American Idol Round Up, top 11 performances.

American Idol top 11 had Miley Cyrus the “Hannah Montana” star as the guest mentor this week giving advice to the contestants. The decision to include the 17-year-old Disney star is a little awkward as she is so young and inexperienced compared to other pop stars that could have helped the contestants.

But obviously including Miley Cyrus did patch up some of the ratings of America’s most watched program as the shows ratings gets lower, this was an attempt to steal those young minds into opening the show.

To give credit to Miley, she did mention that she was not there to criticise the contestants voices but to help with there performances and to encourage them.

Now back to the American Idol contestants and this weeks theme was chart toppers, one of my personal favourites. Expecting a bunch of inexperienced people with good voices to perform well with some of the greatest hits of all time is one thing, but expecting great performances from arguably the worst bunch since American Idol started 9 years ago is another thing.

There were many under-performers such as early favourite Andres Garcia, Tim Urban and Paige Miles but some of the contestants shined like a golden nugget.

American Idol top 11 highlights

Andrew Garcia – Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, I am a fan of Andrew. I just don’t get it though. He has so much talent but it’s like some things stopping the guy. Was his acoustic version of Paula Abduls Straight Up in the Hollywood round, a one trick pony. Well indeed a very good trick, but Garcia must at least live up to a fraction of that show stopping performance. Yesterday he sang Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and again his performance was very bad. During his mentor session with Miley Cyrus, she had made him leave his guitar as she thought “it blocked him, and he became really stiff” after Andrew forgot some of the lyrics, naughty boy. But his overall performance yesterday was bad with Simon Cowell giving the killer blow by saying “maybe we overrated that moment (Straight Up in the Hollywood round), The problem with that was the arrangement. You SUCKED the life out of that song.”

Crystal Bowersox – Crystal the shining star of the show chose to sing “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin and guess what? she performed greatly as usual. Her powerful voice lit the up the stage and was arguably the best performance of the day. She had a country style with a little bit of spice at the end of it that makes the performance ever more outstanding. Randy was especially happy with the performance and said “That’s what it’s about, this is what it’s about, she is what it’s about,”. Simon Cowell’s comparison of Pink’s version of “Me and Bobby McGee” to Bowersox’s version was probably the highlight of the night. Cowell said Pink’s version was a great version and Bowersox’s version was as good.

Casey James – This week the charismatic Casey sang a Huey Lewis song, “The Power of Love” but put a rock take with a little bit of blues into it which sound very well. Casey might have hurt the feeling of mentor Miley Cyrus when he said “I’m a big fan of your father,” but I don’t think he meant any harm by it as he looks like to be a very nice guy. Randy said the song choice was a little weird for Casey but it interestingly was a well done performance. Ellen said “it was the best vocal of the night” which I don’t agree with but I definitely agree with Ellen in terms of Casey having great vocals as I love the guys voice. But the best comment came from Kara when she said “your just on another level, with the write songs if you had ten hit songs your ready to make an album, your just there, it just gets better and better, YOUR IN THE ZONE NOW, stay in it.” But Simon kinda got the buzz out of Casey’s performance by saying he thought “it was like an 80’s cover song”.

Michael Lynch aka Big Mike – Mike or Big Mike sang a Michael Bolton’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and against my expectations Kara did not cry. It was another strong performance from the big man who moved mentor Miley when he looked right into her eyes while singing. The performance was not as good as passed performances but it still managed to get chairs. Mike gave a more R&B style to the song but did not go too far away from the classic love song that so many love birds are used to. The judges had mixed reactions with Kara saying it was good but a little boring and loungey where as Randy thought the song choice was wrong for old biggy but he new what to do with the song. I personally loved Mikes performance as I’m a big fan of the song and Mike.

Tim Urban – I have no idea how Tim got it through to the top 24 (well yeah I do, he has great looks and gives young girls another reason to watch the show, that’s all) but he should have been sent home last week after the horror performance of “Under My Thumb” by Rolling Stones. This weeks performance of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen was by far much better then last weeks performance but still poor, AGAIN. However his stage presence was there to save him again with his little cheesy slide onto his knees which was the highlight of the performance. Tim was again bombarded by the judges Randy thought the performance was more karaoke, Simon said it was utterly pointless and silly and that he had no chance for a shot at winning the final with his performance so far. Ellen likened it to a “high school musical audition.”

The remaining contestants quick over view:
Aaron Kelly – gave a very strong performance of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, which was liked all around especially as he was suffering from has both laryngitis and tonsillitis. He also did not make any secret of his crush for Miley Cyrus which made me feel for the guy as his nerves must have been flying out of control.

Katie Stevens – Kate picked “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie which was current song compared to most of the other contenders. Her performance was not great but not bad either, it was in the middle. The judges thought it was an OK performance but the 17-year-old had pitch issues that needed sorting.

Didi Benami – Benami’s performance of “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt was seen a little poor according to the judges with Simon comparing it to a musical. All four judges thought similarly and did not like the performance but I just don’t get it. I personally loved the performance, she looked beautiful and sang very well. I just don’t get these judges.

Paige Miles – Was terrible this week, she sang Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds” and it almost looked as if she does not want to be there. As if she is expecting to be voted of in every show. Kara very rightly said you look like you’ve stopped to compete. Randy wondered if her vocals had come back together since last week after suffering from laryngitis but still called the performance terrible.

Siobhan Magnus – Magnus was one of those performances of the week that wowed the judges when she sang Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”. Randy particularly loved her performance and called it fearless.

Lee DeWyze– chose “The Letter” by the Boxtops and left his guitar which we are so used to. His performance had mix reactions from the judges with Randy and Simon disliking it and Ellen and Kara thinking it was mediocre.

Tonight we will see who will be sent home from the American Idol top 11 on Fox TV at 9pm local time.
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