Either way, this is a big improvement, and should give the contestants more interesting songs to choose from.
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Stupid judge banter. Yawn. Do we really need the judges to tell us why not singing badly is important? Waste. Of. Time.
What?! The mentor is Miley Cyrus? Uh, weird. Not that I think Miley is untalented, but is she the best mentor they could come up with?! Was Justin Bieber busy this week? Maybe next week, huh?
The idols pretend to be excited to have her as a mentor. Well, maybe the young ones aren't pretending.
Lee Dewyze is singing The Letter by The Boxtops. A great song though my favorite version of this song is the Joe Cocker version. I think this will fit Lee's growly voice perfectly. Miley asks Lee not to tell anyone that she is really Hannah Montana. No, just kidding, but that would have rocked. I really like his version. He uses an onstage brass band with background singers. The singers do him no favors, but it looks cool. Lee looks more comfortable on stage this week. I like this from him. Great start! Judges liked it except for Simon. Simon slams him for not being contemporary enough. I actually think he did a fine job.
Paige is singing Against All Odds by Phil Collins. Miley warns her not to be pitchy. She obviously doesn't like listening to Miley's advice, because Paige is HORRENDOUS. I hate the little whammy bar thing she does to scoop around to the notes. There are a few moments that don't suck, but I shouldn't give so much credit to the moments of silence. The judges are brutally honest and rip her. I worry that the judges are so mean to her that viewers vote for her out of pity. She needs to go home. Please?
Tim Urban is singing Queen's A Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Miley tells him to push the boundaries a bit. Last week he made the Stones reggae, and this week he changes nothing of the arrangement from the original. It's forgettable and boring. Karaoke Hell. Pass. I am sure the judges will rip him too. The judges hate it. I hate that Tim Urban might let Paige stay another week.
Aaron Kelly has laryngitis, tonsillitis, and a crush on Miley. He sings I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith. Call me a teenage girl, but Aaron has a really good voice. Even sick, he shows that he deserves to be here. I do not think he will break the top 4, but he will hang around for quite awhile. Judges are obviously fans too.
Crystal Bowersox is singing Me and Bobby McGee. We all knew it was only a matter of time before Crystal sang a Janis Joplin song. I guess now is as good a time as ever. It's a great song that should obviously suit her voice. Crystal asks Miley to sign her guitar. I hope she used pencil... She is singing on a carpet. The beginning of the song actually seems a bit directionless and fluffy. As the song continues, she gets better. Second half was great; beginning was meh. Mixed bag, but obviously Crystal will be around! Judges love it! Obviously, she's great, but I think I need to listen again.
Big Mike is singing When a Man Loves a Woman. This song may not make him contemporary, but it will be a good choice for his voice. There are no surprises in the song, but Big Mike sings it well. He has a nice tone to his voice that he uses well this week. Not super, but really good. Judges like him though warn him about doing too much.
Andrew is singing Straight Up. No, wait, he is singing I Heard It through the Grapevine. Miley actually advises Andrew to lose the guitar. He takes the advice. The performance is a bit jumpy, but I think Andrew really tries to make the song more contemporary, and he sings with more confidence and energy than he has shown thus far. The vocals weren't great, but he was not near the worst of the night. The judges were not kind. Kara gives confusing advice by telling him that Straight Up is haunting him and to move beyond it but also tells him to revisit it to see what was good about it. I think when you look at Tim and Paige, Andrew should be safe.
Katie sings Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry. I am not a Katie fan at all, but this is probably a good song choice for her. It's young and current. I still don't like her. There's something about her voice that I don't like. I can't articulate it, but I don't dig it. It's not awful, but it's off. Judges, overall, are kind.
Gordon Ramsey is in the house! I wish he would call some of the contestants donkeys!
Casey James sings Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. This is my favorite performance of Casey's yet. His vocals are tight and I dig the arrangement. It may not be the most challenging song to sing, but he was confident and looked like he was having fun! Also, there were some tasty guitar licks thrown in for good measure. I liked this a lot! The judges are generally complimentary with Simon accusing him of performing an old fashioned Huey Lewis sound-alike. I actually disagree with Simon on this point. This was not an identical version to the original.
Didi Benami takes on You're No Good by Linda Ronstadt. Again, I may be alone, but I like Didi's voice as odd as it may be. The arrangement had a strange feel, but it was interesting. Judges didn't like it at all. Who's going home tonight? So many choices!
Siobhan closes the show with Superstition by Stevie Wonder. By the way, I am not from New England, but I love it when people use the word, Wicked. It's wicked cool when people do that. How many keyboardists does it take to accompany Siobhan? Obviously, two. Her voice is good on this, but this is not my favorite performance from her. It's great karaoke, but it's still karaoke. She does scat and scream towards the end. Bonus points for the scat; minus points for giving in to the urge to having to scream in every song. Judges liked it tons.
It's easy to see who's staying (Crystal, Casey, Siobahn, Aaron, Lee, and Big Mike), but it's anyone's guess who is going home. I thought the worse performance was Paige's, but she has some real competition for going home.
Thoughts?
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