Didi Done Did It This TimeI’ve done pretty well at calling the first two eliminations and soon, they will be harder and harder to call. But I’ll call it here again. I don’t think Miss Didi Benami is going to make it to next week. When contestants don’t look happy performing and it seems as if they aren’t having fun, it doesn’t necessarily inspire people to vote for them. I think that’s what happens to Didi.
They pulled Ruben Studdard out of the closet they were hiding him in and he performed what seems like a new single. You can tell how much a crowd enjoys a performance by how many times the artist has to ask the crowd to get into it. Studdard must’ve asked the crowd at least three times to clap along with him. Maybe next time he should get on his knees and beg. “Come on y’all!”
Ryno Seacrest just said that Ruben and Clay Aiken were going on tour together. It’s like if Luther Vandross and Elton John impostors were touring together.
Onto the contestants …
Ryno asks Lee Dewyze to stand up. Lee goes on and on about his performance last night, but still looks constipated. How can the guy look constipated every week? Give the brother some fiber. He’s safe.
Ryno asks Casey to stand up and asks him how he can challenge himself. The first words out of Casey’s mouth were, “I mean …” No Case, we have no idea what you mean because you didn’t say anything yet. He’s safe.
Aaron Kelly is up and Ryno asks him if he’s ever really been in love. Aaron says that his nether regions were aflutter when he saw Miley Cyrus last week. Ok, he didn’t say that. Ryno told him he was safe anyway.
Creepy girl and Katie stand up together. Creepy girl isn’t living down her nickname with her wardrobe. Katie is in the bottom three. Simon says that he wishes Katie would’ve taken his advice as if to say that if she did, she wouldn’t be in the bottom three. Don’t worry Simon, she’s not going home.
Usher’s performing OMG, his newest single. It’s only the worst song on his new album. The girl might make Usher say, “Oh my God”, but the song makes me roll my eyes. The guy is simply too talented to put out crap like this. And to make things worse, will.i.am shows up to throw his terrible rhymes into the ether.
By the time this thing was over, I was hoping that Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas were going to save him.
Back to the evicting – it’s Didi’s turn. I have a bad feeling about this. I think Ryno could’ve told her to sit down and she would’ve just walked to the other side of the stage to join Katie anyway. Didi is in the bottom three, and all of you participating in the Sonic Spring Singing Contest were all right on the money in picking her, just like George wrote today.
Ryno tricked Big Mike into thinking he was in the bottom three and in turn, Big Mike picked Ryno up and nearly threw him into the air. Ryno better check his shorts during the next commercial.
Crystal is also safe. Timothy and Andrew stand up together. Timothy is the smartest person in this competition. He just told America that the reason he smiles is because he’s the luckiest man on the face of the earth. Or something like that. But he’s genuinely likable no matter how badly he sucks the big sloppy dunky one. Andrew is safe and Teflon Timothy is in the bottom three.
Ryno sends Katie back to safety. It’s Didi vs. Timothy in a “Who is more terrible?” competition.
Diddy and his group “Dirty Money” are performing tonight for whatever reason. This performance was actually not half bad. But in the 13 years that Diddy has been a recording artist, he still can’t rap worth a damn. And just to think, he was friends with one of the greatest rappers of all time. Just goes to show you that rapping is just as much of a talent as singing is. You can fake it to make it, but skills are skills.
I just thought about this. We have a Didi and a Diddy on the same show.
Teflon Timothy does it again. Didi Benami is on her way out, but she’s trying to sing her way back on the show hoping that the judges will save her from doom. It’s actually a really solid performance, but it also shows that her range is pretty weak. If Simon and company bring her back, I’ll eat my hat.
Simon says he’s not going to save her, saving Didi for another week of unhappy singing and saving me from having to eat my hat. It’s time for Didi to leave right now.
Last night on American Idol, the judges and Ryno Seacrest kept mentioning how important it was to make it into the top 10. Only those who make the top 10 are allowed on the tour, yet I’m not sure why they don’t take the entire top 12. I don’t think that’s ever been explained.
If you’re Paige Miles or Timothy Urban, you’re probably expecting to not get any tour money. Crazier things have happened in American Idol voting though. If I’m picking, I think Paige goes home. Even when she was good, she wasn’t popular for whatever reason.
If you fast forward through the group song like I usually do, you would’ve missed the top 11 singing Wham’s Wake Me Up and you would’ve missed Didi slipping and nearly wiping out on stage. She wasn’t doing a jitterbug. She was just walking.
Siobhan’s boss Brooks is in the audience and Ryno pointed out that he isn’t going to shave until Siobhan wins. And her friends are next to him caked in fake blood. And people were telling me Siobhan isn’t a creepy girl.
Ryno tells creepy girl to pack her bags because she’s going on tour. Siobhan is safe.
He tells Lee and Casey to stand up together. He then tells Timothy and Paige to stand up together. I have a feeling we’re seeing the two top vote getters and two of the bottom vote getters. Paige and Timothy are in the bottom three. At least America is voting correctly so far.
Miley Cyrus is singing When I Look At You and is having quite a hard time of doing it live. Her voice is definitely straining. You know how rappers have hype men who also help layer their raps live? Miley needs a Melinda Doolittle to help her layer her vocals live. This is also why I think she’s going to be a much better actress when it’s all said and done.
I wonder if Andrew Garcia joins Timothy and Paige?
Ryno tells Aaron Kelly to stand up. I still thinks Aaron is going to Hogwarts in the fall. Aaron can sit down. He’s through to the next round.
Didi is safe. She should be very thankful. Big Mike is safe. He deserves it. Crystal is safe too.
And it’s down to Katie and Andrew for the last person in the bottom three. And in a bit of a surprise, Katie is in the bottom three. I’d be very surprised if she goes home.
Ryno sends Katie back to safety. She’s on the Idol tour. And Timothy Urban can’t hide his disappointment.
Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas are finishing off Disney week on Idol with Make A Wave. Wait, it wasn’t Disney week. It was Billboard week. Whatever.
First Hannah Montana, now Sonny With A Chance and little Joey Jonas. Where’s Selena Gomez? What’s funny is that Simon would probably kill all three singers if he were to judge them honestly after these performances.
(By the way, before we get to the elimination, remember to visit us next week after Tuesday night’s show to put in your votes for the bottom two and also who you think gets eliminated. You could win an Amazon Gift Card.)
And, the person who is eliminated is Paige Miles. Simon says that even if she performed well, they weren’t using the save on her. I hope they don’t make her sing Against All Odds again.
Thankfully for our ears, she didn’t have to sing the song again. She’s singing All Right Now.
I’m two for two on my picks. I’m shooting for three for three next week. Be afraid of me. Very afraid.
Photo of Miley Cyrus by Wikipedia and shared through Creative Commons.
Anyone have a copy of Billboard from the last 20 years besides Young Katie Stevens who finally looked young? With that lower register, she’ll never sound young, but at least she covered Fergie. Tonight’s Top 11 sing-off was marred by some of the worst song choices imaginable and they had the entire Billboard #1 catalog to choose from. Amazingly, only Katie sang something recorded after the 1980s.
This…is your surprise mentor
If you watched, vote now in the Sonic Spring Singing Contest. We’ll open the poll in a new window so you can save your spot. And remember–the winner gets a $25 Amazon gift certificate.
Making the Top 12 is always big, but making the Top Ten means touring and learning performing chops (sorry Alex Lambert) while making friends and alliances. A beautiful formula with suspense cutting to the Top 12 and then again when Paige Andrew, no probably Paige, doesn’t go on tour.
Here’s what happened.
Lots of early vamping. Idol is still in two hours slots, but the contestants are still only singing one song. When the show gets interesting, we’re down to one hour, which is rush, rush, rush until the end of the season when we’re back to three or four people. So the show starts with Ryan Seacrest who adlibs as well as anyone on television vamping madly. Kara and Simon continue looking like a married couple, and you have to wonder when Ellen bops Simon for the scripted faux gay asides.
Tonight’s BIG MENTOR REVEAL is… Miley Cyrus?
She got hers later in the show from Casey James, and no, not like that because Hannah Montana is still only 17. Dude told her he was a big fan of her father and his one hit.
Lee Dewyze opens, a smart choice given the buzz. Lee immediately puzzles everyone by singing an update of a 50 year old song. And then he doesn’t sing it well. He may have thought he was doing Springsteen. He sounds hoarse-screechy and his body language is closed all the way up to his hunched forward shoulders.
Paige Miles, the best pure singer, rushes and then hesitates through Phil Collins’ Against All Odds. Then she sings it in several keys, sometimes in the same measure. There is no denying Paige’s vocal prowess. She’s in the Bottom Two for sure though. Speaking of the Bottom Two, have you played Sonic Clash’s AI contest yet? That’s the one from several paragraphs ago you may not have clicked on.
Ryan makes me laugh with the segue of “Under the tutelage of Miley Cyrus…” before Tim Urban massacres Crazy Little Thing Called Love, complete with a slide to the audience, while he gladhands the teenyboppers and AI drones in front. Every judge slams him for acting like a star instead of the guy who got picked up when one of the finalists was disqualified. Sadly, he will likely tour.
One guy belonging on the tour is Aaron Kelly. This week is Aaron’s turn for laryngitis, which he blames on tonsillitis. Holy Cow! The judges love his Don’t Want To Miss A Thing, but he covered Lonestar’s song about a guy missing his family and now a song that two grown up acts had hits with in a very sensual tone. This teen wants to be too old, but sadly only Simon even mentions how old Aaron’s choices make him sound. Seacrest recovers by calling him David Archuleta, but eh.. Aaron could win this contest. I called him a darkhorse in our annual American Idol podcast. He can still make it to the fourth spot, maybe even third.
How can Crystal Bowersox go wrong covering Janis Joplin? She can’t, she doesn’t, the judges fawn and Ryan joins her sitting on her own little carpet on the stage. Crystal is still top 3. Kara compares her to Janis and Simon compares her to Pink. Can’t go wrong.
Miley Cyrus looks more like a waif standing next to Big Mike Lynche who delivers a technically fine version of When A Man Loves A Woman complete with crystal clear falsetto. Everyone thinks the choice is sound but safe. Lynche hasn’t blown it yet, but the judges aren’t as impressed as they’ve been.
Andrew Garcia perhaps alters the course of his career by singing Motown while his glasses slide off his nose and he prances in a jacket he stole from Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader didn’t ask for it back, but Simon Cowell rhetorically asks if everyone didn’t overestimate Garcia because of his catchy cover of Straight Up. The others say the version was brilliant, but Simon is right back at them. It wasn’t brilliant, says he. It was catchy, quirky and had a Paula connection. Damn if he isn’t right again. Idol will miss him. If Paige is voted off, Garcia joins the tour where he will sing Straight Up and several group numbers. You can then catch him Thursdays and Fridays next year at the Van Nuys Ramada.
Katie Stevens rocks out to some Fergie and doesn’t cry because she’s a big girl. The judges love her. I love her hearing a song recorded before the 1980s. Katie looks young and relevant.
Looking less relevant to me every week is Casey James who covers The Power of Love. Dude didn’t work it out, as Randy claimed, because the song was harmlessly dated when it was made famous 25 years ago as the theme for Back to the Future. I would have preferred Michael J. Fox performing the song if I wanted nostalgia. Casey goes on tour and then joins Ace Young working as a poolside bartender at a Sandals resort.
Casey is Country Constantine(tm).
Seacrest blows pronouncing Didi Benami’s name, which is okay because I just spelled it wrong twice. She sings yet another 70s song, and while she looks sharp in a tight skirt and black stockings, everyone agrees she appears to be playing a character as she warbles You’re No Good. I scream that it’s hokey cabaret and think she’ll be fine in the Houston company of the musical Chicago next year.
After a commercial for Fox’s Human Target dissolves into Chi McBride looking bored in the AI audience, Ryan introduces The One Who Could Beat Crystal. Yes, it’s Siobhan, known to GG fans as “crazygirl” and to CJ fans as “snaggletooth”. I think she’s cute and a great performer. She looks like a girl I know in 10th grade when she goes to meet Miley (love the big glasses!) and then looks like Peter Pan on stage. She crushes Superstition as well as anyone not named Stevie Wonder and signs off with her trademark scream. Simon suggests she open the next song with a scream and then sing to mix it up.
I heart Siobhan. I have for weeks. I would buy a Crystal concert ticket, but I would buy a Siobhan ticket and an album. What do you think? Good show? Bad show? Who is in it to win it?
Tune in to Sonic Clash tomorrow for GG’s wrap on the results show! And once you’re done voting here (you did enter the contest, right?), check out our buddy Roheblius’ And Then There Were Eleven.
Miley Cyrus is singing When I Look At You and is having quite a hard time of doing it live. Her voice is definitely straining. You know how rappers have hype men who also help layer their raps live? Miley needs a Melinda Doolittle to help her layer her vocals live. This is also why I think she’s going to be a much better actress when it’s all said and done. 
