American Idol – And There Were Eleven

It’s time to be back to the two-hour length shows as they combine all 11 contestants into one show again. According to our latest poll, Sanjaya should be going home this week. He’s got 108 votes against him and Haley Scarnato has 17 right now.

The contestants come out Gina and Melinda got their haircut and Phil is bald, oh wait, that’s normal. It was pretty impressive in that Simon Cowell got quite the applause and screams when they announced his name. On a side note, there are new Coke cups tonight.

Tonight we’re doing the British Invasion, the Beatles led the initial wave and following with some little groups you may have heard of like The Rolling Stones, The Who and Herman’s Hermits or even The Animals. It just struck me that if the Beatles were still alive and rocking, they’d be old farts like The Rolling Stones are now.

Let’s get it started.

Haley Scarnato – “Tell Him”
She’s really coming out and showing a completely different side of her. I think the advice from LuLu to keep it staccato was good advice. She also said not to worry about being compared to the “big voices” because there’s a place for everyone and Haley just needs to do what she can do and be herself. I’m ont sure if it’s because she really worked it out this week, or if the style really suits. One thing to say for sure, she sure did make good use of some warddrobe tape.

• Randy: perfect song choice, best performance to date
• Paula: girlish quality with a perfect song for her
• Simon: “you naughty little thing”, fun, young a bit shrieky in the middle

Chris Richardson – “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’”
Peter Noone didn’t have much to say about Chris. Said he didn’t hear much of his voice. Doesn’t sound like he was impressed with Chris at all. Singing a little acoustic set with just him and a guitar. So far it sounds like he’s delivering on his goal. The setting and focus of the him and the guitarist on stage puts all the emphasis on his singing and his voice. He’s got talent, but I’m just not a big fan of his nasally and pinched sound. This performance was a good one though, nice falsetto ending that will get votes too. It’s a competition tonight!

• Randy: another great performance, showed a really different side. It was beautiful, one of his best vocals
• Paula: playing this game to win, very sexy and charming for the entire performance
• Simon: “I think that was your best performance”, your control was excellent and didn’t make it sound old-fashioned. Simon agrees with me, a little nasally.

Stephanie Edwards – “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”
Lulu said she’s so grounded. She reminded her of Beyonce when she hears her sing. But, we don’t need another Beyonce. Let’s see Stephanie. I’ll bet this will be a great performance. Very nice orchestral intro to the song. Everything backs off and let’s Stephanie’s voice to massage the lyrics into the air. The long black boots don’t work with her blue dress though. Oooh, sounds like her performance is just falling apart to me. Maybe it’s just the audio. Nothing memorable.

• Randy: good song choice, little pitchy, not her best performance
• Paula: loves what you’re wearing, picked the right song, minus some notes that fell off
• Simon: believes she’s losing her edge and her soul. A very good cabaret performance. Misses her passion and rawness

Anyone else think this show would be about half the time without all the commercials?

Blake Lewis – “Time of the Season”
Paula Abdul is rockin’ out at the judges desk. Very nice intro does it’s job of getting you on your feet. The final note of the chorus seemed a bit out of his range though. His beat-boxin’ and performance skills sets him so far apart from the rest of the competition it’s amazing. I think he could probably lose tonight and have an album before the winner is actually announced.

• Randy: cool, vibey, edgy, massive yo-factor, much props
• Paula: I felt like she was at a concert, he’s raised the bar
• Simon: a million times better than last week, I think this week it was a right song choice, kept the melody intact while putting his own slant on it.

Ryan danced a little bit and it I can’t decide if it was good or just completely goofy. I’m leaning a little more towards goofy.

LaKisha Jones – “Diamonds Are Forever”
LuLu tries to convince her to sing “You’re My World”, but she ends up and chooses “Diamonds Are Forever”. I’m not sure how she would have done on LuLu’s suggestion, but LaKisha’s performance isn’t doing a whole lot for me this week. There are a couple of lyrics and notes that she really launches at you, but overall I’m a little bored with the song.

• Randy: good choice, not his favorite performance. Didn’t feel enough LaKisha in it
• Paula: picked the right song, not much to talk about her song, so she resorts to talking about the diamonds she’s wearing
• Simon: feels it was like watching her perform 50-years from now

Phil Stacey – “Tobacco Road”
He’s picking a song because of how fun it is to sing. Peter believes it’s a good choice to highlight Phil’s range. Said he’d never heard it sung that well before. This song is full of energy and totally stretches the singer’s ability to hit a full range of notes and runs. A good variety of the tempo changes as well. I’m not sure what it is though, I like Phil and his personality, but for some reason on this song, his appearance just throws me off. He’s stepping up to the competition though and bringing it.

• Randy: had a good time up there, likes his upper register, good for him
• Paula: real good choice of song, some parts were pitchy, liked hearing the various ranges of his voice, good performance
• Simon: wasn’t crazy about, doesn’t hear any grit in his voice and it was needed in this song. It needed to be believably and he didn’t believe it

Join us after the break for the second half of tonight’s performances.