American Idol: That's What She Sang

I’ve complained a few times about how the female singers in this year’s competition are neither as good nor as interesting as the fellas.
Basically, I was setting myself up to be pleasantly surprised by Wednesday night’s All-girl performance episode…and it pretty much worked!

Sure there were a few clunkers, but — based on yesterday’s performances — the judges have more than enough options to help them put together a legitimately strong top 13.

Unfortunately, that top 13 will almost certainly NOT include Ta-Tynisa Wilson or Rachel Zevita.

It was bad enough that coming into last night the only two things we knew about Ta-tynisa were 1.) she doesn’t know the lyrics to “I Hope You Dance” and 2.) she has no idea how hyphens are supposed to work. She got stuck performing first because there’s a good chance we’ve forgotten about you by the end of the show. Choosing to sing “Only Girl (In the World)” was not horrible idea in theory: you take a current song originally performed by an artist who isn't exactly a vocal powerhouse (Let's just say there's room for improvement on a Rihanna song.)

The only problem is that this did nothing for her voice other than make it seem like she was yelling at us. I still have no idea whether or not she can sing, and I have a feeling I won't find out since she'll be gone.

As for Rachel Zevita…she wins best dressed last night, and that’s pretty much it. Her performance of “Criminal” WAS totally Broadway. Rachel seemed completely insulted at the suggestion that she's a "Broadway" singer. (I think she'd be really fortunate to have that career.) Bottom line: if you're going to dramatically whip off a cape at the start of a performance, you NEED to follow that up with amazing singing. Rachel did not.

I also don’t feel like the outcome is particularly rosy for Naima Adedapo, Julie Zorilla, Haley Reinhart and Lauren Turner.

I like Naima a lot, and she's been one of my favorite singers in this competition. That last note in her performance of “Summertime” WAS pretty great. The problem is that the rest of her performance was WAY too cheesy, although I may just be feeling that way because of her ridiculous Chiquita banana dress(?) Julie, on the other hand, is a great looking girl who is thoroughly uninteresting to listen to. J. Lo lightly slapped her on the wrist for not connecting with her lyrics again, but Julie’s main problem is that her version of “Breakaway” paled in comparison with Kelly Clarkson’s original. (Then again, whose wouldn’t?)

The same thing pretty much happened to Haley Reinhart, who took on “Fallin.’” Besides the fact that I’m pretty much DONE with hearing that song on this show (or anywhere else, really) Haley did have a decent amount of stage presence, even if her “sexy” moves were a little misguided. Her biggest problem is that she brought nothing new to the song besides that growl of hers.

I give Lauren Turner a better chance of surviving than the previous three singers because I remember really enjoying her performance of “Seven Day Fool” when I was watching it. The problem is that I couldn’t tell you a single thing about it today. I believe she’s displayed the pipes and the personality to earn another week on the show, but I’m not sure she made a strong enough impression with the voting audience to get it.

I should probably lump Ashthon Jones because she didn’t sound her best last night, and if you listen to her performance of “Love All Over Me”, it was actually slightly gross. Still, I think that she has a really good amount of star quality, and I can see why the judges kind of root for her to do well. I believe she’ll get another chance to show what she can do.

I’m not 100% sure she deserves to be in the top 13 on merit, but Lauren Alaina will absolutely be there. Her take on Reba McEntire’s “Turn on the Radio” a good, pleasant, entertaining performance, but nothing special in my book. Through no fault of her own, I just can’t shake the feeling that the show is working WAY too hard to make her “happen.” Either way, she really does look a bit like Kelly Clarkson.”

As for Karen Rodriguez, I’m neither sure whether she deserves to be in the top 13 on merit nor am I sure whether she’ll actually make it. But I’m curious to find out, so I guess that counts for something. Singing portions of “Hero” in Spanish was incredibly savvy because there was otherwise really nothing special about this performance (which could’ve been seen at a Miss USA pageant). I also agree with Randy in that she sounded a little better singing in Spanish, which also discouraged unfavorable Mariah Carey comparisons.

That means my three favorite performances of the night came from Kendra Chantelle, Thia Megia and Pia Toscano.

I still need to see a little more from Pia, even after her strong rendition of “I’ll Stand By You.” Watching this, I pictured the “Idol” producers listening to her in rehearsal (and the way she finished so gloriously) and falling all over themselves to give her the episode-ending pimp slot. When I originally saw that she was going last, I was like “Her?” But then it all made sense. I’m curious to see if she’s more than a one-week wonder.

I’d say out of all the contestants last night, Kendra Chantelle made the biggest leap and did the most to help herself. (And I’m not even talking about the fact that she had the sexiest performance on Wednesday.) I still wouldn’t say she has the strongest voice in the competition, but after hearing her sing “Impossible” I think she’s one of a select few contestants that I can actually see being a relevant artist in 2011. And, for better or worse (mostly worse), that’s more valuable than being able to shake the rafters with your voice.

Finally, there’s Thia Megia (pictured, left) who, true to the spirit of her song “Out Here On My Own” took the stage and sang the first portion of her song sans musical accompaniment. I thought she sounded terrific, and I kind of wish she’d sung the whole thing acapella. Her voice of freakishly good for someone so young (oh oh…Randy Jackson alert!), and I’m looking forward to finding out what else she can do…

…provided she makes it to the top 13.

So what’d you think of this episode? Are you liking Randy in the role of “sensible judge”? (I think he’s been shockingly un-awful!) What did the singers last night have against those poor mic stands? Finally, which of the girls do you see qualifying for the top 13?