Top 10 Guys… but are they really TOPS?

David Here! We sent home some surprising people last week! On the ladies side some airtime darlings went home- Janelle Wheeler and Ashley Rodriguez. Both had sub-par performances (as did 90% of the guys and girls), but I figured both were safe based on Hollywood week and their airtime earlier in the season.

On the fellas side, not so shocking. Except for Tyler Grady going home! Really America!? You would rather have the American Apparel model than a unique performer who was going to get better as the show progressed? Don’t get me wrong Tyler was never going to win, but he would have made for some good performances. We also said good bye to the nice kid Joe Munoz.

“Wait, Who is Joe Munoz?” Exactly. Moving on. Ask Season 8’s Jorge Nunez if it’s smart to speak spanish at any point! NOPE!

SO all that brings us to tonight! OH AND WAIT!? Whats this? The boys are up first due to Crystal Bowersox falling ill. I wonder if Paige Miles fell ill would they have switched nice or just moved on without her.

I’m also going to stand by my belief that the mics and sound mixing are making these performances worse than they are. I noticed it last year that they changed microphones, and it’s made a difference. You hear EVERYTHING and the voice is much louder than the band. This needs to be fixed or else these contestants will suffer for it.

TOP 10 BOYS

Michael Lynche Whoa! Where did this come from? Since the beginning, I haven’t really been a big fan. But he won me over on this one. He’s the only of the night with real swag. Singing “This is a Man’s World” and he owned the song from beginning to end. FIRST STANDING OVATION from Randy THIS SEASON! It was deserved. SAFE

John Park WAY better song choice. It’s more current and closer to his voice. But he is severely lacking any star quality. He’s likable, but not memorable. I would never sit during a semi-final performance. I can’t think of any that jump out at me. It takes people out of the performance. Judges were spot on. Except Simon was a little too harsh (which seems to be the case this season.) In trouble.

Casey James Did anyone else know what song Casey was going to sing after Seacrest mentioned Bo Bice, Elliott Yamin and Chris Richardson? Well, let me tell you I yelled “Gavin DeGraw” at the top of my lungs, and impressed everyone in the room. And guaranteed my single status for another 6 months. His performance DECIDEDLY split the judges panel; Randy and Ellen LOVED it, whereas Kara and Simon said vocally he took two steps back. I don’t think it was TWO steps back. More of a side step. He is definitely in the Top 12, so no critique matters at this point!

Alex Lambert So here’s the thing with this kid. Hands down him and Andrew Garcia have my favorite natural tones to their voice on the show (and maybe Lee Dewyze). But Alex Lambert looks like a 4th grader performing in front of his class every week. Not a star by any stretch. If he makes it through this elimination, he’ll have to step it up huge on the Swag Scale. In trouble.

Todrick Hall Adam Lamberts BOO! Once again he tackles another song and puts some funk on it. And again mixed to bad results. First he picked a great song that’s due for a revamp (even though they called the irrelevant. It is, hence due for a revamp), but I see it more of an acoustic revamp than an R&B revamp that Todrick gave it. During the first half of the song, he looked EXTREMELY uncomfortable stiff as board while singing. Kara noticed one he opened up and moved, the singing got better. My favorite song he’s done is his original song from his audition. Todrick and Jermaine both are trying to do too much vocally; too many runs! As much as I’m not a fan of his, he’s safe. SIMON QUOTE of the Day (to Todrick): “I say move but don’t sing.”

Jermaine Sellers ROCKIN’ the onesie! I love it! I have been wanting to get one for the longest. SO he better be safe for that reason alone. But let’s talk about his performance anyway. Probably the most boring and wrong song choice of the night. Singing What’s Goin’ On by Marvin Gaye, he did exactly what Simon said he did, which is “water down” the song. The beauty of Jermaine’s audition was that he took a simple song (vocally) like Joan Osbournes “One Of Us” made it current and put a soulful tinge to it. He has taken that and is now in competition with himself to do the most runs ever in the shows history! If he sang it simply without so many runs, he could have made it a classic performance. He’s the Idol i’m most disappointed with. Unfortunately in danger

WEIRDEST CONTESTANT QUOTE : “I know God. I’m gonna be here.” -Jermaine Sellers

 Andrew Garcia Andrew Andrew Andrew! Tell me you didn’t peak during Hollywood week? Don’t get me wrong I actually loved his performance last week! But this week, even though I did like it. He hasn’t blown anyone out the box. Which he’s very capable of doing (we used to watch his Youtube clips before he was ever on the show). It doesn’t help that I don’t know the original James Morrison version, but this was an opportunity for him to get me to love this song.

I was told by a fan on Twitter (SHOUT OUT to @Raqu3l):

   @UtterlyH I think it’s nerves, n wondering if theyre telling him to enunciate more. He has a YT of that song, and its 10x’s better.

Let’s hope he shakes those nerves and has a memorable performance next week! What if he sang Straight Up again? JUST to shut everyone up about it already. Safe

Aaron Kelly  Season 9’s mix of David Archuleta and Kevin Covais. He’ll make it to around 8 or 9th place. That big stage will eat him up with that lack of stage presence. My Girl as your song? Really? Did you grandma pick the song? It worked I’ve already heard older women loving this kid. He’s safe

 Tim Urban Oh you lucky boy. How you avoided elimination last week is beyond me. But I can say this week was a little better. But if you don’t go home this week, i’m writing  a letter. *GOING HOME!*

*PIMP SPOT AWARD WINNER* Lee Dewyze

This dude knows his wheelhouse! Best song choice of the night! He made himself current and he’s the one I can hear on the radio right now. Loved his arrangement of the song. Just slight changes made it perfect. This kid is turning into a dark horse. I think he is a victim of the sound mixing with the occasional bum note that wouldn’t have been so apparent in previous seasons. Btw, Simon calling him the BEST singer in the competition…? I love the guy but did he mean commercially viable voice? But definitely Favorite performance of the night *SAFE SAFE*

There you have it. The “TOP” 10 boys. I gotta say, I’m feeling the same way I did when I watched Season 6 (Lot of forgettable contestants), even though this year has a few better talents than season 6 had at this point. A lot of these guys are lucky they got this far. I usually look forward to semi-finals performances. But with the new mics and lack of star quality, this is definitely being a letdown season so far. I hope it gets better.  Not a good start to Simons swan song season!

Quick prediction on who’s going home:

Tim Urban

John Park

Thanks for reading, this…has… been:

UTTERLY HORRENDOUS

 

Short-Lived Idols

“OH SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER…”

“WHY DID HE GO HOME!?”

This is a topic that I think many viewers can discuss and be passionate about…

Well, since I have my own blog, I’m going to tell you guys the people that should have stayed longer! Obviously this is in my own humble opinion (yeah I know I can write IMHO, but I love typing)

Felicia Barton ( Season 8 )

So talented. Easily Top 10 material

What a roller coaster she was on. First she’s eliminated the week before the semi-finals. THEN Joanna “plant” Pacitti gets kicked out for many reasons according to wikipedia:

“…that Pacitti has “very personal connections” to Michelle Young and Roger Widynowski, two executives that work at the Los Angeles office of American Idol’s 19 Entertainment.”

So then Felicia gets the call that she is BACK in the competition. I got ecstatic because she was amazing in her audition, and we also found her youtube video of her singing Alicia Keys No One. Check it out…

I KNOW RIGHT!  Here’s here audition too….

Then she performs on semi-final night, and she fell victim to the new format that I believed they used in earlier Idol seasons. If she had been given a chance to build a following she definitely could have at LEAST made the top 10! Guaranteed!  Copy/paste http://www.rickey.org/?p=12319  to see her semi-final performance!

Asia’h Epperson (Season 7)

Should have been Top 12 easily

Who can forget Asia’h Epperson? Her story during the auditions did not leave a dry eye in the house. Days before her audition, her father passed away. How can someone still go on and audition after a tragedy like that. To top it off she changes her audition song to “How do I live.” Wow. I still get chills thinking about what she went through.

I honestly don’t know how she didn’t make the top 12 over Kristy Lee Cook, Chikezie or Amanda Overmeyer! Her storyline and voice was superior to all of them. I think it was Simons criticism that did her in. Her final performance was “I wanna dance with somebody” by Whitney. Her performance has aged really well. Sometimes a performance you’re in love with doesn’t age well (anything by Constantine comes to mind or Danny Gokey), but hers is really good. Check it out here…

Constantine Maroulis (Season 4)

Easily should have been Top 3 of Season 4

Yes, his performances haven’t aged well, but he should have come in 3rd this year! He’s more memorable than anyone else besides Bo and Carrie. Even though I preferred Constantine to Bo. Here’s his best performance, and one of the best in Idol History! Bohemian Rhapsody…

A.J Tabaldo (Season 6)

Easily Top 12 talent! What happened?

Honestly, his exit bugs me the most. He received universal praise after his performance of “Feelin’ Good” and he still went home. I’ll never forget, both he and Leslie Hunt sang the same song, the same week, and BOTH went home. Hence why I was a little nervous when Adam Lambert sang it (MAYBE thats why he didn’t win….oooh).  Check out A.J’s performance here…

Danny Noriega ( Season 7 )

I can name 3 Idols that should have left instead of him

One of the biggest divas (meant as a compliment) ever on the show. With one of the better voices, period. I don’t really know what else to say. You don’t really expect the voice that comes out of his mouth. Here’s his audition…

Then this is the week he was eliminated. I thought he showed a ton of personality. He sang it well, put his own spin on it. I thought the banter between Simon and him would help, but I guess it didn’t. He easily should have been in the top 12 at least.

Honorable Mention!

Paul Kim (Season 6)– He was the first to be eliminated in Season 6. Tons of people should have gone ahead of him. Plus he’s Asian! Gotta rep for my Asians!

Sway Penala (Season 5)– Had one of the better auditions EVER! I can’t find the clip, but he killed Superstar! It was just song choice that did him in, and little camera time.  Also Chicken Little Kevin Covais went through instead of him! REALLY? Grandmas voting multiple time.