American Idol - The Top 20

American Idol - Week 2

Apart from Joe Nunez, I wasn't too surprised to see the eliminations from Week 1. I wished Janell had chosen a better song, or at least sung "What About Love" better. But I don't think she would have won anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

The Top 20

• The Girls

1. Katelyn Epperly, singing "The Scientist." I think she could have done this better, but I still liked it as it was.
   
2. Siobhan Magnus, singing "Think." The note wasn't a perfect one for me---it devolved into screechy. Also, she gets a little too mouth and crazy when she sings songs like this one.
   
3. Crystal Bowersox, singing "Long As I Can See the Light." Ah, much better, more genuine than last week. And it feels like a more relaxed song for her, less "look at me, I'm a real hippie." Although of course she's still doing that.
4. Lilly Scott, singing "A Change is Gonna Come." This was great to hear in her style, really. But is a change ever going to come with her? I'm starting to get a little uneasy that she's going to be doing this exact same delivery for every song she ever does. That's going to get tiresome.
5. Didi Benami, singing "Lean on Me." It was okay, well done, but the song didn't feel quite as genuine with her, and I think it was a strange fit.
   
6. Katie Stevens, singing "Put Your Records On." This girl needs to quit posing for animal crackers, and she'll be better. I don't understand why she doesn't just sing. If she loves singing so much, she should be able to do that, to stop being grown up Shirley Temple tap-smiling on the good ship lollipop.
7. Paige Miles, singing "Walk Away." Fine, but fairly forgettable. I don't know what she's doing, but she's wasting her chance.
8. Haeley Vaughn, singing "The Climb." Oh, my. Well, that's just too bad. I think she's just too young. And I hate to say it, but she has to work on that lisp. It's not incidental. She has a really amazing voice there if she could get complete control of it, and she is just adorable and winning in every way except actually winning.
9. Lacey Brown, singing "Kiss Me." What?! She can't even do this properly? I don't understand. I could have sworn that she was good last year, so this makes no sense. Is she just nervous? But then she seems to think she performed well after these first two disastrous showings. Well, she's wrong. This was better than last week, but considering the nightmare that was, it's not saying much to be better. Barely passing, Miss Brown.
10. Michelle Delamor, singing "Arms Wide Open." I don't know if this was an attempt to show range or what. I appreciate the try, but it just didn't work. When it comes down to it, Arms Wide Open is a pretty cheeseball pop song anyway, it just usually has a testosterone-drowned overly deep vocal grunting it out. Her version was sweet, but not even a perfectly done rendition of this rather boring song.

I think Lacey and Michelle should go, but Haeley and Paige are in the doghouse as well. It's a shame that Lacey hasn't been able to show us anything but dreck.

• The Boys

1. Alex Lambert, singing "Everybody Knows." Wow. Beautifully done, and such a great voice.
2. Aaron Kelly, singing "My Girl." This was sweet from him, which was a surprise, because who can cover this song? I think being an almost-child helps a lot. But he also sang it sincerely and well.
3. Casey James, singing "I Don't Want to Be." It could have been a lot better. The lyrics got a little muffled and jumbled at points, and he didn't have as much power and conviction as he could have. But he played the guitar well (especially for an American Idol contestant) and he didn't have a lot of competition this week.
4. Lee DeWyze, singing "Lips of an Angel." I don't know what he did with this that was different than the original, but he performed it about as well as the original anyway.Which means he was pretty good. I've always found the song odd and disturbing, but it was an interesting choice here.
   
5. Jermaine Sellers, singing "What's Going On." The problem here is that if you're going to do this song, you have to be amazing. This wasn't amazing, but it was okay. It was fine. And he does have such a great voice. It's just a little frustrating he didn't show it more.
6. Andrew Garcia, singing "You Give Me Something." This fell a bit flat for me. I feel bad for Andrew, because he seems to be losing his verve and fun side. I wish he could be happier and get back his easy confidence of the audition phase. Maybe if the judges stopped hounding him and focusing on one tiny aspect of what he can do, it would help.
7. Mike Lynche, singing "It's a Man's World." Again, the problem here is that you are not James Brown, and you're never going to be James Brown. Mr. Lynche is just not a soulful, real vocalist. He's okay, he's got a decent set of pipes, but he's poppy, R & B at best, no deeper blues soul. I don't even see a rock soul. His performance was okay, but not stirring or terribly sincere.
8. Todrick Hall, singing "What's Love Got to Do With It." Yikes. Well, better than last week. And he didn't totally change the song, in spite of what the judges said. I think he changed it up just enough. But what's with only singing lady songs? Is he ever going to get to really make vocals? It sounds like he's pushing to stay in the higher register, and he doesn't have to, it doesn't feel totally comfortable and appropriate.
9. John Park, singing "Gravity." He may have scored higher if he had chosen a more lively song. What a snooze, and no real display of his vocal talent. It's a shame, because I thought he was a real contender this year, and he's so cute to boot. But it looks like he's going to come and go.
10. Tim Urban, singing "Come On Get Higher." This poor fellow. . . I don't know what's going on. I thought he was okay in the tryouts and audition period, but he is just making a horrible showing here. I think it's almost worse that he's gotten on, with what he's putting out there as his ability now. But seriously, they did get rid of the actor who played Ethan on 90210 last year, so don't they need someone new now? Does One Tree Hill need a little brother character?

This really seems like it will be a lady's year. The men have a few very good choices, with the cute and able Casey James; and the unusual and charming Alex. But the ladies have more able-bodied souls belting it out throughout their ranks, while the guys are slim pickins indeed. I'd say Tim Urban and Todrick Hall should go, but if Tim Urban was safe last week, he'll probably be safe this week. So John Park is definitely at risk, and next I'd guess Andrew and Jermaine, since inexplicably, Mike Lynche seems to appeal to the judges and voters. He's okay, but I don't see how he would have any real radio appeal.

So I wrote that before we knew the results, and of course I wasn't too surprised with the outcome. I wish Jermaine had gotten to stay instead of Todrick. I think Jermaine had a lot more talent and more to show, but he didn't earn the right to stay, unfortunately. And it doesn't matter that Todrick stayed instead; he'll be gone soon anyway.