American Idol Season 10 - 8 Finalists Sing Songs from the Cinema

I hate it when they promote themselves in the past. You really love yourselves, American Idol, don't you? Yes, you shock and amaze the world. Except not really.

Yikes, Lauren looks so unlike herself!

I'm surprised Jimmy Iovine was so off point in the beat boxing recommendation for Paul. Maybe some of the crap ideas this season have come from him.

Paul McDonald hits us with "Old Time Rock and Roll," blessedly not in undies, but not-so-blessedly in another floral suit, and dancing the pointing scoot dance. He's high-spirited, but I don't know why. He does that weird voice okay, but I wouldn't call it singing. He's a funny little man.

Funny the judges ask "who's your sax man?" He's good. Emphasis on him, eh? And then Steven points out that Paul gets what he needs from the audience, not that he thinks Paul is actually good.

Lauren Alaina is wearing pajamas with a belt to her rehearsal for "The Climb." Not particularly lovely. Jimmy Iovine's advice is true and good, but Will.I.Am's is funnier, and more in line with Lauren's personality. Don't steal Pia's fans, have them over to eat cupcakes. I wish she wasn't always so much with the animal prints, and I don't like the hair tonight, but she still looks pretty cute.

She is occasionally nasal in this song, I don't like how she's changed up the "side" and "climb," and there was a smidge of unwelcome vibrato at the start, but of course she's better than Miley Cyrus (that doesn't take much!) It's also really endearing how she always looks so thrilled and happy to be there performing. Not in a way that she's conscious of performing, just that she seems to be having such a good time.

I totally agree with Jennifer Lopez, both about the appeal of the tear in Lauren's voice and the wish she would have taken it a bit further. But she does sound like there's a teeny bit of cold going on with her also. I don't think Randy made any sense saying Lauren came "roaring back" (where was she?) and I think Steven wussed out on clearly stating what he thought: "you were the first we thought would win." Ah, yes, Lauren Alaina is clearly ill with some kind of cough. Strange they didn't specifically mention it for consideration, because they usually do.

Stefano Langone's new goal is to be a good performer. He's got his work cut out for him, since last week was the first time he turned in an acceptable performance. He's finally kicking in with the Boyz II Men, singing "End of the Road." He quickly runs into his head for the notes, and rushes past some juicy bits to add his own crap "ohhhs" and other filler. He sang the end well, but like some of the other contestants this season, it was more like a jam than a song.

This dude is getting votes on his looks, though. He's just not as good of a singer/performer as he should be. He was passionate, but I don't think it was that good. He was better than Paul, but not that great. Steven politely points out that the American Idol audience likes it, and J. Lo explains that his performance won people over (not his voice or what he did with the song, which was largely abuse it for the first half). Ryan demonstrates Stefano's core voters by saying "Stefano, girls!" to the squealy applause. Well, their taste has improved since Sanjaya, I suppose.

Oh, I was looking forward to Scotty McCreary singing "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson. I'd have loved to have heard him sing a non-country song. But wow, maybe he made the right choice! He really gives me chills with his rendition of George Strait's "Cross My Heart." And the sideways singing and tilted head go with it better. He got extremely weak when the backup singers joined in, which was a little weird. The bridge after that didn't work out so well either, but the end was strong and pleasant except for the last note and his strange mannerisms. Scotty does everything to the right (tilt, sing, mouth movements), and he nearly rolled his eyes back in his head. There was a moment when I felt he was really in danger, but it was like a passing shadow. I do think he was really good. I also still wish I could hear him do Everybody's Talkin'.

Casey Abram's clothing looks a lot better on the live show, but he looks like his usual hippie student in the rehearsal. It's amazing what a difference well-cut, flattering clothing can make. I absolutely agreed with the song change---until Casey changed it back! He's bound and determined to lose the competition, it seems. He could have been really creative with "In the Air Tonight," and "Nature Boy" is more just a jazz sound, especially as he did it. It's more focused on sort of grooving to the melodic changes in the music than showing off vocals. You can hardly hear anything special about his voice, and he did so much of the crazy evil faces as he sang, which I don't understand at all. They are truly frightening looks, even though he doesn't seem like that kind of person at all. Does he think he's being sexy or passionate? He seemed a little bit of that legitimately in the "the greatest thing you'll ever learn" line. But then the scatting was halfhearted. The end was nice, especially speaking in strictly musical terms. I would absolutely hire him for a weekend night at my nonexistent jazz bar. But this performance wasn't appropriate for this arena. I wouldn't be surprised if it really turned a lot of people off. At the start of the season, I thought maybe people would be open to a little bit of difference from the radio pop, and it seems like they are, but not this much difference.

Jennifer is more optimistic. I hope she's right. Randy expects that America doesn't know Charles Mingus or even Herbie Hancock, but still thinks they will like Casey's performance, which I think is a bizarre expectation. Maybe some people will enjoy it, but are those people the voters? Steven's mom sounds cool, although why does Steven have to prove what he knows all the time? Be secure that we know you have knowledge in musical history, Steven. Casey's talk to the camera afterward was a little uncomfortable. "People were against me"? See, this is what I don't like about him. He feels separate, and like he has something to prove. That's not likable. People don't like a loner or a loser (except the lonesome loser, of course). You should be confident, and feel like you don't have to prove anything to anyone but yourself.

I can't believe Haley Reinhart is the last girl standing with Lauren. "Call Me" is a hard task for any singer, but I don't see how it will work for Haley. I'm interested to see. I see her practicing her stage pooping even in the rehearsal.

She started off key, dressed like a prostitute, pointing and moving like a tipsy girl looking to pick up the pitiable guy across the room. She put growl in there where it didn't belong, and didn't seem to come through the song with the honest desperation of it, just the pathetic desperation. There were some really good moments, but some really awful ones also. I wish she'd worried less about pointing and flinging her hair, and just focus on the song. I know performance is important, but the singing is even more so.

I agree with Randy that the song wasn't so great, and disagree with Steven that her outfit was great! It's true that the song isn't one that can really showcase your voice easily. There's a lot of power yelling, and only the small, quiet singing portion. I think Haley may be in trouble. Too bad she didn't choose a more fun and dynamic Blondie song, but so many of them are personality and attitude based. I think she'd have had to go for a deep cut, which isn't what AI does, and wouldn't have been in a movie.

I think Jacob Lusk would have been going in the totally wrong direction with "To Dream the Impossible Dream." "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a really lovely choice, so I'm glad he switched.

As soon as he started, I could hear how he'd be able to release this is his own R & B version of the song. There were a few words I think suffered from his strange stylings, and a few off notes, but with a little cleanup, I think it could be successful. For the live show, it was definitely a good job.

The judges were pretty on target in their compliments, and Jacob was adroit yet gentlemanly about shilling for votes. Ryan took his comment about needing coverage to make a pitch for spokesman for phone service. Ever the self-promoter, Ryan.

I'm a little shocked at James Durbin's reaction to Jimmy Iovine's advice that he could not win if he did "Heavy Metal," but I understand and I hope it pays off for him. He certainly was cute in his attempt to persuade America to Give Metal A Chance. Unfortunately, his physical performance wasn't really as fiery and real as other performances have been. Not that he's not great. He has shades of Axl and Sebastian Bach in there, and to me, that's pretty damn good. Maybe Skid Row wasn't the most respected metal band, but they were popular, and Sebastian Bach is definitely an incredible vocalist. This was the first time that I heard that kind of sound in James's screams, and it all worked. He put the power into the singing, where it belonged (take note, Haley). And very cool to see Zakk Wylde there.

Randy went overboard tonight telling everyone it was his/her own private concert, but in this case, the voice really felt like it. Hey Steven, don't get James in trouble saying it was "lip" to say "no disrespect to you, but I know myself as an artist." He was just standing up for himself.

Tonight's ranking:

1) Lauren Alaina - she only beat out Jacob because of his few off notes and the fact I prefer her style

2) Jacob Lusk

3) James Durbin

4) Scotty McCreery

5) Casey Abrams - he would have scored higher had he packed in some energy and cut the psycho killer faces

6) Stefano Langone

7) Haley Reinhart

8) Paul McDonald

Who should go: Still Paul. He's just not good. He could definitely have success with some niche audience, but so do Loudon Wainwright III and Weird Al. Sheesh, even William Hung and pants on the ground man got a lot of attention. Stefano's in second for me, but to be fair to Stefano, he's got a much better voice than Paul. Too bad he wastes it so much.

Who I'd bet on: It's harder to say at this point, but I guess Lauren, and with less certainty, Jacob, James, and Scotty. That's also who I'd want to stay, but I'd also like to see more from Haley before she leaves, if only to keep hearing a girl sing on the show, but truly because I think she has great skills if she'd only use them.

Who's in danger: Paul (I hope!), Stefano, Haley, and Casey.