American Idol 4 Episode Review: Top 10 --- 1990's nite

Top 10: 1990’s nite
To me, this is where the real competition started, as Lindsay and Mikalah had left (they were easily the weakest). A great decade to choose from as many of the audience would be able to relate to.

Bo Bice: Remedy
I am not a rock fan, and he didn’t win me over with this performance that. It re-enforced my perception that to appeal to rock audience, one just has to hold the mic stand and move around a lot; that theatrics are more important than vocals. I still think he is pretty good, but I agreed with Simon on his “wedding” comment.

Jessica Sierra: On the Side of Angels
I am a fan of LeAnn Rimes, and to me, even though I like Jessica’s voice, it pales in comparison with LeAnn. This performance, I think, left many comparing her with LeAnn, meaning Jessica fell short this time.

Anwar Robinson: I Believe I Can Fly
This is probably the most commonly used song in AI history. And now I am bored with it. Technically he is great (again some problems with the lower range), but he is short-changing himself with his song choices. Yet to make a good song choice so far.

Nadia Turner: I'm the Only One
She probably is the only singer left who can tackle the low notes! She made a great song choice here. So far, in 3 weeks, she has had great-horrible-good weeks. It would all boil down to song choice for her.

Constantine Maroulis: I Can't Make You Love Me
I used the changeup analogy with Bo last week, and I will use it again here. Except that this changeup is more devastating! A balladry crooner, that’s what he is! Plus the staring and pouting would melt his audience’s hearts! He is definitely not a rocker.

Nikko Smith: Can We Talk
This dude is a dancer! Some problem with the start (you guessed it, lower notes), but once he got into the middle, he became the R&B Nikko I like a lot. He has certainly found his niche.

Anthony Federov: Something About the Way You Look Tonight
Somehow, I cannot erase the words “karaoke” or “boyband” when I heard this. Very pitchy performance. I think the problem with him is never quite figured out what kind of music suits him.


Carrie Underwood: Independence Day
Country Carrie singing a song by her idol, Martina McBride. To me, Martina is technically the best female singer in the country scene. Carrie had a couple of rough notes, but once again, when she hit the power notes, I really loved it, perhaps even more than Martina’s version! To me, she definitely has the best recording voice in this year’s show.

Scott Savol: One Last Cry
Very very pitchy. He never got on track with this song. To me, he really massacred this song which I really love. I was left cringing.

Vonzell Solomon: I have Nothing
Again, Vonzell decided to take on a challenging powerful song, and she pulls it off pretty well, with the exception of some glitches.

Overall comments:
At this stage, Carrie became the favorite to win, with two fantastic performances in a row. Vonzell made her way into the favorites list. Anwar needs to make better song choices, and Bo left me feeling like he didn’t really want to win the show. If Constantine decides to ditch the rocker image, he could do really well. Scot had a really rough nite, but if I had my way, I would like to see Anthony voted off. On a side note, what was with Paula Abdul? Everyone got positive comments from her!

Top 10 rankings:
Carrie
Vonzell
Constantine
Nikko
Nadia
Anwar
Jessica (voted off)
Bo
Anthony
Scott

Thoughts on Jessica:
I think what Simon said about her likeability is true. Jessica doesn’t have that heart-warming smile Carrie has to win the audience over. For her to have stayed on longer, she would have to been great every week, and unfortunately, she wasn’t great for this week.