:welcome1: Hi there. Tonight's show was pretty entertaining I think. It begins with the phrasing "Remember when they were just a face in the crowd"? Following are the first introductions to our remaining seven contestants. We also see short clips of comments from the contestants as well as the judges. This is American Idol!
After welcoming our judges and Ryan who all look fabulous tonight, our top seven are introduced. Tonight they are performing any song, any genre after the year 2000.
This is a first as our eliminated idols from the top 13 are brought back to perform the song "So What" from Pink. Ashthon Jones, Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia, Karen Rodriguez and Pia Toscano look great in their outfits and sound pretty good together in the beginning (wow, Naima certainly has energy). Then Paul McDonald appears in the very suit he wore the week he was eliminated and kind of spoiled the song with his squeaky vibe. However it was good to see all. Side note: I see Mark Ballas of Dancing With The Stars is in the audience (Ryan speaks with him later for a brief moment). Pia Toscano will be performing next week on Mark's show. Not sure if they are just friends or actually dating but this guy can be at times one sexy dancer. Things are definitely looking good for Pia's career.
Now, let's get down to business.........
Up first to perform is Scotty McCreery. The other contestants talk about his quirky smiling and the way he holds the microphone when he sings. These segments of the contestants talking about each other was kind of cute and certainly funny. Scotty has chosen to sing the song "Swingin" which was covered by LeAnn Rimes (the original was done by John Anderson in 1982). Once again Scotty sticks to what he knows best by singing well but being boring as usual to watch. Sorry Scotty fans but let's face it, Scotty performs the same every week. This week had something a little different as Scotty's singing had a few off-notes but overall the singing was fairly good. I think the judges are tiring of Scotty as well as each gave him a pep talk about getting out of his comfort zone and giving us something new. My grade: B
Again cute comments from his roomies regarding his high notes and scarves he wears. What can I say but James Durbin certainly is a performer as well as a great singer. Tonight he has four drum players with him as he sings the song "Uprising" by Muse. What amazes me about James is how he can go from the high notes to the lower register so easily. Once again I am loving this performance. So are the judges as Jennifer Lopez goes on record to say theatrically this is probably going to be the best performance of the night and calls him amazing. Randy Jackson concurs and mentions how Matt Belamy (lead singer of Muse) had challenged James to go an octave higher than himself on this very song. Randy says he did it and says "unbelievable". Steven Tyler opens his comments with "stay out of my closet, then says James outfit looks like Mad Max meets the stormtroopers on Melrose" and calls him crazy good. My grade: A+
Haley Reinhart is our next singer up after we hear from the group regarding the growls she does when she sings. Did you notice that Stefano calls their relationship a love/hate thing. I am thinking they do not get along since Haley once dated Stefano and he dumped her. Another factor I noticed in these short clips was no comment was given by Casey who presumably is dating Haley now. She is going bold tonight by singing the number #1 hit "Rolling Out The Deep" by Adele. I thought Haley did quite well with this song and did bring some of herself into it with a few little growls here and there. She does have a few sharp notes as mentioned by Randy and her stage presence was just ho-hum but I did like this. Randy also mentions that Haley should go into this direction with her singing in the future. Steven felt she had a slow start but got it together by the middle and liked it. Jennifer mentions she brought some Haley moments to the song and says good job. My grade: B+
:sing: Jacob Lusk can be quite the diva as mentioned by his peers. Several also comment on how he sings "yeah" alot when he performs. How true. Tonight he lets his emotions show during rehearsal and somewhat on stage when he sings "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross. This song was close to his heart as he lost his father when he was 12 years old. Jimmy Iovine also mentions he too had lost his father at a young age so he knows how Jacob feels. Jacob does have a stumble as Steven calls it in the beginning of the song but basically he does a nice job with this song. I felt his last few notes fell flat also. J-Lo mentions the control he needs to do when singing a hard song that means so much to him. Randy felt it was emotionally good but thinks Jacob is holding back too much. I did not get this at all but oh well. My grade: B+
How cute of the group to wear beards and play the melodica as Casey Abrams does. I bet Casey is alot of fun to be around although the group does mention he is sort of weird. Tonight Casey shows he is back with a vengence as he performs "Harder To Breathe" by Maroon 5. In fact at times I thought he sounded like Adam Levine (lead singer of the group). He is also playing the electric guitar at times and gives us some jazz as he performs the song. I thought it was adorable how he goes up to Jennifer at the end and plants a kiss on her cheek. She looked kind of stunned by this. Steven shouts out how he has wanted to do that for four months. Jennifer thinks Casey is not playing fair, thinks he has soft lips and loved his performance. Randy loved this surprise move and enjoyed his performance as well. He feels Casey can do anything in any genre. Steven calls him a cult hero before he lets out alot of cuss words that are bleeped saying how good Casey is (coming back from the commercial, they have Steven wearing duct tape). Then Ryan seals the deal by wearing a long beard that Casey once wore as he gives out Casey's numbers. This was cute. I really liked this whole segment regarding Casey and his performance. My grade: A
Seems Stefano Langone is a ladies man and flirt as mentioned by the group (maybe this is why he and Haley are no longer together?). He certainly shows his sexiness a bit as he performs "Closer" by Ne-Yo. For once he connects with the audience and frankly I thought he sang this song very well. Randy thinks he did a very good job and liked how he took his time in the beginning of the song. Steven agrees he did really good. Jennifer mentions how he has "swag" and it felt good listening to him. I so agree. My grade: A
Several stars from Glee, Fringe and also Steven's daughter Mia are in the audience tonight.
Before Lauren Alaina performs we hear about how gabby she is from her fellow contestants. Alot it mentioned regarding her southern accent as well. Seems Lauren is somewhat timid when she performs as shown by the rehearsal clips. To my mind she does not seem timid at all as she performs the song "Born To Fly" by Sara Evans. I personally think this was not a good choice of song as I found I was bored through most of the performance. She had problems in her lower register as well as some pitchy notes here and there I think. What I did love about this performance was the fiddle player who was great in my opinion. Steven thought it was good but would like to hear her sing songs from others like Shania Twain and Allison Krass. Jennifer gives her a pep talk about taking chances since she has real color to her voice. Randy calls this a cool performance but also thinks she needs to challenge herself. My grade: B
Overall I thought most brought their A-game tonight and I am sure it will be difficult to make up a bottom 3. I know I am finding it kind of hard. I would say my bottom 3 consist of Scotty, Lauren and Jacob. I am sure I will be dead wrong with this choice. Sadly I think Stefano may get the boot tonight as his fan base is not very big but I did vote for him as well as Casey and James.
A real treat as David Cook will be with us for the elimination show. So will Katy Perry who I am not wild about as an artist.
Well, there you have it and I welcome your opinions so have a great day all and I will be back later with the re-cap of the elimination show.
Take Care!
Front Page 
Subject: Songs of the 21st Century - 4/20/11 
Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:50 am
