Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2010 > March > 31 > Entry
‘American Idol’ week six: Top 10
How’d y’all like Usher as a celebrity mentor? I’m not a fan, but I thought he helped the “Idol” hopefuls where they need help most: presentation. The artist clearly knows how to sell a product, and that’s really where we’re at in this stage of the competition. So, yeah, he was kind of a tool for wearing his shades indoors, but he made contestant Tim Urban really uncomfortable by suggesting that Tim sing to him as if Usher were the object of his affection, so you’ve got to give him kudos for that.
I wasn’t sure Soul/R&B week was going to be kind to the “idol” kids, but they generally did better than I expected them to. Granted, my expectations this season couldn’t be much lower. Here’s the roundup:
Siobhan Magnus, ”Through the Fire”
Ouch. Chaka Khan’s screecher was a rare misstep for the quirky glassblower, but a pretty big one. You’ve got to figure that Siobhan did much better in rehearsal and that her nerves got the best of her during the live performance. How else to explain the “Idol” producers sticking the worst performance from the most exciting contestant of the season into the opening slot? Siobhan’s better than many of her competitors, but she didn’t show it Tuesday night. Another curse of going first now is that, with the show still 2-hours long, the judges and Seacrest really pad out the chatter with the first half of the contestant roster. That can be good if you do well, but brutal if you slip. And did they really need to show Siobhan, post-performance, choking back tears and rejecting consolation in the green room? Boo!
“I’m going to call it manslaughter,” Simon
Grade: D
Casey James, “Hold On, I’m Coming”
Casey delivered another competent, confident performance. He picked a good song and nailed it, but I’m kind of getting tired of that. When is Casey going to do something that challenges him? Casey’s like that really talented kid in your class who you just know is capable of so much but he just kind of coasts and goes along to get along, getting by on charm and the lowest level of talent he needs to display to get by. And on Ryan Seacrest’s most annoying night ever, this is where he really started to bother me: please, PLEASE stop trying to resurrect the manufactured and skeevy faux sexual tension between Casey and Kara. It’s NOT fun, Ryan, it’s creepy.
“It felt a little generic,” Ellen
Grade: C+
Michael Lynche, “Ready for Love”
Big Mike owned the stage with his ukulele. Oh, wait … that was a guitar, I guess. It just looked like a ukulele in Mike’s massive mitts. Another good song choice, another spot-on vocal performance. And Mike finally cut down on the cheese, resulting in a nearly genuine performance that almost seemed to convey some real emotion. A little boring for me, but Mike’s moving fractionally in the right direction.
“This is the first time since I’ve seen the live shows that I can take you seriously as an artist,” Simon
Grade: B-
Didi Benami, “What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted”
I thought this was a good song choice for Didi and I expected a much better performance. Didi really seems to be one of the contestants most negatively affected by the judges’ awful, inconsistent, contradictory, schizophrenic comments this season. The poor girl has one of the most unique, interesting and potentially beautiful voices in this year’s dull competition, but it is completely lost in all the drama Randy, Simon, Kara and Ellen have swirled around her. In any event, Didi’s performance wasn’t horrible, but it was really flat. And, at this stage of the competition, that’s kind of horrible. Seacrest was at his worst here, goading Didi to give up some private information about her song choice she wasn’t willing to share and clutching her wrist as if he were a cop dragging a perp to the squad car. Didn’t you feel her tugging to get free from your creepy grasp, Ryan? Stop trying to make the girl cry.
“It was like swimming in jelly,” Simon
Grade: C-
Tim Urban, “Sweet Love”
Remember a few weeks ago when the judges hammered departed contestant Haeley Vaughn for smiling so much? I think she hatched a plan to get revenge on the judges by possessing Tim, who smiles bigger and broader with each deservedly cruel critique. I can think of no other explanation, unless he’s pushing for a post-“Idol” career move to replace the deceased Heath Ledger as the Joker in the “Batman” franchise. Or maybe he was the motion-capture model for the Cheshire cat in the new “Alice in Wonderland” movie. Seriously, Tim’s rictus grin haunts my nightmares. And it’s not even a warm, engaging smile — it’s a cringing, uncomfortable smile you get in a yearbook photo when the photographer keeps pestering you to smile. That’s Tim: a walking yearbook photo. His pitch was better, but everything else was worse. Can we please send Tim home this week, America? PLEASE. I’m begging you.
“Put a little grease on it,” Randy
Grade: D
Andrew Garcia, “Forever”
I said last week that Andrew was due for a comeback and this week he delivered. His take on this Chris Brown tune was unique, personable and kind of exciting, and Andrew hasn’t delivered “exciting” in weeks. His vocals were a lot stronger and more confident, too. If he hadn’t done so well this week, I would have been worried for him, but he seems to have a strong fan base and I think he’ll stick around.
“That was one giant leap in the right direction,” Kara.
Grade: B
Katie Stevens, “Chain of Fools”
Of course Tracy Flick — er, Katie — was going to pick an Aretha tune. Sigh. Last night Katie struck me less like a 40-year-old lounge singer trapped in a teenage girl’s body than she did an 8-year-old girl (horribly) dressed up by her parents for one of those creepy child beauty pageants. Katie, I have heard Aretha Franklin and you are no Aretha Franklin. It’s the time in this competition where we need to find out which contestants have the potential to be artists and which have the not inconsiderable talent to pretend to be them. Shout out to Seacrest for continuing his banner awful night with an alcoholic joke about Katie’s father. Hammering a bad joke doesn’t make it better, Ryan.
“You have to make it young and commercial,” Kara
Grade: C
Lee DeWyze, “Treat Her Like a Lady”
This was hands down the best performance of the night, and Lee’s best performance of the season. I think it was better than anything previous winner David Cook ever did on the “Idol” stage. Lee was soulful, sweet and, at appropriate times, menacing, channeling a range of vocalists from John Mayer to the Boss. And he’s totally got his vocals in control; Lee might have made up a few new notes, but I don’t think he missed a single one.
“This might be the night your life changed forever,” Simon
Grade: A+
Crystal Bowersox, “Midnight Train to Georgia”
Boy, Crystal is really a pro. The word “brave” is far too often carelessly tossed about on the “Idol” stage, but she’s that, too, not only leaving her crunchy, guitar-toting comfort zone but sitting on a piano bench to lay her fingers on an instrument she was clearly uncomfortable with — and pulling it off. Just at the moment where I started to think, “she’s doing okay, but if she stays behind that piano she’s going to lose it,” Crystal stood up on her stiletto heels (it’s probably just my imagination that she’s always been either barefoot or wearing sandals) and took her unique, slow arrangement of the Gladys Knight tune to a new, power-ballad belting level. Amazing and unexpected. Props to Randy for name-dropping.
“You are in it to win it,” Ellen
Grade: A
Aaron Kelly, “Ain’t No Sunshine”
Aaron did a predictably decent job with this song, but his version withers (pun intended) in comparison to the definitive, still-fresh-in-our-memories Kris Allen version from last season. Last week, Seacrest called him “David Archuleta,” and the comparison is apt (wow, did I just give props to Ryan?): like Archie, Aaron has the vocal chops but none of the experience to connect emotionally with anything he’s singing. To put it another way, a recording studio could auto-tune my own voice to perfect pitch, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t download the result from iTunes.
“It was just alright for me,” Randy
Grade: C+
My Bottom Three: Didi Benami, Tim Urban, Katie Stevens
Should go home: Tim Urban
Say goodbye to: Didi Benami
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: American Idol, Entertainment, Random thoughts, Reality TV
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.