American Idol -- Top 20 -- Girls

Not-Brian-Dunkleman asks the Dawg how the fellas did last night, and the Dawg apparently blacked out during last night’s episode, because he seems to remember that “the guys were HOT last night.”  And he says it with a straight face.  He must have found Paula’s secret stash of happy pills.

“Dreadlocks” Bowersox – singing CCR’s “As Long as I See the Light” – and she says she’s giving it a gospel twist.   Her vocals are very nice.  It was a great way to start the night and the girls who follow have a high bar to clear if they want to be the best of the night.

“Balloon Boy” Haeley – singing “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus – of course she’s singing this song.  Of course.  But it is a good strategy, because any amount of decent vocals should be better than the original.  And then she started singing, and I was wrong.  Someone could have worse vocals than Miley.  (And now I’m wishing I would have nicknamed her “Smiley Cyrus”.  Crap.  If the “Vote For the Worst” crowd can keep her to next week, that is what she will be called.)

“HGTV” Lacey – singing “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer – she’s sounds like she’s singing it in a different key than the original.   It’s way better than last week, but not memorable.  She set the bar low enough last week that she should be safe this week.

(Aside:  The judges are harping on Lacey that she needs to step it up and take her songs to a new level, but I guarantee that if she had fiddled with her song more than she did, they would have crucified her and demanded that she just sing the song – like Randy did to three or four contestants last night.  “Do less.  Do less.  Do more.  More than that.  Etc.  They are so busy micromanaging this year that we have no idea who these singers are as artists because the contestants are too busy catering to the judges every wish and demand.)

“Proud of Her Worthless Talent” Katie – singing “Put Your Records On” by some current artist – she has a great voice, there is no disputing that fact.  But will she win this competition?  I’m not yet convinced that she can. 

“Meow Mix” Didi – singing “Lean on Me” by Bill Winters – she too has a great voice, but is she going to be the next American Idol?  Unless the Singer/Songwriter genre makes a huge comeback, I don’t see how she is going to be a mainstream success.

(Aside:  Why the hell did the judges pick these people to be in the Top 24 if they weren’t happy with them as artists?  They heard each one sing 4+ times before the final selection, they knew who these people were.  If there weren’t 24 people who they liked, why not start out with 12 solid singers, rather than putting out a 2 hour episode of four judges bitching and moaning about how horrible each singer is.  It seems to me that as much grief Paula got for always giving sappy/positive feedback to the contestants, it was a necessary feature that helped people stomach Simon’s harsh/truthful critiques.  Now, without Paula, there are just four people nitpicking each and every person.   I don’t know if I can make it all the way through to the end.  It’s getting tougher and tougher.)

“No-Nickname” Michelle – singing “With Arms Wide Open” by Creed – I love this song (and Creed for that matter), so it’s going to be interesting to see what she does.  The arrangement is awful and she doesn’t have the vocal strength to do with the song what she envisioned it would be in her mind.  I get what she wanted to do, but she doesn’t have the talent to make it work.  And the last note was horrid.

(Aside:  And the Wife just bailed.  Guess she’s going to have to come to my blog to see what happened during the last half of the show.)

“The Silver Fox” Lilly – singing “A Change is Going to Come” by Sam Cook – she tells us she’s using a 12-string guitar tonight.  This is not as good of a song choice as last week, and she’s doing weird things with her voice tonight.  I’m not loving it, even though she is my favorite girl still in the competition.  But, it should be enough to keep her around until next week.

“Curly Sue“ Katelyn – I missed what she said she’s singing – she’s sitting behind a piano and playing chords on the keys.  Such…..a…..slow…..arrangement…..of…..a…..song.  Nothing special about the vocals, and I never did recognize what song she was singing, which was unnerving (and I don’t think that’s a good sign).

“Shar Jackson’s Twin Sister” Paige – singing “Walk Away” by Ahhhhhhh KELLY CLARKSON!!! – So far, this is the worst decision by a contestant this year.   Why anyone would try to tackle a song by the greatest American Idol is beyond me (but I may be biased).  Maybe, just maybe, one of the guys could have pulled it off, because it is hard to compare cross-gender performances.  She may go home after this performance because she doesn’t have the voice for that song.

(Aside:  Was informed by Randy that Kara helped write “Walk Away”, so +1 for Kara.  I guess Randy, though slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.)

“Little Miss Personality“ Siobhan – singing “Think” by Aretha – she did not “Think” about how her puny voice would sound while singing this big song.  She is fine during the verse, but the chorus is lacking because she can’t quite hit the top end.  It will probably get praise from the judges, but I didn’t like it.

I would rank them for tonight:

Bowersox

Lilly

Katie

Katelyn

Didi

Siobhan

Michelle

Haeley

Paige and Lacey go home.