Overall the girls did NOT do as good as the guys for week 2 of American Idol season 9. The judges were almost as bad as the singers with their negativity and contradictory statements which Simon admitted too. The judges picked the singers for their looks, background stories and lastly their talent. I hope next year they will learn from their mistakes.
First up was Crystal Bowersox who seemed to be feeling much better after her illness and gave a stunning rendition of CCR’s “Long as I Can See the Light”. In my opinion, Crystal is the one to beat for the girls because this showed her powerful, soulful voice much more than last week. Simon said he “misunderestimated” her and that she is a serious artist.
Haeley Vaughn – Oh poor Haeley. She sang “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus and absolutely butchered the song. It was awful. She was off key the majority of the time and never got it together. It was karaoke at its worst. Her only saving grace is that she is once again the girl to vote for on VFTW.
Lacey Brown – not much better than Haeley with “Kiss Me”. She started out ok but lost it in the middle and the end. She is so pitchy and this should have been her moment to shine. This was her kind of song and she botched it up. I’m doubting she will be here after Thursday. I hate it because I was pulling for her during Hollywood week.
Katie Stevens – She sang “Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae. She has a great voice especially for her young age but I agree with the judges, her song choices make her seem older and matronly somehow. I’m afraid she is not connecting with the younger crowd who she needs to stay in the competition.
Didi Benami – She got crucified by the judges for her choice of Bill Wither’s “Lean on Me” but I actually liked it. She changed it up just enough to call it her own and she sang it well. She is still one of my favorites. I hope she gets enough votes to stay.
Michelle Delamor – I wasn’t impressed with her take on Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” and I love that song. It was too slow and she doesn’t have that strong powerful voice I was waiting to hear come out. Randy and Ellen both agreed that it almost worked but not quite but Kara and Simon thought it was her best performance.
Lilly Scott wowed us with her interpretation of Sam Cook’s “A Change is Gonna Come”. She rivaled Crystal for best song of the night. She is definitely stepping things up so the girls need to watch out for her.
Katelyn Epperly gives us our first piano solo of the season and sang “The Scientist” by Coldplay. It was really slow. I mean a turtle doesn’t walk that slow. She had great vocals and technically it was all there but I’m like Ellen, it made me sleepy.
Paige Miles once again fails to choose the right song with “Walk Away” by Kelly Clarkson. She didn’t even come close in comparison to Kelly and while she did try to change things up a little, it fell way short of spectacular.
Last up was the remarkable Siobhan Magnus. This girl is for real and proved it by singing Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom”. A really hard song to sing because you will always be compared to the great Aretha but she nailed it. I didn’t like her much last week but she killed this song and I am now a fan of hers.
At least we can say the girls did better than last week’s horrendous show but for some all the glitz and glammer is about to come to an end. My prediction is we will be saying goodbye to Lacey Brown and Haeley Vaughn (unless VFTW comes through for her). Who do you think will get eliminated?
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