By Lindsay Strouse

 

It’s night we’ve all been waiting for—American Idol performances are on one night instead of being unnecessarily dragged out for two! To commemorate the change, the judges and Ryan get a glamorous entrance from the stage to assume their positions on the panel.

 

Ryan announces the theme of the night is “Rolling Stones” and I’m a little nervous to see how the contestants will take on the challenge. As if the pressure of being in the Top 12 isn’t enough, they have to take on one of the most iconic bands in history. Before each contestant sang, a sentimental clip was shown about their family and introduction to music. Here’s how they all did:

 

Michael Lynche – “Miss You”
We see a beautiful story about Michael finding music after his mother’s death. The strength is clearly seen in his performance, and he almost reminds me of a hipper version of Ruben Studdard. Although there is nothing too exciting about the arrangement, he puts on an entertaining performance with some great falsetto. Kara thought he had the same swagger and attitude of Mick Jagger. Simon thought his dancer was edging on corny and seemed a trifle desperate. Ryan makes the moment even more uncomfortable when he gets right up in Simon’s face to defend his buddy, Michael.

 

Didi Benami – “Play With Fire”
Despite their close relationship, Didi’s mom doesn’t attend her Idol performances because she gets nervous enough for the both of them. Didi treks on and gives a sort of eerie, intriguing performance. I actually found it to be a little boring, but Randy loved it. Kara saw an intensity in her performance which I did pick up on. Simon likes that she is discovering herself as an artist and notes that the performance was solid but not brilliant.

 

Casey James – “It’s All Over Now”
Casey comes from a musical family and shows off his talent on stage with his guitar. He gives a fun performance, but doesn’t leave me too excited. Obviously he has the ladies after him, but I think it’s for more than my singing. Randy applauded the performance and says, “You’re back!” Ellen adds in her routine comical comment: “You make the girls’ heart’s race just by looking at you. But for people like me…(long pause)…blondes, I just thought it was fantastic.” Kara said it was his best performance but Simon disagreed. To him It seemed more like an audition and that he needs to find his star power and use the stage more.

 

Lacey Brown – “Ruby Tuesday”
We meet the Brown parents—both pastors. I won’t lie, I didn’t expect that. As you can probably tell by now, I’m a HUGE Lacey fan and say she has hands down the best style on the show. It wasn’t the best performance she’s ever given and the vocals were a little shaky, but she started to really pick it up in the latter half of the song. Randy said it was really interesting—whatever that may mean. The judges all agree that she needs to be more free with her movements and stop thinking things through so much. It is true, we do see her sitting on the edge of the stairs or stage quite a bit.

 

Andrew Garcia – “Give Me Shelter”
Although Andrew’s father never made it professionally, he was a singer/musician and passed on the gift. I don’t particularly love him live, but I think he would have a really good radio voice. Randy thought it was pitchy everywhere. Ellen says, “What do I know? I thought it was your best performance yet!” I’m going to have to disagree with that one. Kara said he didn’t connect to the song at all, but Simon argues that she is taking things too literally. He wants Andrew to stay another week so he can hear more of him.

 

Katie Stevens – “Wild Horses”
We first see footage of 8 year old Katie singing at her uncle’s wedding before she learned the key to finding pitch. She comes onstage wearing a cute spring-y dress and I hope she will stay on the path of staying true to her age. No luck with a Rolling Stones song. I always get surprised when she starts singing because I don’t expect that kind of voice to come out of her mouth. She is immensely talented—not just for a 17 year old girl, but for anyone. I thought it was a really good choice of song and she rocked it. Kara said she is never technically perfect (who is, really?), but shows improvement every week. Katie ends up getting slightly mixed reviews, but all judges noticed the strong effort on her part.

 

Tim Urban – “Under My Thumb”
This kid is in a family with 10 siblings total. Wow. It’s a wonder he ever found the time to learn to use the guitar. However, despite his instrumental talent, his choice of arrangement did not work. At all. He put a reggae spin on the song, and honestly—the Stones and reggae should never be mixed. Randy agreed and said the reggae version was weird and made no sense. Kara and Simon applauded him for taking a risk and doing something very different, but Simon says Rolling Stones fans would have hated his version and that it was a crazy decision on his part. Tim justified his decision by saying he knew he couldn’t impersonate the Rolling Stones or Mick Jagger, so he opted for something different.

 

Siobhan Magnus – “Paint It Black”
Siobhan likes to play piano with her father and we learn they both like to use music as an outlet. The thing I really like about Siobhan is that she creates a new and exciting experience for her audience every time she comes on the stage. I think the song fit her perfectly and she totally rocked it. I was a little taken aback when she added in a long, drawn out scream, but in the end, it just made the performance even better. Both Randy and Ellen loved everything about her and the performance. Kara said it reminded her of Adam Lambert and her interpretation was spot on. Simon stated she was the stand out of the night, but that her style is prone to making people either love or hate her. Hey, it comes with the territory.

 

Lee DeWyze – “Beast Of Burden”
I won’t lie, Lee is a very good looking guy, especially when he plays the guitar. He has an exceptional voice and I feel like he would be great in concert. He didn’t even have to do much movement because his voice was enough to fill the entire stage. In the words of Randy, it was “dope.” Ellen says she was expecting more, but it was still great. Kara states Lee is growing faster than anybody in the competition, but Simon wants him to take more risks because of the fact that he does have an incredibly good voice. He wants him to stay in the competition another week so he can have a “moment” onstage.

 

Paige Miles – “Honky Tonk Woman”
We learn Paige was raised by her mother after her dad died when she was very young. She grew up singing in church with her mother and has used that to propel her forward. It was a cute song choice and showed off her strong vocals. She really hit all her notes and put on a well-delivered performance. Randy wanted more energy but still liked it as a whole. It must have been tough to bring energy when battling with laryngitis. Laryngitis?? I would have NEVER been able to tell and I give her so much props for that. Even more for the fact that tonight was the first time she sang full out since she couldn’t sing at the rehearsals. Sickness aside, Simon says he wants her to find more uniqueness in her voice and performance and I couldn’t agree more.

 

Aaron Kelly – “Angie”
I’m not going to lie, I love this kid but he looks like he belongs in a boy band. And there’s nothing wrong with that! I personally didn’t like the performance that much, but Ellen thought he stood out tonight. It’s a good thing the judges beat on him last week because they all agreed he brought his A-game this week. He did pick a really good song, and although he doesn’t have the biggest voice, he knows how to utilize what he has very well.

 

Crystal Bowersox – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
The fan favorite closes the night with yet another solid performance. It’s always a good idea to let her close the show because her vocals and individuality are out of this world. She always puts on a good show while staying completely true to herself. Even though it wasn’t her best tonight, it was in no way, shape or form, bad. She admits she was thinking too much throughout the performance, but did loosen up a bit which allowed us to finally see a sliver of her personality. Simon says this is the first time she was beat by someone in the competition—Siobhan. Crystal takes the comment humbly and says Siobhan did an incredible job tonight.

 

Don’t miss the live result show to find out who makes the American Idol Top 10 on Wednesday, March 17th (Happy St. Patty's Day!) at 9/8c on FOX.

 

(Image courtesy of FOX)

 

Follow Lindsay at twitter.com/LindsayStrouse

 

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