For heaven's sake will these contestants never realize that they need to pick the right songs to showcase their voices? Obviously not as most of tonight was a true disaster when it came to that. I honestly feel most of these people owe the original singer an apology for slaughtering their songs. I am jumping ahead again but I must say I was so frustrated by the song choices and feel many have totally killed their chances to advance.
Let's start from the beginning with Ryan Seacrest welcoming us to the show looking oh so good in his casual attire of jeans, black golf shirt and tennis shoes. He introduces our judges and did anyone notice the daggers Kara kept throwing at Paula throughout the evening. In case you do not know this yet, seems Paula dissed the fact that a 4th judge was not bringing anything special to the show. Kara of course fired back at this in print but was mostly hurt by what Paula said. Kind of sad really but in all honesty I agree with Paula. Okay, enough of that, let's get to the contestants.
Jasmine Murray is the first who definitely chose the wrong song. She is singing "Love Song" by Sara Bareillas and sounded off-key to my ears throughout. Another factor is she has a lower voice tone than Sara and this came out sounding all wrong. Each of the judges were also not thrilled by this choice with Randy telling it like it is: pitchy. My grade: C-
Matt Giraud also chose a song that did nothing for him as a singer. Trying to bring some soul to the song "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay just did not work. He seems to be struggling throughout the song to get the notes out and you could definitely hear that vibrato. Matt says he chose this song because this is the type of music he would like to do in the future. My advice Matt, stick with the soulful songs. Each of the judges were also not impressed. My grade: C-
One thing was evident about Jeanine Vailes and that is she has great legs. Other than that she gave a horrible performance of "This Love" by Maroon 5. This is a great song I think but Jeanine just could never get the right pitch and was off-key throughout. I had to agree with the judges she does have great legs but singing-wise awful. My grade: D
Does Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle know that this is a singing contest and not a variety act? I do not think so. He is very entertaining with his alternative self but overall he just can not cut the mustard when it comes to being on this show. His "And I Am Telling You" by Jennifer Hudson was almost embarrassing I thought. Sadly he can sing and I would so have loved to hear the real singer instead of this cartoon character. I like Simon hope we have seen the last of him this season. Maybe he could try out for "America's Got Talent" which is more his speed I think. My grade: D
I agreed with the judges overall on the performance of our next girl Allison Iraheta. She is singing the Heart classic "Alone". Coming on the show looking like the total rocker chick she gives a decent performance of this song. There were some pitch problems but this girl proved she can definitely sing. I do have to add that I am not too much into her personality but she is only 16 years old and hopefully gains some better verbal skills if she makes it through. By the way I did love that stars ring she wore on her pinkie. My grade: B+
Oh no, Kris Allen has picked a song that could not compare to the original no matter how you sang it. He is doing "Man In The Mirror" by Michael Jackson and frankly I thought it was a mess. He sang in a much lower tone than Michael and did try to make it his own but it came off to my ears as a poor karaoke rendition. I was surprised the judges were so complimentary to him with Paula actually saying he nailed it. No Way! My grade: D
I found Megan Corkrey performance comical because she kept trying to act so cutsy and coy as she performed "Put Your Records On" by Corrine Bailey Rae. It was again the wrong choice of song although Paula thought it was the right one. She sounded pitchy to me and totally oversang this one. The other judges tried to be nice with their comments because they feel she could be a good package artist as Kara called it. I know for a fact I would never buy any music from this girl. My grade: C-
I was so hoping that Matt Breitzke would shine as I just love the tone of his voice but he too picked the wrong song. Singing "If You Could Only See The Way She Loves Me" by Tonic, the judges felt it was boring. I would not go that far as frankly he sounded quite good but sadly there was no spark and it came off sounding mostly just okay. My grade: B-
I could easily tell the judges that the next girl was not cool at all. Mostly the comments were that Jessie Langseth was very cool as she performed and slaughtered "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. What made this song interesting in it's hey day was the lower register that Kim displayed as she sang. In this case Jessie was off-key, pitchy and very monotone with her rendition. However, I can forgive the judges somewhat as they were not blown away and Simon used his famous line: forgettable. My grade: D
Jeesh, Kia Kalama is a cutie for sure. Tonight he is performing Jimmie Russell's "What Becomes of The Broken-Hearted" and finally I was entertained. He has a good tone and could easily be a throw-back to that era of song in my opinion. However the judges were not that impressed by mainly telling him he was too old-fashion with his choice. WTF? I am getting rather sick of these judges thinking someone has to be current when many appreciate the songs of the older generations. I did not hear the off-pitch notes that Kara and Paula heard. Safe choice well maybe but he sounded good in my opinion. My grade: B+
Good grief the next contestant was not very good doing the Train song "Drops of Jupiter". Mishavonna Hensen I think killed her chances big time with this choice. She had tried out in season 7 and was eliminated during the Hollywood week well I think she should have been eliminated again and should not have made it into the top 36. Her delivery was cold as mentioned by Simon and I agreed with Paula that there was no excitement whatsoever during this number. My grade: D
Our last guy is a shoe-in I think for the top 12. Adam Lambert is truly a good-looking guy and has the confidence needed to go far in this competition. He is singing "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and shows off a wide range with his voice. Paula and Randy loved it big time. While I think he probably gave the best performance of the night I was not totally blown away but feel he will be a real treat for the ladies out there. My grade: B
Outside of Adam I honestly do not know who will take the other two spots as most of tonight's performance were so wrong. I am hoping to see Kia Kalama make it but feel his chances might be limited as others in this group have a huge following already. Of the girls, to me only one showed some real singing chops and that was Allison Iraheta. It will be interesting to see who makes it.
I now have to say good-night and hope to hear from you on what you thought of tonight's performances. I will be back tomorrow with the results. Have a great day tomorrow!
Front Page 
Subject: Group 2 - 2/25/09 
Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:19 am
for responding everyone. I really like Kia Kalama and sure wished he had picked a different song. This morning I was taking my grandson to school and the old classic "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream came on the radio. I could easily have seen Kia singing this song and doing some sexy dance moves to enhaunce his performance. I know the contestants are picking their song choices off the hot 100 lists but I am wondering just how limiting those lists are.