Last night we heard the top 12 girls perform for our votes as American Idol 2010 is officially underway. I’m left feeling disappointed and cheated especially after Simon hyped the girls up so much this week.
The best part of the entire show was the little skit between Simon and Ellen. Ellen claimed she had to sit on the opposite side of the table because Simon kept hitting on her and she had a video to prove it. It was funny and cute and made an otherwise boring episode better. Perhaps the producers knew they needed to add a little flavor to the slow ballads we heard tonight.
First up was Paige Miles. I honestly had her down as going home Thursday night but she surprised me with her song choice of “All Right Now” by Free and had the vocals to back it up.
Next was Ashley Rodriguez who took on Leona Lewis’s “Happy”. She needs to learn to sing into the mic because all I could hear was her breath at the start of the song and it got pretty pitchy after that. Simon said she could be in trouble after tonight.
Then we had Florida’s own Janell Wheeler. She sang “What About Love” by Heart. Bad song choice. If you are going to sing Ann Wilson, you better have the big voice to back it up and sadly, she did not.
Fourth up was the unique Lilly Scott whom last year was playing her guitar and singing for money on the streets of Denver. She did a nice rendition of The Beatle’s “Fixing the Hole” and received rave reviews from the judges.
Katelyn Epperly was up next and I was a little worried for her but she came through with The Beatle’s “Oh Darling”. This is where Ellen really showed how little she actually knows about music and why she should stick with doing her talk show. She couldn’t tell if Katelyn could sing well or if she was pushing and working too hard. She went on and on saying she just didn’t know. Well if you don’t know Ellen, just shut up and don’t say anything at all.
Haeley Vaughn takes to the stage and also sings The Beatle’s “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. Enough with The Beatles already. You people are young and hip, get with the times unless you are changing the song to make it your own. I totally agreed with Simon, it was terrible as was Lacey Brown’s performance of “Landslide.”
Michelle Delamor faired a little better with “Fallen” by Alicia Keys but didn’t receive good feedback from the judges. Neither did Didi Benami whom I was hoping would blow us away cause she sounds so much like Nora Jones but her song “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson left the judges feeling sleepy. However, she was my favorite of the night.
I was not at all impressed with Siobhan Magnus as her song “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak was too low and pitchy but the judges stood behind her and even though they didn’t think it was a great song choice thought she did well and they all like her.
Next was Crystal Bowersox, another favorite of mine from the audition process. She sang Alanis Morissette’s “Hand in my Pocket” and although she plays the guitar and the harmonica which was cool, she sounded too much like Alanis and needed to make the song her own.
Lastly, we have the cute Katie Stevens. She sings “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble and although it starts out a little rough, it gets better in the middle and end. The judges thought she was off pitch and pushed too hard.
Not a good night for the girls of American Idol 2010 but I’m going to chalk it up to nerves for now and hopefully they can improve next week. My bottom three were Ashley, Janell and Haeley. Who do you think is going home Thursday and who made you pick up the phone and vote?