That's it. I really like Jacob, but there was something amiss with him that I just couldn't figure. He does give off an air of desperation.

Naima - Just a snooze, she's probably in trouble.

Paul - Still don't get it at all. I think his voice is terrible. Screechy, shaky, and annoying.

Scotty - He's too young to be so good. He does have a weird lean while singing. And the smirks and eyebrow raising is too much.

Brutal night

The only performances that I found good/entertaining were Lauren Alaina and Pia. Pia's clothes were awful though. The more I see Lauren Alaina, there I think that she has the best star quality like Kelly Clarkson & the potential to be a solid pop singer. Thia was a huge disappointment this week. Taking on a sleepy Vanessa Williams ballad didn't help her at all.

I like Jacob, but damn, he butchered "Alone" I know a few Idol contestants have tried covering that song, but the only one who did it any justice was Carrie Underwood 6 years ago. Jacob totally oversang it.

to Casey. OMG, talk about grunge karaoke and it's worst.

And what is up with K-Rod? She looked hot, but IMO she seems to be sucking up to J-Lo with her clothes, especially tonight and singing bilingual each week. Plus, she was so out of tune. I agree with an earlier comment that her performance showed what a really great singer Taylor Dayne was.

A few comments for what they're worth (nothing):

1) My wife said "he's not going to win, but Scotty will make hte most money out of this group". I agree with her.

2) This exact conversation happened when we found out Casey (who is my favorite) said he was doing Nirvana:

Me: "well this should be a train wreck"
wife: "Why do you say that"
me: "you don't 'sing' nirvana"
wife: "what do you mean?"
me: "nevermind" <rollingeyes>

3) I agree with you guys, most of it was crap. And I actually like this group.

4) It will be a tight race to see who goes home tonight between Naima and Karen

5) Steven Tyler made an excellent point when he told James to not get too poppy. I couldn't agree more and I hope he heeds that advice.

Naima - Flat and lifeless. She still hasn't figured out how to combine vocal performance with stage performance.

Paul - Sounded like someone imitating Rod Stewart covering an Elton John song.

Thia - Voice sounded good but sort of a boring song choice. She doesn't stand out as awful or exceptional any week... if this were Survivor I'd say she's playing a perfect game of flying under the radar but in Idol it can sometimes be worse to be uneventful than to be outright awful.

James - Okay. My problem is the thing I love about that song is the progression from gentleness to the big power moments. This abridged arrangement starts in the middle where the song has already picked up and we lose that build up. I would have liked to hear James tackle those softer parts. But it wasn't bad.

Haley - Her vocal take on the song did not match the arrangement at all. It just sounded weird to me.

Stefano - Definitely my favorite from him so far.

Pia - She's become this sort of DivaBot to me... each week she's cranking out these technically decent but soulless versions of big pop ballads. I feel like I'm watching a capable cruise ship singer who has performs these same songs 3 times a day, 7 days a week. She's pretty and she's hitting the notes for the most part but there's no excitement there.

Scotty - Showed a little more dimension to his voice this week which was nice. He's on fire right now but will probably need to take a few risks at some point to remind people to keep voting... he's the kind of guy that will give consistent, similar performances week-to-week and his fans might get too comfortable with his safety and get complacent.

Karen - Awful. Any time she gets a compliment I feel like the world has gone mad. She's a crappier version of Pia with some Spanglish thrown in. In the video package: "I don't want to be known as the girl who does Spanish." Two minutes later she's doing a verse in Spanish... lol

Casey - He should have put his own spin on the song, a bluesy arrangement or something, I don't know. Attempting a straightforward cover was a terrible mistake.

Lauren - She got lost in the quieter verses, but she managed to pull it out for the chorus.

Jacob - Unfortunately he's going further into gimmick territory each week. And the judges' comments will only encourage him to keep going in that direction.

Overall I was very unimpressed this week.

Dear Karen,
We already have a Jennifer Lopez.
Thank you.

After mulling it over, I think some of these contestants don't come across as polished performers because they are asked to sing old, unfamiliar songs, and that lack of familiarity shows in their performances. Since I'm much older, and am more familiar with the songs, I at least know how the structure of the song goes, but when you only have a few days to "grok" the song, it doesn't always come out sounding confident or good.

Dial Idol results:

Safe and not in the bottom three: Lauren Alaina, Scott McCreery, and Jacob Lusk

Safe though possibly in the bottom three: Pia Toscano, Naima Adedapo

At risk of going home: James Durbin, Haley Reinhart, Thia Megia, Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald, Casey Abrams, and Karen Rodriguez

Pretty accurate week for DialIdol.

Was that really Marc Antony sitting next to Pitbull?

And what happened to Lee DeWyze's voice? He's mumbling.

Had to laugh at them bleeping Shih Tzu during the taped segment. Really?

I loathe the Black Eyed Peas so much. They really need an auto tune intervention. And to use it that heavily on a singing competition show? Again, really?

Gee, I wonder who the dissenting vote was on K-Ro?

Ridiculous to even consider using the judge's save on Karen.

I think that one of them (J. Lopez) voted for her just to give her a confidence boost, knowing that the other two were voting against her.

And you are right of course, she's never been in the running to be a finalist, and that is who the judges would use the save on.

In the running:

Lauren Alaina
Scott McCreery
Pia Toscano
Possibly Casey Abrams

And the whole reason for the judges save is Chris Daughtry.

yes but the judge's save is supposed to only last until the top 5. Daughtry got booted at final 4. About the only one that it could have been used for was Jennifer Hudson but Simon hated Hudson when she was on the show and backed train-wreck Fantasia.


Nigel was not subtle tonight in who he wanted pimped by having Lauren/Casey and Jacob be in the top and then the rest. Then, depimp the ones they don't want to get stronger by putting them next to a bottom 3 person i.e. Stefano, Paul and Thia.

I'm glad Karen got voted off. I couldn't stand her at all.

I had forgotten about that. Maybe they've changed it for this year?

I think that you're reading too much into the order they appeared.

I'm sure that American Idol wants Casey Abrams to stick around, but not win. He has the same attraction that Taylor Hicks had but how many albums has Taylor Hicks sold?

Last time i saw him he was coming out of a giant ice cream cone.

I just can't believe how far Jacob has fallen. After A House Is Not A Home, I haven't saved a single performance. And really, if you're going to do a rock ballad, it's not good when the female version has more power and strength than your male version. And yes, I'm tempted to put male in quotes, because the way he moves has gotten really old for me. I'll go ahead and make this un-PC comment now and get it out of my system. It's one thing to be gay, but Jiminy Frickin Cricket... drag queens play back AI weekly for stylistic education from Jacob. I don't know women who move with that much female swerve.

That said, it's sad to me because Jacob is the only person I can really see as having the potential to deliver a truly gospel-tinged R&B performance that's noteworthy. Unfortunately, the voice to do it is trapped in LaFayette from True Blood. Jacob wants to give us a great performance, but keeps getting distracted by memories of scenes from Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.

Casey isn't Taylor Hicks v2. You guys aren't giving him enough credit. On the other hand, his tendency to wolf out is irritating me more each week. I don't know how Casey'd do as a recording artist, but he actually strike me as one of the few I'd be curious to hear. I don't know that I'd buy his CD, but I'd listen to it to see what I think. Still, I can see him not selling much. But in no way do I confuse that with the quality of what he can do.

Taylor Hicks has actually sold more albums than that "rawk god" Adam Lambert back when anybody from Idols can sell albums.

I know that don't want Casey to win. Look at the sausage fest that is happening. There were lots of train wrecks but the bottom the last two weeks has been a trio of women. American Idol knows who is voting and women are having a hard time getting the votes so Nigel needs to engineer it so that a woman has a good chance this year. That is why Casey is getting the gospel choirs and the ONLY person allowed to play an instrument this week (Paul tweeted that he wasn't allowed yet to play an instrument) and given the pimp slot previously. They need someone like cocky, fugly looking Casey to be the foil against either Lauren or potentially Pia. Scott they think they can attack at any point as being one note and Paul is a joke/VFTW. Jacob being the diva of the season cannot win but is good to bring along. Stefano could potentially pick up more votes so he gets paired with a bottom 3 person so viewers associate bottom 3 with Stefano. I am not sure what they are doing with James yet.

Look who is also getting the pimp slots. Casey and Jacob have had it. Lauren hasn't but she has been 11th out of 12th position twice. You can bet Nigel will give her the pimp slot more and more in the future. I have no doubt that they wanted to showcase Casey/Lauren/Jacob at the beginning with all three declared safe first so people associate them as being in the top.

I now see the guy as a black woman trapped in the body of a black man. He surely tries to sing like one with all the wailing and histrionics but he doesn't do nearly as well.

I think that's a bit harsh. She seemed like a nice girl, but I think she got too caught up in the whole Spanglish thing to make herself different. It became quite obvious the last couple of weeks that she was sucking up to J-Lo and her fans, especially with her clothes. The voters probably thought of her as a 2nd rate J-Lo/Night Club singer than a credible pop singer.

I really want a girl to win this year. I guess I will be pulling for Pia or Lauren Alaina. Lauren has the looks and the sound to be a Kelly Clarkson-type pop artist. Pia needs work to come across as less robotic, but IIRC Carrie Underwood was criticized in her season for having great vocals, but robotic performances.

Tori Amos' version of "Smells Like..." might dispute that notion, although some might still concur with your sentiment after hearing that. Still, I grok your point.

The only reason I watch AI anymore is to please the wife along with hoping for some decent cover versions. I liked seeing what Crystal could do with familiar tunes last year, but it seems that this year's bunch doesn't know enough about music ("Never heard a Beatles song"...really???? I mean, really?) to even know how to change it up. Doesn't help that the band insists on playing retro songs in retro style (disco beats, twangy guitars, etc.). If you really want artists to sound 'current', why have them keep singing dated songs unless they can do something with them? At least switch up genres...for instance, Scotty may be "country", but that doesn't mean that every song/artist he picks has to be from that genre.

Most years there were a few contestants that I might actually consider buying tunes from, but I can't see spending a nickel on any of these amateurs. Ted Mack material all the way around.

Norman Gentle...where are ye when we need ye?

But isn't that one of the aspects of Idol, to take amateurs and turn them into professionals by the end of the run? I'd be quickly bored if everyone was a professional singer right out of the gate.
And, truthfully, how many tunes have you bought from a past Idol? Consider buying and actually buying are two different things. Look at Rueben and Clay, one won the votes and the other had the sales.
I do agree that this was a bad week of performances, but with that, I can see and hear the potential that is there. I love the addition of a professional producer to help mold them into a style. I feel the kids need such professional guidance more so than brief, repetitive and ultimately worthless comments from the judges. This week would have been a great one to give them some solid advice instead of the pandering they got.

The females are really boring ........all of 'em .......... where's a Crystal Bowersox when you need her!

I'm with you! Anyone who sings "Hero" has to go. I honestly think that is the worst song ever written. I enjoy all types of music and I can enjoy a stupid pop song but "Hero" is worse than that. Histrionic pop ballad that is ultimately filled with nothing but Hallmark sentimentality that the writer (Ms. Carey) seems to believe is actually about something. It is pretentious beyond belief. At least have the decency to be a pop song with no hire aspirations (if songs can have aspirations).

I feel like Mariah Carey was the pretty cheerleader in high school who wrote poetry and someone told her her poetry was good so she started writing songs about her inner strength and other such inane crap. Horrible horrible song and anyone who chooses to sing it, in my estimation, shows their lack of musical knowledge, even just pop music knowledge, and does not deserve to be there.

On top of that, her pandering to the Latino crowd was getting to me.

I will give her this: she seemed relatively gracious before she sang for the save, seemingly knowing her time was up already.

Now Pia, enough about singing for your Dad (I think she did that two or three weeks ago) and now singing to the dead grandfather. Stop pandering! Sing, dammit. (I've had issues with her song choices too, though. I like the Pretenders but think that "I'll Stand By You" is their worst song by far. It felt like an obvious attempt to get a top 40 hit. Sounds like Bryan Adams wrote it. In fact, I could imagine him singing it. Still, nowhere near as bad as "Hero").

Yes, I've taken this too seriously. I will go now.

To be fair, Mariah Carey doesn't even like Hero. She was asked by her record label to write a song for a movie that Gloria Estefan would sing but once the label heard her sing the demo, they put the song on her album. She still says she only sings the song because her fans like it. And I don't see why anyone who chose to sing the song would have no knowledge of pop music. It is one of the most successful pop songs of the 90s. It's cheesy and I personally don't like it, but it's an obvious choice for a karaoke competition.

Also, am I the only one who noticed Fergie looked different on the AI last night? Did she get some work done?

Completely different! I went back and forth if it was really her or not, but I couldnt quite put my finger on it. Her make up was softer and so was her hairstyle, but her eyes looked completley different.