American Idol: 3.4.10 - Lady's Night

Hope they are good!

Numbers are 1-866-IDOLS-##

01) Crystal Bowersox (Long As I Can See the Light, by CCR) She's got a twin brother who is "kind of a square."  She's got a little trinket bag that she keeps in her pocket when she performs.  She started off really mellow and dang, I love her voice.  She's got quite an instrument there.  She's got her guitar again, but no harmonica.  This felt like the Crystal Show.  I actually rewound it to watch it again.  Randy blathered on about how truth is reality, and loves how Crystal is true to herself.  Ellen called it pure, raw, natural talent.  Nothing pushed, nothing forced, just awesome.  Kara got the song that Crystal sang last week wrong, but thinks that she hit a new level tonight.  Simon loves that Crystal didn't play the sympathy thing, and she just picked a great song and he admits that he underestimated her last week.  He said, like Kelly Clarkson, this is a moment when they realized that they have a real artist here.  I haven't voted yet this season, but I'm voting for her.  She's amazing.


02) Haeley Vaughn (The Climb, by Miley Cyrus)  I freaking hate Miley Cyrus, so this is going to be a tough battle for me to like it.  Haeley makes her own headbands and hair accessories.  She is incapable of not smiling.  She has a serious lisp when she sings, and it bugs me.  I might overlook it if she had a really good voice, but she doesn't.  And this song?  Oh, save me, it's dreadful.  It was flat and annoying.  And the longer the song went on, the worse she got.  Put her out of her misery, America.  Randy Yo'd it, and asked if she wants him to keep it real.  He said it was excruciating.  Thank you, Randy!  Ellen said it seemed like Haeley memorized the song and was just singing it, but didn't feel it.  Kara thinks that people are rooting for her (I'm not).  She thinks that Haeley's a really good performer, but she needs about a year to work on her actual singing.  Simon said that it was a complete and utter mess.  He said there's a certain irony in her singing a song about climbing, when she actually fell off.  Seacrest thought that was too mean.

03) Lacey Brown (Kiss Me, Sixpence None the Richer) Lacey loves to go antiquing and refurbish old things.  She tells herself that she was made to sing before she performs.  She took Kara's advice from last week for song choice.  The arrangement was weird in the beginning, but this is miles better than last week, that's for sure.  I still don't think she's winning this thing, but this is much much better.  Near the end, she started sounding angry and shouty, and this is not an angry, shouty song.  All in all, a huge improvement.  Randy, yo, thought it was a good song choice, but thought it was karaoke.  Ellen said that though she didn't change it up, she was adorable, and it was the right song.  Agreed.  Kara felt that they were losing her unique tone last week, but this song brought it back.  She warned Lacey to step it up, but this put her back in the playing field.  She wants Lacey to sing happy songs.  Simon thought it was marginally better than last week, but thinks that it's obvious to him that Lacey is in a competition, instead of showing what kind of artist she is. 


04) Katie Stevens (Put Your Records On) Katie can say "Give me a kiss" in six languages, including English.  Nice talent.  She says that she doesn't walk around asking people for kisses, but she likes to know it.  I really like this song.  She's got a really good alto, and I appreciate that.  She does have the stand-and-bob going on, which was a bit annoying.  She had a couple pitch problems, but nothing fatal.  Her octave switches were pretty good.  She's a little throaty for me, but this was pretty good.  Aight, so yo, listen, Randy.  He liked the bit after the bridge in her upper register.  He thought the first part of the song was pitchy and all over the place.  I didn't think so.  Ellen thinks she has a great voice, but she still doesn't feel like she is young enough.  She doesn't want to hear anything she would hear in her dentist's office.  Kara agreed with Ellen, and is frustrated by Katie.  She thought she was in the wrong key, and the song didn't have enough impact.  Simon liked that she took their notes, but she doesn't know what kind of recording artist she wants to be.  I thought it was better than they seemed to think it was.  Kara wanted her to sing a song that is relevant to her life.  Randy wants her to sing by someone younger than 20.


05) Didi Benami (Lean on Me, by Bill Withers)  I really like her shirt.  She was her schools mascot in middle school for 2 years.  She meows before she goes on stage because it opens up her vocal chords.  She hopes to bring up her star meter a little.  She's sitting on a stool.  She has changed the song up some, but not in a "oh god, what did she do to this song" kind of way.  I think that she and Lacey have similar tones, but hers is better.  There were some pitch problems in there, but she did a good performance in my opinion.  She appealed to listeners to pick up the phone (in her lyrics), and I think I will.  I like Didi.  A lot.  I see potential.  Randy hated the song choice and thought it showed the imperfections in her abilities instead of showcasing what she can do. Ellen loves her voice, and her presence, and applauded her for doing things with the song, but didn't love the choice.  Kara said it wasn't good, and wanted her to be consistent, and wanted to see her doing her own interpretation, with her guitar.  Simon thought she was screeching, and was frustrated because she is a cool artist, but wasted her opportunity doing something generic.  I think he then muttered that it was a really bad outfit, and I take offense to that, too.  Poor Didi was holding back tears.  I love her, and I think I'll throw a vote at her.  Could it have been better?  Sure.  But it wasn't as bad as all that, I didn't think.

06) Michelle Delamore (With Arms Wide Open, by Creed)  She works with kids and loves how real they are.  She meditates and visualizes what she wants to happen on stage before she performs.  She started off really badly.  She's really breathy, and I didn't like what she did to the song.  Also, it looks like she was wearing a diaper.  A big giant diaper in the form of a bad 80's prom dress.  Hiked up over jeans.  You know in Labyrinth, when Sara is running though the field toward her house in the beginning, and she's got that dress on and hikes it up to run and she's got jeans on?  Yeah.  Like that.  But worse.  Oh right, the singing. This performance is painfully bad.  She barely hit any of the notes well, and her performance was awkward.  Her last note was awful.  Oh, Michelle.  Bad.  Bad. Bad.  Randy, yo, wondered how she thought she did.  Randy liked her outfit, but thought she had pitch problems, and thought the song fell flat.  Ellen also thought that she looked fabulous.  What?  Anyhow, she liked her performance, and thought it almost worked, but not quite.  Kara thought it was her best performance ever.  What?  She thought it was believable, even if it wasn't technically perfect.  Simon agreed with Kara, and thought that it was 80% right.  I'd say... no.

07) Lilly Scott (A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke)  Lilly plays a whole slew of instruments.  I want her to stick around so I can see some of those.  She uses a throat spray before going out on stage.  She's got the 12-string out tonight.  I still think she looks like Tina Yothers.  I kind of love her dress, and her voice is really fun.  (Similar to Didi and Lacey).  Randy, yo, loves how unique she is, and thinks she worked it out and did her thing, and it's his favorite performance of the night.  Ellen doesn't quite know what It is, but Lilly has it.  Kara was riveted, and said she had a Moment.  Simon thought it was good, but not as great as the rest of them say.  He did think that Crystal was stronger than her, but he liked her.

08) Katelyn Epperly (The Scientist, by Coldplay) She studied to be a recording engineer, and goofs off before she goes on stage.  She was playing the piano, and she looked really pretty.  She had a couple pitch issues, and I wish that she'd picked up the tempo some, but that was pretty good.  Randy liked it, but thought it was way slow.  Ellen liked that she was playing guitar, but then remembered that she was playing piano, but thought it was so slow that it got sleepy.  She thought it sounded like a lullaby.  Kara understands where the other two are coming from, but she kind of loves Katelyn, and thinks she is all over the place, but really good.  She also took the chance to get some of her own singing in.  Simon said that apparently, Natasha Beddingfield sang the song in almost the same way, but Katelyn said she never heard it.  He worried it got a little corny, but he thought it was good.


09) Paige Miles (Walk Away, by Kelly Clarkson) She got a drink of Vitamin Water before going to her clip.  She likes to color in coloring books.  I do, too, Paige.  She's singing Kelly, so she'd better be awesome.  She changed some of the phrasing in the beginning, but did a pretty good job.  Kelly is better.  She got a little whoopy in parts, and her transition up to the high note was rough.  She was comfortable on stage, I'll give her that.  Not bad.  Kelly's better.  Yo yo, Kara wrote that song with Kelly.  Randy thinks she wants to be a soulful rocker girl, but he wasn't over the top in love with it, because he thought it had too many words.  Um.  Ellen thought it was fantastic and loves everything she did with it, and appreciated her energy and the fun she brought to it.  Kara obviously loves the song, but didn't think that she got the lyrics of the song, because she was smiling the whole time.  Simon agreed with Randy, and thought it was the wrong song choice for her, and thought it was forgettable.  I won't be voting for her, but she wasn't bad.


10) Siobahn Magnus (Think, by Aretha Franklin) She had a mohawk a year and a half ago.  It actually looked pretty good!  I think she could rock that.  She does lip drills before the show.  Her outfit is terrible, but I really like her.  She hit some bum notes here and there, but nothing terrible.  She was having fun on stage, that's for sure.  Her long notes were very good.  Randy was all smiles, yo, and urged her to check it out, and thought it was funny that she picked the dopest song ever, and slayed it.  Where's my Randy dictionary?  Ellen loved it too and couldn't stop smiling, either.  Kara also couldn't get over the huge note she hit.  Siobahn said that she figured out how to hit that high note while belting in the shower to Kelly Clarkson.  Simon thought parts of the song were terrible, but that note was incredible, and thought her clip was a whole lot more interesting than coloring hippos.  I'll throw a vote at her.

Crystal is way out on top for me, then Lilly and Siobahn, and I really kind of liked Katie.  I also liked Didi even though they hated her.  I'll be throwing some votes for Crystal, Lilly, Siobahn, and Didi.

I remain underwhelmed by Lacey, and Katelyn blew it for being too slow.  Paige was good, but I practically forgot about her by the time the recap came around.

Haeley can go home yesterday, and for my money, Michelle can go with her.  I have no idea why the judges liked that.