American Idol Season 10 - The Top 11 Hit Motown

     Well, I didn't think Karen Rodriguez was that bad last week, but she wasn't going anywhere significant anyway. We elbow, elbow, wrist wrist wrist wave goodbye to her.

     This week the contestants are performing songs from Motown, which can be a great thing as long as they choose the right songs. Interscope interference has helped them quite a bit on that.

     Casey Abrams may not have been totally helped with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." For the second week in a row, he seems headed down a path away from my tastes. The start of the arrangement wasn't great, and the rest didn't seem like the song was a sincere match for him anyway. The actual delivery wasn't bad, but it didn't feel organic and soulful, and I think that's something he really needs to successfully reach an audience. Through the briers and thatchery of his beard. 

     Really, Casey's not doing himself favors in the looks department. He's only getting worse. He's got the look of a wimpy Meathead, with extra creepy beard. Slicking his head hair so it droops greasily into his face only serves to make his beard look more pubic by comparison. Truly revolting. He looks like the sad, backward nerd in the dirty t-shirt. All he needs is a lonely room and a computer.  Engage, Casey! Look at where you are and be it! Don't be Joaquin Phoenix trying to get attention in a faux documentary. 

     I wonder if he thinks he has to keep the beard because he's a little overweight. But he's barely overweight. He does have a round, probably chubby face, but who cares? The beard doesn't hide anything, and it doesn't fool us into thinking he's chiseled under there. It only makes him look sloppy, and more like the guys who think they can camouflage fatness with a beard. Beards do not camouflage fat. Those carefully outlined designer 'burns/goatee sets don't, either (we all can see that's not your jawline). If you're overweight, a beard just makes you look like a) one of the aforementioned mad or homeless, b) you're insecure about your roundness, or c) you're a lazy ass in both body and grooming. I do have the deepest empathy for lazy asses, being one myself. But if I'm interacting with non-family people on even the most basic level, I'm not going to let myself be a lazy ass about my appearance. Show some pride, and what's more, show some creativity! You're an artist! Be an artist in the you you present to the world! Not too much of an artist, though. We don't need those crazy Kids Incorporated primary color cardigans like the one Thia Megia repeatedly wore in auditions. 

     I'll get back to the rundown now. But really, Casey, I like you. I think you have incredible talent. So show a little raw power and poise by sporting something that shows an outward you equalling your talent. 

     Okay, so here's Thia Megia, thankfully not in that hideous sweater. Really, I hope that thing was just a lucky article of clothing, and not something she really liked. The only places it could work are The Disney Channel or a preschool.

     Thea sang "Heat Wave" really well, with a minimum of vibrato, but like Casey, the song didn't seem like a sincere match to her inner self. The arrangement could have been modernized quite a bit more. More importantly, Thia could have younged up the action a little. She reminded me of a desperate music teacher trying to get her students excited. "Ta, ta, ti-ti ta!" But her voice sounded good. 

     Jacob Lusk has the stunningly passionate "You're All I Need to Get By." I think this was his best and most commercial performance since "God Bless the Child" in auditions. He didn't do too much la-di-da-ing with his voice, he just sang it. I could definitely do with less vibrato-trilly, and there's still an androgynous quality there that I find hard to place in terms of marketing, but it's the direction I've been waiting for him to regain.

     Lauren Alaina was effortlessly perfect with "You Keep Me Hanging On." In fact, it kind of annoyed me that she was so incredible when someone else had to choose the song for her. I understand that it's near impossible for 15/16 year-olds to know every genre of music, but you should at least have a sprinkling, a passing knowledge of the basic bigs. Or maybe there shouldn't be 15 and 16-year-olds in the competition. If you haven't thoroughly explored music, will you really know who you are musically? Unless you're a prodigy, inventing your own sound. Lauren definitely has a clear sense of who she wants to be as an artist, which is much better than the amorphous Thia, but who knows what more Lauren could be if she knew more, had heard more? I think in her specific case, she's got enough to work with who she is. But I don't think there will be many cases like her, and it would be a shame to see the 15/16s get dropped every year because they haven't had enough time or musical experience to know who they want to be artistically. 

     Stefano Langone inexplicably chose "Hello," probably because he's possibly more musically ignorant than the 15/16s, because huh? Although Lionel Richie is obviously a majorly Motown artist, to choose "Hello" is a cheat away from the Motown sound, which really is the theme if you're going to do a Motown week. He might as well have done "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday." But I'm sure Stefano chose it because it's the only one he knew and felt he could sing in his telenovellatic dramatic air. 

     Jimmy Iovine gave Stefano some advice he's needed for a long time. The open eyes advice was also key. Unfortunately, it seems Stefano has a really hard time keeping his eyes open even if he's been told he should. He also tilts his head and looks up or away too much. He overdoes that kind of pained drama at the expense of connecting with the audience or treating the song well. He also overdoes the singing flair at the expense of relating any true emotion in the song. Instead, it seems he's playing the part of some fiery latin singer (I don't even know if he is latin---he sounded like he had some weird accent in parts of this song, not Spanish). He was okay, but it was very melodramatic, very cheesemonger, very fake. 

     Haley Reinhart is singing "You Really Got A Hold on Me," which I really love and hope she doesn't screw up. But a lot of the singing seems to be left to the backup singers. I'm disappointed, because not only did she go back to the ridiculous growling, she's leaning this way and that like a wandering drunk, and just doing more tricks than singing. 

     I agree the end was better than the beginning, but in the rehearsal tape, it sounded like she was going to do a countryesque version, which seemed interesting to me. At least it wasn't babyvoiced this time.

     Scotty McCreery has me a little worried at his selection, "For Once in My Life." But whoa! For Once in My Life, country! Maybe I'm excited. 

     It was excellent, and very "awwww. . . ." Very sincere, very sweet, and believably passionate. His stage performance is a little humorously goofy, but if he toned down the cliché looks a little, it'd be perfect. 

     Pia Toscano selected "All in Love in Fair," which is such a magical song, but I don't know how I see it working for her. It sounded like the violin was off key at the start, and Pia was slightly wobbly as she began. She grew into strength, with some unbelievable Celine Dion-esque displays. And of course she looked beautiful. She had a little too much vibrato in her voice again, and at points nervousness with it. Why? She a gorgeous girl, and a great singer. Maybe she's just wishy-washy at heart. I agree with what Jennifer Lopez said also, about presence. I heard the Celine too, as I mentioned, so yes, you need to see a little of the "I'm the perfect singer, on a plane far above, worship me, I'm the boss." I also agree with Randy that I'd like to see some variation. 

     For the first time, this performance gave me a bit of worry that Lauren has a serious competitor. But I think Lauren's got a far more winning personality, and way more innate originality and verve than Miss Pia. 

     Paul McDonald uses "The Tracks of My Tears" to do the best job he's done since auditions, but I still don't understand this dude. While speaking, he doesn't pronounce words the way he does in his songs, so it sounds like when he sings, he's imitating someone else (Rod Stewart?), or some kind of accent. If it were natural, that would be fine, but it sounds weird because it's obviously put on, or he has some sort of miscommunication between brain and mouth while he sings. At least the guitar kept him from his usual freak dance. 

     Naima Adedapo is doing "Dancing in the Streets." The song was not her oddest choice. This is a singing competition, and while performance is part of it, sticking a dance performance on the end was a bizarre decision. It was fun to watch, but she should have concentrated on the song more. She oversang (her voice sounded pushed), her breathing barely kept up the lines, and she looked less pretty by way of extreme desperation. She also should have tried to update the song a little. It's the song and the singing that is paramount. She's really screwing herself. She had potential. Getting weird and off the point isn't the way to use it. I'm sick of seeing her waste the opportunity. 

     James Durbin surprised me with "Living for the City." It was a lot of fun. His voice wasn't quite on until near the end, but he was confident, interesting, and entertaining. His hair looked weird, and I'd still cut down (or out) the screaming, but I thought a little of it worked for this song. 

Tonight's ranking was done in tiers, because I felt like it was too hard to delineate between too many of the individual performances:

1st tier) Lauren & Pia

2nd tier) Jacob & Scotty

3rd tier) James, Casey, and Thia

4th tier) Paul, Haley, and Stefano

5th tier) Naima

Who should go? Naima. Sorry. One good performance since you reached finalist might have changed my mind, but there's just been weirdness and nonsense. Who else? Paul, Stefano, and Haley, in that order. 

Who I'd bet on: My first 2 tiers, plus James. That's also who I'd like to stay, although I'd also like to see Casey do what I'd hoped he would. He hasn't gone as far into left field as Naima, so I'm still feeling we could see him deliver. He just has to be as confident as he pretends to be, because he should legitimately be even more confident than that!