Top 11 - #1 Hits and a Few #2 Performances

Tonight's theme is #1 hits from the Billboard Hot 100. It was originally reported to be Teen Idols, but for some unknown reason they changed it. All you fans hoping to see Aaron Kelly sing Leif Garrett must be heartbroken.

Miley Cyrus is the mentor. Now that's just insulting. She's about as old as the youngest contestants in the competition. Could this be more obviously a photo-op for Miley?

Leading off for the second time in three weeks is Lee DeWyze, with The Box Tops' "The Letter." Ah, a tribute to the late Alex Chilton! It sounds like he's doing the jazzy version that we were beat over the head with by Carly Smithson and Michael Johns each of the last two seasons. Who came up with this thing, anyway? About the performance, it really doesn't suit his style. I thought Lee was a rocker, not a Vegas performer! Vocally it's solid, but...it's weird. I guess I prefer the somber tone of the original. Lee gets a big ovation and the judges heap piles of praise on him until Simon takes him down a few notches by calling it corny. Glad to know I'm not the only one who wasn't blown away by that.

Paige Miles can supposedly choose from any #1 hit ever and she picks...Phil Collins' "Against All Odds"??? The Vote For the Worst theme song??? The most performed song in American Idol history??? When will they learn that Scott Savol is the only one who can do this song justice? Paige's voice is too whispery in the beginning, and the dynamic changes on a dime on the second line of the second verse, which is a bit jarring. It briefly gets a little better once she's in her upper register, but once the song crescendoes she sounds like she's forcing the feeling too much. Poor Paige. I want so badly to like her, but she just didn't connect here. The judges have a lower opinion of it than I do. Kara reveals that it's the "Mariah version" (gee, that clears things up), and says it may have been the worst vocal of the season. How quickly Haeley Vaughn is forgotten. After she's done facing the panel, Paige admits to Ryan that she struggles with song choice. Pssst. Paige! You might want to check this site out!

JPL Junior, Tim Urban, dips into the overdone song choice bag again for Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Sorry, but his voice is too weak to carry this song. He tries to assert some stage presence with his floor-sliding and audience interaction, but it all comes across as rehearsed and stiff. This whole thing is nothing more than amateurish fun. No surprise that the judges also have little good to say about it.

Aaron Kelly has a small crush on Miley. Awww. That takes me back ten or so years to when I was a teenager. It's weird to think Miley's an older woman to him. For the third straight overdone song choice we have Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." Aaron's gawky teenager-ness is on full display with every belt, though the vocal isn't that bad overall. He does nothing new with the song whatsoever, but I guess it's an acceptable performance. The judges still love him, and particularly praise his song choice. Simon says there's "zero chance" of him going home this week. Oh really? That's not what I predicted last time!

Breaking up the monotony of stuff we've heard on this show before is Crystal Bowersox, with Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee." Proving she's not too cool for all of this, Crystal gets Miley to sign her guitar. What's there left to say about Crystal? She connects perfectly to the song...again. Every note is in tune...again. The judges rave about her...again. She's just plain good at what she does. She knows how to structure her performance for maximum effect and deliver it to perfection. I may have to bump her up into the finale of my power rankings at the rate she's going.

Michael Lynche does a piano-and-strings version of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," quite different from the soulful arrangement of the original. I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm not as high on Michael's voice as the judges seem to be. It's good, not great. Whenever he goes for the big notes they always sound kind of thin to my ears. I'd say the only time I really love his singing is when he goes into his head voice. Those sweet-sounding moments are great, but he obviously can't sing an entire song like that without being obnoxious. As for this performance, it's OK, and well-sung for the most part, but it doesn't do a whole lot for me. The judges think the song choice was a bit safe and old-fashioned. I can't disagree.

Doing nothing to discourage the Danny Gokey comparisons, Andrew Garcia's song choice is "Heard it Through the Grapevine." Putting the guitar down per Miley's suggestion, he replaces it by pacing back and forth around the stage while doing cheesy arm motions and sounding totally disconnected throughout the song. This is pretty dang corny. The sad thing is, we all know he'll skate by to next week due to his previous pimping. The judges give it to him straight, telling him he stunk, but Ellen says she hopes people vote for him anyway. Why, I have no idea. Kara references "Straight Up" for the billionth time, and Andrew's probably cursing the day he did that performance by now. Could we please, please, just get rid of this guy?

Katie Stevens is doing Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry." I still prefer the Four Seasons song by the same title. Well, what to say? Katie's pretty good again this week, but she hardly goes into "wow" territory. She's definitely improved since the Semifinals. I'll give her that. I guess my problem with Katie is that she's fairly nondescript. She's a nice girl who sings decently, but doesn't add anything special to what she sings. The judges mention some pitch issues (I hardly noticed any), but they all think she's shown improvement over the course of the competition. Okey-doke. Moving on...

Blues rocker Casey James is up next with "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. All right! Back to the Future! Casey actually sounds kind of like Huey Lewis at times, which I guess makes it a fitting song choice. His voice gets swallowed up by the band a few times, but other than that I like it. It's hard to make such a great song bad. My only gripe is that the arrangement is pretty much a note-for-note copy of the original. I'd like to think Casey has more creativity than that, but come to think of it, he hasn't shown much of that quality in this competition. The first three judges don't like the song choice, but do like Casey. Simon compares his performance to an 80's cover band. Sadly, while it was fun, Simon's criticism is valid.

Didi Benami, my pick to win as of right now, chooses Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good." Again in contrast to her sweet offstage persona, she comes out looking angry and sneering. She even sort of sounds like she has a New York accent. The vocals are good though, and she owns the stage. Once again, I only have one real gripe: this tough girl act seems fake. I'd imagine the real Didi would spend all her time crying about the guy who done her wrong. In spite of that minor quibble, I give her credit for being an engaging performer. Sadly, I have to face the shame of Kara agreeing with me, that Didi seems to be putting on an act. Oh well. I don't claim to be the world's best Idol commentator.

So Siobhan Magnus gets another pimp spot. Yee-hay. For our final overdone song choice of the night we have Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." Siobhan has the black-suited soul-funk band on stage with her, as well as a new hairstyle. I'm not a big fan of this song, as it doesn't really...do a whole lot. Siobhan sounds OK, but the big glory note at the end sounds more like shouting than singing this time. Bleh. I think it's safe to say Siobhan's used up her bag of tricks. The judges are complimentary, but seem a little bit less impressed than they normally do. I'm getting the same reaction to Ol' Bhanny.

On a rather surprising note, Miley Cyrus seemed like a fairly good mentor tonight. The Idols kept talking about how much they appreciated her, and she actually did give some constructive feedback. Color me astonished.

My performance ranking:

Crystal (8.5/10)
Casey (6.5/10)
Didi (6.4/10)
Katie (6/10)
Michael (5.5/10)
Siobhan (5.1/10)
Lee (5/10)
Aaron (4.9/10)
Tim (3.5/10)
Paige (3/10)
Andrew (2/10)

Predictions:

Bottom 3: Paige, Aaron, Andrew
Going home: Aaron

OK, let me see if I can explain my thinking here. Paige was in the Bottom 3 last week and is clearly in danger this week. Her fans will probably vote a little harder to keep her in it. Andrew's been coasting on pimpage since the beginning, and sooner or later these crappy performances have to catch up with him. He'll make it through, but it'll be close. Tim's teenybopper fans know he's in danger again, and after he was in the Bottom 3 last week they know he needs a boost. Didi got bad feedback from the judges, but I thought she was solid, and I imagine a lot of viewers will agree with me. Crystal, Casey, Katie, Michael, Siobhan and Lee probably aren't in any serious danger. That leaves us with Aaron, who was OK, but fairly forgettable. With Simon guaranteeing another week for Aaron, his fans will probably take it easy, assuming him to be safe. It'll prove to be Little Cory's downfall.

Either I'm an expert in the art of Idol prediction, or I completely overthought that. Tomorrow we'll find out!