American Idol (Page 9)

Crystal Bowersox is undeniably talented, but this week her undeniable talent didn't help her to stand out any.

Crystal Bowersox performed Alanis Morissette's "Hand In My Pocket" and Simon Cowell reminded her that this song has been done and done. Not only is "Hand In My Pocket" a song of the past, people sing this song or similar songs everyday in subway stations. She's too good to be this cliche; she needs to break away from what's safe and I want her to ditch the harmonica at times if that will help her. You can do it, Crystal!

Casey James is one of the most f*ckable American Idol male contestants in a long time. And unlike Adam Lambert, this man is straight. As I said before, Casey is hot! He has great lips, hair, a gorgeous smile, he's tall, good teeth. Yum. Yum. Yum. Delicious.

Casey James sang Bryan Adams' hit "Heaven," and he did a great job considering that Kara DioGuardi was swaying her arms and creaming right in front of him. "Heaven" is outdated and cliche, but Casey made it his own; he brought emotion to his performance and Simon Cowell was into it.

On a sidenote, sucks to be Kara. Yeah, she thinks Casey's cute, but she doesn't deserve the "cougar" label, the mocking, and Ellen saying it was "unfair" that Kara can't control herself whenever she's around her school girl crush. Let it go, judges and Ryan Gaycrest. Crushes are healthy, okay! And no, I'm not biased at all. I've never had a crush before. Not ever.

Todrick Hall wants to stand out so badly, he took one of the most popular songs in recent years, Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone," and made it a virtually unrecognizable R&B clusterf*ck.

Todrick, you're black, you stand out. You're also flamboyant and black, you really stand out. There's no need for him to do what Simon Cowell said that he did, which was "murder" the song. Randy was spot on. People liked "Since You've Been Gone" because of how it sounds. Making it sound like a completely different song is too much of a stretch. BUT, if Todrick is this creative, I think he's going to bring a lot of fun to the show this season.

Didi Benami sang Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am" and it's a slow song. It's a risky song for Idol because you're supposed to entertain, not make viewers nod off.

But Didi did a great job, something that the judges don't care about, really. You need to stand out. You need to be interesting. In summary, you need to be Adam Lambert, I swear. Sometimes the judges talk to contestants like they're supposed to be doing something similar to what Pink did at the Grammys or spitting fire outta their throats in between verses. I get what they're trying to say, but damn, these contestants are under such scrutiny and pressure.

Didi knows her strengths. She sounds commercial and polished. However, she should take more risks if she wants to stand out.

Siobhan Magnus doesn't seem to have much of a personality or fashion sense, but what she's lacking in charisma, she makes up for in spades with her vocals. She makes belting it out look easy.

Siobhan sang "Wicked Dreams" on Tuesday and she sounded great. From the beginning of the competition, she hasn't failed to deliver. Siobhan should make it far in the competition. Hopefully viewers will vote for her based upon her voice and nothing else.

Katie Stevens is likable, talented, young and adorable.

But the 17 year-old from Boston tries to be sultry. The problem is she's wearing something young girls would wear to church. The dress? The headband? Woman, NO! Katie needs to pick a look and match it with her sound. She's got a strong, mature voice so if she's going to pick mature songs, she needs to look like she's old enough to drink in the States, or at least vote.

Simon Cowell put it best when he said: "It was like your mom and dad dressed you and picked the song. It started to become annoying. Very pageanty."

... no thanks. Haeley Vaughn, her gums, perpetual smile, weave, guitar, and white tights appeared on American Idol to sing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles.

I applaud her effort. I think she made the song her own, but she made it her own in a very bad way. She was pitchy, screechy, raspy. It was a bit much. Simon Cowell said it was "terrible." It wasn't awful, but it was far from great.

After hearing Katelyn Epperly's performance of "Oh Darling," I think this woman could be a successful country singer.

Carrie Underwood has been the only Idol winner to make country albums, now she's one of the most successful country artists in the country. I think Katelyn should go in the same direction. But I have only heard Katelyn sing a few times. Maybe she's just changing her sound each week?

Lilly Scott said Ryan Seacrest is short. Well, she didn't exactly say that, but she hinted at it. 

The man is almost a midget. He's 5'9, or so he says, and male and sometimes female contestants are often taller than him, towering the metrosexual in the most obvious of ways.

After Lilly Scott sang "Fixin' A Hole" she stood next to Ryan and mentioned his height. I love her for that. Lilly's very talented. I'm not a big fan of hers because there's something holier than thou/ not down to earth about her, but I'll give her credit where it's due: She's good!

I really liked Janell Wheeler initially. She was a pretty face with a... well, pretty voice. But for the past two weeks, Janell hasn't sounded so good.

Janell was sick last week and this week, I guess she's not as sick and she didn't sound too much better either. American Idol is a launching pad for pretty much anything, or it can be. Janell can be on some CW show, model, or make solo sex tapes. But I'm not so sure singing is for her. At least she didn't sound like she's got it this week, but she does have stage presence which is great.