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‘American Idol’ week four: Top 12
“Idol’s” lackluster Top 12 took on The Rolling Stones last night, with predictably average results. Honestly, the entire field is so bland that’s it’s impossible to predict who’ll go home based on talent (or lack thereof) so it becomes a guessing game based on audience response and who is probably doing the majority of voting.
Katie Stevens, for instance, should have been gone weeks ago, but the producers keep putting her center stage and the tweens in the crowd go nuts when she so much as bats a precocious, overly-confident eyelash.Casey James is being positioned as a sex bomb, but Lee Dewyze’s sensitive-guy act is playing gangbusters on the Internet. Lilly Scott’s untimely and probably unjust departure gives Siobhan Magnus more latitude to get weirder and weirder.
So, while this season is not particularly entertaining as a singing competition, it is relatively interesting as a science project.
Clearly, I can’t get no satisfaction. Here’s the roundup:
Michael Lynche, “Miss You.”
Lynche seems more and more like the guy to beat, doesn’t he? His high-register performance was enlightening, and didn’t leave the judges asking, “What’s a matter witchoo, boy?”
“At some point I’m going to be disappointed, but not yet,” Ellen.
Grade: B
Did Benami, “Play with Fire.”
Wow, Didi goes dark. Okay, we won’t play with you this week, and we hope Seacrest keeps his mitts off of you, too.
“That was one of your best performances. You’re on fire,” Randy
Grade: B-
Casey James, “It’s All Over Now.”
Here comes my 19th nervous breakdown. This was tuneless, the guitar playing was unspectacular and Casey’s voice sounded weak and thin.
“For me, that was like an audition performance,” Simon
Grade: C
Lacey Brown, “Ruby Tuesday.”
I’ll hang a name on you, Lacey: Underachiever. This song kind of sounded like it could have been performed in the lounge of a Ruby Tuesday’s and the speeding up of “still I’m gonna’ miss you” smacked of gimmickry. Not my favorite performance from one of my favorite performers.
“It was 50-50 for me,” Kara
Grade: C+
Andrew Garcia, “Gimmee Shelter.”
Nobody’s giving you anything, Andrew. You’ve got to earn it. I’m about ready to admit that i was wrong about Andrew. If he can’t pull it together, and fast, he really will be this season’ Danny Gokey.
“It was just pitchy everywhere, it wasn’t great,” Randy
Grade: C-
Katie Stevens, “Wild Horses.”
Finally a decent performance from the little filly. What else is there to say? She is very … competent.
“You made some nice variations on the melody,” Kara
Grade: B-
Tim Urban, “Under My Thumb.”
You know what’s under my thumb, reggae mon? The fast forward button on my remote. That was a big mistake.
“I felt like I was at a resort, drinking a pina colada,” Ellen
Grade: D
Siobhan Magnus, “Paint it Black.”
The Mad Magazine version of this would be called “Paint it Blechh.” Mine too, kinda. The judges went nuts over this, but I thought it was weird, screechy and not great (and I’m a big fan). And I’m not sure a comparison to Adam Lambert a particularly good thing.
“It was the standout performance of the night,” Kara
Grade: C-
Lee Dewyze, “Beast of Burden.”
Lee is totally playing the sensitive guy card and, according to Twitter trending topics, it’s totally working. Bonus: it sounded like Lee finally hit most of the notes.
“Dude I thought it was dope,” Randy
Grade: B-
Paige Miles, “Honkey Tonk Woman.”
She blew some notes and didn’t blow my mind. Or, probably, her chances. Suffering from laryngitis, Paige found her voice. Kinda’.
“You did alright with it; I liked it,” Randy
Grade: C
Aaron Kelly, “Angie.”
I was really expecting to hate this and ended up liking it quite a lot. I’m not a fan, but the judges were right in praising Aaron’s song choice. But what’s with all the “sittin’ on the staircase singing” performances? I know they’ve got a big, new set and everything, but I can totally see the producers saying, “the staircase is cool! get them to use the staircase more!”
“I beat you up last week, but you showed me this week,” Kara
Grade: B
Crystal Bowersox, “Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
It wasn’t inspired, but I guess I can’t always get what I — oh, never mind. Man, Crystal can sing, but I have to take half a grade off because she gave a shout-out to someone in the crowd with a “Mama Sox” sign. Man, that’s annoying. Please don’t embrace that; it will make me like you less.
“This was the first time when I think you were beaten by someone,” Simon
Grade: B
Should go: Tim Urban Will go: Tim Urban
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