Top 9 Week (again)

Crystal Bowersox – Saved. Wow. I love the gospel feel she has. I’m not familiar with this song. This may in fact be my first iTunes purchase of the American Idol season. I just love how Crystal has a handle on this whole performance thing. And she knows what she’s good at and where her voice can go. You don’t hear her going and attempting a Whitney Houston ballad because that’s not her forte. I appreciate that about Crystal. She nailed it with this performance.

Andrew Garcia – Hound Dog. This performance is very cheesy to me. Andrew has consistently failed to bring whatever it was that helped him soar to the top in Hollywood Week. This rendition of Hound Dog is pathetic. I think Andrew needs to figure out what type of music he wants to make. Then if he wants to reinvent songs he can try to recreate them into his own style. But this just didn’t work at all. I was glad when it was over.

I wonder if Kara gets money for every time she says “own it” on the show, because I think she says it at least a hundred times an episode.

Tim Urban – Fools Rush In. Aunt Sharon, this is for you: Tim actually sounded nice on this performance. I liked his guitar playing. The performance was nice and subtle. Tim may have finally mastered the art of subtlety. His performance was definitely better than Andrew’s, and possibly even close to Crystal’s in quality.

Lee Dewyze – A Little Less Conversation. He fumbled around the lyrics a little. But overall, I liked his take on the song. He still lacks in the performance aspect. He’s very awkward in all of his interview packages and everything, so I wonder if he has some shyness to overcome. I don’t know. I would say this performance was good, but GASP, maybe not quite as good as Tim Urban. Yikes!

Aaron Kelly – Blue Suede shoes. Did anyone else think he looked like a little kid trying to do an Elvis impersonation during his performance? I agree with Aaron that this song is all wrong for him. It just doesn’t make sense. Granted, at this point Aaron’s going to have to pull something pretty spectacular out of his hat if he wants to impress me…..like Tim Urban did tonight.

Siobhan Magnus – Suspicious Minds. I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks that Siobhan makes really weird faces when she sings. If I’m noticing that, it might mean that she’s boring me. She got a little better toward the middle to the end of her performance. But I think Siobhan is definitely in a little bit of a slump right now. Her movements as she sang were really corny. She still sang better than many of the other contestants, but she still disappointed me. Maybe next week she’ll be back on track.

Michael Lynche – In the Ghetto. Here’s the point where Michael proves to America why he was worthy of the only-good-for-one-use judges’ save that could potentially send Crystal, Lee or Siobhan home later on in the competition. And, actually, he was much improved over his previous performances, in my opinion. I think this is, by far, his best performance. It was a little hard to hear at the end what with my little brother singing along at the top of his lungs and all. Maybe Michael really was worth the trouble…..well, I’m not entirely convinced of that yet with several weeks into the competition and one good offering to speak of, but I will say I definitely don’t hate him as much as I used to.

Katie Stevens – Baby, What Do You Want Me to Do? Katie robbed an accessories store before her performance! Jeesh! How can she walk around with all that stuff on her? I just don’t get what’s so great about her voice. She can hit the notes, but I think her tone is a little Kermit the Frog-like. And all those faces she makes and head jerks she does remind me of someone in a cheesy pageant. I can’t see past all of that. And she deserves to go home tomorrow*.

Casey James – Loudy Miss Cloudy. I’m not familiar with this song, either. But I think Casey sounds great singing it. He, too, has found his niche. Unlike Crystal, though, I think Casey’s performances tend to sound similar. He’s consistently good, though so I can’t complain about that. I think Casey and Lee are probably the two most talented male contestants this season.

Why did Adam Lambert say he loved Elvis?
Whose song did Simon say he identified with the lyrics?
Which judge used the expression “on the money, full stop” tonight?
What “instrumental” joke did Ellen make during Katie Stevens’ performance?

*Actually, after listening to the recap at the end of the show, I would say Andrew deserves to go home a million times before Katie.