Surprising Wild Card Round - 3/5/09

Tonight we will find out who fills the last 3 seats of our top 12. Ryan starts the show off by saying "To make it on this stage is an incredible feat, to get a second chance" oh hell you got the picture.

Next we get to see our top 9 once again and then the usual intro to our judges. Seems the show was somewhat rushed tonight especially since of course we had to see those gazillion commercials so no horsing around with our contestants. Each will sing, then our judges pick the contestants who will move on. Another factor we see before each performance is the grateful and appreciative contestant saying thanks for bringing me back. Here we go:

First up is Jesse Langseth who is singing "Tell Me Something Good" by the group Rufus featuring a dynamic Chaka Khan. It was released in 1974. I have to say Jesse was much improved on this number however she did have some issues with her lower register. Randy was just okay with it, Kara thought she had swagger in spite of the off-pitch notes, Paula was impressed with her determination and Simon thought it was a lot better but self indulgent. Frankly I enjoyed it but was not blown away. My grade: B

Now that is the way to go Matt Giraud who is our next contestant. He is doing the song "Who's Loving You". Side note here before I get to Matt's performance. This song was written by Smokey Robinson in 1960 and has been recorded by many artists including the Jackson 5 who released it in 1969. However my favorite version of this song was done in 1987 by Terence Trent D'Arby and he received a Grammy for it. Now back to Matt's performance. He definitely made it his own and showed good control throughout most of the song. Some pitch notes that were off but I really liked it. Simon thought it was a billion times better and compared Matt to our wonderful Taylor which in spite of the way Simon said it is a real compliment to Matt. (However I can only say the comparision I saw was the stage presence of wanting to entertain). Randy, Kara and Paula really liked it also with a variety of good comments. My grade: B+

Megan Corkrey is a very pretty girl as I have mentioned before but honestly I get distracted with that tattooed arm. Tonight however her vocal is better as she performs "Black Horse And A Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall which was released in 2005. What threw the song off for me personally was the awkward movements she was making as she sang. Because of these movements there were several off-pitch notes. Paula thought she picked the right song. Simon thinks she is current (oh really, I did not know that being quirky was current). Randy agreed with Simon and Kara thinks she brings variety to the show. My grade: C

Von Smith was doomed with his first verse of the 1976 Elton John hit "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word". He sang too softly in the beginning and most of his notes were pitchy. What also made this bad was it was boring. Simon agreed with me and Kara felt it was the wrong song choice. Both Paula and Randy did not like him being so serious. Overall it was just not a great moment for Von. My grade: C-

Next up is Jasmine Murray who will sing a song by Christina Aguilera called "Reflection" off the 1998 soundtrack of "Mulan". She had better control over this song than we saw from her other performance. I did think however she sort of lost it with that last verse but overall the girl can sing fairly well. I guess my real problem with her is I just do not feel any connection but this performance was nicely done. Randy still thought the song was too big for her, Kara is amazed by her big voice, Paula calls it a wonderful job and Simon ends with it was a huge improvement. My grade: B

I liked Ricky Braddy so much better when he sang "A Song For You". Tonight he has chosen the 1972 release "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. He showed more personality for sure but overall the singing was just okay for me. Kara called it a good job and Paula was glad he loosened up for this show. Randy agrees he has a good voice as did Simon but it came off sort of clumsy. My grade: B-

Oh heavens our drama queen Tatiana Del Toro is next and for the third time in a row she is singing the Whitney Houston 1985 hit "Saving All My Love For You". In her too short dress I was less impressed with this particular performance as I felt she sang it better when she was in the first round. It was a rough beginning however she did sound pretty good on the big notes. Paula thought she came off shakey, Randy mentions the rough start, Kara really does not say much at all but Simon sort of raked her over the coals about singing the same song and calls her explanation rubbish. I had to agree with him. My grade: C-

Anoop Desai certainly had the support of the audience as he once again performed the 1988 Bobby Brown hit "My Prerogative". He has wonderful stage presence but I did hear some rough notes in there. However overall I enjoyed his performance. Simon does not think he is the best singer but likes him, Randy thought it was better this time around, Kara wanted to do a Paula and dance which Paula did. Paula also added he was a showman and some of his moves were a bit nasty she thought. My grade: B


Okay who's in and who's out? Up first is Jasmine Murray and she makes the cut. Next is Ricky Braddy who did not impress and he is a goner.

Megan Corkrey and Tatiana Del Toro are pulled up together and the judges have decided to go with the quirky Megan. Tatiana is once again stunned she did not make it and Paula comforts her.

Jess Langseth comes next and finds she almost made it according to Simon but it is a no. Von Smith is also a goner.

Now we are down to Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai. Simon tells Matt he has made the cut. Anoop is happy for him and starts to walk off the stage however Simon stops him and lets us know they have decided to go with a top 13 instead of 12 which is definitely a first! Anoop is stunned and so am I . I am glad however because I truly enjoyed Anoop and Matt the most.

So we now have our top 13 and finally the real competition gets started next week. I am wondering how they will handle the eliminations since we have an extra person. Guess we will find out so until next time have a great week everyone!

I was very happy to see Anoop make it. I think he got some kind of chance if he makes the right song choices. Of course he got to compete with Danny Gokey and Alexis Grace. This should be good from here on. ~keeping fingers crossed~

Great recap CC...

I wasn't dissatisfied or satisfied with the WC. I guess I still haven't seen anyone I find good enough to vote for hopefully next week will change that. I guess I was very happy that Tatiana, didn't make it through, the drama around her is very tiring..

I was a little surprise with the 13 instead of 12 but the got to thinking, They already have the weeks plotted out so does that mean that one week there will be 2 that go home?? It would be another "Drama" week for sure.

I was a little put off with Simons remark about Taylor but it's really nothing I haven't been expecting, honestly I thought he'd have said something long before now. How little does he know that it was more of a COMPLAINMENT than anything. I also realized that during season 5 Simon also did the same thing with Taylor only using Clay remember? I think Simon really didn't like either Taylor or Clay and it gets his goat that they moved on and came out on top.. Anyway BOO TO SIMON...

I think this season is paling in comparisson to other seasons so far and I really hope that once they get started next week that it'll get much better..

I'll be looking forward to reading your recaps..

Thanks for responding you two. Now that we officially have our top 13 I am thinking along the lines of Sandi that they may have a double elimination to compensate for the extra person. Currently I am most interested in seeing what Danny Gokey, Michael Sarver, Matt Giraud, Adam Lambert, Scott Macintyre and possibly Anoop Desai bring to the table. I really am not too interested in Kris Allen. Of the girls I might be interested in seeing how Alexis Grace and Allison Iraheta do but overall I am about the guys this season.

Sure hope they have some good themes this year. Plus I think they need to limit the song choice to possibly just one year of hits rather than let them choose a decade of them. It is obvious that many of these contestants just do not know how to pick the right songs for their voices as we have witnessed in the last few weeks. Judging by the contestants that made it I have a feeling country week might end up being a disaster unless these people make it their own.

Some themes I surely wish they would have would be the music of INXS or Aerosmith but guess that won't be happening. Oh well.

Anyway, sure am glad we are finally getting this competition going.

I really have to agree with you CC. The girls this season just didn't cut it no matter how hard they tried. I do like Alexis Grace and will be watching her. But overall...it's the guys this season. Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud and Scott McIntyre are the four I'm cheering for.

I read that they are having a Micheal Jackson theme this coming week, not sure if it's true but wow pretty rough for the first week out if it is true.. There are some on the AI board that say they won't even watch because of how disgusted they are with the Micheal Jackson of today, I posted and said that regardless of what he is today, there was a time when he domenated the charts and was hgihly thought of, Giving credit where credit is due there is no one like him and these kids will have rough time of it. Kind of like the Beatles last season

If it is indeed the music of Michael Jackson, how cool is that. I know he has gotten alot of bad press because of his personal life and frankly I am not sure he is guilty of that however that aside, I think he is one of the greatest singers to ever grace our lives.

If people do not watch well that is their loss, I know I will be glued to the tv set that night!

Despite MJ's personal life he was still one of the best entertainers around. Nobody could move (dance) and sing like Michael. His music will always be some of my favorite to listen too. I will also be glued to the TV.

Agree with both of you. I think Micheal Jackson set the bar for entertainment and he did it with a lot of gusto and I agree CC he is one of if not the best ever.. I also agree with you that I wonder just how "guilty" he really is or if it was parents that are the guilty ones in that whole thing. Whatever it is He'll always be known is the GREAT Micheal Jackson and if those that don't chose to watch it will be their loss..

Well, it's obvious that Michael already has released his music to be used by Idol hopefuls, so that's very possible.
Regardless of his current stature in public opinion, I agree - his artistry is unparallelled. I know that without his music, the fabric of MY life would be totally different, for my past is dotted with several OMG moments tagged with Michael's music - even as recently as last year, when at Halloween we had a Thriller dance - off at my college and there was like 100 of us dancing and laughing. Musically, Michael has always been an incredible inspiration - to deny him his legacy in that regard breaks my heart. I may not now nor ever find his personal life less than troubling to say the least, but to use that to say derogatory things about the talent this man possesses is deplorable.
~tyg