American Idol Season 8 – And Then There Were 9

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March 31st, 2009 Permalink

Tonight, I have three judges! Yes, these three are very important people in their own right.

The first guest judge is my sister who was supposed to invite me over for dinner and must’ve forgotten.

And the next two people are married to each other. Andrew and Amy Padgett are also here to help me out. (I’ll be in Texas this weekend so I’ll get to see them for the first time in a few years.)

And I’m going to need a lot of help. For some reason tonight, I’m far more tired than I have any right to be. But I am. Hopefully they can pick up the slack for me.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. Adam Lambert – He showed me for putting him in the number 2 spot. I was wrong.
2. Danny Gokey – He’s a solid second place, but also probably a distant one.
3. Allison Iraheta – She was probably the second best performer last week.
4. Lil Rounds – Even though I liked her, it seems that she disappointed some folks.
5. Matt Giraud – He’s slowly climbing up the list.
6. Kris Allen – He’s shorter than Ryan! Is that possible?
7. Anoop Desai – I think he’s starting to gain some fans here.
8. Megan Joy – It’s very hard for me to be an unbiased judge here.
9. Scott MacIntyre – I like Scott, you like Scott, but he’s just not as impressive as some of the other contestants.

The Departed

1. Young Jasmine Murray
2. Young Jorge Nunez
3. Young Alexis Grace
4. Young Michael Sarver

Tonight’s theme is around the top 40 songs or something.

Ok, I guess it’s a historical list because Anoop is singing an Usher song from about 4 years ago.

Anoop Desai is singing Usher’s Caught Up and it’s a complete poser performance. He’s not cool enough to pull it off. Not even close. Tawni was a bit bored and didn’t like his annoying facial expressions. Andrew thinks it’s about a five out of ten. Amy says he seems like a kid trying to be a superstar and his voice needs to mature to be good. Randall says he picked up his swagger, but wasn’t sure it was the right song. Kara says that he needed to do more, but he played it safe. Paula says she loved his playful side. Simon thought it was a complete and utter mess because he looked like a wannabe. Me and Simon are on the same page so far.

Megan Joy is singing Bob Marley. Huh? Ok. She’s signing Turn Your Lights Down Low. For some reason, I kept yearning for Lauryn Hill and I got Megan instead. The only thing Megan has on L-Boogie is that she’s not crazy as far as we know. My sister says that she just doesn’t like Megan’s voice for the song. Andrew says she doesn’t have any energy and just can’t connect with the song. Amy sort of likes it, but thinks Megan uses her voice wrong. Kara says she thinks she’s in trouble even though she really likes her. She says she wanted to hear Adele’s Chasing Pavements which is what I suggested when talking to a friend last week. I’m telling you. Kara and are here with each other (I just pointed to my eyes and then to hers on the TV). Paula basically told her to not dance anymore, in not those words, but that’s what she meant. Simon says it was monotonous. Randall didn’t like her song choice at all.

One thing that they should’ve never done is put Megan in tight jeans. She has a bad case of noassatall. Even worse than Carrie Underwood’s. It made me sad.

Danny Gokey is singing What Hurts The Most by Rascal Flatts. It wasn’t my favorite kind of Danny performance, but it was good enough to where he showed off his voice enough. It just wasn’t all that fun. Tawni calls him “Danny my man-ny”. She says that although she didn’t like the last note, she was definitely liking the performance. Andrew definitely likes Danny and liked the performance, but also thought he left a little on the table. Amy says she’d buy this on CD. Paula says he left her wanting more. Simon says it was his best performance. Randall says the competition started with this performance. Kara says he moved everyone emotionally.

Allison Iraheta is next with No Doubt’s Don’t Speak. She has a guitar up there which I think is just for show because she lost it mid-performance. She can definitely sing, but I thought the performance was a bit uneven. Tawni thinks her timing was off a bit and didn’t like her outfit. Andrew thinks she’s a dark horse and thought she was just a tad bit better than Danny tonight. Amy likes the vocal but thinks the guitar threw off her stage performance, which is a strong part of her act. Randall says she was ahead of the band and he didn’t get her outfit. Kara says she’s a rocker and doesn’t need to dress so punk, but she still liked the performance. Paula thinks she’s skating by and going right to the finish line. Simon says she lost her identity a bit by dressing up so crazily. He says she shouted the song as well.

She comes across as such an odd person that I wonder if the fans will gravitate towards her. I kind of like her awkwardness because it does show that she’s young and almost like a near prodigy, but I’m not sure if the fickle fans dig her.

Scott MacIntyre is predictably performing Billie Joel. He’s got the Steve Sanders afro going on. I don’t think this performance keeps him around. It was nice, but at this point, that’s all he is. My sister says the same thing. Andrew thinks he should join the the David Foster Institute for Young Men with Lots of Hair Who Sing Nice and Can Sell Tickets to Older Women and Their Daughters Who Have Finally Realized That What They Really Don’t Want to Do is Spend Another Ninety Eight Bucks on Josh Groban. Amy thinks it was a piano bar performance and it didn’t compare favorably to the original. Kara says it was a good song choice and she loves the new look. Paula is most proud of Scott and it’s not because of his handicap, but everything he does that makes her forget about the handicap. Simon says it was his best performance by a country mile. Randall says it was one of the best of the night.

Matt Giraud is doing You Found Me by the Fray. He’s standing up at the keyboard while performing. What’s interesting is that he’s performing a song that I never really liked, but with him singing it, I kind of like it. My sister says it was a bit too karaoke for her taste. Andrew thinks it could’ve been good, but it fell flat. Amy thinks it’s a poor performance and is unimpressed with Matt. Paula says it was a sound alike performance and not great. Simon says he didn’t get it at all and it was a pretend performance. Randall says it was just the wrong song. He says he has more chops than the song allowed him. Kara says he needs to commit to one side, but he’s still good enough to stick around.

Lil Rounds is singing Celine Dion’s I Surrender. New night, new wig. She doesn’t have the same noassatall problem that Megan has. She’s the anti-noassatall. She hit her one big note to show off and it sounded clean to me. And then she did it again. Tawni says that she hit the big notes, but didn’t seem to hit the smaller ones. She didn’t really like the song. Andrew says she was flat and uninteresting. Amy thinks Lil Round’s voice sounds uninspiring and says her tone isn’t nice and her pitch is all over the place. Randall says it wasn’t the right song choice, but she sang the song well. Kara says it was effortless even though she didn’t like the song choice either. Paula says she doesn’t want an adult contemporary Lil Rounds. Simon says it was safe and soft.

Adam Lambert is singing Wild Cherry’s Play That Funky Music and he’s trying to make it current. He’s got his hair in a very impressive pompadour (much like the one to the left). I wasn’t a fan of the wild banshee screaming, which was most of the second half of the song, but the first half was pretty good. He’s just at a different level from a performer standpoint than everyone else. My sister is now an Adam fan after the last two weeks. She thought it was very fun. Andrew says he liked his vocal performance, but he still feels that his performance could be less forced and more real. Amy thinks he’s the real deal now after not thinking so earlier in the season. Paula and her bulging boobs says something about geniuses and compares him to Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler. Simon says it was original. Randall says he’s in the star zone. Kara says it was like Studio 57.

Kris Allen ends the show and is going to put the guitar down and play the piano. He’s singing Ain’t No Sunshine. For some reason, he also decided to grow a fairly terrible mustache. He gives us his signature Kris corniness, but it was pretty good. He was very into his performance. My sister didn’t think he’d been all that memorable thus far, but thinks this helped him in that area. Andrew thinks he sold the song convincingly, but nearly ruined it with a weak finishing note. Amy says his vocals are dead on and likes the performance. Randall says he’s in the zone and he’s slaying them. Kara says, “That is artistry.” Paula says he took a 30 year old song and made it current. Simon says he brought the confidence and it was a very clever and cool arrangement.

Andrew thinks the bottom three will be Lil Rounds, Anoop, and Megan. Amy agrees. I’m not too sure who is going to be in the bottom three, but if I were Allison, I’d be a bit worried because I don’t think she really connects well to the audience. You can blame the dress, her awkwardness, her rocker style, or whatever, but I hope I’m wrong. I think Scotty deserves to be in with the same folks Amy and Andrew do, except I’d take Lil Rounds out of that group.

Seacrest sleep!

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