American Idol - Week One- 2/24/10

Welcome back my faithful readers!

And so we begin our journey once again, and I thank you all for joining me once again. Like every season, we will have our ups, our downs, and our “what the heck was Paula talking about?!” moments.
Oh wait.

We won’t have that last part, will we? By now we all know that Paula left, and has been replaced by the fabulous Ellen DeGeneres. Now a lot of you may say, what the heck does Ellen know about music? Why is she a judge? As Ellen herself admitted, (even last night), she is not going into this as a judge of pitches, tone or what have you. She is going into this strictly as a listener, as one of “us”, a person that will potentially buy this person’s music. I think it brings a fresh new perspective to the show, and Ellen is a perfect addition in my opinion.

Now as for this season being Simon’s last, I will refrain from commenting, on account I’m not so sure I will feel like watching next season if he’s not on. Say what you will about Simon, and I may not agree with him sometime, but I would say 95% of the time, he and I are on the exact same page. It will be hard to replace someone so honest. But enough about that. Let’s get to the nitty-gritty shall we?


This week, the Top 24 perform, with 2 girls and 2 guys going home by the Thursday night. We have a lot of girls to get through, so you will notice I don’t have much to say about most of the girls. (same will probably go with the guys performing tonight). Most just haven’t performed enough, or made a big enough impression on me for me to comment much. Read on for the rundown!

1. PAIGE MILES – sung “All Right Now” - Forgettable. I don’t get why the judges showered her with love, because YES, she had a great voice, but the song choice made me forget who she was almost immediately. Given the fact you’re also first, wouldn’t you have picked a stronger song choice? Paige will be safe because of the love from the judges, but she needs to make better song choices for her to start showing up on my radar.

2. ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ – sung “Happy” - LOVE the song, hated this performance. Was it just me, or does this girl hold the mic too close to her mouth? It was off, and her pitch kept changing. I agree with Simon, she may be in trouble.

3. JANELLE WHEELER – sung “What About Love” - This was a mid-range performance for me. It didn't blow me away, but again it didn't wow me either. It wasn't as forgettable as Paige's performance, but it really didn't show me much about this artist. I think Randy is the one I agree with most in this performance in that he said it was a very bad song choice. I agree, because a different song would have made her stand out. She's safe I think…better than Paige, but I'm not wowed. If only one of these girls would begin to wow me. Which brings us to:

4. LILLY SCOTT – sung “Fixing a Hole” - I really liked her performance, and it truly stood out as a different take on a song. It reminded me of what Adam or Kris did last season, taking a well-known song and giving their own version of it. This version of the song sounded like it could be featured on a popular TV show such as Grey's Anatomy. She is definitely safe, and I look forward to seeing more of her.

5. KATELYN EPPERLY – sung “Oh Darling” - Meh. Middle of the road and average. To tell the truth, I was bored. She didn't necessarily sing it badly, I just wasn't into it. Maybe it was the song choice, but it didn't excite me. She could go either way, safe or in danger. It's only the first week, so let's see what this girl does to impress me in the coming weeks. (that is, if she isn't voted off tonight).

6. HAELEY VAUGHN – sung “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” - I really liked this girl, from her auditions. She was different, because she was the black girl who wanted to be a country singer. It made her stand out and I liked her attitude and her voice. This performance, however, was a mess. It was all over the place as far as tone and pitch. She sung it decently, but some of those notes were not getting there at all, as some of the judges pointed out. Safe because she is a likable girl, but if it came down to performance, she would have been in danger.

7. LACEY BROWN – sung “Landslide” - Can we PLEASE retire this song? I may be wrong, but doesn't it seem like this song is performed every year during the same week? I was bored, and it wasn't even a great performance which would have offset my boredom. She sung it well, but this song not only didn't make Lacey stand out for me, but it actually made her look like less of a singer than she really is. (I saw her during the audition week, and she impressed then…not so much now.) This is another contestant that could be safe or in danger, because it was a mid-ground performance.

8. MICHELLE DELAMOR – sung “Falling” - Who is this? No really, this is one of those contestants who you never see during the auditions, but yet all of a sudden they are in the Top 24. (then again, so was Kris Allen, and we know how that turned out) She's a corporate singer? What exactly does that mean? She does, in my opinion, a copycat performance of Alicia Keys' version, but not as talented, as Simon put it so accurately. Another one that could fall to either the danger or safety zone.

9. DIDI BENAMI – sung “The Way I Am” - This I think was a great song choice for Didi, but I don't think she brought enough of herself to the performance. It seemed too copycat, but yet it was sung very well. I haven't decided on Didi yet, but in all I do kinda like her. She needs to start blowing me away in the coming weeks, but so far it was a good start.

10. SIOBHAN MAGNUS – sung “Wicked Game” - This was a difficult song to sing to begin with, but I think Siobhan handled pretty well. There were a few wonky notes here and there, but overall it wasn't terrible. Was it karaoke? It borders there I think, but never falls into that category. I enjoyed the performance, but I'm not off my feet clapping her praise. As opposed to the next contestant, who I enjoyed the best of the night.

11. CRYSTAL BOWERSOX – sung “Hand in my Pocket” - I LOVE the fact that this girl never watched the show. To me, that means there are no pretenses, and no pre-conceived notions on how the show works, etc. She is completely herself, which shows in her performance. Crystal has this Carly Simon/Melissa Ethridge like vibe to her which is very appealing. She is unafraid to take a song like this and make it her own. This was by far the best performance of the night for me. And I strongly disagree with Simon; there are not thousands of singers like Crystal playing in subway stations across the nation. Simon? I ride the subways and see singers all the time. None of them sounded like Crystal, nor did they have the same cool vibe. And to quote you Simon, "if I'm going to be honest", when was the last time you were even in a subway station? Anyway, Crystal is definitely safe. Can't wait to see more from her.

12. KATIE STEVENS – sung “Feeling Good” - Oh my God, I could not have agreed with the judges more on this girl. What a horrible song choice. This song was waaay too old fashioned for her, and she came off boring and dull. For someone so young, she did not make the right impression out. She could be in danger.

My Bottom Three Picks: Take your pick at this point, since many of them didn't do so well. Personally, if I had to pick the ones in danger: Katie Stevens, Paige Miles and Ashley Rodriguez.

My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: Take your pick people! It's too early and close to call!

Tonight, the guys take the stage. Let's see if they can impress me better than the gals. So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!
Until tomorrow, faithful readers!