American Idol Reaction - Top 10 Females

The Top 10 Gals took the stage tonight because of Crystal’s hospital visit from last night. This has been a mediocre season of Idol so far. Tonight was keeping pace until the second half of the show. The girls are the group to beat this year.

Quick note on scoring and format: 10= Could be next American Idol, 5= I forgot about the performance by the time the judges spoke, 1= cats screeching in my backyard. I write all notes before judges speak and then add their thoughts if anything strikes me as interesting. Tonight I was fairly off from what the judges thought as opposed to last night when we were walking in lock step.

9.1 - Paige Miles (Walk Away)- She has one of the strongest voices in the competition. After Katelyn sang I didn’t think anyone would top her. Paige did. This was an incredibly strong song. Paige, of any of the girls, has a chance to win American Idol. She has a stage presence and vocal chops to go very far. I disagree with Randy’s assessment because this song a perfect showcase of her vocal range and it built on itself as the song went on. The top performances of the night,although it seems the judges strongly disagree with me.

9 - Siobhan Magnus (Think) – Does anyone else not get this gal? Is she pretty? Is she weird looking? Does her style work? Is it odd? I am thoroughly confused. All that being said, she kind of crushed her performance tonight. She hit a note at the end that made me look up from what I was typing. It was lady-Adam lambert. Pretty sick. That much can’t be debated. I still thought Paige was better.

8.5 - Katelyn Epperly (The Scientist) – I was hoping she killed this because this is such a fantastic song. Simple and strong. She was both. It would be easy to make this song very boring. She changed just enough from the original to make it stand out. I honestly didn’t think I would give out any 10s in this early. I couldn’t find one fault. Some people would disagree ( judges included, they generally thought I was off here) but the slowness didn’t kill it for me. If anyone has thoughts here I would love to hear them because I thought this was fantastic.

8 - Crystal Bowersox (As Long As I Can See The Light)- It’s not a stretch to see Crystal singing on a subway. Last week, I thought her performance was among the best of the night. Her voice is strong, crystal clear (boo-yah), and has a range that is quite Joplin-like. Unfortunately, artists like her haven’t fared well in this competition. She has the chops to stick around for awhile. This was an excellent performance top to bottom. What a way to start off the evening.

7.5 - Lily Scott (A Change Is Gonna Come )- She’s a regular one man band, although I will say that you can’t call a six string and twelve string guitar different instruments. Is it me or does she look like she should be in the movie Beetlejuice? I was very confused by this performance. I’m inclined to say it was really good, but I’m not sure if that’s just because her voice is just so different. Very Regina Spector, Company of Thieves-like. I went higher because I think she made it work and fit her unique voice into a great vocal range.

6 - Didi Benami (Lean on Me)– Brook White Jr.??? Look, I appreciate her trying to take an old song and make it hip. But this song is so embedded in the collective subconscious that I don’t know if it’s possible to youth-ify it. She sounded like a church singer. I thought it was above average, but honestly the song choice killed her because she has an amazing voice. This is a 9 with almost any other song. Judges are right with me on song choice, but I didn’t mind the singing as much as Kara and Simon. She got kind of choked up afterwards. My wife is an American Idol sadist and just chanted, “Make her talk! Make her talk!”

5.5 - Katie Stevens (Put Your Records On)- Just terrible walk out on to stage. Katie looked like she hadn’t taken the hanger out of her shirt. The judges asked her to get a little younger this week. She took a younger song, and made it sound old again. Maybe that is just her style. She combined an average performance with absolutely no stage presence. Not exactly a winning combination. Kara: “You’ve got to be doing that from the first time you open your mouth. Pulling us in like that.” To quote Michael Scott, “That’s what she said!!!!”

5- Lacey Brown (Kiss Me) - After sucking in a large helium balloon she took to the stage. Lacey has a unique look, that much is for certain. Her performance unfortunately was pretty boring. Nothing worth of praise, no reason to kill it. It just sounded plain and average. A perfect 5 score for her. She won’t go home, but I don’t see her long for this competition.

3.5 Michelle Delamor (With Arms Wide Open) – Will she do a crucifix pose a la Scott Stapp? This was a weird song to choose, but I applaud her going off board. I thought it generally showcased her singing ability, good and bad. Started off strong and like the New York Mets faded massively down the stretch. My scoring went 7,6,5,4 to a 3.5 in like one verse. An unreal down swing. Kara loved it?!!?! For being believable? Good attitude? Am I hearing this? Simon too? The fix might be in.

1- Haley Vaughn (The Climb) – Her whole look is very distracting for me. It’s like Heidi of the Alps meets the 21st century. Just odd. When Haley sings I can hear her youth. That is not a good thing. Following Crystal was unfortunate for her tonight. Her vocal range just wasn’t even in the same the ballpark. She was rough, rough, rough. Out of key, screechy and cringe-worthy. Judges and I were on the same page. Could be adios for Haley. Randy’s assessment was perfect; it was karaoke.