American Idol- Girls' Top 10 Performances

As Christina said in her comment on last night’s show, the guys are so far behind the top four or five girls right now. And while there were some bum performances in the bunch, none of them reached the pitiful levels of John Park, Todrick Hall, and Jermaine Sellers. Last week, we started to get a glimpse at some potentially great singers who got little camera time in the ore-recorded part of the season. This week was about separating talented from the less talented. With that in mind, I’m going to do a recap based on tiers instead of chronological order.


Go Straight To The Finals:

Crystal Bowersox- “As Long as I Can See The Light”- Last week’s “Hand in My Pocket” was solid but predictable. This week Crystal proved she’s more than just a folksinger. What a great, powerful voice. Grade: A


Siobhan Magnus- “Think”: The first part of the performance was ok. I was thinking maybe she should not have picked such a great soul song. Then, her performance just got better and better until she hit the best note anyone’s hit this season. Wow. Grade: A-

Katelyn Epperly- “The Scientist”: The judges took all my comments on this one. I absolutely love this song. I have no idea though why she took a slow song and slowed it down to a practical stop. Yet while I wish she just stuck to the original speed, she sounded absolutely perfect during the chorus. I also give her a lot of credit for the post interview. When asked to respond to Simon’s “too corny” label, she didn’t freeze. Katelyn also didn’t get defensive and deny the charge. This could have been a great performance, but it still was pretty good. Grade B+

Lilly Scott- “A Change Is Gonna Come”: I have to admit I’m always very critical when people cover this song on American Idol. Sam Cooke’s original was such an important song for the Civil Rights movement and easily one of the two or three greatest soul recordings ever made. And while Lilly gave a good performance, I don’t think the message of the song was transferred. That might not be as big of a deal when someone is covering a Kara Dioguardi penned song (see Paige Miles), but it does when it comes to this song. That being said, I love Lilly’s voice. Grade: B+


Losing Momentum Quickly:

Katie Stevens- “Put Your Records On”- This was more boring than it should have been because she does have a surprisingly soulful voice. Besides giving a dull rendition, I feel like her stage presence is a little too forced. I know this is because she is still not used to performing on a big stage, but I also see it as a sign that she’s not as confident in her abilities as she should be. Grade: C

Didi Benami- “Lean On Me”- It saddens me to say, but my enthusiasm for Didi is fading quickly. She has such a distinctive voice, but it goes to waste when she does a paint by numbers version of a standard. Her “Hey Jude” audition was great because it was jazzy, and it had a swing to it that the original didn’t have. Didi needs to loosen up next week. Grade: C

Paige Miles- “Walk Away”- Yet another example of a talented voice that’s just not transferring to a good performance. I thought she came alive during the bridge of the song, but that good vibe ended when she butchered the high notes at the end. Grade: C

Michelle Delamor- “With Arms Wide Open”- She started off the song strongly but the wheels fell off during the second half. She’s clearly trying to be the torch singer of the group, but she just cannot hit all the notes. I thought she was over praised for showing character. Is that a euphemism for missing notes? As we are reminded every so often, this is a singing competition. Tonight showed there are limitations to how well Michelle can sing. Grade: C


Dude, That Wasn’t Good For Me At All Dawg:

Lacey Brown: “Kiss Me”- There’s a nice twang to her voice, but she sounds weak once the band kicks in. Maybe she’s not just letting it go 100%. Did she call herself an artist? I think that word is used way too liberally on this show. Grade: C-

Haeley Vaughn: “The Climb”- This was a cringe worthy. Right now, Haely seems like a lost soul on stage. She doesn’t know what kind of songs she should be singing, and that reason might be because she can’t do a consistently good job singing any type of song. Grade: D+

Who Should Go Home:

After two weeks of weak performances, Lacey and Haeley should be kicked off.