American Idol Reaction - Top 8 Girls Perform

It’s been a fairly unimpressive season of Idol so far. A few people have stood out, but they’ve been few and far between. This is a huge night for the contestants because getting into the Top 12 can be a major turning point for a singing career. The girls tonight came very close to putting my right into a deep heavy slumber until the last ten minutes.

Going to take a slightly different format tonight. I will still score each song (1=sucks, 5= fine, 10=I will YouTube it later), but tonight I’m going in order of performance rather than score. It just was easier in terms of my individual comments. I write all my notes during the performances and include anything of note the judges contribute (often not much).

3 - Katie Stevens (Breakaway) – My wife will tell you, it’s a not so secret that I love Kelly Clarkson songs. Katie did this number no justice. She sounded off from the very start. This is another perfect example of a female choosing a song they will simply be unable to improve on. I simply do not understand the logic behind song selections like this. The judges and I were on the same page and Ellen started her comment off with, “First of all...” Whenever you hear that, rest assured you stunk.

6 - Siobhan Magnus (House of the Rising Sun) – Even before she sang I applauded her song choice as opposed to Katie’s “Breakaway.” At least this is a step towards individualizing something. And then Siobhan just put me right to sleep. Her singing was fine enough, excellent even. It’s just that the pace of the song was so dreadfully slow. Just a step or two faster and this would have been an 8 or 9. The judges loved her, except Simon, and I agree with the little Brit.

5 - Lacey Brown (The Story) – What is with all the slow songs? What is Idol doing to me tonight. Lacey fell into the Siobhan Magnus trap when she under displayed a unique and powerful voice in a slow and plodding song. Again, with just a little more energy this rates so much higher, but these performances are just doing nothing in terms of making me remember these singers at all. Simon agreed that she was forgettable.

4- Katelyn Epperly (I Feel the Earth Move)- I have a hard time getting a handle on Katelyn. She started off great, continued it last week, but came up way short tonight. The reason I don’t understand her is that I just can’t picture her being the winner here. I’ve been complaining a little about pace tonight. Katelyn picked up the tempo, but the singing just wasn’t there. She sounded like a 1960’s all girl band. I don’t know if that’s the best reference, but it just sounded anything but cool, hip or edgy. Hilariously, Katelyn said she was trying to be less corny. Oops.

6 - Didi Benami (Rhiannon) – This girl could be Brook White’s sister. Again, a freaking slow, boring song. This song, the real version, has a point where it picks up. Didi chose to leave that part out. A marked improvement to her crying on stage last week, but still almost entirely forgettable and someone I can’t see winning. Of course it’s Kara’s favorite moment, just to prove we are still enemies. And then Simon went along with Kara. What the hell is going on tonight?

4- Paige Miles (Smile) – Paige was my top performer from last week. Tonight she continued the snoozefest. This, unbelievably, might have been the driest of the night, and that is no easy task. What a monster, humongous step in the wrong direction.

8 - Crystal Bowersox (Give Me One Reason) – Crystal has been one the few consistent performers on the show this year. She combines a great voice with just the right amount of soul and grit. I don’t think this was her best performance so far, but it was clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the competition tonight. Light years ahead of what anyone else did in terms of energy and song choice. Additionally, she is one of the few performers (male or female) who looks comfortable on stage. That is a huge, huge plus in her favor.

7.5 - Lilly Scott (I Fall to Pieces) – I absolutely love Lilly’s voice. I don’t know if it is the perfect tone for this type of competition, but it is clearly unique and powerful. Almost unlike anything else I’ve heard. I keep giving her high scores without really knowing what I am listening to. I kind of love that. She got kind of screwed with the judges rushing through her critique but I think she sticks around.

Tomorrow night the guys take the stage to try and not be as awful as they’ve been for most of this season.