Idol Chatter & Voice Views

What got into the American Idol guys Wednesday night?

I mean, all season we’ve been hearing about how this year’s girls are better than the guys.

And through the first two weeks of the semifinals, that appeared to be the case.

Subtract John Park and Jermaine Sellers, add stepped-up performances from Alex Lambert and Tim Urban, and I thought the episode we jsut watched was the best Idol semifinal show this season.

Nice going guys.

And way to make tomorrow night’s show more suspenseful. Now I’m not the least bit sure who will be going home.

But I’ll give it a shot in this recap blog. You’ll find the song-by-song rundown from tonight’s show here.

Best of the night:

OK, Mike Lynche got all the accolades at the end of the show. What did Simon call that performance? The best of the semifinals? I wouldn’t go that far. But Big Mike hit notes high and big, and certainly nailed down his spot in the finals. Hey, and he’s still looking stylish.

Just as impressive to me was Mr. Eye Candy himself, Casey James. No pretend rocker with a baby blue guitar this week. Just Casey sitting on a stool, playing his guitar and singing a heartfelt version of Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me.” I thought it was easily his best performance of the semifinals.

Somewhat forgotten, perhaps because he sang first, was Lee DeWyze, who has been the most consistent performer among the guys during these early rounds. Those three should be finals bound, because there’s a big gap between them and the rest of the field.

Deserves to go home:

What were the judges hearing when Aaron Kelly sang — or tried to sing — Lone Star’s “I’m Already There?” He got credit for picking an upbeat song. Hey, great. Admittedly, there were an awful lot of ballads being trotted out Wednesday. But you have to sing well, and Aaron didn’t. The weakest vocal of the night, for a guy that hasn’t had a “wow” moment in the competition yet.

What were the judges hearing when Todrick Hall sang? The background singers sounded really good. Todrick sounded OK. And just OK isn’t good enough, not after butchering Kelly Clarkson and Tina Turner songs in the first two weeks.

Please keep him:

Tim Urban. Simon basically told him he didn’t belong two weeks ago. Remember? After Tim’s tepid version of One Republic’s “Apologize.” Well, Wednesday night, Tim showed why he belonged. He trotted out “Hallelujah,” a song that’s familiar to Idol fans. And it was a risky song choice because so many people probably remember Jason Castro’s version at this very same point in the competition. But Tim pulled it off.

Surprise of the night:

Andrew Garcia tried to surprise everyone by singing Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” Well, we’ve come to expect unexpected song choices from him. I’m sure lots of people were hoping he’d return to “Straight Up” form, especially with so much on the line in Wednesday’s show. He didn’t. Suddenly, the dad who looked like an early frontrunner among the guys looks like he’ll be lucky to squeak into the top 12.

Baffled by the judges:

Darn right I was baffled, by the way too complimentary reviews for Aaron Kelly and Todrick Hall, and for the lukewarm reception Casey James got for what I thought was one of the best efforts of the night.

Best line of the night by the judges:

Simon, after Kara told Aaron Kelly he sang a song that didn’t fit his age. “Kara, I think what you just said is complete and utter rubbish.” Wow! I would love to have been able to read the thought bubble over Kara’s head after that.

Prediction for Thursday:

I’m predicting Todrick goes home. For starters, I don’t want to see the wicked wizard of canceled Oz shows in the finals. Then there’s this: the benefit of this semifinal format is that we get to see who can perform well week after week. Todrick followed up awful and horrendous with an OK performance Wednesday. Add it up, and it isn’t finals worthy.

Alex Lambert is likely to be the second elimination. He looked less nervous and sang better last night. But add up all three performance, and he hasn’t been finals worthy either. That said, I wouldn’t be the least bit disappointed to see him stay and the overrated Aaron Kelly get the boot instead.

Song-by-song grades:

Michael Lynche: A-
Casey James: A-
Lee DeWyze: B
Tim Urban: B
Alex Lambert: C+
Todrick Hall: C
Andrew Garcia: C-
Aaron Kelly: C-