AMERICAN IDOL Top 10 Guys Performance

Don’t be mistaken by the long blonde hair and the pretty eyelashes, that was in fact Casey James on your screen tonight.  For this week only the guys and the girls switched performance nights.  Seems Crystal Bowersox is sick and wouldn’t be able to perform. She was taken to the hospital and wasn’t cleared to perform tonight by the doctors. Hope Bow-er-sox gets well soon! Rather than risk losing one of their top females, the producers just pulled a switch-a-roo.  Now I have to wonder if they’d make the same move if say Lacey Brown were too sick to sing.  Hmmm.

Well tonight you can call me Crystal Bowersox, because I too am sick.  You know how I love breaking down each of the IDOL performances, but this week I just don’t have it in me. I’ll try to pull it together by tomorrow but I can’t make any promises.  This cold is starting to kick my ass.

But I did watch all of the guys perform tonight.  There certainly were some hits and misses. Here are my quick notes of the good, the bad and the ugly of tonight.

• Michael Lynche: A definite improvement over last week.  Perhaps the best we’ve ever heard from Michael. He really showed me something this week. He owned his entire performance. I still think he lacks the charisma to be in a competition of this level.

• John Park: Is this the same guy we saw last week? I don’t think so. I think this is the John Park we saw in his memorable audition. He looked more comfortable and there was such a richness to his voice tonight. Will it be a standout performance of the night? I’m not sure, but after the train wreck of last week I’ll take a song that I can listen to without my ears bleeding.

• Casey James: I actually didn’t like this performance as much as I enjoyed Casey’s song last week.  I felt like he was rushing through the vocals to get to his guitar solo. It was almost as if he wasn’t breathing properly and he could barely get out the lines of each verse. He’ll make it on to next week for sure, but I didn’t love it. Can someone tell him to wipe that grin off his face while he sings? Um, Kara…just because you embarrassed yourself fawning all over this guy last week it doesn’t mean you have to be extra bitchy with him.  Casey took two steps back in Kara’s book but she set herself back about 50 with that movie.

• Alex Lambert: I know there are haters, but I’m loving this kid. His nerves are still holding him back, but I love his voice.  It’s very Jason Mraz’y but I don’t think he’s trying to imitate him. I like his song selections. He’s different. I’m pulling for him. And it seems Simon is too. Simon offered up some rare but genuine, solid advice to Alex tonight. I’d like to see more of this Simon.

• Todrick Hall: Did Todrick not get the memo that I was sick.  It’s all I can do to stay awake and this guy sings a snoozefest of a song.  He tried to pick it up in the second half but he tried too hard and it fell apart. Ugh.

• Jermaine Sellers: I’m so over this kid. He does nothing for me.  He thinks he is SO much better than he is. He may be able to rock a onesie, but he was all over the place with the vocals during his performance. I thought it was a mess.

• Andrew Garcia: If Andrew doesn’t get it together soon he’s going to be “Straight Up” out of this competition.  This guy was so high on so many pedestals (including mine) coming into this competition that he has a lot tougher fall. I like the tone of his voice, but it’s the tonality that’s the problem. He was flat from beginning to end.  And it was definitely not the right song choice tonight.

• Aaron Kelly: “My Girl”? Really? What am I missing? Do people really think he can be the next American Idol?

• Tim Urban: I still like looking at him. He was much better than last week but the bar couldn’t be set much lower.  This kid just doesn’t have it. So confused as to how he got even to the Top 46.

• Lee Dewyze: Wow, that performance went down hill fast.  It started off strong but it was a musical mess by the end. I think this is one of those performances that the judges will go back and watch on TV and say ‘uh oh’. Simon insists that this kid is head and shoulders above everyone else. Really?

A noticeable improvement over last week, but I can’t say that I’m impressed at all with these guys.  Alex Lambert and Michael Lynche probably had the best vocals of the night, but that doesn’t say too much to be honest.  I have a feeling that Tim Urban might get another stay of execution this week.  I’m thinking that America is going to send Jermaine Sellers home. Go for it, America…I got your back!

Thoughts on the Top 10 guys tonight?