America Idol Top Nine Show Reaction

American Idol 3/25/2009
Reaction

This week's song choices were left up to the contestants to pick any song that they wanted as long as it could be a top seller on the digital charts. This left the doors wide open for each contestant to pick a song that would really highlight their strengths. Unfortunately there were only a few of them that used this choice to their advantage, while the others miserably failed the test.

Anoop Desai - Caught Up by Usher
After two consecutive solid weeks Anoop took a step back this week. The judges compared him to a frat boy who was trying to be a pop star and that about sums it up. Anoop's voice range was not on par with Usher's and his dance moves are completely non-existent. He needs to stretch out a little more and take a few risks if he wants to stay in this competition.

Megan Joy - Turn Your Lights Down Low by Bob Marley
The past two weeks I have held out hope that Megan has a lot of potential. Her voice tends to sound like Adelle and Duffy yet she continues to have a poor song selection. Kara even called her out on this and suggested Adelle. However I am starting to lose hope and beginning to think that she just is not that good. She may have a chance to stick around another week but her time is running out quickly.

Danny Gokey - What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts
What a good song choice for Danny! This song really builds itself up as the song goes on and it really works to Danny's advantage! Simon said that it was his best performance thus far. I personally think that I have seen glimpses of a better Danny, but this was a great performance. Danny has raised his value a little bit after this week and will have no reason to fret tomorrow night.

Allison Iraheta - Don't Speak by No Doubt
We got to see Allison rock a guitar for the first time this week. It was pretty interesting too since I feel like it was more of a prop and as the song went on she stopped "playing" it and just wore the guitar like it was an accessory. I'm going to have to disagree with most of the judges critiques of her. I think that this was a great song choice for Allison and that she performed it very well. After a few weeks of sub par singing Allison picked it up this week and should be safe.

Scott MacIntyre - Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
Scott looked like he had been rehearsing this week with Danny Zucko and the rest of the T'Birds! I like the new look Scotty ;) This was a really good song for Scott. Being a singer/songwriter and piano player Scott must have loved the opportunity to sing some Billy Joel. Scott didn't have an overpowering voice at all but that's not Scott. He totally stripped the performance down and got rave reviews from the judges. Because of his past performances Scott may find himself in the bottom 3 but should stick around for next week.

Matt Giraud - You Found Me by The Fray
Matt Giraud was also rocking a new look this week. He lost the wavy hair and spruced it up a bit. I wish that his song would have been as fresh as his new hair style. I really like what Matt did with the chorus, slowing it down a bit, but the rest of the arrangement was not well done. It almost seemed like someone along the line thought that Matt hadn't changed the arrangement enough yet so they forced in some variations throughout the 1st verse and "bridge" if you will. For whatever reason the fans have not latched on to Matt the way that they have adopted Danny Gokey or Adam Lambert. Matt NEEDS to stick with the more bluesy songs that really bring out the best in Matt. He very well may legitimately find himself in the bottom three this week.

Lil Rounds - I Surrender by Celine Dion
Week after week Lil continues to lose points in my book. Again it was the song choice issue, she keeps picking poor songs. She sang well tonight but during the past few weeks when people like Danny Gokey, Matt Giraud, and Adam Lambert find their fan clubs growing, Lil continues to see her fan club dwindle. I'm really having a tough time deciding what will happen to Lil this week but I think that she will narrowly escape the bottom three.

Adam Lambert - Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry
I'm confused with Adam's choice of song here? I was under the assumption that the songs had to be from the digital charts today? Oh well, Adam threw it back to 1976 with his song tonight but kept his more preppy style from last week. But jeez this dude has some pipes! His rendition of the song was not my favorite but that doesn't mean that it wasn't good, it was really good. He even found a spot to bring the scream back! He also brought the screams of all the emo-girls back this week too (you could really hear them in the crowd). Paula made a comment regarding Adam that just drives me nuts. She said, "that there are artists that have longevity in this business because of their unique and riveting performance." She then went on to list a few, "Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, and Adam Lambert." The part of this that bugs me is that those are the two people that everyone says Adam sounds like. For them to be the only other two people that have riveting longevity is obviously correlated to Adam's sound. People like Madonna and U2 also have staying power but she neglected to mention them...weird?

Kris Allen - Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
Kris Dumped the guitar and whipped out the piano this week and was very impressive. His rendition of Ain't No Sunshine was very well done and he performed it almost flawlessly. Kris' stock continues to rise in this competition and he consistently rocks the stage. No joke he has become the new Dark Horse in this competition. Week in and week out he does great yet his humble personality allows him to quietly squeak into the next round. He will be fine this week.

Overall Predictions: after the 3/31/2009 performance show

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Kris Allen
4. Allison Iraheta
5. Lil Rounds
   
6. Scott MacIntyre
7. Matt Giraud
8. Anoop Desai
9. Megan Joy - I don't think her looks can help her anymore, she was that bad tonight. Megan will be going home tomorrow.