judges mention the fact he disrespected his mentor. Come on Simon don’t let me down. A rushed Paula, I guess they are running short on time, says Danny is undeniable, identifiable and always reliable to give them a first class performance. Simon says he was clumsy and amateurish. Randy says Danny has a dope voice and loves his energy even though it wasn’t his best performance. Kara thinks he was good but not great and is still a huge Danny fan. So that’s a NO, none of the judges pointed out the fact he treated Smokey like a piece of old cheese and threw him out by the curb. I wonder if Smokey will confront him after the show and hit him so hard he cries tears from a clown that leave tracks on his face.

16-year-old Allison – Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Paula is sitting on Ryan’s lap when he introduces Allison’s video. Smokey explains the meaning of the song, but who cares about the meaning if you don’t know the lyrics. Allison was probably too busy studying for her Idol school to learn the words. She missed several in front of Smokey and he says she just needs to study the lyrics and then she’ll do really great because she sang the song her way. She starts the song in her lower register. She really does have great stage presence for someone so young. She throws in a quick falsetto note and then goes back to her low voice. She sounds really good and is giving the song a rock vibe. When she opens up her voice and goes into the higher notes she really could be Kelly Clarkson’s little sister. Unlike Lil she manages to make the songs her own and unlike Megan she hits the right notes. She hits a massive power note to end the song. She is easily the second best of the night behind only Adam. Randy says even though she is only 16 she is one of the dopest singers and says she was hot. Kara can’t believe she was in the bottom three last week and says she sings like she has been singing for 400 years. She says Allison’s gift is from god and cannot be taught. Paula, who has a fake crayon mustache from Simon, says Allison looks fantastic and calls her awesome and amazing. Simon says Allison is a survivor after a terrible performance last week. He thinks she gave one of her best performances on a very difficult song. Ryan says her numbers as fast as humanly possible.

Final Thoughts

Matt doesn’t sound as good after hearing Adam and Allison. Kris is in the same boat as Matt. Scott still sounds like a deaf guy, not a blind one. Megan still sounds all over the place. Anoop still sounds like he is performing at his own funeral. Michael still sounds like he should have gone last week instead of Alexis. Lil still sounds like everyone else who has ever sang this song. Adam still sounds like he is in a different league while playing for the other team. Danny still sounds like a lot of fun. Allison still sounds like a rocker. Ryan asks Smokey and Barry about tonight and Barry says he is blown away. He rambles on and on and Ryan has to cut him off. Smokey says they were all awesome and he had a great time being part of the show.

Thank you Idol producers for not having two weeks of country. A few performers stood out tonight: Adam and Allison. Matt, Kris, and Danny were all good, but not at the same level. After those five, things went downhill faster than Paula went under the table. Lil sounded good, but she is so unoriginal it’s getting old. Other than a few notes during Michael Jackson week, she goes out there and sings the song exactly the same way as the original. Who wants to hear that? If I wanted to hear that same version of the song I’d just go to Itunes. We watch Idol each week to hear the new take on the songs by the contestants. Lil is apparently ‘take less.’ Unless she shows some ability to inject her own ideas into her performances I cannot see her winning the show. Anoop has some strange love affair with boring ballads. He had a chance to sing an up-tempo Motown song. Dude, that’s your strength! But no, he whips out another boring ballad. After Adam nailed his song I wonder how inspired Anoop’s fans will be to vote for their guy. I would not be surprised if he fell into the bottom three. However, the most likely bottom three is Megan, Michael, and Scott. Megan was quirky like always but missed more notes than normal. I don’t know what type of fan base her off Broadway style has fostered. I think she might have a small but passionate following. Scott is in way over his head. I don’t know if being blind hinders his ability to learn the songs or select the songs, mediocre describes his last three outings. Not only does he pick the wrong song, he then proceeds to poorly perform the wrong song. I know he is the feel good story this season, but it might be time for his journey to end. People are voting for him because it feels good, not because they like his music. Sooner or later that feel good feeling will disappear and his journey well end. But, I think it’s time for Michael to hit the road. Even if he isn’t too proud to beg, not even begging can get the judges to use their veto if he ends up in the bottom of the voting. He is a nice guy that probably shouldn’t have made the Top 13. He should be proud he advanced so far and enjoy some time with his daughter before he heads out on tour. Idol is all about the shocking outcomes, but if anyone other than Megan, Scott, or Michael ends up in the bottom three they really do need to check out the computers that tabulate the votes and make sure they are actually counting the votes and not just guessing.

Showdown at the Idol Corral

For Simon Cowell, country music night is a little like when a small child makes their pilgrimage to the dentist; the experience is awful yet seemingly necessary. There are no pure country artists remaining in the Top 11. In fact, more than a few contestants seem anathema to the music made famous in Nashville. In past seasons some contestants wigged out of the country theme by reworking a country song into another genre. Perhaps the best example is Chris Daughtry singing Live’s version of Walk the Line. This strategy, avoiding the country theme, is fraught with danger. If the performance is mediocre the judges may well call out the contestant for playing fast and loose with the theme and criticize the song choice. Some questions surround tonight: Will the judges derail the Danny v. Adam in the finals train with some harsh comments? Does one of the other contestants have a ‘moment’ capable of thrusting them into finals discussion? Will Scott and Matt play the piano on a country song? Will Adam show his versatility and dial back his raw energy. Will Anoop finally pick a decent song other than ‘My Prerogative?’ Who gets the pimp spot? Will it be one of the judges or Ryan that makes the obligatory sexually inappropriate comment? Will the judges make the pretentious walk from back stage like they did last week? Finally, and most importantly, will anyone wear a cowboy hat?

Ryan starts the show walking down the line of contestants. Last week they performed in a different order than they were lined up before the show, so we still don’t know who gets the pimp spot. Ryan says the remaining contestants have improved their odds of becoming a superstar from 100,000-1 to 11-1. For you non-math majors out there, that means they have a pretty good chance now’ a pretty good chance to be the next Scott Savol. I always enjoy how the judges and Ryan talk about ‘making it’ once you get this far in Idol yet every season most of the Top 10 disappear back into the wild once the Idol season reaches a conclusion. Last week’s entrance was not an aberration; the judges make their grand entrance from behind the stage doors. I like it better when they are sitting down and Ryan makes the introductions. Ryan comes down the stairs again, like last time. He normally doesn’t like to begin the show in the same place, so sooner or later he is going to change up his starting location. The stage goes green and the band plays an Irish jig as Ryan wishes everyone a happy St. Patty’s day. Randy thinks this group has evolved from the smaller stage in the earlier rounds, but he wonders if the theme tonight could cause problems. Kara hopes those that struggled last week improve and Paula stands by her finals prediction of Danny v. Adam. Ryan asks Simon about his special relationship with country music and you can already see Simon’s disdain. Lil and Alexis help Scott walk out to the front of the stage. Megan looks unpleased, almost sad. I wonder if we will find out the source of her angst before she performs. Kris’s wife is wearing green – she doesn’t want any creeps in the audience pinching her from behind. Ryan’s video introduction says country music has always been the heart of America. The Grand Ole Opry America’s longest running radio show and has become the ultimate country music showcase. Becoming a member is a fantastic honor. We know this because Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks tell us. Randy Travis (Travis) asked Carrie Underwood if she wanted to be a member and she says yes. Do they haze the new members like fraternities do? Did Travis have to endure a Kenny Rogers urination incident before he gained his membership? Randy tells the contestants he can offer them more advice about training horse than making music because he thinks they are such a strong group. Travis is sitting in the audience, but Carrie, his singer partner tomorrow night, is apparently too busy to make an appearance.

Michael Sarver – Ain’t Going Down Til The Sun Comes Up

The song’s numerous lyrics frighten Michael. Travis says if you miss one word you could find yourself completely lost. He likes Michael’s changes to the melody but warns him not to lose the words when he adds his own interpretations. I want to hear Jorge’s English as a second language version of this song. A harmonica player is seated on the stage when Michael starts singing. The player is not Taylor Hicks. Come Idol through the guy a bone and at least let him return and play the harmonica when contestants request the rare harmonica solo. This song choice is both good and bad. It’s certainly a crowd pleaser and I’m guessing a lot of country fans are celebrating its selection, but for a singing competition, it displays none of Michael’s already limited range. The first third of the song lies within a three not range. Michael is more speaking the lyrics than actually singing them. He becomes (I think) the first contestant this season to walk behind the judges and they all swing their chairs around to stare at his back. Michael makes the unfortunate choice of sitting down next to the harmonica soloist. In walking towards him and sitting down he misses a few words on the next verse, but quickly catches up and his almost massive mistake is short lived. When he stands up and sings again the back up singers join in on the chorus and his voice almost disappears. Paula is dancing (she would dance at a funeral if given the chance), but this is significantly worse than his performance last week. Will this song ever end; it just keeps going and going and going. One quick fix would make this performance even better – less Michael and more harmonica. I will lose a little faith in Simon if he plays up the ‘good guy’ bit again and doesn’t severally criticize Michael’s performance. Sure he is hitting all the right notes, but when there are only 3 notes it’s not really that hard. Randy says it was a cool song choice because it showed his fun side, but he isn’t sure it showed off his vocal capabilities. He twice says he doesn’t know. Kara says they got to see a lot of his personality, but she missed his big notes. She is impressed he remembered all the lyrics. Michael says the notes are important, but country music is about having fun, and he had a good time. Paula loves the song and thinks it allowed him to have fun, which let them have fun. She liked the harmonica player and believes this is Michael’s genre. Simon says it should have been good, but he couldn’t understand a single word Michael was singing. He says he could have been singing in Norwegian and no one would realize. He calls the performance clumsy and suggests we could see this in a karaoke bar. Michael responds by saying if we were all perfect we wouldn’t need this show. Huh? What does that even mean Michael? Dude, I know you probably have a lot of time to think about philosophy and the mysteries of the universe while roughnecking it, but in the future stay away from the profound Zen like statements. Ryan asks Simon if he actually liked it, and Simon says on a scale from 1-10 he would give it a 1.2. He is being a little generous. If this were a competition for people who can talk the fastest, Michael would be in the lead, since he talked his way through the entire song.

Allison – Blame It On Your Heart

Ryan sells Itunes while he introduces Allison. Travis predicts Allison will do a good job on anything she sings. He isn’t sure he has ever heard such a mature sounding 16-year-old. He warns her to avoid cute little dance moves while she is singing. She hints she might do the dancing anyway. She sounds very good when the song starts. Her song choice is a little like Michael’s; the song is more about having fun than actually singing. Although more vocally challenging than Michael’s, her voice is still bigger than this song. She does not suffer from a lack of confidence; she performs like a woman twice her age. The only real problem occurs when the song gets really low and her voice disappears a little. This is a ‘so what’ performance, but probably good enough to keep her around another week. I wonder how many times the judges will mention her age when they give her comments. The crowd really loves Allison tonight and won’t stop cheering. Kara is starting to think Allison can think the alphabet and sing it well. She thinks every week Allison is getting better. Paula calls it another rock solid performance and suggests no one will ever be able to take away the rock edge to Allison’s voice. She wants her to show some vulnerability when she makes records. Simon think it was good, but tuneless in parts and he felt like she was struggling to remember the words. She says she wasn’t and has known the song since she was 8 years old. He says she was verging on precocious a little bit. Randy doesn’t think it was precocious, no, he thinks it was dope. Travis seems really happy in the audience. Allison tells Ryan she wasn’t thinking about the words of the song, instead she was thinking about the 30 million people watching at home. Is country music week over yet?

Kris – To Make You Feel My Love

Kris is singing a stripped down Garth Brooks song. Travis thinks Kris is a strong ballad singer. If the crowd listens to his vocals he thinks he’ll do very well. Travis says Kris is not singing Garth’s version; his ability to make the song his own impressed Travis. A sitting on the stage Ryan introduces Kris who is sitting on a stool without his guitar. On Idol a stool means the song is very serious and we should pay close attention for the big ‘I’m getting up from the stool moment.’ The song’s arrangement is simple and features a piano. The stripped down backing music really shows of Kris’s nice tone. He has a pleasant if not powerful voice. The teenage girls are going to eat up this softer side of Kris performance. He sounds good. This is the first song tonight where singing is the most important aspect of the song. The first two were about having fun; this song is about singing, and Kris is doing an excellent job. He finishes the song with an almost too thin falsetto note, but he holds the right pitch until he is finished. This is an impressive singing display from Kris; his first two performances were up beat Michael Jackson songs that failed to feature this side of his voice. Paula is pleasantly surprised and thinks the performance was honest and pure. She remembered how nicely his vocals were without his guitar. She thinks he had a few pitchy moments, especially at the end, but this he made a smart choice to lose the guitar. Simon thinks he was terrific. He loves the song and likes the way he took it all back so he was in control. He concentrated on himself and didn’t go over the top. This performance is the first time he really thinks Kris has a chance to do something in this competition. Randy likes that Kris showcased his vocals and enjoyed the tender moments from this dog Kris. The other judges suggest he is a tender dog. The mere mention of tender dog probably has a few Koreans in the audience already salivating a late night snack. Kara didn’t even realize this was a country song when she heard him sing the song. She says it was very Kris Allen. Kris says he feels amazing hearing the good comments. When they go to commercial Lil is standing in the audience, perhaps begging for votes.

Lil Rounds – Independence Day

During her sit down with Ryan he asks her how much time the contestants spend together in between shows. She says, “We spend quite a few time together.” She mentions the contestants spend time in the hot tub. A hot tub reference on Idol? How long until the Bachelor and Big Brother sue for copyright infringement. He asks her what she thought when she learned tonight was country night and she says the first thing she thought about was how the only country songs she knows were in movies. She is nervous because she doesn’t want to put too much R&B into a country song, so she is going to hold back a little bit to honor the music. Travis thinks she picked a very big song. He wants her to slow down the verses just a little so she can add her own riffs. He likes it better once she relaxed and sang the song at a slower tempo. He says she has very big pipes. She handles the first part of the song well, not really sounding R&B or country. She stands still at the center stage while we approach the song’s big note filled chorus. Although she sounds good, she is showing little to no creativity. It’s as if the personality filled Lil has been replaced by an emotionless singing robot; she is just going through the motions. Her only riff comes right before the big in-tune power note that finishes the song. This is a technically correct yet lifeless, almost cold, performance. This is a commendable effort from someone obviously terrified about this genre. Randy calls her song choice ambitious and interesting. In the first part of the song he was struggling a little, but once she opened her voice on the power notes he liked her a bit more. Yet, he never felt like it was comfortable on Lil. He thinks it was just alright. Lil says she wanted to prove she is more than just an R&B singer. He just isn’t crazy about the song choice. Kara says they all know she is a great singer and missed her big voice at the start of the song. Not her best performance, but she compliments her for standing her ground. Paula thinks the vocals were spot on says she is beautiful. She suggests the performance might have worked better if Lil reached the power notes a little sooner and Simon starts mocking Paula. Simon accidentally calls her ‘Little’ instead of Lil, and says the song came over as if she was one of those girls that has to sing at a wedding and is forced to sing a song someone else requested. He thinks she felt and looked uncomfortable. Lil interrupts Simon and says she is trying to show America this is a learning process, and he interrupts her asking if he may talk again. He says she could have done something that suited her by changing around a song. Lil has performed three times and each time showed little to no creativity. She is a good singer, but unless she figures out what makes Lil Lil she will struggle to move beyond the Top 5. She tells Ryan she was trying to do something new, but understands what the judges were saying. She promises she will do better if they keep her around. Ryan says Randy calls Simon the ‘lil judge’ when he isn’t around. That means Ryan is the winner of the first sexually laced comment of the night.

Adam Lambert – Ring Of Fire

In a rare back-to-back pre song interviews with Ryan, Adam gets to sit on the stools of talking with our host. He tells Ryan the song will be signature Adam, but might lack self-discipline. Ryan says Adam and Travis are antithetical personalities and people and calls the upcoming video priceless. Adam says Travis is a gentleman and told him to focus on the words, which is why Adam picked this song. At first Adam was nervous about country week. Adam found Middle Eastern version of the song. A perplexed Travis is so confused he says, “I don’t even know what to say about this boy.” He says the arrangement threw him for a loop but he gives Adam points for being unique. He predicts Adam will not soon become a member of the Grand Ole Oprey. Despite Adam’s nail polish, Travis thinks he is a nice guy and a great singer. How about a new reality show on NBC (they are desperate) where Adam and Travis move in together becoming this generation’s odd couple. This is a really out there arrangement. I feel like I should drop some acid and sit back and listen. I can see why Travis looked a little scared when he heard Adam’s run through. This is country music, I’m just not sure which country. The screen behind Adam is filled with images of fire. The first two verses are reserved and then Adam starts to let loose. His control on the falsetto notes is amazing. This version of the song could be the music in a Cir De Solei performance. Johnny case is low voiced and grounded on mother earth; Adam is high and ethereal as his voice dares to soar where few can follow. After some uninspired unoriginal songs to begin the show, Adam is providing a much needed ‘wow’ factor. I have no idea if the judges will like this very bold song alteration. Kara has never quite seen that type of ‘country’ music. She says the fire and Egyptian thing is all a little strange and she isn’t sure what to make of his performance. She calls it strange, but she kind of liked it; she is confused and sort of happy. Paula says Adam is true to who he is as an artist, and although it’s country music week she loves the sitar sound. She thinks he is either a quick study or a natural; he is raising his own bar each week. Simon also looks confused, and asks, “what the hell was that.” He would never go to Nashville with Adam because he thinks a lot of people are throwing their TVs out the window. He thought it was indulgent rubbish, even horrific. Randy says it was Nine Inch Nails doing a country song and thinks Adam is fresh, young, and hot. Ryan says they have come a long way since Taylor Hicks stood on the stage. Travis is still speechless and maybe a little scared. I especially enjoy how Simon, who always criticizes people for playing it safe, gives Adam no credit for thinking outside the box. I also love how he doesn’t even comment on Adam’s vocals. At least say if he sang the song well or if he was off pitch. When Chris Daughtry gave the country theme the proverbial middle finger by singing a rock version of a Johnny Cash song Simon said the vocals didn’t matter because Chris took a great song that everyone knows and made it his own version. He then praised Chris for being the first artist on Idol who refused to compromise and said for this he deserved a round of applause. What is the difference between Chris and Adam? Adam also altered a classic Johnny Cash song and gave the Idol audience a sound this stage has never before heard, but two of the judges are not honoring his unique creativity. Kara is more confused than a homeless man learning quantum physics and Simon is acting like Adam just spit on Johnny Cash’s grave. Wouldn’t fans of country music also be insulted by Daughtry’s rock version of Walk the Line? Why did he get a pass where Adam does not? I guess they are telling Adam to come out and copy the original version of the song and be a good little boy. Simon and Kara are obviously not into anything avant-garde. Even though I completely disagree with Simon and laugh at Kara’s ever increasing idiocy, Adam should learn a lesson from tonight’s performance. He has only performed three songs so far on Idol, which means he and America are only dating and not going steady yet. He needs to tone down the glam rock and takes things more slowly until he gains the public’s trust. It’s like he is out the third date with America and instead of advancing to second base he went right for home. The natural reaction for a lot of people is to pull away from anything that challenges their sensibilities (accepting new things is just so hard) and instead embrace something safe and comforting, like an affable widow). If Adam proves he can sing like a good Christian boy a few times he will earn the right to experiment more freely. I think Adam can win American Idol, but I’m not sure he is willing to compromise his vision. He might prefer providing magical other worldly experiences like tonight instead of compromising and singing the songs straight (pun intended) even if the end result is a premature departure.


Scott - Wild Angels

Ryan is surrounded by screaming girls and more guys than normal in the mosh pit. Travis isn’t sure about Scott’s song choice. Travis thinks Scott’s vocals were fine, but his tempo is a little slow. Scott surprised Travis more than anyone so far. Why is that Travis? Do you have little expectations for blind people? You hate them don’t you Travis? Ok not really, but little comments like that sometimes get people in trouble. Ryan feels like he at a Jonas Brothers concert while in the mosh pit and introduces Scott on the baby grand piano. If the show gets a little more money they can afford a grown up piano. I think Scott got a haircut since last week. Uh oh, I’m starting to sound like Paula. The song begins with just Scott on piano and I really like the stripped down effect. We can hear his playing and his voice. His voice sounds so bland compared to Adam’s showmanship. It’s like Adam just juggled 7 knives and now Scott is out there juggling three beanbags. He voice is pleasant, yet bland, like a back up singer; there is nothing unique about his vocals. His piano playing while serviceable is nothing special. I don’t know if they have music available that he can read, so he might have to figure out the notes by himself, which makes his playing remarkable. I’d like to hear him play a song he has been playing for a few months. He sounds nice on the higher notes, but runs head first into some pitch problems when he transitions back into the lower ones. Halfway through the song the entire band joins in and Scott uses his fuller voice; he sounds better here than at the beginning. This is a nice sweet little performance, but after Adam’s mini concert I expect the judges will gravitate towards Scott like an AIG executive embracing a government bail out funded bonus. Scott, get ready for some unearned praise. The crowd just happy Scott didn’t confuse them with that ‘creepy foreign music’ they just heard. Paula thinks tonight is another impressive and lovely performance. She says he works harder than most people on the stage, but she thinks the piano is a bit of a crutch now and separates him from the audience. Scott says they can move the piano closer. Paula just wants him to mix it up so he can connect with the audience. So Paula wants the blind guy running around the stage. Great advice Paula. Simon looks at her and asks what she wants him to do? Translation: He is blind you idiot! She wants him piano less. Simon says this is a stupid comment because he is very comfortable behind the piano and says Elton John sits behind a piano. Paula says so does Billy Joel and Simon jokingly says they should both take Paula’s advice and stop playing the piano. Again, SCOTT IS BLIND PAULA! Elton, especially when he was younger, would often get up and run around the stage and Billy still plays some songs on his guitar. A better comparison might be found with, oh I don’t know, other blind piano players, like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. I’ve never seen either of them get up and go all Usher dancing around the stage. Simon tells Scott that the last two weeks Scott didn’t pick good enough songs. Scott explains he lost some of the songs he wanted to other contestants, calling them ‘hat picks.’ He hopes he surprised them by singing a song from a woman. Simon says he forgets the songs after Scott sings. Randy says for him it’s not so much the songs; he is looking for hot crazy unbelievable vocals. These performances are nice good and not stand out. He reminds Scott this is a singing competition. Kara wants him to up his game a little and wow the judges. On a good note, she says he brings class and poise to the stage. Scott tells Ryan he is either sleeping or arranging the song while at the mansion. Scott says if he makes the Top 10 he will come out without the piano one week. Simon wonders what happens if they have Elton John or Billy Joel week and Scott assures him the piano will be at his side for the foreseeable future. If I didn’t know better I would say Scott played the same song last week; he needs to add some excitement before the novelty of his blindness wears off on potential voters.

Alexis - Jolene

Alexis gets a sit down and Ryan asks her what she has been thinking watching back stage. She says everyone sounds great and she just wants to have fun. She didn’t see the Paula and Simon fight (according to Ryan they stormed away from their chairs during the break). She is comfortable with country because she is from the south and they all like country down there. Really? Lil Rounds must have missed that memo Alexis. By everyone, you mean all the white people. Racist. Again, this can happen when people take things out of context. She wants to show off her soft side. Travis thinks she did a great job and understands how to tell a story. He has no helpful advice since she is already perfect. She begins by walking down the stairs and then arbitrarily stops with about three steps left. She slowly makes her way towards the judges. She sounds copycaterrific on the first two verses. Right now she has about as many originality as the latest Friday the 13th movie. When she hits her first falsetto note she misses the pitch but recovers quickly. At least she isn’t screaming right now, like she did throughout the entire song last week. Her vocals are merely average, not spectacular and this is no Alexis in this performance. You can hear a similar version at countless country bars around America this weekend. This is an uninspired song choice. She doesn’t look thrilled with herself when she is done and her family isn’t even giving her a standing ovation – get out of your seats you people that’s your Alexis out there! Randy says the song is great but he isn’t sure she hit the notes right; there were a lot of pitch problems. He didn’t like the way she tried to make the song bluesy. Kara thinks she lost her edge a bit and says Alexis should have done a Carrie Underwood song. Way to be insightful Kara. I could have told Alexis to pick those songs. You are a judge, which means you should possess musical knowledge us lay people can barely fathom. Show you did some homework for tonight and suggest a few less well-known songs. Kara thinks Alexis was flat in the beginning. Paula says the song was more effective than Kara and Randy said. She says Alexis took an artistic approach by showing different sides of her vocals. She also says she doesn’t care about the pitch problems because she so enjoyed Alex’s soft side. What? She just said she doesn’t care about pitch problems. Umm, I think you should Paula since this show is about singing, and if you can’t hit the right pitches you can’t be a successful singer! Oh wait, Paula sold millions of albums without hitting the right pitches. I take it all back, she was right, hitting the right pitches is irrelevant. Alexis says she was just trying to show some variety. Simon says she was ok, but it was a bit sound alike. He didn’t hear a lot of originality and predicts they will forget the performance in about 10 minutes. Ryan asks Alexis if she would do anything differently hearing these comments and she says she should have added more dirty. If she comes back next week she promises more dirt. It sounds like an ad campaign, “Try the all new Alexis, now with half the calories and twice the dirt.”

Danny – Jesus Take the Wheel

This song is about drunk driving right? When you get so drunk you just pass out while driving assuming Jesus is going to take over. Unfortunately he is always busy and rarely mans the steering wheel. At least the song isn’t called “Jesus take the scalpel,” because I do not want to have the doctor listening to that operating on me. Danny is the second guy tonight singing a song made popular by a female. It’s a little funny this season’s most likely ‘still in the closet’ contestant is not one of the ones singing a girl’s song. Ryan sells some more itunes while introducing Danny. Poor Danny is extremely nervous while singing for Travis. Danny is so nervous he cannot sing the right notes or the right words as Travis hovers nearby. Travis hopes he can pick up the words by the performance night. He says most singers wish they could have Danny’s soulfulness. Danny has been hinting at his religious background each week, but has not completely come out for Jesus. Surely he wants to proselytize his faith, but the shrewd Danny must know America is more willing to vote for the good Christian boy, so the more he can talk about his religion the better. He stopped the veiled references to Jesus this week and instead is singing a song about Him. If the finals end up Danny vs. Adam they could advertise it as ‘The Sinner vs. The Saint.” Danny’s voice sounds paper thin and almost flat when the song begins. The first three verses are boring and copycat. When he reaches the chorus and opens up his voice he sounds so much better. He adds a few riffs through the back half of the song but like so many performances tonight, he is classic ‘so what.’ His voice sounds almost strained on the bigger notes and he ends the song on an anticlimactic soft note. He isn’t half as good as last week, but I bet the judges will be more excited than Ruben Studdard when he first discovered the wonders of late night room service. The crowd gives him an undeserved standing ovation. He is good yes, but come on people Danny isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel. An amused looking Kara says when he hits his stride it’s like non other. The front half of the performance was not spectacular, but she wishes she had 10 minutes of the back half. Paula disagrees because she loves when artists build a story. She loves waiting for Danny’s big voice. She thinks he was brilliant and suggests Carrie Underwood would not only approve of his version, she would buy it. She missed a chance to get in some more commercials. She should have said that Carrie would buy his version off of Itunes! Simon doesn’t think Carrie would rush out to buy it, but he does agree with Paula that you don’t start the song full on screaming the song. His only problem is what Danny is wearing. Simon says he looks like he is going on some polar expedition while it’s 80 degrees in Los Angeles. Randy agrees with Kara. He calls the rest of the song blazing hot, but thinks Danny needs to support the first verses better and avoid the pitchyness. I am dumbfounded. Randy is making the most sense tonight. After an entire season of talking about people singing phone books he found his groove again and is acting like he is in the studio with Mariah recording her new album. Ryan asks if Danny let go in the middle of the song and he says he knows he needs to clean up the stuff Randy mentioned. Simon and Paula missed the point of Kara and Randy’s comments. It’s not that they want Danny to sing the entire song ‘all-out,’ rather, they want him to not suck when he sings soft. And quite frankly, the first half of the song was borderline sucky. Let’s put it this way, until Danny reached the chorus I wanted Jesus to take the microphone.

Anoop – You’re Always On My Mind

Ryan is walking in front of the stage as he introduces Anoop. Anoop is a little apprehensive of country week. Travis wasn’t sure about Anoop’s song choice, but removed his doubts once Anoop sang. He predicts people will rethink their opinion of Anoop once they hear this song. So no pressure or anything Anoop. He still cannot find the right look, but he already sounds much better than his Michael Jackson debacle. The band delicately providing him music, so much so I feel like I’m at a funeral. I can see everyone standing up in the church pews as they honor a fallen friend. Anoop, when your singing makes me think of funerals I don’t think that’s a good sign. This is pretty boring. When he adds his riffs he has some major pitch issues that almost plague him throughout the last part of the song. Yes, this is an improvement over last week, but he lost his groove; this is very similar to his performance during his Group week. Maybe I’m just really sick of country music right now. Paula says Anoop is back. She is so proud of him for picking a song that allowed his interpretation. She actually makes a pretty good joke by saying this glove fit him like a glove, unlike last week when it didn’t fit (Michael Jackson’s white glove). She says his vocals are tender and honest and he touched her heart. Simon says he just managed to go from zero to hero. He says the performance was good and one of his favorites of the whole night. Simon retracts his statement regarding Anoop not deserving a spot in the Top 13 and compliments him for picking himself up from last weeks beat down. He is glad Anoop is back. Randy says this is the reason they wanted him in the competition. He showed his vocal skill and Randy really liked the dope arrangement. Kara says Anoop was the best performance of the night and a big surprise. She is impressed he reworked such a classic song. Anoops jokingly says he isn’t surprised by the feedback since he expects himself to be the best when he sings. Fox must have sent the judges a memo suggesting they keep Anoop around for a long time because although his performance was good, it was in no way deserving of such laudatory comments. I am a big fan of Anoop but he was barely better than ‘so what.’ Kara didn’t even sell her comments. She was jumping up and down and wooing for Danny like a little schoolgirl. She did no such thing for Anoop, and yet calmly says he is the best of the night? At least read your talking points with a little more conviction next time Kara.

Megan – Walking After Midnight

Travis says he wouldn’t want to be in Megan’s shoes. He says her song choice has been done so many times; in every possible way. Wait a minute here. Travis, who has been in the music business for decades and met countless ‘unique’ entertainers, is shocked by Adam’s black fingernail polish yet says NOTHING about Megan’s massive tattoo. It covers her entire arm and he says nothing. How about a clip of him saying ‘you know in Nashville we don’t really have girls with a billboard on their arm.’ How about ‘I have paintings at home with less ink on them.’ Dare I suggest they edited the clip with Travis and Adam to highlight Adam’s weirdness? I’m not saying they want Adam off the show, but I think they are casting him as the resident ‘off the wall’ performer you don’t take home to mother. Travis says her version was totally unique and tells her not to change a thing for the Idol stage. Megan is nothing if not unique. Her voice is all over the place. So much so she could be missing her pitches and who could tell. Her notes are all over the place in ordered disorder. She has a little trouble finishes phrases. She tends to give up on the very last word and go off pitch and sometimes not even fully say the word; it’s like she is racing to reach the next lyrical verse. This has an almost old Hollywood feel to it, like the Glenn Miller orchestra should be behind her providing the musical accompaniment. Her version is almost as odd as Adam’s. She finishes the song with a nice falsetto finish. Like always, I’m not really sure what to think of Megan. If only she could impart a little of her quirkiness to Scott. Megan is apparently sick; she is coughing when Randy starts talking. Randy thought this would be a train wreck, but he is impressed and thinks it was pretty good. He felt a bluesy jazz vibe and thinks it worked. Kara says the song is perfect, along with Megan’s look. She says Megan has the flu yet still sang, which demonstrates she is serious about winning. Paula says Megan has been to the hospital and back. She calls her a fighter and the consummate professional. Megan is incessantly coughing while the judges talk. Simon says she should have the flu every week because she was better this week than last. He thinks her wardrobe is sucking away her quirkiness. Shouldn’t at least one judge mention how old-fashioned Megan sounded? We constantly hear this criticism form the judges, yet Megan gets a free pass. Maybe it’s impossible to sound old-fashioned when you have an oil painting on your arm. Ryan brings Megan a box of Kleenex. She has influenza and is very sick. Megan does not wait for a commercial and immediately runs backstage.

Matt – So Small

Another guy is singing a girl’s song (someone forgot to turn off Simon’s microphone and we can hear him talking momentarily). Travis calls it an interesting choice. He wasn’t sure it was a great song choice. Hey let me predict what is going to happen. Travis will say ‘once I hear Matt sing his version I totally changed my mind because I loved it and think he will do amazing.’ Yup I guessed right. He really likes Matt’s soulful singing. Matt wants to make the song more emotional and heartfelt. The starts with only Matt’s piano playing and singing. He sounds really good on this Matt original. Neither Matt or Scott is an Elton or Billy (yet) on piano, but it’s nice having a couple of decent piano players this season. He has a ‘One Republic’ feel tonight. The back up singers join in after the first verse. The song is slowly building, except, unlike Danny he doesn’t sound weak and frail on the soft parts. He largely avoids the pitch issues that plagued an otherwise perfect performance last week, until he tries the final falsetto note; he is so flat he needs breasts implants. He made the exact same mistake last week. Lesson – stay away from the falsetto jumps Matt. He is arguably the best performer tonight. Certainly better than Anoop, who Kara already declared ‘best of.’ Kara says there ain’t nothing small about him, that’s for sure. This gives us our second sexually tinged comment tonight. She says he is a truly talented artist and worked the dynamics of the song. She calls him amazing. Paula loves his authenticity when he performs. She says he is piercing through some many people’s heart. She gives Carrie a shout out for allowing these kids to sing her songs. I’m not even sure Carrie wrote these songs, which would mean she has no control over who gets to sing them, so nice job Paula. Simon doesn’t think Matt has received enough credit for his vocals and thinks tonight he out sang Danny. Matt reminds him of Michael Buble. Umm no Simon, see Michael Buble has an excellent voice with far more depth than Matt. I definitely appreciate his attempt to pimp Matt (who is already singing in the pimp spot) but he cannot seriously think Matt has anywhere near Michael Buble’s vocal abilities. He says he is very comfortable and gave one of the night’s best performances. Randy says this was his favorite. He believes Matt has mad skills. Does anyone have happy skills? He points out how last week he compared him to Justin Timberlake and now Simon compares him to Michael Buble, two performers miles apart – a true compliment. Randy finishes his commentary by saying Matt has it going on baby. Ryan says we have ourselves a competition! Tonight is all about dismissing the ever-increasing notion that this is a two-man competition.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Michael still needs to stop before the sun comes up, like now. No seriously, stop singing. Allison still picked a boring song I already forgot and will forget again in 5 minutes. Kris still sounds good, but will people remember his subtle performance. Lil is still waiting for R&B week. Adam is still odd but amazing. Scott is still like watching paint dry, and not fancy bright paint, I’m talking about good old fashioned plain white paint. Alexis still picked the wrong Dolly song. Danny still can’t drive. Anoop still isn’t the best of the night…what were you thinking Kara? Megan still sounds like she traveled in time from the 50s. Matt is still the night’s best second best.

Tonight was entertaining but I’m as happy as Lil country week is finally over. No one entered the ‘awful’ zone tonight, but a few came close. Michael Sarver probably gave the worst performance. I’ll be shocked if he isn’t in the bottom 3. Are we even having a bottom 3 anymore? Either way I think he will have to sing tomorrow. Other than Sarver, no one really belongs at the bottom, but they will scare someone. Not Anoop, he will be the first one told he is safe, if not, get out the defibrillator because he might have a heart attack. Danny and Adam should be untouchable after last week (not even Adam’s song arrangement should threaten him) and Matt is worthy of a ‘Big 3,’ meaning he should also be safe. Kris could end up near the bottom but only because he went so early in the evening, but I think the teenage girls will keep him safe. Megan should get a lot of sympathy votes and Lil Rounds is still a favorite, same with Alexis. Therefore, either Scott or Allison should join Michael in the danger zone. After Scott’s second boring performance I have a hard time believing people will text and call for him over and over again. That means Scott and Michael should form the bottom two, with Michael hopefully heading back to the land of roughnecks. I wouldn’t be shocked if Megan or Alexis ended up in danger, but if anyone other than Michael goes home America loses.

No Save For You!!!!!!

Tonight we should lose two contestants, discover the new judges all powerful rule change, and see Kanye and Kelly perform. I hope the producers don’t make the same mistake they did last season with Beatles week and order up another week of Michael Jackson’s songs. Ryan says the next hour will change the lives of these 13 people. The contestants are lined up ascending the staircase. Scott is on the bottom and looks like he is holding a folded up cane. Over 30 million votes were cast last night; a lot of teenage girls must have calloused fingers. Unlike last night when they walked through the massive stage doors, the judges are seated at their usual spots to start the show. Ryan reminds us about Tamyra Gray, Michael Johns, Jennifer Hudson, and Chris Daughtry and says there was uproar when they left the competition. When they show the clip of Daughtry’s elimination it’s pretty funny seeing the ‘are you f****** serious look on Chris’s face and the ‘what the ****’ look on Katherine Mcphee. In response to their early departure, Idol created a new rule this season called the ‘judges’ save.’ From this point forward until the Top 5 the judges can save one person from elimination. However the save must be unanimous and they can use it once and only once. If they implement the ‘save,’ then the person will be saved and the next week will have a double elimination. Simon says this decision does not reverse America’s vote, they are only giving a person another shot. Ryan uses the example of Chris Daughtry and says they could have used the ‘save’ to bring him back the next week. Ryan is apparently very stupid or forgetful. When Chris left the show, he was survived by Taylor, Elliot, and Katherine, which means they were a Top 4, and the new rule can only be used until they reach the Top 5. Nice job knowing your Idol history Seacrest. I bet Brian Dunkelman would have used a better example. This season the Idols are living in a posh mansion, not to be confused with Posh’s mansion. The mansion has an outdoor pool, an indoor pool, a movie theater, an indoor basketball court, and a bowling alley. I bet all the contestants can’t wait to live with Jasmine’s mother! Adam says he has always wanted to live in house like this, in fact, that’s why he is on American Idol. The bedrooms appear to be upstairs. I hope they set up one downstairs for Scott or we could have a disaster in the coming weeks. Allison is amazed there is a phone in the bathroom. Apparently she never realized you can bring a cell phone into the bathroom and it still works! See, phones in the bathroom were pretty sweet about 20 years ago Allison, now, not so much. Danny misses a shot on the basketball hoop and Lil, Alexis, and Jorge all taunt him. Megan, Allison, Kris, and Alexis all jump in the pool. I wonder if Kris’s wife will like seeing her man hanging out with all these girls. Well, maybe she won’t consider two of these girls are moms and the other one is under age. The bathtub seats more people than a Ford Explorer and Alexis thinks the bathroom is bigger than her house. I don’t know where the contestants stayed the last few years, but this has to be an upgrade.

The group number is a medley of Jackson 5 hits. I guess they figured out how to do moving numbers with Scott still around. Lil and Alexis start things off and then Danny and Michael take over. Allison, Jasmine, and Megan are the next ensemble. Jorge helps Scott move into the next position. The next time they move Alexis is tasked with helping Scott. Scott is doing a great job of overcoming his handicap and looks as fluid as anyone else on the stage. Scott even turns around and follows the camera as it moves behind the line of contestants. I’m fascinated with his movements during this group number. Danny gets a dance solo (please give Scott a dance solo too). I bet they added this last minute after the judges talked about his dancing. When the Idols move forward Alexis is still in charge of Scott. Whoever choreographed this number deserves a gold star. I’m sure they would prefer having 13 contestants with perfect eyesight, but they did what a lot of people thought they could not; they incorporated a blind man into a song and dance number.

Ryan is teasing the judges’ save as if they are going to waste it tonight. Unless Adam or Danny end up in the bottom two there is zero chance of the ‘save’ being used. Everyone fares well in the recaps until they get to the Wild Cards, specifically Megan, Jasmine, and Anoop. Among the Wild Cards only Matt gets a positive comment. Jorge gets the ‘wrong song’ treatment in the recap. Danny and Adam are featured as the night’s biggest stars. If the recaps are an accurate predictor we should see Megan, Jasmine, Anoop, and Jorge face elimination before the night ends. Michael tells Ryan making the Ford video was pretty cool. If Ford ever took billions in bail out money from the Federal Government I wonder if they would feel pressured to stop sponsoring Idol. Instead of driving around in Ford vehicles, the images of the 13 contestants were placed on buildings throughout a fake city. Adam got the pimp spot in the video since his image was the only one to appear on the Ford driving through the fake city. After the Ford video is over the contestants are having fun laughing at each other. One lucky person could win a limited edition American Idol Ford Fusion. What makes it an American Idol limited edition? Does it come with an Ipod loaded with Sanjaya songs? Does the GPS system finish every sentence with the word ‘dog?’ Speaking of cars, every year they give the top 2 contestants a new Ford. I almost hope Scott makes it that far so we can have the awkward moment when Ryan gives the blind guy a brand new car! Ryan dims the lights, which means the eliminations are about to being.

Michael Sarver is safe. Seated in the audience, his family looks like they don’t even care. Come on people go nuts and celebrate. Michael is here because America loves him as a person, not so much as a singer. If you are enthusiastic enough you can guilt people into voting for him lest they devastate his cute little daughter. Young Allison is safe and you can hear Michael say, “You were scared” as he gives her a big hug. Ryan asks Jasmine to move to center stage. On Idol, anytime you move to the center stage you should probably have your bags packed. Ryan refers to the other Matt and tells him to stand up (does he realize that the other guy named Matt is already home so now we only have one Matt left). When he says Matt’s name, Matt jumps up and starts walking to the center stage. Ryan asks him where he is going, but Matt is oblivious to Ryan’s voice and keeps walking. Michael’s roughneck enhanced hand reaches out and grabs Matt’s arm ending his sojourn; he prevents him from leaving the safety of the Idol couch. Matt, filled with nervous tension, is embarrassed. All the contestants are laughing except for Scott who is probably wondering why everyone is so amused. What happens when Scott has to go out to the center stage? Will Ryan walk him there or will his brother come running on stage to provide assistance. Matt is safe and his family goes just crazy enough in the audience. Kris is next, but Ryan leaves him standing while he asks Megan to rise. Ryan says, “America voted and……Kris……you are safe.” He puts such a long pause between Kris and you are safe, Kris thinks he is in danger and starts to walk towards center stage. As soon as Ryan tells him he is safe he celebrates and jumps up and down. After a few seconds he realizes that means Megan is now in danger and he stops his celebration and looks worried about his fellow contestant. I think he would have been more supportive of Megan and not celebrated so much if he didn’t think for a second he was about to face elimination. These contestants are so nervous right now Ryan could tell them to do almost anything and they would follow his orders like the animated figures in the Hall of Presidents at Disney World. Either Megan or Jasmine is going home unless the judges use their ‘save.’ Megan is safe; she whispers something to Jasmine. Maybe something about how the judges could still save her from elimination, because Jasmine shows no emotion. I seriously doubt redoing the same song as the night before would affect the judges’ decision to save a contestant – if they are going to save someone they will know right away. Randy says after discussing her situation the judges decided not to save her and she is going home. Only now does the finality of the moment hit her and she starts crying. Did she really think they judges were going to use their one time only ‘save’ on the first night of eliminations? That makes Jasmine especially arrogant, stupid, or just a very nervous and hopeful 17-year-old. Ryan says she is strong and so smart and always impressed him. Kanye performs, but we don’t see the judges or the contestants, which means this performance probably is not live. Amazingly, after only one commercial break, all of Kanye’s equipment is off the stage and the couch is back filled with the contestants. Why can’t Ryan just say hey here is a tape of Kanye when he performed here a few days ago instead of pretending he was there live tonight? Scott is safe after the nation wide vote. Alexis stands up and her head is barely higher than Scott’s head and he is sitting down. She is safe too. Danny is safe, but he already knew that, unless he is really dense. Anoop is next. Will they mess with him again tonight? Yes, he is sent to center stage. Adam is safe, leaving only Jorge and Lil Rounds. Jorge get ready to walk over to Anoop. If it’s Lil next to Anoop we’ll have our first big surprise in week one. Nope, it’s Jorge in danger – Lil is safe. Ryan starts to tell them the results and then does his patented after the break instead. Anoop showed no emotion, but Jorge was a little surprised. See Jorge, there are still about 15 minutes left in the show, and they don’t do the final results until the last few minutes, so buy a watch and pay attention next week – if you are still around.

Ryan says every week they will bring back an Idol. Does that include Simon’s mortal enemy Taylor Hicks? Kelly is actually there in person tonight. She is a little bigger than the last time she graced the stage, but she isn’t with child, she is with cake and pizza. Even with the extra weight she looks like an emaciated African child compared to the ever-expanding Jessica Simpson. I wonder if Tony Romo ever laments the fact he used to date a girl that is not only a successful country music star, but is still in great shape. Kelly is goofy and silly while talking with Ryan and then sings her latest single. Thankfully she returned to the fun music that sold millions of records and left behind the depressing songs comprising her previous album. The contestants are clapping along to the music, but Jorge looks really sad and is not clapping. All four judges give her a standing ovation.

The moment of truth has arrived and the 34 million voters decided that Anoop is safe. Jorge is now at the mercy of the judges. He gets one last chance to prove he belongs while he sings the same song they didn’t like the night before. Unlike Jasmine, I think Jorge knows there is no chance the judges waste their ‘save’ on him. He better learn how to say goodbye really quickly because his 15 minutes of fame are just about over. He should get the name of the Latin shopping center where Allison sings, because that might be the best gig he can get in a few months. While he sings Randy and Simon talk while the female judges listen to the song. When he is done performing Ryan asks Simon if they decided to use their ‘save’ and Simon answers ‘NO’ with an almost cruel shortness. He adds a halfhearted ‘sorry’ and then takes a sip from the Coca Cola cup. Jorge overachieved by making the Top 13 and he should go home happy with his journey. The show ends with him surrounded by the remaining contestants. I was nervous when they said there would be a change to the show’s format. Rumors persisted Simon wanted to have a sing off at the end of every show with the judges being the final arbiters over who goes and stays. Thankfully those rumors proved as factual as Bernie Madoff’s bookkeeping. I have no problem with the judges giving someone another chance. If nothing else it gives American another opportunity to hear someone sing and that usually isn’t a bad thing. Unless they use the veto to save someone I detest, but the requirement of unanimity should prevent the saving of any less than stellar singers.

Black then White: The Songs of Michael Jackson

In honor of Michael Jackson night the screaming teenage girls in the pit surrounding the stage have been replaced with 8-year-old boys. Further, all the boys will all be given just a little bit of wine to ‘calm them down.’ That’s how things might play out if Michael was in charge of American Idol. Also Ryan would be replaced by a Bubbles the chimpanzee. How amazing would tonight be if all the Idols went out to Neverland Ranch and had a mentoring session with the King of Pop. I can hear him now, “where is David Archuleta.” After telling Stephen Fowler to never touch a Michael Jackson song, it’s almost surprising the show has an entire night devoted to the gloved one. America will recognize most of these songs and the contestant brave enough to take chances and alter the original song has a tremendous opportunity to emerge as a front-runner. David Cook’s ‘wow this guy might actually win this thing’ moment came when he performed the rock version of Billie Jean. Will anyone else be that brave? Maybe, but I think everyone knows that person will not be Jasmine. How much is Kris Allen kicking himself in the head for singing his Michael Jackson song to reach the Top 13? Since repeating songs is the new cool thing to do this season, maybe he should do the song again. I’m sure Simon would have some interesting comments for Kris if he did.

Ryan begins the show starting high above the stage next to the band. Hey a band, so that’s what one of those looks like. He says the Top 12 is now the Top 13 and it is their time to shine on the big stage. A booming voice appears from on high, perhaps it’s God, I’m sure he watches Idol right, and introduces the judges as they emerge from the moving doors on the stage. Seriously? Isn’t this a little bit over the top. Normally the judges are seated when the show begins and Ryan gives them a little shout out, but now they are suddenly the stars of the show. They used to be the guides helping the Idols on their journey, now they are making a journey of their own, to their chairs. The voice also introduces Ryan. Is that the first time in Idol history someone actually introduced Ryan? He is dressed in a full suit; his transformation into an adult is now complete. He walks over to Simon, shakes his hand, and says he knows Simon is loving that (the new ‘the judges are the best thing ever’ introduction). I guess that means Simon is behind the new over the top introductions. Ryan says Simon wanted to create a very interesting entrance. I wonder what other changes Simon wants this season. Ryan, with the help of Bruce, shows off the stage and the 500 fans in the audience. With all that screaming it feels like there are 5,000. Ryan asks the judges if they have any last minute advice. Randy says they have to bring it hard and have a great performance every time because any of the 13 can win this thing. Kara says she will be harder on the contestants because 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 of these kids could end up on the radio and it’s their job to make sure they are the best. Paula, the only judge to actually fill arenas with people there to see her, says the contestants cannot be afraid to use the stage. Don’t let the stage consume you. Simon, still smiling from the introductions, says besides singing well, the contestants also cannot forget the words, and have to prove they are not swallowed up by the stage. Paula correctly points out she just said the exact same thing. Ryan introduces the contestants with one coming from each staircase in alternating order. It looks like Alexis gets the not so coveted pimp spot this time. Since Idol is too cheap to buy the number ending in 13 from a phone sex company, Alexis will end up with a very random number at the end of the show. Simon says two people will be going home tomorrow night since they made it a Top 13. The Michael Jackson introduction is so sad; sad because one of the greatest entertainers of all time is now a joke. I’ll be shocked if he sings with a live microphone during his upcoming concerts England.

Lil Rounds – Way You Make Me Feel

The mother of three lives in Memphis. She loved growing up there because of all the great music and barbecue. A tornado destroyed the family home, but Lil and her husband worked through the ordeal. She says if you let go of your dreams, you let go of your life. She starts the song halfway up the staircase and makes her way to the stage. In the first 10 seconds she moves more in this song than she did the entire performance last week. Her outfit is distracting. On her left shoulder is this massive corsage looking thing. It’s like her left shoulder, and only her left shoulder is about to go to prom. She avoids any lesbian implications by changing the lyrics to say she is the one wearing high heels. She is singing very close to the original version until she reaches the chorus. She sounds good, but she does not sound original. She starts to add herself into the performance with a little riff. At the song’s halfway point she seems to find her confidence and take liberties with the song. Paula, now standing and dancing, seems to approve. Lil sounds really good now, much better than in the beginning. She hits a big falsetto note with the same power and clarity as her lower notes. She also finishes the song with a nice falsetto note. If only she sang as well as she is on the back half on the entire song. She has the unenviable tasks of opening the show, and while this isn’t the best ever, it’s somewhere between great and good. Randy says this is the way to kick off Season 8. He thinks she just put a whole new spin on the song and made it new again. He loves starting the show like this. Kara thinks everyone else is scared now because of Lil’s performance. She hopes we get to hear her on the radio because she is great. She calls her end falsetto note sick. Paula compliments Lil on her softness and light makeup. She compliments the glam squad. Paula thinks Lil’s falsetto is like angels singing. Simon thinks it was good, but considers her song choice lazy. He thinks the second half was better than the first and he hates what she is wearing. Simon says if he has 5 minutes with Lil he can sort her out. Ryan jokes they can have a special show on Thursday night called ‘Five Minutes with Lil’ and then cautions Lil to never accept fashion advice from a 55-year-old man. I think next week Lil should wear the patented Simon shirt. Lil has a strong fan base and will easily overcome going first. Having gone first first, means she probably won’t be in the spot of death again for a long time. This could prove helpful later in the season. Ryan is already warning people to be extra careful when calling tonight.


Scott – Keep The Faith

Ryan introduces Scott and sells Itunes from high above the stage. He likes being up with the band tonight. Scott says he is blind. What? OMG! Why didn’t someone let us know about his blindness earlier this season? He used to sneak out of his room at night and teach himself the piano. His sister is also visually impaired. His mother says visual impairments do not run in the family, which means Scott’s parents have probably spent countless hours wondering what if anything they did wrong. His mother also unintentionally makes a joke when she says wanted Scott to ‘see’ he could do anything. Scott cannot believe he gets this chance to sing to America and hopes he can come back for many more weeks. Interesting song choice; picking a less familiar song can be dangerous. He begins the song providing his own music on the piano. Already, in the first few seconds, he is clearly a better piano player than Brooke or David A. On the first few notes he sounds a little like a decent George Michael impersonator. Scott has a decent voice, but sometimes it’s like he is almost, but not quite nailing the song. He isn’t doing anything impressive on the piano and his playing fades away when the rest of the band enters. The song gets a little funkier once it gets going and it’s nice to hear Scott sing a somewhat up beat song. As always, his voice is just ok. He hits some nice notes and shows off his falsetto, but without the piano and the blindness I don’t know if this performance would keep a contestant from going home. I would like just him and the piano a few times so we can see how his voice sounds on a stripped down song. Lead by Scott’s family, the rest of the audience gives him a standing ovation as well. Kara asks Scott if he just learned the piano part this week and he says yes in only a coupe of days. She is so glad we finally get to see him with the piano. She likes his hopeful message he can deliver, but she loves he is still true to himself every week. Paula says seeing him with his piano is magical and calls his performance lovely. She introduces the woman that wrote this song who is sitting in the audience. Simon apologizes to that woman because he hated the song. He doesn’t think anyone knows the song. Scott says he picked the song so he could be artistic and Simon says being artistic is fine, just not on this show. The audience boos this comment. I think Simon was trying to give Scott good advice. This show is about doing songs people like and forcing those people to text and dial their phones, repeatedly voting for their favorite contestants. Being artistic is wonderful, but not if it costs you millions of votes and sends you home five weeks before you should depart. Simon thinks he is a good singer and likes him playing the piano, but he didn’t like the song. Paula, then gets really weird and scolds Simon for knocking the song after he told her it was the biggest selling record in Norway. What? Since when is Norway, assuming the record sold well there, the benchmark for success? Well, geez my album didn’t even chart in the United States, but I’m blowing up in Norway so I’m rich and famous now. Yeah, no one has ever had that thought. Randy liked the song, but felt the performance was just too safe, good, but safe. Simon adds it felt old fashioned and Randy finishes his comments by saying he wants more sparks next time. Paula tells Ryan that Simon gave her his scouts honor certification when he told her about record sales in Norway. Simon has a history of telling her stupid things hoping she will then repeat it on the air. Her massive amounts of pills and medications must disable her ability to learn from previous mistakes.

Danny - PYT

Growing up Danny did not have much materially, but he had music in his family. His father used to pull the guitar out they would sing about anything, even school. Danny, who appeared almost cocky when he talked to the judges in Hollywood, now is very humble and shocked he made it this far in Idol. Amazingly, there is no mention of Danny’s deceased wife or his friend Jamar. I like the way Danny is changing the song’s beginning. He has a nice slow introduction with minimal music in the background so we can clearly hear his voice. Then the song picks up into is normal rhythm. He is moving around the stage more than normal, but he looks a little bit like Taylor Hicks if Taylor had been taser by a police officer before he danced. He is having a lot of fun with the song and his voice sounds good. I think Taylor Hicks is a pretty good comparison for Danny. His voice and Danny’s are both similar. They each have the whisky tenor soulful white boy vibe. Danny moves down to in front of the judges’ table. They have changed the set this year so the contestants can more easily reach the table. On the back up singer parts he extends the microphone to the judges as if they were the back up singers. All the judges but Simon participate. It is refreshing to see Danny sing an upbeat song using his full voice. Sometimes he sings a little too reserved, but not tonight. This is by far the most enjoyable performance I’ve seen from him on Idol. Danny is making Scott and Lil look like chumps. Paula says the true mark of an artist is when you can hear some body even with your eyes closed and you can tell who they are and he has that gift. She predicts he is on his way to the finals. Simon laughs at Paula and mocking says we are only three contestants in and Danny has already won. He thinks the vocals were brilliant and calls him one heck of a singer. He calls him a white guy with soul, but thinks the dancing was hideous. Danny is going to talk about Simon’s comment. This could be dangerous – anytime you talk back to the judges you run the risk of looking like a flippant jerk. Danny explains he loves to dance and he loves to sing, but when he puts them together it is really difficult. He jokes he asked the producers if they could get him a dance instructor. Good job Danny. You explained your horrible dancing and earned a few extra votes with your personality. Randy is looking for a different side to the performers every week and seeing Danny do an up tempo number he now knows he can anything. He even liked Danny’s dancing. Kara says Danny has joy when he steps on the stage and is all about the music. She wants him to thank his parents for making him sing his homework. Danny tells Ryan he was raised on church music and loves it, but he doesn’t have experience dancing and singing. Ladies and gentlemen Danny’s first ‘I’m a Christian and love Jesus vote for me’ moment. I was wondering how long it would take him to get that out there and no better way than mentioning your love of church music to Ryan.

Michael – You Are Not Alone

Congrats Michael, you get to follow Danny! Michael returns to his old job wearing his fancy shoes. Apparently he is a ‘roughneck.’ I cannot fathom how Idol failed to share this fact with us earlier in the season. So far in the first four people, they have highlighted Lil’s three children and her tornado destroyed home, Scott’s blindness, and now Michael’s profession. The omission of Danny losing his wife is even more obvious now. They must follow the message boards and online chatter and realized more than a few people were getting sick of hearing his back-story. Michael returns home with his family waiting on his front porch. For television purposes they have Michael walking up the street so his little girl can come running up to him outside his house. But why is he walking around the corner? Did the Idol limo run out of gas? Did he walk home from the airport? I bet he was already home for several hours when they decided to film this ‘come home’ moment. Reality TV – its sooooo realistic. Michael’s mom says he had a trough life growing up without a father, but used that struggle to become an amazing father. He starts the sappy song seated on the steps of the stage. He is doing an almost country version. I wonder if this is his version or if he copied it form a country artist that remade the Michael Jackson song. He actually sounds really good. Significantly better than I thought Michael could sing. Still not molten lava hot, but better than I thought him capable. He is hitting all the right notes and adding a lot of himself to this preventing it form being karaoke. This is an extremely cheesy song, but it doesn’t feel like it on this performance. Simon says Michael is not the best singer in the competition, but he makes up for it with passion, heart, and gave it 110 percent. He just wished the judges knew what he did for a living. Simon is probably the one that asked the producers to highlight Michael’s roughnecking ways, and then turns around and makes fun of them over hyping his profession – I love this show. Randy is happy for Michael because he returned to his R&B swagger tonight. He calls him one of the best of the night so far. Kara thinks Michael showed he really can sing. His first song was a crowd pleaser, but this one really showed he can hit those notes. She says what’s great about him is he is serious and brings his game every time he sings. Doesn’t that imply that someone isn’t taking this competition seriously? Is Kara inferring we have another Jason Castro this season? Paula says Michael has so many things going for him, his likeability, his talent, and he picked a song that was instinctually perfect for him. By picking a calm song he gave himself room to color it up. Michael says he likes being on the stage more than being on an oilrig in his not quite cute enough blue suit.

Jasmine – I’ll Be There

Ryan does a sit down with Jasmine and asks her what the glam squad means. She explains they take the contestants out shopping with a stylist and do their hair and make up and everything. She is the baby of her family and has a lot of sisters. Her sisters are her biggest fans and miss her so much. Jasmine’s mom is with her because she is a minor. I wonder if her mom is a little crazy like David A.’s father. I’m sure Idol loves dealing with stage parents. Risky song choice for Jasmine; not only will the judges compare her to Michael Jackson, but also to Mariah who did a remake of this song. She has a little pitch problem on the first verse. She sounds a little better when the song gets bigger, but she is still having minor pitch issues. She isn’t missing any notes super bad, but there is something missing from her performance. Oh yeah, it’s called originality. She isn’t doing anything to declare this song a ‘Jasmine Original.’ The biggest alteration to the original song is at the very end when she hits a very nice falsetto note. So she does have a little creativity hidden somewhere deep inside. She needs to demonstrate more of her personality and her unique style (if she has one) when she sings or she will not last very long. Randy says he had the pleasure of recording this song with Mariah and he feels like she mixed the two versions together effectively. He was impressed and thinks she did a not that bad job, in fact, she was pretty good. Kara is also surprised. She is always on the edge when Jasmine sings wondering if she can do it, and then she did. She suggests Jasmine should have been a half key down, but thinks she sold the performance. Paula says for Jasmine’s age, she had tremendous composure on the stage. She thinks the moments before the chorus were rough and Jasmine was under the notes, but she also had some great moments. Paula tells her way to go. Simon calls it a good attempt and liked the ending. He felt the performance was a little bit robotic. He thinks she needs to lighten up and act her act instead of being the little girl trying to act like a grown up. As they head to break Kris and Allison are arm wrestling at the make up chair. Allison wins. Although they are only kidding around, I think Allison could probably take Kris in a real arm wrestling competition.

Kris – Remember the Time

Ryan is again up top with the band, this time reminding us we can get all these songs on Itunes. Kris is from a small town and his family has a lot of music ability. His dad plays guitar and says Kris picked up the torch. Kris’s biggest struggle is being away from his newlywed wife. Even though they apart a lot now, they are closer than ever. He hopes the separation will be worth it and eventually pay off in the long run. Kris is this season’s cute guy, so I have no idea why he let them show his attractive wife on camera. Doesn’t he realize the teenage girls are voting for him because in their minds they are going to marry him someday? Will they still text their little fingers off for Kris now they know he is LIKE OMG MARRIED? Kris is filled with confidence now that he has his guitar again. He looks like a lost little puppy when he performed last time, but now he is moving around like he is a much shorter (and less talented) John Mayer. He is putting a little inflection on the word ‘remember.’ This is a Kris original; it is totally different from the original. Otherwise I might expect a half naked Magic Johnson to come walking on stage. Kris goes a little off pitch on his first sustained big note. His voice just isn’t quite big enough to pull off the vocals he attempts during the song. This version is by far the most original sounding song tonight, and he deserves a lot of credit for his arrangement, but his vocals are not on the level of some of the other contestants. His voice is pleasant and he usually hits the right notes, which means he can hide his vocal limitations if he picks songs that stay in his safe zone. I wonder how much the new stage area in between the real stage and the judges’ table cost. It contains a massive jumbotron that can play videos. Kara starts things off by saying the girls love Kris. She is happy to see him with his guitar because it shows off a whole other side to him as a performer. Even though she says there were a few missed notes she doesn’t care because she had so much fun watching him perform. Kara says Kris spent a lot of time helping the other contestants with their songs; this proves he is a good guy. Does it really Kara? Maybe Kris played the role of Iago and suggested horrible song choices. Like hey Jasmine you can sing it better than Mariah Carey, why don’t you do this song. Or hey Scott you should do a song NO ONE has ever heard before – that would be awesome dude. I’d like to know who Kris helped and what songs they considered before he gave them advice. Paula, as Simon plays with her dress, says Kris was the one helping all the other contestants because he knows Michael Jackson’s catalog better than anyone. She thinks he is engaging with his guitar and even adorable sexy. Paula says she loves Kris in a way she could never love a certain someone from across the pond. I didn’t know anyone still called the Atlantic Ocean the pond. Simon isn’t sure this song is suited for guitar. He thinks because of this it felt a little clumsy. But, the vocals were ok and he is very likeable. He says Kris brought out the wife too early. He says Kris should have kept the wife hidden for a couple of weeks and the camera shows ‘the wife.’ She is PISSED. If looks could kill Simon would be in the hospital. She probably doesn’t understand Simon is talking about Kris hurting her vote totals and takes this comment personally. Randy loves the wife and the guitar. He thinks the song was kinda cool and interesting – very ]Jason Mrazy’. Ryan establishes that Simon is single and should not be giving out relationship advice to anyone.

Allison – Give In To Me

Her parents are Salvadorian and work very hard. When Allison was 5 she started singing in a huge Latin shopping center back home. There are a whopping 10 people in the center listening to her sing. Seeing how American Idol went to all the trouble to send a camera crew there, you’d think someone could have gone out into the street and brought in some more people so Allison’ didn’t look so pathetic. Maybe they wanted to illustrate just how little experience she has performing in front of crowds bigger than a dozen people. Hey at least if this Idol thing doesn’t work out she has a place to perform. I wonder if Justin Guarini is watching at home right now thinking, hey I need to get a gig at that place, it would be awesome if 11 people watching me sing. When she was 9 she knew she wanted to audition for American Idol. Thanks to her two awesome parents her dream came true. Like Scott, she is singing another not well-known Jackson song. She has a new hairstyle. She looks a little like a red headed Kelly Clarkson tonight. She sounds really good and as she moves around the stage she looks so mature. You would never know this girl wasn’t 25 if you accidentally channel surfed into Idol. Jasmine is only a year older, yet performs like she is 10 years younger. I am not crazy about the song selection, but she owns the song. I think she can do even more with her voice then she is tonight. She avoids any major pitch problem; she is pretty close to perfect. Paula verifies that Allison is only 16. Her age boggles Paula’s mind. She thinks she looks like a rock star on stage and compliments her hair. She wants Allison to stay authentic to herself. Simon says it was a good performance and is glad we know who Allison is an artist, but he wants her to lighten up a bit. She says she is not dark and isn’t cutting herself and then realizes uh-oh joking about teenage girls cutting themselves because it’s the only way they can feel alive is not really a funny topic and quickly shuts-up. Allison might be the most likely to say something that gets Idol fined this season. For a 16 year old Simon is impressed by her voice and her confidence. Randy, like always, says if you got it you got it and you are born with it; he thinks she can sing anything and is one to watch in this whole thing. Kara wants her to continue as the rock girl and hit more of those ridiculous high notes. Allison should continue to grow as a performer and could be something very special by season’s end.

Anoop – Beat It

Hopefully Anoop’s heart is no longer racing from the trauma last week. If they keep messing with his mind he is going to go morph from a sweet college boy into a chain smoking alcoholic. Anoop is still dressed a little goofy, even after the glam squad did their thing. Anoop tells Ryan he never imagined the judges making a Top 13. He wants to bring energy to his song and maybe add a few dance moves. Anoop grew up in Chapel Hill as an only child. His parents tried to teach him about Indian culture. If they have a Ballywood themed night Anoop is going to dominate. His parents came to America because they wanted a better life for this child. Anoop wants to be an artist that has credibility, recognition, and most importantly great music. Uh oh. He is singing a song that should never be performed by anyone not named Michael Jackson. This has train wreck possibilities. Maybe he is smart and altered the song, made it slower, anything to avoid comparisons to Michael singing the song. Nope, it starts off just like the original. He has a weird looking Matrix styled green background on the screen behind him. This song is just not right for his voice. He looks silly as he moves around the stage and leans over touching the hands of his adoring public. He has this silly “I’m a nice guy trying to look mean and tough’ look on his face. He looks like a nerd when the nerd finally stands up to the bully and acts all manly, until he gets punched in the face. Right now I’m thinking about someone punching Anoop in the face, which says something about the quality of his performance. His only originality to the song is to hold out one note extra long and almost go off pitch on that note. He adds a little more originality near the very end but it’s not enough too late. His hit just about every note, but this song is not a song suited for a singing competition; it has a small range and without a dancing gang and a knife fight doesn’t work too well. Simon apparently forces Paula to go out of turn and evaluate Anoop first. She says picking a song is a gift to show the world what you have, and she thinks this song is untouchable and anything else sounds karaoke. Simon says wow twice. It’s as if he can’t believe Paula actually said something negative. Simon goes a little further and says it was horrible. There was no aggression and the performance was lightweight and stupid. Like someone trying to be like Michael Jackson and failing. Randy thinks it was the wrong song choice. He thinks Anoop has a bigger voice than he showed in this song. Anoop says if he is around next week he will show off his skills. Kara says Anoop didn’t display any of his singing ability. He didn’t go up into his higher notes or add any riffs. For the first time Kara felt disconnected to Anoop as a performer, which is weird since that’s his strength as a performer. Anoop says he is looking forward to coming back and making amends. Ryan asks Simon if he regrets making this a Top 13 after that performance. Simon says yes. Geez, nobody does cold like the British. We are assuming that Anoop was the final person in the Top 13. The judges never officially said that was their decision. Isn’t it just as likely Matt was the last person the judges let into this round? Anoop says he was trying to show energy and replicate what the judges liked about him before. Ryan is giving Anoop a lot of time to explain his song choice. I guess that’s what happens when a crowd favorite sucks; Ryan spends an inordinate amount of time rehabilitation the contestant.

Jorge – Never Can Say Goodbye

Ryan is sitting between his mother and her mother. Apparently his grandmother wants to hook up with Randy Jackson. Jorge was raised in Puerto Rico. Wait a minute, Jorge is from Puerto Rico? Yet another thing the Idol producers should have made sure we knew already. All this time I thought he was from Kansas. When his family gets together they are large in number, loud, and love to dance. His family lost his grandfather and since then have fallen apart a little. He believes his Idol journey is helping his family reconnect. Did you hear that America? If you send Jorge home you are DESTROYING his family. Jorge is singing relatively accent free. He has a few pitch problems when he goes into the higher notes. This is a pretty unoriginal and boring performance. He sounds better when the song moves a little faster, but this is just the wrong song. When a contestant hits most of the notes and yet it’s still a borderline crappy performance, you know they picked the wrong song. He better start crying immediately when the judges talk, because sympathy votes might be the only thing that saves him this time. Randy has mad love for Jorge, but this isn’t the song he would pick for him because it sounded so old fashioned. He likes his upper range but would have picked something that challenged him a little more. Kara’s problem is his lack of an emotional connection; she wanted more emotion. Paula doesn’t feel he was himself on this song and asks him why he picked this song. Jorge, forced to think in Spanish and translate into English is having a little trouble explaining his selection. I think he is saying he didn’t know what song to pick since these songs aren’t his style and he knew he couldn’t sing something like the song Bad, so he ended up with this one. As soon as he says, “I was not going to sing Bad,” Simon says he sort of did. Sometimes it feels like Simon is using canned material when he insults contestants, but then, like now, he is extemporaneous very funny and we remember how quickly his mind works. Paula wants America to remember that Jorge is a brilliant vocalist that picked the wrong song. Simon says it was corny and Jorge was out of his depth. He hated the arrangement and couldn’t wait for the song to end. I’m not saying Jorge is short, but if the contestants go to Disneyland he won’t be able to get on any ride other than the teacups. I’m never quite sure how to react to the judges criticizing the arrangement. This competition is about singing, not arranging. I suppose the judges should give bonus points to the original contestants capable of reworking a song, but if the contestant is just a singer and not a musician they probably don’t have that gift. Yet, they can still make the song their own with their vocals even if the backing music is similar to the original.

Megan – Rockin Robin

She gets a sit down interview with Ryan and he calls her their resident font analyst. Huh? Ryan if you are going to use an inside joke at least explain it so we can laugh too. Her friends and family forced her into this competition. Other than being in the school choir she doesn’t have any on stage experience. Her brother, 21 today, is in the audience wearing a backwards baseball cap – way to dress up for the occasion big guy. She always imagined herself being a singer when she was growing up. She tried out for musicals and solos in choir and never made anything, so she focused her dream on a family. Megan got a divorce but found meaning in life again through her son. She misses him so much, every day, every second. She is singing one of the goofiest songs possible tonight, but what else would you expect from the always quirky Megan. She starts the song swinging her hips like she usually does and then she takes the microphone off the stand and starts moving around the stage. I think this is the first time we have seen Megan move all season. Her massive tattoo covers her entire arm and clashes with her cute red dress. I’d love to hear the explanation why she decided to go all Sistine Chapel ceiling on her arm. She is hitting the right notes and adding a little bit of herself on the transition into the chorus. She closes the song with a big power note and then does something that makes Megan unique. She imitates the sound of a bird, not the tweet tweet sound the rocking robin might make, instead, she sounds like an angry crow. As always Megan is not the best singer but it’s hard not to smile when you see her perform. In some ways she is this seasons Jason Castro, except her had better hair. Kara says Megan has a way of putting her signature on everything she touches. She says it’s so Megan and Randy, making a play on the hit TV kids show ‘That’s So Raven,’ says, “That’s So Megan.” No it wasn’t the most overwhelming vocal performance, but Kara thinks she injected her personality into the song. Next time she wants to see more range, especially Megan’s falsetto. Paula loves the quirky and unique tone to her voice, but she felt disconnected form Megan until the end of the song. She wants America to know Megan’s vocals in addition to her beauty. Simon calls her song choice stupid and thinks the vocals weren’t very good. He found her dancing borderline ridiculous and the whole performance clumsy and awkward. He thinks if this was the first time people saw her no one could imagine her as the next American Idol. Randy doesn’t think the song choice allowed her to be Megan. Simon turns around and asks Gordon Ramsey what he thought and he apparently enjoyed Megan because Simon says he doesn’t know what he is talking about; if only Gordon had a microphone and we could hear what he is saying.

Adam – Black or White

He has struggled to make it in Hollywood for years. He moved there right after high school and realized how difficult it is making it in the business. He thinks his failures have thickened his skin. His mom says it’s not about success, and his dad reminds her success if good too. Ryan is now seated on the stage introducing Adam. I wonder if they plan out ahead of the show where he will be for every introduction or if he just makes it up as her goes. Can Adam make it through this song without grabbing his crotch or breaking a windshield? He starts without a microphone stand and sings his way to the front of the stage. He has such a clear voice you can hear every word clearly and he seems to particularly emphasis the word equality. Perhaps a not so subtle reminder to some people that being gay or straight doesn’t matter. Maybe he could change the lyrics from Black or White to Gay or Straight. I guess that would be a little too obvious. This is the most original vocal performance of the night, and the best. He has so much passion and intensity when he performs he breaths life into the music. Sure there are probably some prissy and boring people sitting at home watching right now frightened by the screaming man with the emo hairstyle. For those people, I suggest you put your Lawrence Welk best of DVD in and watch that instead. Adam has complete control of the stage and when the song gets intense the lights darken and Adam approaches the judges’ table with his head down in an almost menacing method. Anoop should take notes on how to appear ‘mean’ while he sings. When the song returns to the normal happy vibe he goes back to his playful personality. A lesser contestant (anyone other than Danny) could have sang this song totally karaoke, but not Adam, this is an original performance. The audience gives him the loudest ovation of the night and Paula tells him to take it all in. She says never in the history of Idol have they ever seen someone so comfortable and seasoned on the stage. She thinks he has an innate ability to know who he is an artist. He marries fashion with music and has the whole package. She predicts with all her heart we will see her run all the way to the end into the finals. Adam is crying a little. Simon says the performance was in a totally different league than anything else they saw tonight. Now Adam is really getting emotional. Simone says the only way to make Michael Jackson work is to be over the top and yet comfortable and Adam accomplished that difficult feat. Randy says since day one Adam has been the most current and right now contestant. He thinks he could make a hit record right because he has it. Kara says he hit notes she didn’t’ know existed and she hopes Michael Jackson is watching this tonight. Adam apparently never imagined Michael might be watching right now and the mere suggestion he might be gives Adam the OMG face. Ryan walks on stage and says, “Well that worked.” He asks Adam how he makes it look so seamless and Adam says it took a lot of rehearsal to make it all work. Paula cannot understand how no one snatched up Adam as a recording artist already and Simon reminds her there are still about 10 weeks left in the show. Matt is up next and as they go to commercial he is pretending to apply make up to the make up artist. It would have been a lot funnier if Scott did that joke instead.

Matt – Human Nature

Ryan introduces Matt from the pit of screaming fans. The pit is filled with teenage girls and one random guy that might be playing for the other team. Matt grew up in Michigan and was very energetic and close with his family. He played shirtless ping-pong with his dad growing up. Remembering those days makes his father cry; his dad must have lost a lot of ping-pong games. Matt is on the piano and his playing, for tonight at least, sounds a little better than Scott’s. Finally in front of his piano his movements look more natural. He is not doing karaoke and sounds very good. He is a Justin Timberlake feel about him on this song. His voice is pleasant if not spectacular, but when he jumps into his falsetto he has some major pitch issues. During an extended run of falsetto notes near the end he is going horribly flat. When he finishes the song I think he knows he almost got it perfect, until he reached the falsetto notes. He looks a little disappointed when he gets up from the piano bench. Unfortunately, he has to follow Adam; if he went after right after Anoop he’d be looking like a young Billy Joel. Randy says it was a good performance despite a couple pitch problems. He thinks he has the Robin Thicke Justin Timberlake vibe. Kara says he is talented and hopes she gets to see him for many weeks. The judges are flying through their comments; the show must be in danger or running way over. God forbid the local Fox affiliates lose 2 minutes of the 10 o’clock news – the world could end! Paula calls talented, sexy, amazing, authentic and says she is blown away. Simon calls him very good even after following Adam. He says it was a meat and potatoes performance. Ryan doesn’t have time to converse with Matt so he quickly gives out his number and reminds everyone to be careful when dialing for Alexis.

Alexis – Dirty Diana

She grew up in Memphis surrounded by the blues. Her father has been a musician since before Alexis was born and says Alexis was influenced by music at a very young age. Alexis loves her daughter and knows she can accomplish her dreams of becoming a singer. Alexis is wearing very short shorts tonight trying to spike up her sex appeal. She starts the song reserved and almost quiet until she hits the chorus. Then she opens up into her big voice and almost screams the words. She is making the song original, but she is putting so much into the vocals her voice cracks a little; she is over singing. Every time she goes for a big note she squats down a little. Once or twice a song this move is ok, but she keeps doing it and it’s getting a little distracting. By the time she reaches the big power note at the end it’s short and anticlimactic. I think she ran out of energy or breath. This is not nearly as good as her previous performance, but even though her vocals are not up to her standards, she is a totally different person tonight on stage. She has confidence, a new style, and no longer looks like a shy little girl. If she can calm herself down and sing under control she can stay around longer than the other girls. Kara says Alexis is back and the judges are so happy to have her back. She says she was a naughty girl and she liked it. Paula wants her to watch the over singing. Simon says it was a little over the top and probably not as good as she thought it was. Randy thought it was good, but not great and loved her attitude. Maybe the judges should always be this rushed. The quickly sum up what they want to say and don’t waste time arguing with and undressing each other. If the judges always moved this fast maybe the contestants could sing an entire song instead of a shortened two minute version. Ryan warns people to dial carefully on this new number and explains they had to find an available number. They ended up with 36 because that’s how many people they had in the previous round. Did the phone sex people actually buy up every phone number up to 35? I guess if they were in a real pinch they could just give out Ryan’s cell phone number and he could keep a running tally all night of how many calls he received. Ryan says tomorrow night will feature a surprise move that could change the competition. Simon says it will give the judges more power and Ryan says it almost changes the entire theme of the show. This is the year of the judges having more power so why not give them even more. Heck just get rid of the fans voting at home and have Simon send someone packing each week.

Final Thoughts

Lil’s left shoulder still looks like it’s going to prom. Scott still picked the wrong song. Danny is still having a lot of fun. Michael is still not alone. Jasmine is still there but not might be tomorrow. Kris is still cool with his guitar. Allison is still incredibly mature on stage for her age. Anoop is still beating it. Jorge is in way over his head. Megan is still a quirky bird. Adam is still the best. Matt is still cool on the piano. Alexis is still not as dirty as Diana. The Idols are lined up on stage behind Ryan as he signs off. They are not in the order of performance, so maybe people are standing next to their closest friends or maybe the producers lined them up this way. Few things on Idol seem to happen without a purpose. After the first night of the Top 13 it looks like an impending battle between Danny and Adam; they outclassed everyone. Michael surprised me by singing pretty well, but I think his limit is maybe top 6. Kris and Matt are both cute and sang well enough to be safe. Megan was her quirky loveable self and should be safe. Alexis had some issues with her over singing, but she will be safe as well. Lil Rounds and Scott had the unenviable task of beginning the show, but they did well enough to survive. Allison is becoming more and more like Kelly Clarkson when she does the rock songs and if she stays around for awhile could be a serious threat to the Danny-Adam showdown. Anoop needs to figure this show out before his luck runs out. We’ve seen him perform three times and two of those times he picked the wrong song. The only time he picked the right song he sang one he had already performed. He needs to quickly show he can do more than just sing ‘My Prerogative.’ He has a big fan base so despite his mediocre performance, he should be safe. The only two obvious choices to depart this week are Jasmine and Jorge. Jasmine had her second chance and again let the judges down. In a few years she might stand a chance, but this competition is just too big for her limited skills. Jorge earned his spot in the Top 13 on his personality and his tears. He is a feel good story but he didn’t make anyone feel good when he sang tonight. Unless Puerto Rico votes en mass for Jorge like Hawaii did for Jasmine a few seasons ago, he has almost no chance of avoiding elimination. If America does the right thing, Jorge and Jasmine will be leaving the show tomorrow night. I hope the new power the judges granted themselves does not subvert the will of America, at least not yet.