AI - The Top Ten Already

This week marks the sobby start of tough departure footage, and Tommy Hilfiger as a fashion consultant for the contestants. Last week seemed like a positive step in style for some of them, but I'm looking forward to a more noticeable improvement. Tommy Hilfiger should be able to deliver that, even though he's always struck me as a sort of Ralph Lauren second runner. Kind of vanilla. As for the Shannon goodbye recap, I wasn't very surprised to see her go. I always thought they should have turned her away in Hollywood and urged her to come back another year. She was just too immature to make it very far. That's a shame, given her vocal potential. But she was creeping me out with her "I'm a big powerful singer girl, GRRR!!!" attitude, and something about her features landed just afield of pretty in a way that kind of bothered me. Sorry---I'd rather have straight up plain or a little homely than not quite right and eerie-off-putting, though. I thought maybe it was just me, and unfair to boot, but I guess whether or not it was unfair, it wasn't just me. I also don't know how well it went over that her dad was a professional baseball player. That's already more of a leg up than most people have, and I don't think that wins you fans, because they don't identify.

Tommy Hilfiger starts off giving Deandre exactly the advice I don't want to hear: "take down your hair!" No, please don't, Deandre. The only time you can focus on singing is when that mop of curls is tidily swept off your shoulders. Otherwise, that's all your performance is about, and this is not American Hairswinger. But no, Tommy has once again relegated us to Deandre's Salon of Song. God knows, Billy Joel only sounds right when you've got that shampoo commercial "like you just stepped out of a salon" attitude.

Diddy follows with the weird advice, getting totally off track with Christie Brinkley and private jets, neither of which were on the scene for him when Billy Joel wrote this song.

I wouldn't have picked this song for Deandre, but so far he's giving the best performance I've seen from him. The grit and absence of falsetto is a big plus. I don't know if he understands everything he's singing about, and therefore he doesn't have a lot of passion in all the lines. But it was definitely the best he's done since last year's audition stages. But it was a little too light and nothing to really matter. I guess I mostly agree with Randy, with a little of Jennifer.

As for the look, the sunglasses hanging print shirt was kind of cute, but the hair coupled with the white sleeveless jean jacket gave him a real Milli Vanilli flavor. All he needed was the bike shorts.

I agree with Diddy here in his advice to Erika. You have to be a New Yorker to sing "New York State of Mind." Unfortunately, Erika is not from New York, and she can't do anything about that. Her whole attitude is wrong, worrying about her dumb state and its baseball team. Clearly, she's trying to capitalize on states' votes, but they're going to vote for her anyway. Don't bother. Do what you have to do to win over the rest of the country.

Oh my god, I cannot believe that Erika listened to Tommy Hilfiger and cut off all her hair. It doesn't look bad, but she already looked unfeminine because of her figure, and now she has boy-short hair. Boy short hair that's a different color---not good for a show where people need to remember you and why they're voting for you each week, especially in the beginning when they're just choosing their camps! It's so disconcerting that her performance is secondary, and that should never be the case for a real singer. I am paying close attention to the second half, though, and again it's nothing special. She doesn't sound any more convincing than any lounge singer, and she keeps doing those weird deep phlegm things. Eh.

Ryan is thrillingly complimentary to Erika's 'do in comparing it to Sanjaya's ponyhawk. Frights and horrors. That's tougher than she deserved. It did look kind of cute, if boyish.

Tommy Hilfiger is redoing the same suit-y kind of look Joshua Ledet had last week. It worked then, and he's echoing that with a tuxedo look. Supposedly. I don't see tuxedo in his final appearance, and I thought he looked better in the Coasters/Platters-esque white dinner jacket from last week.

I can't believe Joshua doesn't know "She's Got A Way," or that he's calling it a pop song. It was popular, yes, but it's such a beautiful ballad it's not the same as. . . it's just not that far from soul. I wish they would address that, tell him to think about what the song is saying.

Uh-oh. I don't know what the problem is (I really didn't mean to pun on the song there), but for some reason Joshua isn't getting this right. His voice sounds like it's off and wandering, and his passion doesn't seem focused on what the song is saying. I don't understand the whole gospel second half, either. That works for some songs, but he can't do it for every song. It sounded strained and not pleasant to me. I didn't get any real feeling from him, and I didn't appreciate what he did to the song.

So I agree with Jennifer, I guess. What is wrong with Steven Tyler that he has never heard this song? Who doesn't know this song? Maybe youth or lack of interest in music could have shielded you from it, but Steven Tyler should damn well know this song. I can't relate to what this may have sounded like to someone (a recent immigrant or 8-year-old?) who has never heard this song, so I can't offer an opinion on what he sounded like to that kind of ear.

Skylar seems to be back to her more confident self this week, and I'm glad Tommy Hilfiger is willing to work with her "country and western" (love it! so '80s) look. Her resulting outfit is cute, but with no-impact boots (I can't even see them).

This is a good, solid performance. She is ever so slightly nervous, but that's understandable. She's treated the song perfectly, and she sounds great. She's believable, relatable, and good.

I agree with Randy and Steven, I suppose, although I think I'm a little more enthusiastic.

Yeeps! Elise is doing Vienna! Ah, Jimmy is advising her away from it. Listen to Jimmy? I don't know. I don't know why this girl is not getting votes, because she's awesome. Does no one know this song? If they think so little of Billy Joel on this show, why are they doing a week of him?

I don't know what they're doing to Elise style-wise, but I feel like her hair needs some attention too. She doesn't look very different when she come out, though. I like the color of her dress, but the vest duster is gross. And she needs (like many of the girls on this show often do) better support for her bust.

What are we here for again? The singing, right. Well, she's pretty awesome. A couple missed or cracked notes here or there because she's pushing or stretching, but pretty awesome. And sounds just like her without straying much from Billy Joel at all. At this point she's my easy top choice. I hope America feels the way the judges do here. She is unbelievably talented.

Oh, very cute that they brought her students on stage. Yes, please, win her votes any way you have to. She deserves them.

I immediately see Tommy Hilfiger has had a major influence on Phillip Phillips here. He looks. . . almost exactly the same as he has every week. In all seriousness though, Tommy was obviously against it, and tried really hard. Bravo, Tommy. You are absolutely right.Phillip may not be interested in fashion, but that doesn't mean he has to wear the equivalent of a burlap sack.

Diddy was right again here too. No guitar for Phillip. And if he thinks he doesn't use it as a shield he's kidding himself. Without it he's still got his arm drawn across his body to do the job. Who are those four girls in the studio? Weird, slightly creepy.

And yet there's the guitar again in the performance! What the hell. But it's sounding pretty damned good in the Phillip deconstruction style. Ah, yes, I like this. Possibly a little extra because facets of this song have always bothered me and they're mostly eliminated here, stretched out into something sexier and angry in a different way than Billy Joel's sounds. (This one passionate/determined; Billy Joel's sharply, snidely raging and ultimatum-smacking.) Excellent.

I didn't like the fashion choices, and unsurprisingly even Steven's scarf livened it up beautifully. Of course Phillip is uncomfortable with looking good and can't keep the scarf near his body for more than a joking few seconds. Is it possible Phillip is just self-conscious and insecure, and that's why he's afraid to try to look like he got his clothes somewhere other than the Old Man Clothes Dumpster? But it didn't really matter that he looked like a boring dirty hippie bump on a log, because the song sounded so good. Still, if he's going to stay in the forefront on this show, in spite of what Phillip says about him not being concerned with image, he has to understand you shouldn't actively have to try to blend into the background or the actual ground.

Hollie once again looks older than 17. I wish she wasn't wearing that weird cutaway blazer. What happened to the dress if she asked for a dress? How did she end up in a pantsuit?

I'm excited that she is going to sing "Honesty." I think she can be incredible, and I was hoping someone good would be singing this one tonight. It's a real benefit that they explained what the song means to her so she's clear.

I don't like the way she's turning it into a Whitney/Christina girl song. And she's not feeling it as much as she should. Maybe she can't; maybe she doesn't understand it fully yet. The second half is more real, powerful, and touching.

I think I agree with Steven. . . not so much with Jennifer. I think she knew all the notes, I just think she was a little unsteady and overthinking. I agree most with Randy. And I think she'd sound even better if

Oh my Goooood, she'd never heard the song either! This is just wrong, having people with no appreciation for or knowledge of music trying to be music stars.

Poor Heejun. He really wasn't as bad as the criticism he got last week. I don't think it was fair to him, and I don't think it's fair that he has to perform with the weight of that on him, but I guess it's true that's the biz.

I don't think Heejun was testing Tommy, I think he was genuinely confused and just trying to think of people he thought had good style.

Oh my god. I totally bought that he was going to singing it the way he has sung everything and screwed up! This is the perfect song for him and he's singing it pretty perfectly. What a charming kiss off to the judges! A little too low on the "victim of circumstance." But so much of this is strong and pleasant. He could have a little more power behind his voice, but it sounds really good. This was so much the right thing to do I don't know if I've ever seen such a great comeback.

I don't know if Jennifer quite understood what was going on, given her judging reaction. Yay, like to hear Steven call him something other than "Hayjune" with the "He-man." At least the first syllable was right. Hm. I don't know if any of the judges understood the performance at all. I think they've just decided they don't think he's one of the best and they are basically tossing him to the wolves---their choice for sacrifice. I don't think that's fair, or deserved.

Of course they're putting Jessica in a darling dress and and saying she could be a fashion icon. She's the polar opposite of Heejun on this show. She's clearly the AI pet this year. She has an awesome voice, but that spot is unfairly given this early in the game. America can have its favorites, but the show should not.

Okay, Diddy has been right on with everyone tonight except Deandre. Jessica has been overdoing it a lot. It's nice to see she listened to him, at least for the first part of the song. For the end, she went straight to the big bag of tricks again. It sounded great, though, very Whitney. But she's almost boring, in spite of how perfect she is. There's staggering talent in her vocals, but no noticeable artistic flair.

Jennifer had a good take on her performance tonight. And the dress was pretty cute. Reminds me of a dress I used to have, except mine was a-line and a little more antique-y looking.

I totally agree with Tommy that Colton's hair is a problem. "My hair's my baby" is also something you never want to hear a guy say. It's just kind of creepy. Makes me want to shave it all off. So does the look in general. It's too common at this point, and too much effort for a guy. I think guys can use product, fine, and maybe a brush or comb, but if he's using multiple products and heat tools, he's either got to have more impressive look than Colton or he's wasting his time.

Colton is doing "Piano Man," which for personal reasons I am so sick of and yet also still have affection for. It sounds like he has a traditional but interesting take on it.

Okay, mostly tradition? When I hear the opening, I hear Billy Joel's version. But then it sounds slightly fresher, which is hard to do. It's all just Colton's voice doing that, because he's not changing the melody much at all. He's changed the la-di-das a little. That seems to almost screw him up as he goes into the end, which is the biggest change from the original and doesn't really go, even though it sounds okay. It just sounds like someone tacked another (current pop) song on the end there. Still, that was a tiny bit on the rest of the song that was on the whole a strong performance.

I liked Steven's backhanded sort of compliment about his notes resolving into something good, because it's true. Randy's take was exactly it, though: the song was simply Billy Joel's version, but sung Colton's way, and different/great for that. As for the hair, I forgot to pay attention to it, but it doesn't look much different to me. Maybe a little less blond, a little choppier on top?

Sounded like the judges were on the same page as me with their picks. Tonight's rankings were pretty easy, to a point. Hollie and Skylar were maybe about even, but Skylars growl versus Hollie's pure sound edged Hollie to the top for me. I felt uncertain putting Erika on the bottom, because I don't think her voice is that bad, but she's just doing stuff with it I don't like. And I hated putting Joshua below Deandre, but I thought tonight's performance from Joshua was just plain off. Still, the unevenness in tonight's ranking (as compared to what I think of the general potential of the contestants) means I'm starting the separate picks of who's in danger and who I want to leave.

Rankings of tonight's performances

1. Elise

2. Phillip

3. Jessica

4. Colton

5. Hollie

6. Skylar

7. Heejun

8. Deandre

9. Joshua

10. Erika

Who I want to see leave: Deandre or Erika.

Who I really think is in danger: If America keeps up its sick and unfair voting, Elise and/or Joshua. But that would be wrong. Barring that, I'd say Erika and Heejun.