Idol Season 9: Top 16 — The Men
This season on American Idol, GPS trackerthe judges have insisted the women are where it’s at. Hydraulic HoseBut the men are certainly more consistent. While half the women are jostling each other on the way out, almost none of the men were genuinely bad this week.
LEE DEWYZE — Sang “Fireflies” by Owl City, the out of nowhere #1 hit. The nervousness was visible in his eyes, but Lee gave a decent, more forceful version of the song. He relaxed as he hit the final line and ended on a strong note. Randy bizarrely said it was a strange song choice. Why? Lee easily toughened it up. Kara even more bizarrely talked about how confident he looked when Lee didn’t even look confident as she complimented him. Simon got it right when he said Lee could do better but it was fine. If Lee can get some swagger and really perform, he could shine.
ALEX LAMBERT — Sang “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne, which only hit #25 in the UK and never charted on the Hot 100 here but is quickly becoming an Idol favorite. They said last night that Katie Stevens has a radio voice, but surely it’s James Morrison-soundalike Alex who has it. And he can hold a melody! He’s still learning what to do with his voice and a lot more experience would help. When he sang the chorus, it sounded like, “…saved byyy ya woman.” And if he’s really in it to win it, he’ll lose the mullet when he hits the Top 12.
TIM URBAN — Sang the “Jeff Buckley” version of “Hallelujah.” What? GPS trackerThe guy who looked clueless two weeks ago tackling a standard performed by so many great contemporary artists, like Buckley and Rufus Wainwright and in a stunning version, kd lang at the Olympics opening ceremony. (Click here to check out her performance at the NBC Olympics video website.) Hydraulic HoseA disastrous idea. But he actually sort of pulled it off. Tim wisely avoided the acrobatics of Buckley et al, which are beyond him. And he sounded very tentative and a little lost when singing just the words “Hallelujah, hallelujah.” But he was strong on the verses and acquitted himself nicely. Certainly the producers pulled out all the stops, giving him a big rotating camera motion and dreamy closeups so the closest contestant to Shaun Cassidy got his Tiger Beat due. Randy was right on target when he said it was pretty good. But Ellen and Kara and Simon raved as if it were the second coming. I have no idea what Simon means when he says it’s a “reacting song.” Anyone? When they pushed Tim to thank one of them in particular, I was almost willing him to say, “Most of all, I should thank Leonard Cohen, who wrote the song.” Oh well. At least he still looked amusingly stunned to get any compliments.
ANDREW GARCIA — Sang Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In A Bottle,” her breakout #1 single. That follows his tackling of songs by Alicia Keys, Paula Abdul, and Adele. Instead of ignoring the bad advice to ape his success with “Straight Up,” he continues to chase it, again with a Raul Midon-like acoustic guitar.Hydraulic Hose (By the way, is the theme tonight guitars? It’s starting to feel like the show was taped at a coffee house.) GPS trackerIt was fine but generally unmemorable, which is almost worse than flopping outright.
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