Top 24: Ladies Night

Here we are ladies and gents. We are finally to the live portion of American Idol where we as the viewers hold the contestants fate in the palm of our hands (literally, with our cell phones). As Randy will undoubtedly say several weeks from now, THIS is where season 9 starts! He seems to shout this nonsensically throughout the first few weeks, apparently not realizing that the season started months ago. Maybe he's drinking some of Paula's kool-aid...

Ryan Seacrest is back in his role as host, fresh off inking a 3 year/$45 million contract in the off season, making him the highest-paid reality host...ever. Maybe this will help him land the Emmy award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program that he has been seeking. He has been nominated the past two years (since the category was created), but has yet to win over Survivor Host Jeff Probst. Really, who still watches Survivor?!

Ellen, or "E" as Randy calls her, makes her debut with a hilarious skit of how Simon has been hitting on her during the auditions. Watch below. It's around the 2:00 min mark.



As for the rest of the show, Ellen showed that she really didn't have a clue as to what she was supposed to tell the contestants. She did well in Hollywood week, but once the camera's were live, it seemed like she only knew three phrases: "I agree with [insert other judge here]," "that was great," and "everyone is so good." She hasn't really settled into her new role yet, but I expect her to bounce back in the coming weeks. Right now she's probably feeling overwhelmed by the experience, but I still like her.

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let's breakdown the top 12 girls' performances!

Paige Miles- "All Right Now" by Free

This performance was ok for the first live performance of the season. We have not really heard much from Paige up to this point. She's either incredibly boring or just a fair singer. From what I've seen, she has a decent voice, but I'm not as excited as the judges seemed to be about her performance tonight. I thought that the song choice was terrible. I understand the attempt at taking a rock song and adding some soul to it, but it just didn't work in my opinion. She was constantly overpowered by the background vocalists on the choruses and the verses consisted of the exact same phrasings and runs every single time. There was no growth/build to the song and she stayed at the same dynamic for much of her performance. When she would do a run, it'd be the same run that she just did. When she went to a high note, it was the exact same high note every time. It was as Simon put it, "a wedding song" that you could hear any person singing- not one of the top 24 "best singers in America." She might be safe, but the fact that she was first to sing, along with no one really knowing who she is, might be enough to send her home. I still thinks she's got a good enough voice to stay on, but she needs to work HARD on improving.

Ashley Rodriguez- "Happy" by Leona Lewis

So, the judges saved all of their slams for Ashley for tonight. She hasn't had one bad thing said about her all season up to this point, but they laid it on thick this time. She performs Leona Lewis' "Happy" from the movie Precious. As much as I like her, the judges were right. She was no where near as good as the original and it came off as semi-sloppy and boring. She isn't doing anything to show that she is anything more than a karaoke version of very good pop singers (Alicia Keys, Jordin Sparks, and Leona Lewis). Her propensity to sing songs that are somehow linked to Simon is coming off as slightly brown-noserish. She needs to go ahead and do something original that shows herself as an artist. Hopefully she will get a second chance, and I think she will. People know she can sing, she just has to learn the delicate art of song-choice.

Janell Wheeler- "What About Love" by Heart

This is the epitome of a bad song choice. Who in the world told Janell Wheeler that she had the pipes to sing a Heart song. Whoever did needs to be smacked right night, because that performance was worthy of her being sent home. In order to sing Ann Wilson, you have to have incredible range, boatloads of power, and the presence of one of the best female rock vocalists of all time. Janell has none of these things. In this performance, the only thing that she showed us was that her soft, meek, and breathy voice has more faults than we originally thought. So far, she has gotten through these rounds based on her looks and overall likeability, but I don't know how long that can last. I have a sneaky suspicion that she will survive this week, but if she doesn't turn it around QUICK, she will be headed back to Florida and trying to mend things with ol' Tebow. I ain't sayin she a gold digga...

Lilly Scott- "Fixing a Hole" by The Beatles

If anyone was going to pick a rando Beatles song that was released during their shroom years, and still manage to pull it off, it would be Lilly. She definitely has her own thing going for her. She has a unique image and voice that I think people are starting to like. She is going for the Indie crowd, a group not heavily targeted on shows such as this, and doing a good job at it. Like I've said before, her vocal ability is no where near that of some of the other girls, but with her style, it doesn't need to be. She puts her own little spin on this song and makes it her own, like the judges have been screaming from the beginning of the show. That's a plus. My concern for her though is that I don't want to see her playing a slow acoustic song every week. I know that that is who she is as an artist, but to win this show you need to be versatile and dynamic. She is safe this week.

Katelyn Epperly- "Oh! Darling" by The Beatles

Katelyn Epperly, or the girl with the Felicity hair, definitely showed up this week. As I've stated in the past, I have been relatively unimpressed by her auditions. That changed tonight. She sang a bluesy version of "Oh! Darling" and did a surprisingly good job. She showed more control than we are used to seeing from her as well as more confidence. Randy was spot on (what?!) when he said her tone was great. There is a lot to be said for a singer who understands the importance of tone over all the bells and whistles. I will agree with Kara that I like her "natural" look better than the "done up" look, but that exchange was hilarious when Kara suggested that the word bubble that popped up when she said that was "B****!" That made me like Kara a little more.

Haeley Vaughn- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles

What in the world?! Three Beatles songs back-to-back-to-back? Come on already... This performance was, how do I say it, not good at all. It was a really strange arrangement, accompanied with very strange vocals and a strange (dare I say creepy) smile plastered on her face through the whole thing. I honestly think that Haeley is confused. She doesn't know how she is as an artist or who she could be. Does she have potential? Heck yes. She has a great range for her age. She seems to be able to keep going up and up in her chest voice, but she hasn't learned how to control that so that it benefits her. She seems like she is screaming at times. When she started to go off pitch last night, the rest of her performance fell to shambles. But she never lost that smile, well, until the judges ripped her a new one. If she hadn't been so heavily pimped in the auditions, I'd say she was in big trouble, but I think that a lot of people like her, so I think she will be safe. But this was a big wake up call to her and she needs to change some stuff. Isn't it funny how I've said that about almost every girl...hmmm...

Lacey Brown- "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac

When I heard that Lacey was singing "Landslide," I got excited. "Great song!" were my initial thoughts...until she completely sucked the life out of it. She did herself no favors by singing this song. There was no emotion, dynamics, or anything that would make anyone vote for her in this performance. She also botched the lyric with the TITLE OF THE SONG in it! She said "LandSIDE!" Tsk tsk...I think that she is on her way home after that little diddy. At least she can say she made it further than last year. That's a plus, right?!

Michelle Delamore- "Fallin' " by Alicia Keys

Michelle was the one girl that we heard absolutely nothing about before tonight, at least vocally. I was pleasantly surprised at her rendition of "Fallin' ", a song that too many people sing on this show. She wasn't as good as the original, but she took some liberties with the song that I haven't seen done before. She had a good voice and was able to effectively sing the runs and trills that some of the other contestants had been missing before her. She should be safe, but there is no guarantee, since so many people have already picked who they are voting for from the auditions. Hopefully she will stay, because she is good.

Didi Benami- "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson

So what's one way to kill all the buzz you had for you coming from Hollywood Week? Do a song that not many people know and do it in a way that does nothing to show how talented you are. What's another way, you ask? Let your grandma knit you a hideous hippie vest to perform in. I'm not sure what Didi was thinking in this move of hers, but it was the safest song she could have possibly picked. Did she hit her notes? Yes, but she wasn't memorable in the slightest (except for the aforementioned ugly vest). She broke rule #1 of How to Succeed on Idol. She didn't read my blog! I said that she needed to do something smart to stay ahead of the bigger voices, and she completely disregarded my advice. She is obviously safe, but no longer the front-runner like many predicted her to be.

Siobhan Magnus- "Wicked Games" by Chris Isaac

What's funny about this performance is that I thought that she picked this song because she saw how the other girls were trying to sound like the original artists who performed the songs they were singing and wanted to break away from that. Sadly, I think she was trying to sound like Chris Isaac more than anyone else was trying to sound like their artists. This was a weird performance for me. I understand that she was going for the lighter, haunted sound to showcase a variety, but honestly, we didn't get to see enough of her wailing in Hollywood to get tired of that yet. She needed to separate herself from the rest of the pack based on her vocals this week, not based on her ability to be versatile. That time will come. All that being said, I think she sang the song fine and will proceed, but it was still all a bit weird for me.

Crystal Bowersox- "Hand In My Pocket" by Alanis Morissette

Crystal no longer has pirate teeth, thank God. The producers quickly slapped on some Crest White Strips and sent her on her way. She performed a good, but not great, version of an Alanis classic. So far, we have only seen her with her guitar (sometimes a harmonica), and it is starting to get a little old. It was good when she broke out an acoustic version of Aretha's "Natural Woman," but Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette are WAY too safe for her to still be doing. We expect that. We know that's what she's going to do. She needs to do something out of left field. Sure, she's good, but Simon is 100% correct. There are millions of people all over the US doing EXACTLY what she's doing right now on the show. She needs to show that she is relevant and current, not just a good copy-cat singing out of her guitar case.

Katie Stevens- "Feeling Good" by Michael Buble

So, Katie Stevens, one of the supposed front runners for the ladies, is in the pimp spot tonight, closing us out of a pretty bland first performance episode. When I hear that she is singing Michael Buble's version of "Feeling Good" I automatically try to not compare her to Adam Lambert's amazing version last season. She has a great voice. I love her tone and her presence. For a kid, she has a lot of raw talent. If she can tighten up her runs and expand her range just a tad, she'll be in a good position. The song was a little old for her, but with Buble and Muse bringing it back on their albums, I think it was fine for her to do. Though there were a few juuuust pitchy parts, I think it was a good performance and she is hands down safe.

So there you have it. I was a little disappointed in how our girls stepped up to the plate for this performance. Too many girls got bit by the bad song bug. I guess it's something that you have to get used to once you get on the show. I'm sure it's more difficult than it looks. As for who is going home, I think that Lacey is the only sure bet to get the boot. The other spot is up for grabs, seeing as enough girls did poorly enough for it to be a crap-shoot. If I had to vote a girl out, it'd probably be Janell, but we all know how much America loves it's little blond, pretty girls with less talent than the rest (see Cook, Kristy Lee from season 7). She deserves to go home, but I expect to see one of the lesser knowns unfairly get tossed.

Tonight we have the guys' performances. Hopefully they will take it to heart that Simon has deemed this a "girls year" and bring their A-game. I'm looking forward to what some of these guys have up their sleeves...except for Big Mike, because I saw what he had up his sleeves last night: arms bigger than Aaron Kelly and Tim Urban put together!

What did you think of the girls' performances? Was I too tough on them? Who do you think will be eliminated on Thursday? Let me know!

Until next time...

Your American Idol Junkie,

Billy