American Idol Top 3 Recap

American Idol Top 3
May 18, 2010
By Brian Holland

Sorry I didn’t do a blog last week. My girlfriend didn’t need me to plus I just wanted to enjoy it without having to worry about writing about it.

Ryan walks by the Idols announcing their home towns, blah blah blah. Cue American Idol theme.

The judges are introduced by Ryan.

Casey’s going first and his personal song choice is “Okay, it’s all right with me” by Eric Hutchinson. Never heard of the song or artist. He does an ok job at best. It wasn’t that great.

Randy: It was only all right for me. It didn’t quite work for me.
Ellen: It was all right but it needed to blow us away.
Kara: It’s hard to pick a song that most people haven’t heard and take it to a new level.
Simon: That song was like the salad part of a meal. It will leave no lasting impact.
Me: It was only ok. You gotta be great and you weren’t. You are in deep trouble unless your next performance wows us.

So Casey didn’t do great. Crystal up next.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Crystal chose “Come to My Window” by Melissa Ethridge. Another song I haven’t heard of. She has the harmonica holder and the harmonica to play during her performance. She does a great job. Much better than Casey’s. She only plays the harmonica for a couple seconds right at the very end of her performance.

Randy: I didn’t love the arrangement but I loved the vocal. It all worked in the end.
Ellen: Good song choice and Melissa would be very proud of you.
Kara: You did get lost in the arrangement, you don’t have the rasp of Melissa, but it’s still a good vocal.
Simon: Very honest performance and right choice of song, well done.
Me: I agree, good song choice for you, but I hope you really connect with the next one because I didn’t sense a full connection with the song here.

Lee up next with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Lee is singing “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Good song. He does a decent job. Nothing that wowed me too much, but I did like it. It started out slowly then picked up.

Randy: Brilliant song choice. You sounded amazing. Somebody here is feeling like they can win it!!!
Ellen: You have grown a lot, first you were a lamb now you’re like a gazelle.
Kara: Everyone needs to do what you just did there. IMO, round 1 goes to Lee.
Simon: That song was absolutely on the money. You didn’t just win round 1, you CRUSHED the other two.
Me: Perfect song choice for you! You did a great job and you did win round 1.

We’ll see what Randy and Kara picked for Casey, after the break.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

We see a tiny bit of Casey’s hometown visit and Randy and Kara have chosen “Daughters” by John Mayer. Never heard of it. I think Casey would be better with “Waitin’ on the World to Change”, but ok. The song is very slow and not exciting at all. Casey’s really doing nothing with it.

Randy: This fit you like a glove, nice one.
Ellen: You’ll have a lot of mothers and daughters voting for you. That was really good.
Kara: You changed it up but didn’t stray too far from the original. You did a good job.
Simon: Good song choice. A lazy arrangement however. You sounded very good on it, but there wasn’t that wow factor.
Me: I thought Randy and Kara could have picked a better song. Something that got that deep vibrato of your voice.

Crystal up next with Ellen’s pick.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Ellen picks “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney for Crystal. YES! I love this song. Excellent song choice. Ellen might be quite smart in the music field after all. And she hits the falsetto really well. The song actually doesn’t seem to fit her that well. Maybe it’s the tone of Crystal’s voice or the fact that the lyrics contain “Maybe I’m a Man”. Oops. Maybe Ellen didn’t pick a great song for Crystal. Oh well, LOL.

Randy: Great song, great vocals, and we got somebody else in it to win it!!!
Ellen: I couldn’t have asked for more. You did it.
Kara: You showed parts of your voice we hadn’t heard of before. And no instrument. I think it paid off.
Simon: I was surprised at the song pick at first, but you showed you have soul and I think you may be thanking Ellen for putting you in the final.
Me: The lyrics kind of confused me, but it was perfect for your vocal range. You could not have done any better with it.

Lee with Simon’s pick next.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

As opposed to being in front of a crowd when hearing about their song, Lee was on a plane when he got his text from Simon. He is singing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. A choir of backup singers joins him on stage, and I gotta say, another great job by Lee. One of his best. Simon is shown afterward looking very pleased and applauding. All the judges give him long applause. The audience gives him longer applause.

Randy: Biggest moment of your career right there! Unbelievable dude!
Ellen: That was stunning.
Kara: You are what this show’s all about. You owned the entire night.
Simon: I’m very proud of you. That showed you are a fantastic singer, a great person, and I really hope you make it next week.
Me: That’s the kind of performance that you’ll look back on fifty years from now and think, wow, that jumpstarted my career. It was that good.

So there you have it. We finish on a good note. Lee has his best night ever. Crystal was ok, at least for her standards, and Lee was a bit of a letdown. So Lee is probably going home. It would be one of the biggest shockers ever if Lee managed to make the final two.