2/9 Show Discussion *Spoilers*

[RealityLovesMe]

I can all ready tell which one they want us to like. I think Didi is the producer's pick. The judges like her a lot too. She's pretty and has a story. The only problem for me is the singing. She sings like she's constipated! I've never seen singing look so difficult. She is really pushing hard and I hear a very strained voice. I also don't really understand what her genre or mix of genres is.
I think we are also supposed to like Andrew. Andrew isn't a genius by any means but he is clever for choosing that song and getting the judges excited over something they've seen done a thousand times in this series.
Crystal was good. I think she needs to elevate her look more.
Katie needs 5 more years. Her voice is good but what else does she have to offer?
I cannot figure out what is going on with Haeley. She is definitely a novelty but I think her voice is also unique and I don't know if it all fits together. Plus I think she needs a few more years to be as good as she needs to be.
Michael stood out based on his story and body size. I just wish he was a more unique singer. A football player singing like John Mayer isn't appealing to me. I wish he would find his niche instead of blending in.
I liked Lilly. Sometimes the singers try and change the way words are accented or the way they are pronounced to sort of fit into an alternative genre. Megan Joy did it and Didi does it. But it sounds so practiced and deliberate. I think Lilly does the same thing but it is just really organic coming from her. I like her.
Janell is generic. I think they want a blond girl who plays guitar to win.

[jammyjoe]

Last year they put through some not so good singers like Normund Gentle, Megan Joy, Tatiana delToro, Jasmine Murray, Michael Sarver and Scott Macintyre. This year there are some really good ones. I didn't see Danielle Hayes, the karaoke singer that sings with a cover band and cried thru her audition. I also didn't see Matthew Lawrence, the big country white guy with a straw hat who sang Trouble (reminded me of Sundance Head).

[jmb]

Justin Williams and Tim Irvin come up. Tim sings Cookie's Come Back to Me. He sounds like he's singing in the dorm. Justin goes all Buble and sounds great.

Can't believe they kept Tim and sent Justin home!!!

Saw a quick clip of the 60's rock dude that reminds me of Mick Jagger... glad he made it through to Round 2. It's sad that 80+ people made it through to round 2 but we have not seen most of them.

I liked Maddie and was sorry to see her go home, but I agreed with the judges that her song choice was bad. The good news is that she is very young and can try again next year.

[dagwood]

LOVED the interpretation of Straight Up (beats the heck out of the original!). Kara compared it to Adam from last year - seemed much more like a Kris interpretation to me.

I think the comparison was more how he took the song and made it his own like it was an original song not a cover, not on the sound of the song.

[TopCatDC]

Last night was a crucial night for pre-voting exposure. 181 people got to sing; half of them were cut. Tomorrow night will be group sing and drama - less time to highlight specific good singers. So, now that the producers have chosen their Top 24, who did they chose to show us?

Girls

• Katie Stevens - For Once In My Life - The girl with the aging grandmother; Richard Rushfield of The Daily Beast has been calling her the one to beat for the last three weeks.
• Mary Powers - Sober - Pat Benatar Lite; strong voice - but what will she do if she has to sing Barry Manilow or Andrew Lloyd Webber?
• Jannell Wheeler - American Boy - Think Taylor Swift, except she sings with nice tone and on pitch. Second coming of Brooke White?
• Haeley Vaughn - Change - Black country singer; Haeley has "it", definitely; but will her lack of experience do her in later?
• Lilly Scott - Birdland - She's a Taylor Swift / Ella Fitzgerald mash-up. Very interesting, and she she may have the musical depth and versatility to do well if she advances.
• Didi Benami - Terrified - Sang a Kara song; She has a quality that I saw in Adam's audition last year - a thorough professionalism.
• Crystal Bowersox - Natural Woman - the standout audition for me; blew me away with that rendition. If she can create moments like that on the live show, then she could go far.

Guys

• Andrew Garcia - Straight Up - pulls a Kris Allen and reinvents Paula's dance track as an angsty coffee-house ballad. I liked it - but we've seen this trick before; I hope he has more surprises up his sleeve.
• Michael Lynche - Waiting for the World to Change - He's good, but at the moment I give him a B- for singing and an A for backstory (wife going in to labor during Hollywood week. I can't believe no one has thought of that angle before!)
• Tim Urban - Come Back to Me - Keep on moving; nothing to see here.
• Casey James - I Don't Need No Doctor - Good thing he pulled off this bluesy guitar cover 'cause his credibility is in the mud after that striptease he pulled during auditions. If he wants to be more than beekcake he's got some serious singing to do.

For weeks now Randy (the producer's mouthpiece) has been going around talk shows saying that this is the girls year. Last night's show had the same message. There is no denying that the five girls we saw advance last night have what it takes to compete in the finals. And other than Haeley, who may be a little green for this level of competition, I could see any of them in the Top 5.

Not so for the guys. Only Andrew Garcia could break the Top 10 - and that's assuming he's got more to show us than we've already seen.

We are obviously meant to come away with the message that these were the best male performances of the day. But that is simply not credible. Where was Aaron Kelly - the wonderboy who beat out all comers at the American Idol Experience in Orlando? What about Jermaine Sellers, Tyler Grady, John Park and Michael Castro?

By pushing Hollywood week into January, that forced the producers to show us people in the audition rounds before their pimping agenda could be set in stone. So, we KNOW those guys are out there. And it makes the lopsided presentation last night rather suspect.

I am not sure what the producers hope to accomplish in the long run. There will still be six girls and six guys in the finals, and the audience will be picking based on talent and performance. Maybe they just hope to rev up so much fan support for the girls that they become "too big to fail" as the less known guys get picked off in the early voting rounds.

But then that was their strategy last year and it didn't work out so well for them.

[Little Sew&Sew]

Loved Andrew and Crystal both. 95% of the cds I own are male singers, but I'd buy a Crystal cd today if it was available.

[razorbacker]

All in all a very good night for the girls...

[TopCatDC]

Re: my previous complaint about no Michael Castro

I'm not the only one who is noticing that Micheal keeps popping up in the edits, but with no sound. This from Michael Slezak's recap of the show (last page, if you are reading the article):

I hope some of you guys are having fun with that drinking game where you take a shot every time the producers flash an image of Jason Castro's brother on screen, but don't allow a single sound to come out of his mouth. (Don't forget to take two Advil and drink two big glasses of water before bedtime!)

[StarryElf]

IMHO, Crystal is the best of the girls we have seen. I think at this stage of the competition, when the final 24 hasn't yet been set (while they are still filming this part) and a contestants can get all the other contestants into their performance and singing along and cheering them on, like Crystal did, then they have a real shot at going far. I liked Lily too, I hope she sticks around with Crystal for a long time.

Mary Powers won't go too far though. They always have a rocker like Chris Daughtry or Amanda Overmeyer, but they never go too far. Allison Iraheta got the farthest, and she was stronger than Mary is imho. Haeley won't get too far either. SHe is a bit of a cute novelty, but she's too young and the novelty will wear off fast.

I can see Casey maybe doing well, and possibly Big Mike. I don't remember any of the other guys except Andrew, so they didn't make too much of an impression imho. I wonder why we didn't see anything about Todrick other than that he made it through. He was hyped earlier on, wan't he?

[prhoshay]

I'd love to see Elton John replace Simon!