AI9: Top 7 Perform

Last night was Inspirational Song Night on American Idol. As I mentioned last week, I was not looking forward to this category. Yesterday I found further reason to dread it when I happened across the list of 77 songs that the Idol contestants were allowed to choose from. Nothing original there, just a collection of schlock and dreck. Sigh. I noted that the song David Cook did during Season 7, "Innocent" by Our Lady Peace, did not make the list. Another deep sigh.

Alicia Keys was the mentor of the week. I respect Alicia Keys; she's a classically-trained pianist with a gorgeous voice, and she brings that classical background to her songs. I wish she could have mentored on a week with better music choices.

And there was very little that was worth hearing last night. Limiting the song choices was not a very good idea, in my opinion.

Casey James led off the evening with an uninspired performance of "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac. He started off on the wrong note, and although he recovered quickly, that set the tone of the whole song for me. His guitar work was good. (After the performance, he told us he was playing Lindsay Buckingham's guitar. Lindsay Buckingham is the one person above all others that I wish I could sing with. I always joke that Stevie Nicks got my life...) His singing? Not so much. Randy thought it was a good performance, but not his best. He'd like something a little more special, something different. Ellen thought his guitar playing was great. But other than that, he wasn't great. Kara said he made himself like everybody else. Simon didn't find his song choice inspiring; zero emotion, no originality. A lazy song choice. I agree.

Lee DeWyze chose "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel. I was surprised this song (which was popular when I was in high school) was on the list, although I guess it can be considered inspiring. He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, with a piano and orchestra. It was slower in spirit than the original, although I don't think it was actually that much slower in tempo. I felt the beat in 4 rather than in 8, which made it seem more stately, but also detracted from the emotional impact of the original song, at least for me. Lee sang it fairly well, though. Randy thought Lee's a great artist who will have a big career. Ellen thought the song choice was beautiful. His best performance by far. Kara thinks he had his moment tonight, and it shows clearly the difference when somebody feels connected to the song they're performing. Simon thought it was the best performance of the night (out of 2), the song was sincere, it was emotional, inspirational; he made the song sound as if it were written a week ago.

Urban Blight Alert! Tim Urban, who is way past his expiration date on this show, tortured "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls. I didn't recognize this song from the title, but it's the one with the line "Tonight's the night the world begins again." I've always liked the Goo Goo Dolls, and the first time I heard this song it moved me to tears. It wouldn't have last night, though, unless they were tears of pain. As usual, Tim was way off key in spots, and he did nothing original with it. The judges didn't like it much, either. Randy thought it was an “interesting” choice, but it was kind of okay karaoke for him; Tim didn't do anything with it. Ellen compared it to the soup of the day; sometimes she likes it and sometimes she doesn't, and last night she didn't. Kara didn't think he did it very well. Simon thought he has improved over the weeks, but it was a little bit of a letdown.

Little Aaron Kelly chose "I Believe I Can Fly," by R. Kelly - no relation, right? Aaron gave an adequate performance, but I don't think he brought anything new to it. Randy thought he picked a giant song, and the arrangement was a little strange for him, but he thought he did a good job. Ellen believes he can fly. Real good. Kara thought watching it was like taking off. Simon said if he'd heard that song on the radio, he'd have turned it off within 10 seconds. It wasn't very good. Aaron shared with us that the first time he sang that song, he was at a preschool graduation (he was 5).

Our Cape Cod girl, Siobhan Magnus, gave a kind of overemotional performance of "When You Believe", which they said was performed by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, although I'm guessing not at the same time. Siobhan was wearing a dress with sculptured butterflies on it (Simon thought they were leaves). She used a wide vibrato that I found distracting, too operatic, but she hit every note, and when she got to the highest note, she just let it float out beautifully. All in all I liked her performance. The judges weren't so sure. Randy thought she picked the toughest song of the night, but it was just okay for him. Ellen disagreed; it was just more confirmation why she was here. Kara thought it was technically well done, but a little too dramatic and she still doesn't know who Siobhan is. Simon thought the arrangement was very old-fashioned, it was a bit all over the place.

Michael Lynche chose "Hero", which was listed as being by "Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott". I had no idea who these people were, so I looked them up on Wikipedia, where I was a little embarrassed to learn that Chad Kroeger is the frontman for Nickelback. Josey Scott is from Saliva. At least I recognized the song as being the Spider-Man theme. In any case, I didn't like Big Mike's performance, and as I've mentioned, I'm a huge Big Mike fan usually. I played it again, and I still didn't like it. It was kind of all the same; I couldn't get the story he was trying to tell. There was very little vocal range to it, so Mike couldn't show off his high notes. Kind of a wasted performance. Randy was a little worried about this song for him, but he thought Mike held his own with it and it worked out. Ellen thought he did a great job. Kara apologized; it wasn't her favorite performance; she didn't think his voice was right for it. Simon thought he sang it pretty well. “That was about Spider-Man, wasn't it?” It felt a little bit artificial to him. But he thinks Mike will still be around next week.

So far there had been six lackluster performances. But they'd saved the best for last. Crystal Bowersox sang "People Get Ready" by the Impressions, and she blew everybody away. It was a perfect song choice for her, with its gospel feel. She sang the first verse a cappella, and when the orchestra came in, she was right on key. It was clear the message of the song was affecting her, and her voice broke on the last few words, “Thank the Lord” and she ended up in tears. Very, very moving. Randy gave her a standing O. Ellen thought she had never looked more beautiful, and she keeps getting better and better. Simon thought it was inspirational. He was happy to see her emotional, and everybody felt the song meant a lot to her. She said she broke up because her dad was here.

Best performance of the evening? Really, the only good performance of the evening was Crystal's.

Two of the Bottom Three positions should go to Tim Urban and Aaron Kelly. I have a sinking feeling that the third should probably go to Michael Lynche.