This week's mentor was Harry Connick Jr., an accomplished crooner in his own right. No, there aren't too many songs of his that I actually enjoy but I cannot deny that he has a beautiful voice and I would happily sit and listen to him sing all night so long as he remembered to sing A Wink and a Smile at the end of the night. *swoons briefly*
Not only did Harry mentor this week, but he also accompanied them on stage as their piano player. Top things all off, he wrote "supportive arrangements". What this tells me is that all that the kids really did this week is pick the songs and learn what they were told. They were practically HANDED decent performances. All they had to do is learn it and work on stage presence. Do you think they accomplished this? Some, not all.
This week the Chart's a bit funky so we'll just leave the screen cap of it off and save the room (I've saved it incase DI decides to pull some of their usual stuff and mark the chart after the program). All are listed at 1-5 in yellow but not one of them has a B3 notation. The Maps were a mess too, but not so bad. A couple surprises on the loser Map. I'd like to say the winner Map had a surprise too, but I read some other sites out there before coming in here so it's not so much a shock to me as it will be to the casual viewer.
Aaron (Fly Me to the Moon): I wanna know exactly what show Ellen was listening to tonight? I'm sorry, but in certain parts of the song his country sound was bloody obvious. This was not as good as they said it was. He did try, but that's about it. His odds are up substantially from last week, this is only due to his strong showing from last week. I won't be surprised to see them dip again this week. He had 3 wins and 2 losses for a total of 1 state won. This is up 3 states from last week but I don't think this will be enough to keep him out of the B3 this week. He's listed 3rd on the chart.
Casey (Blue Skies): This wasn't good. Not at all. His voice just cannot handle this genre. He did not own this even in the slightest and unfortunately the nerves just magnified the vibratto that diehard fans have been hearing all year long. Let's just put it this way, this performance was so dreadful that that nefarious site changed its posterchild by the time he was finished singing (they HAD picked Mike after last week's elimination due to his cheese factor). They must have been really voting their fingers off, or the Casey Cougars went into overdrive because he managed to grab 7 wins and NO losses (the ONLY contestant to not lose any on the one Map) putting him up 2 states over last week. The Chart has him listed dead last though. His odds have slightly risen this week which is a surprise because we knew what the theme was going to be before the show ended last week and this definitely isn't in his wheelhouse.
Crystal (Summer Wind): My goodness she cleans up nice. That was a lovely gown on her! Loved the little interaction between her and Harry at the piano. So very playful and really set the mood for the song. This was very nicely done, although not one of her stronger performances. I'm gonna slap Randy if he uses "it's too sleepy" on a number whose original was rather sleepy too. Stupid shit. Kara had this one nailed correctly. She had spark, sass, and the swing necessary to carry the song. As for Simon, she needed to sing the arrangement as it was given. If Harry jazzed it up, it's not Crystal's fault. Ok, so it wasn't a great pick. Don't harp on something she had no control over. They are right though. This is two weeks with standard Crystal performances. She's gonna need to wow us next week if she wants to win this. This week she had 12 wins and 1 loss for a total of 11. This is down one state from last week. Her odds have been drooping a little since last week. I'm wondering if Vegas is still seeing a girl as the winner or if they are thinking that we'll have another darkhorse winner. She's listed in 4th on the chart. Although she's listed so low, I do not believe she's actually in danger due to the number of states won. I would not be surprised if they split them in 2 groups of 2 and have her pick who belongs in the same group as her. Gosh I hope I'm wrong.
Mike (The Way You Look Tonight): Damn. This song was perfect for his voice. If he doesn't go into R&B after this, then he certainly NEEDS to go into the standards and follow Harry's footsteps because this was awesome. Everyone knows who my faves are this year and it kills me to have to say this, but Mike out sang one of them and almost got the other as well. This was his moment. the judges loved him. Now for the bad news and there's quite a bit. His odds dropped from last week (which was odd because if any of them would have a great night, it'd be Mike). The nefarious site dropped him like a hot rock as their posterchild right after Casey sang. Why? Because Casey was that bad and they felt Mike was too boring. Top things all off, he won only 1 state and lost 2 for a total of -1. The good news? He's up 2 states from last week and he's listed in 2nd on the Chart. He's in danger this week and it really sucks because this was one of his best performances to date IMHO.
Lee (That's Life): Ahh Lee. My second favorite of the season. Holy shit that was HAWT! There haven't been too many moments this season where I got into fangirly-squealing mode. This was one of them. I was so into the performance, I didn't even notice Harry's organ until well after the performance was done. Go figure it was hanging out in plain sight and I never bloody noticed. Oh lookit that.... you need 2 hands for that organ too. It took 4 times through the video to notice that. I am looking forward to the studio version of this one. I hope he put just a touch more growl to a few of the notes. *fans self* Although I loved Mike's performance, it didn't get me the way Lee's did. His odds have been slipping a bit but I don't think Vegas anticipated Lee taking off with this genre at all. He's listed first on the Chart. There were 15 states won and one loss putting him at 14 states won for the week, up 11 states from last week. The real test will come next week as we all know that Lee only seems to get these numbers on the nights he has the pimp spot. If he can hang on to 1/2 to 3/4 of those states next week when he may be singing mid-pack, we may have a definite contender.
This is how I'd rate them this week:
Lee
Mike
Crystal (shocked that I put her here? I am!)
Aaron
Casey
So who goes home?
Aaron: If he goes it's because his youth couldnt carry the genre believably. His vocal wasn't atrocious, but it wasn't great either. Singing in first didn't help him. If he squeaks by, we can thank Rickey dot org for their work on his Vote for the First program which tries to help those singing in the deadly first spot get through another week.
Casey: According to the Maps, Casey won't be here. I'm just placing him here because based upon performance this week he DESERVES to be here and DESERVES to be eliminated.
However, I'm afraid his place will be taken by:
Mike: Why? He lost support of a group that, like it or not, does manage to make a difference in the vote numbers. Top things off, he's over stayed his welcome. It won't make a bloody bit of difference that this was one of his best performances to date.
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