American Idol recap

Today’s American Idol featured songs from the Cinema and 7 contestants performed.  Before tonight, I predicted that the final three competitors might be: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, and Danny Gokey.  However, tonight brought some surprises.

Adam Lambert was so spectacular, he moved into a position at the top, which meant I had to remove a star from everyone else's ratings.

01 — Allison Iraheta — I Don't Want to Miss A Thing — 3 Stars

Tonight, the tone in Iraheta's voice reminded me of Tina Turner. The beginning was soft and emotional. However, Iraheta bumped up the intensity too quickly so that she was shouting by the middle of the song. I graded her down for being off key and not utilizing the incredibly beautiful melody, originally composed by Diane Warren and intended for Celine Dion, but sung by Aerosmith. Iraheta is only 16 and has room to grow and learn how to use dynamics to build a song.

02 — Anoop Desai — Everything I Do — 4 stars

There is no doubt that this was Desai's best performance to date. His emotional rendition of Bryan Adams hit song was pleasant and soulful. Great job!

03 — Adam Lambert — Born To Be Wild — 5 stars

Move over Ozzy, Adam's in town!  My gosh!  This isn't American Idol. I think I've just watched an incredible rock concert by one of the biggest stars in heavy metal. Not only was Lambert's performance spectacular, it was one of the best I've seen from ANYONE, and I've seen Aerosmith live, twice. Unbelievable!

04 — Matt Giraud — Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman — 2 stars

How did this happen? This is the worst I've ever heard Giraud sing. The song was off key. The arrangement was bad - the band came in too late and was too loud. A simple string quartet would have been best. Ugh!

05 — Danny Gokey — Endless Love — 4 stars

Truly, hasn't Gokey heard that Endless Love is one of the more 'done over' songs in history? Seriously, I thought the intro was not his best, but in true Gokey style, he wowed us at the end. As Paula Abdul said, "You slay us at the end."

06 — Kris Allen — Falling Slowly — 4 stars

This was a truly emotional rendition of a song which I quite honestly had never heard before, written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The song is so obscure, I couldn't even find it on YouTube. Nevertheless, I really like the way he made the performance seem special. My biggest complaint was that the backup singers drowned him out as the song moved into the chorus. Allen's voice is strong enough to hold it's own on the high notes. He doesn't need to be 'bulked up,' to hide a lack of range.

07 — Lil Rounds — The Rose — 3 stars

This is another song that has been overdone. Rounds started off the song off key and weak. She does poorly on quiet songs which require a lighter, clearer voice. However, once she hopped into her soulful gospel rendition of the song, it was fabulous. I wish she had done the gospel rendition throughout.