American Idol Season 9 - Top 24 (The Girls)

We're back for another season of American Idol live, and let's just say the audition shows and Hollywood Week were interesting. The interplay between incoming Ellen and outgoing Simon should be interesting, and Ellen definitely is a nice judge to fill the shoes of Paula. I still cannot wait to see what crumudgeon they find to replace Simon, but let's enjoy Simon while we've got his great insight. The only real mistake in Hollywod Week in my opinion was dropping the girl with the funny face, but oh well. We move on, despite lacking any superstar talent favorites from Season 8. This could make for a better overall season. With 4 going home this week, let's begin the dream-wrecking!

Paige Miles - All Right Now - Paige has great stage presence and appears to be highly confident, but her voice seemed a little low for this song. She goes to a scream-jam session halfway through the song and tries to show her skills with a glory note at the end that was nothing spectacular. A good start, but not a real contender to make the top 12 if she continues at this point. You should definitely not be doing a song with a "sing-along chorus" as Randy put it. She'll make it through to another week, but it might be dicey with going first.
GRADE: C

Ashley Rodriguez - Happy - Ashley finds the bling from the J-Lo starter closet and looks a little too shiny in a silver jacket. Nevertheless, the performance was pretty decent despite a highly boring song choice. The only offense other than the song choice was spending the first 30 seconds being quiet and a little unimpressive. The chorus was solid, but this is also a perfect example of why you should not pick a contemporary artist because if you cannot measure up, the judges will rip you a new one. And they did just that.
GRADE: C-

Janell Wheeler - What About Love - For some reason, this song follows the same pattern that Ashley's song did but is far more interesting because the focus is properly on the start and Janell does very well in that spotlight. However, once the chorus starts and she gets moving, the voice was a little shaky for this song. I'll be stunned if anyone is great tonight, but this is a decent start for a dark horse contender.
GRADE: B

Lilly Scott - Fixin A Hole - Lilly makes me cringe with the too bright bleach blonde hair and dark eyeshadow, but whatever...she's from the street. The scrunched up faces during the song were laughable. It is sad that she picked an interesting song choice and then did absolutely nothing with it. The vocal was nothing special as this girl is outclassed by the shouters sadly. The judges lapped it up because she was "different." I don't know if they are right.
GRADE: D+

Katelyn Epperly - Oh Darling - Katelyn rocks a little leather dress that looks pretty solid, although from the neck up the perm makes me think country girl went a little too city. Classy old school song choice that complemented her voice and I really think she nailed the vocal more than the other girls so far tonight. No doubt she should be back next week because this is a singing competition and she has "it."
GRADE: B+

Haeley Vaughn - I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Good thing we don't need a Beatles week this season as we jump right into it with half the girls doing the classic band. Haeley got on this show too soon I think as she does not know how to moderate her voice. her high notes make me hurt in the cerebellum and the rest of her performance when she's not shouting she misses the notes. She tried to jazz it up with a blittle bit of a reggae tone, but she just lisps through and sounds awful. This is a disaster.
GRADE: F (Congrats on the first one of the season)

Lacey Brown - Landslide - Surprisingly the bright red hair fits her and doesn't make her look awful. I don't know about the song choice although it does give you an opportunity to show off your vocals. The problem is that the backup singer is also all over the vocals, which is distracting. Lacey can hit the strong notes so I really do not know why she did not go with something better, as she gets very medicore in the middle of the song. Lacey wins the award for getting Simon to say INDULGANT.
GRADE: C-

Michelle Delamor - Fallin - You know I will disagree with this song choice, not only one of the best contemporary singers of our time but her signature tune! At least Michelle swapped up some of the arrangement to make it a bit different and her own. The backup singers were on the original track at times or she was off her timing because they were a bit out of sync. This was a better than average performance on a very risky song.
GRADE: B

Didi Benami - The Way I Am - Another contemporary song, but not a good one to show off your voice. Kelley reminded me that Megan Joy slaughtered this song last year and this performance is only moderately better. You have to pick a better song, honestly. The rainbow vest was a disaster. She will probably make it to next week but she will not make the finals if she continues on this path.
GRADE: D+

Siobhan Magnus - Wicked Game - I think we have a new Megan Joy with the showing off the hideous arm tattoo, but not quite to the same extent. Siobhan has an intriguing voice because she really goes down to a bass type of level but then just brings it back up for a high note. Her range will serve her well, and this was one of the more clean vocals of the night. Take the flower out of the hair though, ffs.
GRADE: B-

Crystal Bowersox - Hand in my Pocket - Wow the girl with the nasty dreadlocks picks an Alanis Morseitte song, how shocking. She is the female version of Jason Castro, which got him far enough. However he was kind of a pretty boy and Crystal is kind of scary looking. The vocal was a little whiny but within her range which was a smart choice because I don't think she's got staying power chops. The Harmonica is a nice choice in any event and I'd be shocked if she leaves this week.
GRADE: C

Katie Stevens - The money slot goes to someone who probably will be a lock for Top 12 anyways. The song choice was a good one and even though she's shouty, it's not as annoying as Carly Smithson or this season's dreadful Haeley. She was one of the best of the night and the little black dress is always a safe bet. Judges hated on her for being pitchy, but she's got one of the most talented voices in the competition.
GRADE: B+

So we will try to improve on last year's prognostications, but this week has me stumped on the second person going home. At least one is clear, unless VFTW puts her through which is entirely possible. Unlike the funny bad contestants, she is just bad and not worth hearing ever again.

Head of the Class - Katelyn
Bottom Three - Haeley, Lilly, Didi
Going Home - Haeley, Lilly