Idol: Like A Rolling Stone

It's time for me to get back on the Idol review horse again.  Not sure if I am going to do it every week as I am just not feeling it as much this season and I am going to be away two different times before this season wraps, so we'll see.

As I did last season, I will do a general pass/fail and my order of finish, which is based on the night's performances but alas it is difficult to separate the opinions that have built up for weeks, so here we go (and P.S. I know "Like A Rolling Stone" is not a Rolling Stones song):

Crystal Bowersox (“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”) - Even though Crystal is the anointed front-runner at the moment (and not in her mind or her fault, which Simon seemed to be suggesting) and was not given the top spot by my fellow IDOL reviewers, I am still not sure what everyone, including Crystal, thought was "off" about this performance. She is my runaway favorite this season, though I see her ultimately running into trouble being the proverbial one-trick pony.

Didi Benami (“Play With Fire”) - Last night, I had given Siobhan the #2 slot, but the more I thought about it, I think Didi accomplished what Siobhan was going for in a much more subtle and skillful manner. I had not been a big fan of Didi's until last week's "Rhiannon," kind of saw her as the 2.0 version of last year's Meghan Joy.

Siobhan Magnus (“Paint It Black”) - There's no denying that Siobhan had the stand-out performance of the night.  But whoever made the Adam Lambert allusion was correct and that was the ever-so-slight problem I had with this one as it was too over-the-top for my taste.  But I am smitten with her split off-stage / on-stage personalities. 

Lee Dewyze (“Beast of Burden”) - Alas, the first appearance of a guy.  While I expected Lee to rock it out, I was pleasantly surprised with this light-version of the song.  Again, the problem I having with this season (and on a lot of long running reality shows in general), is that it just seems that we are repeating contestant archtypes and Lee has struck me as a poor man's version of David Cook. 

Casey James (“It’s All Over Now”) - It was kind of neck and neck with Lee for the 1st place guy, but the lack of performance just has Casey finish below though he certainly sounded and looked good.  I still feel like he is trying to be a performer instead of it being natural.

****************************************************************

Paige Miles (“Honky Tonk Women”) - I had read that Paige was fighting laryngitis before watching last night's show, so I am sure that affected my opinion of how well she did sound.  It probably was a bit karaoke, but the biggest voice, from start to finish, for the night.

Michael Lynche (“Miss You”) - I'll tell you right up front, I am not on the Michael bandwagon.  I thought his 2nd semifinal performance of "It's a Man's World" was quite good, but I didn't get all the blubbering over last week's song.  I liked the R&B vibe that he brought to this one, but I agree with Simon that there was something kitschy in the performance/dancing.   I am just having a problem in that I don't think he's as good as the judges are saying, or what he is thinking.

Lacey Brown (“Ruby Tuesday”) - Lacey is a 50/50 proposition for me, there are times I think her voice is just beautiful and other times that it just grates on me.  I know the little affectation/hook is what makes her distinct, but sometimes it works (like on the chorus) and other times it doesn't.   I agree with Ellen that the stand vs. sit thing was reversed and that she plays to the camera a bit too much.

Katie Stevens (“Wild Horses”)- While I know she wasn't personally responsible for Lilly's ouster, I am still holding it against this little high-school fembot, though this is the best we've seen her on the live shows.  More on Katie in the following...

Aaron Kelly (“Angie”)- I am guessing this one is another finish order controversy as the judges just raved and I've seen another sight that rated this performance as high as #4 for the night.  To be honest, and this is the same issue with Katie, I am just tired of the really young people on this show.  Even though there have been past success on this show, I think 16 or 17 is just too young and there are not a whole lot of songs that these kids can authentically pull off.  With Aaron, it is yet another unfavorable comparison i my mind to David Archuleta.

Andrew Garcia (“Gimme Shelter”) - I was sooooooooo hoping we would get through one of Andrew's performance without a reference to his version of "Straight Up," but alas Simon screwed it up right at the end of his critique.  While I gave Andrew a lot of goodwill for that song as well, I am well over it and thinking it was more a fluke than "the artist" he is or could be.  He has been struggling ever since and it's been kind of painful to watch.

Tim Urban (“Under My Thumb”) - His teen heart-throb looks and getting raked over the coals by the judges should keep Tim safe this week.  I didn't think it was the train-wreck of all train-wrecks, but his "deer in the headlight" expression says that even he doesn't think he should be here.

Elimination Prediction: Think the girl's are in trouble here with Katie, Lacey, or Paige... all who I would have knocked out in favor of last week's evictions of Lilly and Katelyn.  If you are going to pin me down, I think Katie will still get some support for (unfair) backlash from Lilly and teen girls support... Paige might get a laryngitis bump... so let's go with Lacey.

Comments

[Jeff]

Last week I wasn't really feeling any of them, but I have to say, on the whole they stepped it up this week. (I base this solely on the performances, since I skip past the get-to-know-you segments.) ;-) Even Katie, who has annoyed me thus far, pulled off a passable performance. I agree with you about youth (or immaturity) being a liability. Very few of the especially young ones have star-performance power.

P.S. Wah, my gravatar (or any avatar) doesn't show up (missing image) if I don't sign in.

[jen maiser]

I voted for Crystal, Sioban and Andrew last night (not because A. did a good job, but because I love his potential). Oh, and accidentally for Lee Dewyze.

:)

I downloaded Crystal's "Give me one reason" song -- first time ever that I have downloaded an AI song.