Hello all. Sorry but I missed the opening of the show but did notice it contain clips of our contestants. I finally was able to focus as our judges and Ryan Seacrest were introduced. Wow, hard to believe the finale is only two weeks away at the Nokia Theatre as mentioned by Ryan. After bringing out our top 4, we find that tonight's segment has them doing two songs; one that inspires them and secondly a song by the songwriting team of Lieber and Stoller. We quickly get to the performances.
James Durbin is up first with the Journey song "Don't Stop Believing". For James this was indeed a somewhat laid back performance but overall I thought his vocals were quite good. Steven Tyler however felt he "kicked ass" and mentions this is the indication of what's to come in the future. Jennifer Lopez's take is great song, great job, great performance. Randy felt this was a high level of difficulty and James mastered it while comparing him to the previous lead singer of Journey; Steve Perry. Because of his vocal ability is why I am rating him so high. My grade: A
Hey good news as Steven Tyler's book is on the top of the charts.
Haley Reinhart is inspired by the Michael Jackson song "The Earth Song". Looking very elegant I liked how she started out this number which was very tender. Her problems start when the choir comes in because I felt she was just yelling the lyrics. Much to my surprise Randy agreed with me. Randy Jackson becomes un-popular with the audience as he continues to tell Haley her shortcomings and frankly didn't like the performance. J-Lo is pretty much feeling the same about Haley's performance but does her comments in a kinder way. This is where I felt Steven over-step the line by telling Haley not to listen to the other two judges as he feels she nailed it. Haley makes things worse by arguing with Randy and being quite pout-y. This may have cost her some votes as her deameanor throughout the rest of the show seemed angry. My grade: B-
Leave it to Scotty McCreery to tug at the heartstrings by singing a song that involves not only Jesus but the tragedy of 9/11. Sitting on a stool with just a guitar he sings Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning". The song was as usual done very well with Scotty's nice vocal but he did have a slight slip-up in the middle. This song is passionate for sure with what it contains however I was once again bored by Scotty's performance. Randy thinks Scotty is ready for super-stardom and it was the perfect choice for him to sing. Steven calls it beautiful. Jennifer says she loves him and what he stands for. My grade: B
Nice to see Casey Abrams and Paul McDonald with Ryan announcing the ticket sales which come out on Friday, May 13th of all days.
Frankly I just do not get all the praise that Lauren Alaina gets. Tonight looking like a saloon dance hall girl in her outfit she chooses to sing Martina McBride's song "Anyway". To my ears this number came out sounding kind of dis-jointed as Lauren goes from high to low notes. Some notes sounded good but overall I really did not care for it. Steven did though as he feels she did it again with her pure and perfect vocal in his words. He compares her to a blue-plate special. Jennifer concurs by saying it was very good and a great vocal. Randy calls it hot. I must surely be missing something as I felt this was the worst of the night. My grade: C
After our judges put Haley down a bit more with giving their thoughts on round 1 we get to round 2 with our guest mentor being Lady GaGa who looks so wacky in her appearance. Jeesh in my mind I instantly thought of "The Bride of Frankenstein" when she made her entrance. Lady GaGa is popular however as since 2008 she has had 8 #1 hits on the charts. In spite of her appearance she did seem to give the contestants some concrete advice I think. Now let's get to round 2.
Haley is first up and totally redeems herself with her rendering of the song "I, Who Have Nothing". GaGa is a fan for sure of this young lady and wants her to be dramatic. She is to the point of almost going overboard but the vocals were very good although I personally thought Jordin Sparks of season 6 sang it better. This time around the judges give Haley a standing ovation. J-Lo says look what you are capable of and that was amazing. Randy thinks she had her "moment". Steven says classic moment with classic Haley. What got me about this was Haley still looked angry. Oh well. My grade: A
Scotty McCreery gets embarrassed with his short time with Lady GaGa as she wants him to make love to his microphone as he warbles the old-time song by The Coasters called "Young Blood". I felt his performance was cheesy and overdone from beginning to end. Sure he was having fun with the audience but some of those weird looks was a turn-off. Overall the vocal was just okay for me. Randy liked how we saw both sides of Scotty and mentions how fun it was. Steven with his sometimes weird comments says Scotty made "gaga go ya ya with his la la". He also loved the humor of the number. Jennifer feels he has hit his stride and calls it great. My grade: B
Lauren is once again on the negative with her choice of the Elvis Presley song "Trouble". What bothers her is the word "evil" as she does not want the audience to think she is evil. Okay then why did she pick this song if it makes her so un-comfortable I ask? GaGa and Jimmy Iovine finally convince her this is just a song and she needs to focus on the singing on it. I must say Lauren got over this quickly as the first part of the song was done in a very sexy and great way I thought. Sadly however in the second half she loses her breath control and the ending comes off kind of bland. Steven does not think she is evil. J-Lo mentions the good beginning and feels Lauren has matured. Randy calls it out of her comfort zone and enjoyed it. My grade: B
After Ryan has a brief conversation with Mike Stoller who co-wrote the songs of the second half, James sings his final song of the night. The song is "Love Potion #9". Hard to believe that this song was turned into a rock number but James does show how versatile he is by doing just that. I honestly felt like I was at a concert as his vocals were great and he had the audience going with this number. I loved it! Jennifer was un-sure how he could do this number but thinks he can sing anything. Randy thinks James is peaking at the right time. Steven calls it "incredible". My grade: A
Final Thoughts
Hard to know who is going home once again as each of these contestants have a pretty solid fan base. I really think Lauren Alaina or Scotty McCreery should go but being the country folk are voting their fingers off I find this doubtful so I am predicting Haley leaving unless the fans give her the sympathy vote for the judges critiques. After reading several comments on the web, James may also be in danger (I surely hope not). Tough call for sure!
Thursday's show looks like a good one in spite of the results with our guests being Jordin Sparks, Enrique Iglesias and Lady GaGa. I am also looking forward to the Steven Tyler video that is promised. So until then I bid you a great day!
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Subject: Down To Four - 5/11/11 
Thu May 12, 2011 8:34 am
