Top 10 Week

Please excuse my brevity and scatter-brained-ness on this week’s blog. There are a couple of reasons for being so off tonight:

It’s 10:30 as I type this and I’m just now sitting down to watch Idol for the evening.
I’ve just about lost my faith in American Idol Season 9….if it wasn’t for a certain female contestant (whose name may or may not rhyme with Powerbox), I probably would have quit watching around Top 20 week or so….also I have a contest to run and people counting on me to deliver prizes…so here we go!

Awkward kissing moment with the judges backstage before the show started...that was weird.

Bonus Question: What did the back of Randy Jackson’s cardigan say? (hint: I don't know what the cardigan really said, and I'm really curious....so you'll get points if you give me your best guess or if you give me the correct answer.)

Bonus Question: What is the name of Usher’s new album?

Bonus Question: Which contestant did Usher instruct to “make me that person [you’re in love with]”?

Siobhan Magnus – Through the Fire – I like her hair with that braid thing going across the top of her head. Siobhan sounds uncharacteristically off key tonight. She sounds bad. Oh boy. She was one of the ones I was counting on to get me through the night. Everyone I’m watching this with thinks I’m crazy, but I think she sounds terrible tonight. She has to quit with that shrieking stuff…it’s old now.

Casey James – Hold On, I’m Comin’ – I think Casey sounds alright. To me Casey is consistently mediocre every week. But he’s never done anything astounding on the American Idol stage. It’s time for him to start rising above the pack and make a name for himself.

Michael Lynche – Ready for Love – Bonus Question: To what food item did Michael Lynche liken his guitar? Michael sounds better with this subtle performance where he’s not displaying his cheese factor. But he was a little boring to me. For me, for you.

Didi Benami – What Becomes of the Broken Hearted – She looks like Taylor Swift this week for some reason. I like the tone of her voice. She was channeling the older styles of music a little bit. She may not have as many big vocal tricks up her sleeve as some of the other contestants, but her voice quality is very pleasant to listen to and she’s a little bit unpredictable in that you never really know if she’s going to soar or to bomb. This week I would say she definitely didn’t bomb, but I don’t think she was nearly as bad as the judges seemed to think she was.

Tim Urban – Sweet Love – Usher told him that he hoped he would “give it to the camera” at some point….but Tim didn’t take his eyes off the camera the entire time! It was a little creepy. I thought his performance was okay. His voice really wasn’t that great, but it sounded fine I guess. To sound like Simon, it sounded like wedding music or background music at the shopping mall or something. Just kind of stale and nowhere close to as good as the real thing.

Note: I am 92% sure that Randy Jackson said “Predestrian!”

Andrew Garcia – Forever – I got made fun of for not knowing this Chris Brown song. I guess Andrew changed up the arrangement, but I thought it was okay sounding, but a little on the boring side. I don’t know. I can’t really critique it since I didn’t know what it was supposed to sound like I guess.

Katie Stevens – Chain of Fools – This was a very predictable song choice for her. I already hate it with the horn introduction. Katie is so pageanty when she sings. She tried to put a “pretty” bad attitude look on. She’s just so corny to me. And I just don’t get her voice. I mean, she does okay with the notes, but I just don’t like the way it sounds. I guess she has a lot of fans, though, because she’s still on the show.

Lee Dewyze – Treat Her Like a Lady – I actually enjoyed this arrangement of the song. I thought it started out a little slow, but maybe that was the effect he was going for, because the song just exploded in the middle. This was the best performance of the night so far. Maybe this was the “moment” the judges were wanting Lee to create.

Crystal Bowersox – Midnight Train to Georgia – Those background singers are horrifyingly awful, but I was surprised to hear that Crystal could play the piano, too. Although she didn’t play much of it. This whole performance was something very different for Crystal. Adam made the comment that she didn’t know what to do with her hands since she wasn’t holding a guitar. I thought her vocals sounded terrific….maybe not the best we’ve heard from her, but definitely head and shoulders above most everyone else in the competition.

Aaron Kelly – Ain’t No Sunshine – Aaron’s back with his crooked faux-hawk. He’s a little pageanty as well. I liked his little head jerk at the end of his performance. And his hand motions. I literally LOLed at this performance. He’s just annoying to me for some reason. I can’t even critique his singing because his stage presence was so goofy.

That’s it. Answer the bonus questions and get me your predictions before the show starts on Wednesday! I’m going to Tennessee!