We tuned in on Tuesday night to hear the Top 9 Idols try their best at the Lennon-McCartney songbook, both excited and a little nervous. And here’s what we found…
Aaron, “The Long and Winding Road”
M: Well, Yoda, you may not look very green to me — and certainly not like my attempting drawing of the “Star Wars” character, which my little sister claimed looked more like a “cat with a stick” (as opposed to a light sabor, thank you very much) than the actual person — but you are seeming more and more like David Archuleta every day.
Why did he do this to himself again? Because, if I am not mistaken, Archie did this very song in the Lennon/McCartney week two seasons ago. Granted, David A. hadn’t hit it out of the park quite to the same degree that Kris had with “Ain’t No Sunshine,” last week’s brilliant song choice (um, not), but it amounts to the same thing: Aaron is inviting comparisons to past competitors — competitors that happened to do exceptionally well.
And it’s stupid! No matter what Aaron does, he is never going to stand out choosing those songs, especially if he doesn’t change up the arrangement as he chose not to this week.
So poor Archuleta/Yoda wanna-be: “Choose good songs, you cannot.”
E: People probably just fell in love with Aaron after this, but then again, these little tid-bits here are going to make everyone like every contestant — maybe even people will like Tim.
So, Aaron, let’s spice it up, please. Even though I would prefer not to have another Archie, I believe you are better than Tim and Siobhan and Katie.
Katie, “Let It Be”
M: While my initial reaction to Katie picking my favorite Beatles’ classic besides “Eleanor Rigby ” was that it was too big of a song for her voice and lack of ability to stay on key, I was pleasantly surprised by her rendition of the song.
Katie seemed natural, comfortable and, most importantly, on pitch as she belted the song’s notes — which, by the way, was not leaning toward country, Simon.
I wonder how many prom invites Katie will get after that performance…
Shoot, she’s singing “Let it Be!” You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! You CANNOT be serious! I love that song, and she’s going to mess it up to the point where the the sheet music are in shreds at the stage.
M: The beginning was shaky, and at first, I was skeptical of and worried for my favorite contestant’s roommate as I heard the rough edge to his voice start to tackle the song. But when Garcia hit the chorus, my apprehensions dissipated, and my confidence in him was restored.
So yeah, maybe it was slightly corny, but as Garcia said, if smiling is corny, then heck, he must be corny, too — but then corny is good, just like his performance.
Big Mike, “Eleanor Rigby”
M: Michael! What is with contestants attempting to redo past “Idol” hits? Because, just like what “Ain’t No Sunshine” was for Kris Allen in Season 8, David Cook’s rendition of “Eleanor Rigby” was what first made me change from an Archie supporter (I know, what was I thinking by ever supporting him at all?) to a lover of ol’ David C.
And, just like what the pathetic attempt of “Ain’t No Sunshine” did for Aaron, Big Mike’s version of my absolute favorite Beatles’ song — which is saying something, considering that I basically love them all, hence why I have both a huge poster and a calendar of the band on my wall — paled by comparison to the Season 7 winner’s.
So unlike three out of the four judges, I am not a fan, not a fan at all. Even if he does kind of look like a teddy bear.
Big Mike obviously took a different spin on the song. he made it a little bit more choppy and not as smooth as the Beatles did. When they sang it, it was perfectly gliding out of their mouth. It was perfect, but Mike’s is reminding me of a robot.
M: Again with the previously-performed song choices! Carly Smithson of Season 7 rocked this song — and, like David C. and Kris Allen, it was easily one of her most famous performances. So far, this evening had proved to be extremely mediocre in terms of song choices — and, honestly, just downright irritating.
Crystal’s performance, however, managed to make me at least slightly less irritated. Her rendition of the song managed to exceed my expectations enough to avoid too much direct comparison to Carly’s version from two seasons ago, which was success where both Aaron and Big Mike failed.
She was able to make the melody feel current and subtle in a way that neither of the others had with, as Simon pointed out, the honesty in her performance. Another solid performance from Crystal “Mommasox.”
Come Together will be perfect for her. She should do great with it. She’s got her guitar so she should be great.
Tim,
M: OK, I’m pretty sure that we realize that Tim likes to smile. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that he has such a nice display of pearly whites, he probably would have been eliminated weeks and weeks ago. Therefore, I hate his teeth.
As far as Tim’s arrangement went, it wasn’t as terrible as his past performances have been. It wasn’t very exciting, of course, but the arrangement wasn’t actually that big of a problem with his performance.
As usual, however, his vocals were far from perfect. For some reason, though, it wasn’t bad. It really, really wasn’t. And it’s just about killing me, but I actually somewhat enjoyed it.
But, as Randy said, for a Tim performance — not for a general performance or overall. He wasn’t that much better.
This scares me; after all, no matter how much less terrible his performance was this week, Tim is still the weakest competitor left in the competition. One lucky performance shouldn’t equal a ticket into the Top 8 when there are other contestants that are more talented or more consistent. And there are many — seven, to be exact.
And while I hate to say this — it means that he will have a higher chance of survival, after all — Tim’s haircut is hot; I’m not going to lie. I’m diggin’ the bangs.
E: Tim’s name should be Smiley. That would fit him because all he does is smile 24-7. I bet he smiles in his sleep.
Tim is probably going to spend another week on the Idol stage. His performance is mediocre and not super, but it’s not too bad. I think the song choice helped a little bit, but Tim still needs a lot of help.
M: Hm. From the other Idols’ suggestions of potential soap opera names for this long-locked contestant, I think that Crystal’s “Fabio” suggestion was the best. It’s going to be hard not to call him that, actually.
Like Garcia’s beginning, I was first skeptical of Casey’s attempt at this Beatles’ song, but I actually found myself getting into Casey’s rendition as he got further and further along in the song.
I loved seeing sensitive Casey again with his acoustic guitar, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was, as Randy said, completely heartfelt. And I loved it — just like Kara has loved his, in Ellen’s words, “pretty hair.”
E: I can bet anyone that Casey will walk onto that stage with his guitar.
Siobhan, “Across the Universe”
M: Big Mike! You’ve redeemed yourself a little bit from your earlier performance — you were the absolute only contestant who was honest enough to admit that Siobhan is “amazingly… weird.” And I was beginning to think that I was the only one who cared.
Beyond that — and the fact that Siobhan, her curly hair and her big poofy dress looked like either a poodle in Cinderella’s ball gown or Cinderella with a poodle on her head, whichever you prefer — I was surprised by her performance and, equally surprisingly, not in a negative way.
Her rendition of “Across the Universe” was not classic Siobhan in the sense that it wasn’t loud, crazy and obnoxious, but it was, as most of her performances have been, well done. I wasn’t wowed by it, but I did enjoy it. Pretty nice, even if she did have a poodle on her head.
Are we auditioning for Broadway, Siobhan? No we are on American Idol a singing competition that doesn’t involve a Lacey move, where you sit on a stool and stare off into the the crowd with way too shining lip gloss.
Lee, “Hey Jude”
M:As much as the video prior to Lee’s performance said that Lee lacks self-esteem as a performer, Lee seemed to open up to the camera — with an excited expression on a face and emotion in his voice.
And it translated into his performance, which was great — at least the part that wasn’t distracted by the interesting bagpipe player that Ellen suggested had “been separated from his parade” but I suggest was his personality showing through in the competition. Lee insisting with a smile that the bagpipe player was the right choice — his choice — showed America that he has a personality worth voting for.
So I have to disagree with Simon — I would have kept the bagpipe. I mean, hey, if it takes a Scottish instrument and a condescending comment from Simon to get some votes, it’s worth it, isn’t it?
Lee, stop being a worry wart! I never knew you were such a worry wart.
The Misses: Aaron, Big Mike
