American Idol 9 - Top 12

Let the finals begin! For this weird transition season between the Ellen years and the Simon and Paula years, American Idol hits their stride with the beginning of the stretch run. Only one goes home at a time now, which means there is room for a mistake, but only if you get bigger mistakes from someone else. Given the field, I will not be surprised to see some mediocrity leading right up until mid-May. Idol did the Beatles two years ago, and now they take on the other legendary band from the time The Rolling Stones. Let's see if they can ruin a rock legend!

Michael - Miss You - This is not a theme that favors Michael, but he throws some soul into this song and works with his falsetto to add some weird emphasis points. He ends up a bit out of breath with the fast pace at the end, but he hits some solid notes in the chorus. I think overall this is one of his weaker performances but not too bad. He's still better than half the field.
GRADE: C+

Didi - Play With Fire - Didi is looking sharp tonight, but she makes some serious faces to fit the words of the song and it makes her look incredibly overwrought and funny. This song was kind of a slow song to start with but she slows the pace a bit more I think. This turns into a serious ballad and the performance is good for her. If she keeps improving, she may have a chance to keep moving up the ladder.
GRADE: B

Casey - It's All Over Now - Casey is one of the few contestants who has the balls to do the Rolling Stones version of the song, and I don't think that's a mistake with this catalog. A solid performance and Casey can pull off the rocker look and vibe, plus he plays sweet guitar. This again was not his best but very good from a frontrunner. I do like the little bluesy feel towards the end of the song.
GRADE: B

Lacey - Ruby Tuesday - Lacey finally dings the fail outfit department, which is not a surprise honestly. Lacey has a weird kind of vibrato that comes off weak in this song. Plus racing through the last line of the chorus was the wrong choice for quirky. Lacey could be headed to the bottom three with this one.
GRADE: D

Andrew - Gimme Shelter - He dropped the guitar thankfully this week, which is a smart move. Mr. Garcia looks very sharp in the suit jacket and jeans. His glory note kind of faltered in the middle when I thought he would redeem the song. All in all this again was not terrible but not earth-shattering.
GRADE: C-

Katie - Wild Horses - The spotlight from behind is not a real good look for most people, including Katie. I don't know that she has any control over that though. She picked this song because the lyrics spoke to her...bullshit...she picked it because it is as melodramatic as the Stones get. This was a plain jane performance that was not terrible by any means but not moving her up either. I disagree with the judges, the changes to the song were not good.
GRADE: C-

Tim - Under My Thumb - Tim makes an interesting choice with a very jamaican sort of melody. I'm usually not a fan of reggae wannabes on Idol, but this was not too bad. Tim continues to improve but this was a very poor choice. However, he did not show off his vocals at all in a singing competition.
GRADE: D

Siobhan - Paint It Black - I am incredibly surprised by this song choice because anything on guitar hero is usually outside the realm of Idol. However, Siobhan makes the first verse a little dramatic, and the whole song goes from nasal to whiny. the screech at the end did not help, and I think this could put her in jeopardy no matter what the judges say. A good try but it kind of flopped. The judges lapped it up which is no surprise.
GRADE: D+

Lee - Beast of Burden - I think I realize why Lee is so unpalatable to me, and it's because he is a weaksauce version of Danny Gokey's voice. He kind of slurs through a lot of the liens and does not enunciate, making him sound poor. He did his thing and he did not make any terrible noises like other contestants, but he is the king of mediocrity.
GRADE: C

Paige - Honky Tonk Forever - Paige does not have a country voice or a rocker voice, and so this song comes off really cheesy from her. She sounds like a bad Mary J. Blige singing a country karaoke. She is squeaky and weak in places. I could not detect any real bad pitch, but I do not think this is what will bring her back from the brink.
GRADE: D

Aaron - Angie - Aaron picks a song right in his wheelhouse, at least as close as he can get. Aaron actually has good stage presence for his age, much better than The Archulator if we're comparing teen idols. This performance was just mediocre and safe. He's not going home, but he's not winning with these performances.
GRADE: C

Crystal - You Can't Always Get What You Want - Crystal put this song into her box, which is a Janis Joplin meets Alanis Morseitte (hence her song choices before the finals). She gave a good performance as usual but it doesn't send me shouting home for next week. We'll see what she does with a different theme.
GRADE: B

So we make it through week one and everyone moves toward the middle. Surprisingly, Casey moves back up to the leaderboard but Crystal and Mike are still right there. Kind of a hard call on who is going home, considering the only true flop of the night universally is the VFTW champion Tim. So we'll say they keep him around since the VFTW voting block is incredibly strong until the top 8.

TOP PERFORMER - Casey
BOTTOM 3 - Paige, Tim, Lacey
GOING HOME - Lacey