Ryan Seacrest is here, and so is Anthony Fedorov. Each contestant will be singing two songs, they’ll have two phone numbers and we have three judges, Wyclef, Lauryn and Pras.
The first song theme is “The Year You Were Born”. No time for chatter, so here’s the first singer…
Elliott Yamin was born in 1978 and he’s singing George Benson’s “On Broadway”
Elliott tries to un-Broadway the song, and I’m not entirely sure he succeeds here. Nerves maybe? It’s decent, but nothing particularly special – probably about the same level as Savol last year.
Speaking of nothing special, Ace is in the audience.
Randy – Started a little rough but you got it together.
Paula – Way to go.
Simon – I don’t think that was your best performance. I think it was a bit disjointed and you’re lucky you have two songs tonight.
Rating: 5/10
Paris and Chris will be back after the
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We’re back, and Paris Bennett (who was born in 1988) is singing “Kiss” by Prince, which should be interesting to say the least.
She’s giving it her own spin, making the song Motown-ish. I’m not a big fan of the arrangement – it sounds flat in parts but as always, Paris is spot on with the performance portion of the act.
Randy – I thought it was nice.
Paula – I love when you sing songs from the past eras.
Simon – Screechy and annoying.
Rating: 6/10
Chris Daughtry was born in 1979 and he’s singing Styx’ “Renegade”. Never thought I’d say that on this show.
Well, you can’t say that the song doesn’t suit Chris. It’s, well, pretty much like every other song he sings, but with more of a rock edge. And as such, he sings it very well. It shows off his voice and emotion, and will help him fulfill his destiny as Fuel’s new lead singer.
Randy – America, we got a real hot one tonight.
Paula – (Something about setting the bar)
Simon – That was a million times better than the first two performances.
Rating: 7/10
Katherine and Taylor are coming up after the
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Katherine McPhee had a wardrobe malfunction last week, but I don’t think many people noticed. Guys didn’t, anyways – such is the magic of cleavage. She was born in 1984, and she’s singing Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds”.
Is she singing the Westlife/Mariah Carey cover version? It’s not all that great. Kinda flat and lacking emotion in places, and I think she realizes it. Might even be worse than Savol’s version, actually.
Randy – Looked amazing, but I don’t know that the key was right for you.
Paula – Not my favourite performance from you.
Simon – Tonight in parts it was a mess and the song ran away from you.
Rating: 3/10
Taylor Hicks was born in 1976. He’s singing “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry. There’s another song I’d never thought hear on this show.
Damn if he doesn’t rock it out. The song definitely plays to his strengths, but I was afraid he’d go into seizures with his “dancing”. Best performance so far.
Randy – I knew you had a good time. I felt like I was in a bar and had a couple.
Paula – This is the authentic Taylor that you love.
Simon – For me this was like a horrible, horrible wedding performance. Sorry.
Rating: 8/10
Another round and another theme after the
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We’re back and the second theme of the night is current Top Ten Billboard hits. We get a look at Billboard and Idol’s success on the charts. Oh, and hey, there they are on the cover of Billboard magazine!
Elliott Yamin is back and he’s singing “Home” by Michael Buble.
Elliott starts off flat and stiff, and stays that way throughout the performance. I should not that he’s sitting on a stool, which almost never goes well for the singers. It’s definitely not his night, and it could be buh-bye Elliott this week.
Elliott forgets to stand on his mark and runs to the “talk with Ryan” part of the stage, and Ryan escorts him back.
Randy – Nice choice.
Paula – It can melt you.
Simon – I’m not sure I want to choose a lyric that says “I want to go home”. I’m just a little bit concerned. Now, run back to Ryan.
Rating: 3.5/10
Paris Bennett is up now, singing “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige.
What’s with the flatness tonight? Paris butchers the verse, and she overcompensates a bit on the chorus by shouting the music instead of singing. She recovers nicely on the bridge, but was it enough?
Randy – Definitely taking a big risk, but all in all you rocked it.
Paula – I loved your voice. I was hoping you would do your own Paris flip on it.
Simon – Actually I think you did rather well.
Rating: 4/10
Chris and Kat are up after the
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We’re back, and singing Switchfoot’s “I Dare You”, it’s Chris Daughtry.
Not the greatest song in the world (hey, it’s Switchfoot) but Chris does his thing with it and again, shows a lot of emotion and power while SINGING the song. Unlike, say, Paris.
Note: I was just PM’ed by Josh Clinton:
Hey..Chris sang “I Dare You” by Shinedown on ‘American Idol’ last night. You said it was Switchfoot, which is not true. They have a crappy song called “Dare You To Move”. Not the same song. Just for your information. Later.
So there you go. Crappy song, different artist.
Randy – I’m not sure I love that song for you. It was just allright for me.
Simon – It wasn’t a great song, and it felt like your voice is going.
Rating: 6.5/10
Singing KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”, it’s Katherine McPhee.
Kat’s on her knees on stage, and it seems to work for her. Everything that went wrong for her in the first song, goes right in this one. Lots of emotion, power and it’s sung well. Good job.
Randy – That’s more like the Katherine I grew to love.
Paula – This is a much better performance.
Simon – Taylor’s lying down, you’re on your knees – this is strange. This is a good choice of song.
Rating: 6.5/10
One last performance coming up after the
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Taylor Hicks is back and singing… The Beatles? Um, OK.
The song, by the way, is “Something”. And it doesn’t suit Taylor. It feels like he’s oversinging the song. It feels like a lounge performance. As done by Joe Cocker. And I don’t think that was the intent.
Randy – You chose a great song.
Paula – You didn’t over sing it.
Simon – It’s very easy to forget with all the barminess that you’re a very good singer.
Rating: 4/10
Time to recap the singers, and time to start voting.
