American Idol: Ladies’ Choice

Oh for the love of Ryan’s endless supply of skinny ties, this IS AMERICAN IDOL!

I can’t really say I’ve missed it. . .but AI is a guilty pleasure of sorts. Last night, the top 12 ladies took to the stage. Ryan intros them one-by-one and explains that only 6 will make it to the top 12. There’s awkward joking with the guys in the audience and long, unnecessary explaining of how the top 12 will be decided.

Then, Ryan intros the judges, and for a minute, I’m sad not to see Paula’s half crazy antics. Since I’m watching this on DVR, I fastforwarded through most of Ryan’s stilted conversation with the judges. Except for some of Ellen’s response. I’m sorry; she’s funny!

Ready? Because the show is starting!

1. Paige Mills, 24, singing “It’s Alright Now.” The beginning was a little shaky, and I didn’t feel like she was on the notes. Her enunciation was also really bad in the first verse, making the lyrics unintelligible. And it’s not good when you’re more interested in the background singers during the chorus that what the lead singer is doing. She had some great moments and can definitely hit the big notes, but overall, it was just OK for me. Simon says she has the best voice but the song choice was bad b/c it’s a cheap song (agreed); Kara (surprise) disagreed and liked the choice; Randy says it wasn’t a great choice but showed off her powerful voice; Ellen loved it and said it sounded fantastic.

2. Ashley Rodriguez, 22, singing “Happy” by Leona Lewis. It always scares me when people take on songs by artist’s with very identifiable sounds, but she starts off slow and pretty, but some of the low notes and digs aren’t great. There are places in the song when I feel like she’s talk-singing, but Johnny Cash made a name for himself doing that. Overall, OK. I mean she hit all the notes, but the song really didn’t showcase her as anything special. Kara says it was a big song to take on; Randy thinks the song choice wasn’t great for showcasing her as a singer; Ellen agrees and says stuff everyone else already has; Simon calls it “clumsy.”

3. Janell Wheeler, 24, singing “What About Love” by Heart. I’ll admit, I was nicely surprised by her in Hollywood week. But she’s doing Heart, and she better sell it or I’m going to throw things at the TV. At the beginning, I’m a bit frightened for her because she’s obviously going for a different vibe than Ann Wilson does when performing this song and plays around with the melodic line. Which is fine, in general. BUT THIS IS HEART! She tries do too many slides and vocal tricks with her voice and doesn’t quite hit all the notes. Once again, I’m more interested in the notes the background singers are hitting. It’s. just. not. good. At all. Randy says it wasn’t a good song choice and not one in which she could do something original; Ellen says there were some bad notes; Simon says she tried hard but didn’t deliver and sang off-key; Kara says the song was too big and didn’t work for her voice.

4. Lilly Scott, 20, singing “Fixin’ a Hole” by the Beatles. I am really freaked out by Lilly’s hair. Is it white? Is it gray? Is it silver? Is it just really, really blonde? I don’t know! I just had to get that out there. I do like her as a singer because there’s something different about her voice. And while the performance is technically good and she definitely makes the song her own, there’s still not a wow moment. At least for me. Ellen loves it; Simon says it’s the best so far and she picked something that portrayed her as an artist; Kara says she was at ease and memorable; Randy says she was great.

Seriously, Fox, are we doing a commercial break after every singer? I have LOST to watch after this!

5. Katelyn Epperly, 19, singing “Oh Darling.” She looks ridiculous and her hair is huge and the bright lipstick is WRONG, but the vocals are amazing. She is my favorite so far. She has control of her voice and seems comfortable on the stage. Simon calls it messy and screamy (I liked it!) but a good choice; Kara says she switched up the song and it worked; Randy complements her for paying attention to the tone; Ellen says it was interesting and liked it, though it felt a bit forced.

6. Haeley Vaughn, 16, singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. I will say this: I disagreed with Haeley making the top 24.  And I don’t like her more when she murders a fun Beatles’ tune. She is too concerned with runs and volume to sing. She gets screamy and does the affected baby girl voice for parts of the song. And then there’s the near yodel that we won’t discuss. If she wants to continue as a singer, she needs to work on control, volume, and not screaming. Kara says there were issues (not hitting notes) but fun; Randy agrees but says her high notes aren’t quite pleasing; Ellen has to complement her ability to shine rather than sing; Simon says it was “verging on terrible.”

7. Lacey Brown, 24, singing “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac. I kind of love this song for unknown reasons. At first, I’m not sure what to think about Lacey’s version. It just seems a little affected and unnatural at parts. Also, she and the back-up singer didn’t mesh well at times. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t amazing either. And when you’re doing Stevie Nicks, you should be amazing. Randy says it was the wrong song (agreed) and calls it terrible; Ellen says Lacey is better than that; Simon calls it depressing and indulgent (I think it’s indulgent how often he uses the word indulgent); Kara says the song choice was bad and felt forced.

8. Michelle Delamor, 22, singing “Falling” by Alicia Keys. The beginning is OK and doesn’t carry the same presence as Alicia, but she really feels the song. The vocals turned out to be pretty much right on as she sang. While the performance was a little boring, I do think she turned in some of the best vocals of the night. Ellen says it was fantastic; Simon says it sounded close to the original but there wasn’t a wow moment (agreed); Kara says there were some not great moments; Randy says it was a tough song and she did a pretty good job. He also uses the words “hot,” “dope,” and “cool.” Yep.

9. Didi Benami, 23, singing “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson. I will admit this: I kind of like her. And she went to Belmont. So she better represent Nashville well! I also kind of love this song. When she starts singing, I realize why she picked it: she sounds almost exactly like Ingrid Michaelson. Which is cool, but not cool when you’re trying to be an original. There are a few notes that are a bit iffy, but over all, the girl can sing and it’s a fine performance. I wasn’t keen on the last note, though. Simon says she’s a good singer but lacked spark; Kara says she did make changes to the original, which was good; Randy says it lacks star factor; Ellen says it was a little low-key for the first impression.

10. Siobhan Magnus, 19, singing “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaac. This could be interesting. But good interesting, because Girl has control of her voice, even in the lower register and transitions from the low register to the higher notes effortlessly. More than that, she seems to actually be interpreting the song and conveying the emotion of it. For me, one of the best performances of the night. Kara wouldn’t of picked it, but liked it; Randy liked it but wants her to “reach for bigger things;” Ellen says she was entertaining and did a great job; Simon says he liked it, but it wasn’t as memorable as her final song in Hollywood week.

11. Crystal Bowersox, 24, singing “Hand in My Pocket” by Alanis Morrisette. OK, Crystal is out there with her harmonica and guitar. I think she’s cool just for that. I’m a little surprised she picked this song, but she didn’t ask me. Adding harmonica was a nice touch, and I do think she showed personality and performed the song well. Randy loves her originality but wasn’t sure about the song choice; Ellen likes her; Simon says it was good but not original; Kara encourages her not to just be a coffeehouse performer.

12. Katie Stevens, 17, singing “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble. Admission: I don’t like Michael Buble. Throw things if you want. It’s just my opinion. The beginning of this song is boring. I know the girl can sing and I think she wasted too much time in the beginning getting to the part where she was going to really sing. But once she got to that point, it was nice There were a few missed notes, but overall, very good. Ellen says it was good but a little “old” for her; Simon agrees completely and calls it annoying; Kara says it was pitchy; Randy says it was sharp but agrees that the song choice was too old.

Favorites of the night? Siobhan and Crystal

Going home? Haeley and Janell, I hope. I think Lacey could be in trouble, too.