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- Top 8 Guys Song Choice List
- Presenting your season 9 Top 12…
- 12 things we learned at the Top 12 party
- Jon Stewart nails Randy, Kara and Simon
- The ‘American Idol’ Judge Power Rankings: Sorting out the Top 12
- Adam Lambert strips down for ‘Unplugged’
- ‘Idol’ boys start swinging, but familiarity still rules
- Today in ‘Idol:’ Top 12 to be named; Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta make the radio rounds; Carrie Underwood hits the road
- ‘Idol’ judges get hammered on ‘The View’
- Orianthi will perform on next week’s ‘Idol’
| Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST The eight remaining guys had one last chance to make an impression on the judges and on America before the Top 12 were voted through to the finals. It was a strong night for the guys, and they picked some great songs. Heres the list of songs performed on Wednesdays show: To view each performance again, click on the contestants names above.
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| Presenting your season 9 Top 12… Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST More than 100,000 auditioned and it's come down to 12. Some might call it a travesty, others may point a finger to a VoteForTheWorst.com, whose sole purpose is to mess with the "American Idol" rankings (if that's the case, a job well done). A few might be totally fine with it. We won't spoil it for our West Coast brethren here, but after the jump: your season 9 Top 12…
Michael Lynche Care to call the winner now? By all means, leave it in the comments. – Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter Photos by Michael Becker / Fox
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| 12 things we learned at the Top 12 party Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST As has become "American Idol" tradition, after the last semifinals elimination episode, the Top 12 were chauffeured to West Hollywood, then paraded down a blue carpet packed to the gills with media sorts of all shapes and sizes. From beginning to end, the contestants spend nearly four hours doing interviews and posing for photos. This, after a long day of nail-biting anticipation. For the vast majority of "Idol" reporters, it will be the last time we're allowed to speak to the Season 9 hopefuls until they are eliminated — or win. It's also the first time that we really get a sense of who these contestants are as people. And for the most part, this crop of contenders charmed us thoroughly. We'll have some individual breakout Q&As for you later, but for starters, here are 12 things we learned about the Top 12 at the official Top 12 party. Siobhan Magnus used to have a mohawk! On the show, she's wearing flowers and feathers in her hair, but it wasn't all that long ago when Siobhan carved herself a mohawk. "I always love doing crazy things with my hair," she said. "I've gone through phases where I get really scissor-happy, cut my own hair, and it's, like, 'What did i just do? A mohawk?' Actually, I loved that; it wasn't a mistake." The spirit of Michael Jackson beckoned Paige Myles to audition for 'Idol'… Or at least that's how she sees her tryout triumph. It turns out Paige, a die-hard Jackson fan, almost didn't make her Dallas audition because it took place the day after the King of Pop passed. "I was devastated," she recalled. "I could barely sit up, never mind drive four hours to Dallas from Houston. I shut myself in my room, but my friend kept pushing me to go. At the last minute, I sucked up all those tears and left because something was telling me there was a reason that everything was happening the way it was. And I guess now that I'm Top 12, there it was!" Casey James never watched 'Idol' before. That's right, our foxy front-runner is for all intents and purposes an "Idol" virgin. "I've never seen the show," he said when asked whether he could relate to the likes of Bo Bice. So why even audition? "My mom," Casey answered. "She said it's like a free chance at the lottery, so why not? And she was totally right. I always listen to my mom; she's why I am who I am." Crystal Bowersox passes on the 'Idol' makeover. Although the leading female took pleasure in being the fastest contestant in and out of the styling chair ("The hair people kind of love me," she said of her low-maintenance dreads), Crystal has no intention of soliciting the advice of the wardrobe department. "It's not gonna happen," she said matter-of-factly. "I've been picking my own clothes so far and it stays that way. It doesn't change with the Top 12, not for me." Aaron Kelly learned the hard way: Avoid the blogs at all costs. Season 9's youngest contestant started out reading the "Idol" Web chatter and perusing blog comments, "but it's big mistake," he confessed. "There are people that love you and people that hate you, so I want to stay away from all that to keep my confidence up." Lee Dewyze is not secretly emo. Despite his choice of Owl City's "Fireflies," Lee insists it's "not a song that I normally sing, and, no, I'm not secretly emo." To the contrary, Lee is a proud meat-and-potatoes, T-shirt-and-jeans kind of guy, which makes him just a little nervous when it comes to things like wardrobe, hair and makeup. "They know what they're doing [on the show] and I trust them," he said. "There's always a line that I don't want to cross, but I've never done this before. Then again, I said I would never wear makeup and here I am wearing makeup." Didi Benami's name was a school roll call nightmare. Growing up the daughter of "the only Israeli living in Knoxville," Tenn., Didi says her given first name Vered (meaning Rose in Hebrew) got butchered regularly. "I would get called Vera, Verdod, Verday … so I was, like, just call me Didi." Michael Lynche fully embraces his softer, sensitive side. For a guy who can bench-press three Ryan Seacrests, the Hulk-like "Big Mike" says he's not ashamed to put his soft side on full display. "If you're big and do a lot of flexing, some people think of you as a meathead," he explained. "But I have a lot of sides to me, and my sensitivity is nothing I'm ashamed of." Andrew Garcia presses on, undeterred. You'd think after three straight weeks of fairly harsh criticism by the judges, going so far as to say he "peaked" early and might never reach that height again, Andrew, a man of few words, didn't seem to have any regrets when it comes to his pop twist-ups. "I'll just take whatever is in my head and switch it up," he explained. "If it's a rock song, I'll make it R&B. I think I shocked [the judges] when I first presented it and they can't get over it." He's not ready to give up yet. Lacey Brown and her mom double-crushing on Jason Castro. In Lacey's world, mom and daughter share everything, even their favorite "Idol." "I would have to say that me and my mom both have a tiny crush on Jason Castro," she confided. Lacey also considers Jason an inspiration for her own "Idol" run. "Because he was just trying to be himself and give an honest interpretation of this song, even if it's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,' a song we've heard a million times, he sang it honestly and that's something I try to implement on myself." Tim Urban isn't as fussy about his hair as we are. When it comes to his future makeover, Tim doesn't anticipate he'll tone down the mop top too dramatically. At the same time, he doesn't seem to care about his hair volume nearly as much as the viewing audience. "They won't be cutting the hair off," he insisted. "But I'm not as attached to it as people seem to be. It doesn't make or break me, but I'll listen to some stylists, see what they have to say." Katie Stevens isn't nearly as robotic as she comes off on TV. Having grown up on a steady diet of the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones ("I was fully exposed to a lot of different genres," she defended), dare we say, there's a lot more spunk to Katie than meets the eye. In person, Katie comes off bubbly and engaging; on TV, she more often looks icy or terrified. "You always have it in the back of your head that it could be you, so you have to be prepared for whatever comes in this competition." Fair enough. – Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter Photo: Bottom row, from left, Aaron Kelly, Crystal Bowersox, Casey James, Katie Stevens; top row, from left, Tim Urban, Siobhan Magnus, Lee Dewyze, Paige Myles, Michael Lynche, Andrew Garcia, Didi Benami, Lacey Brown. Credit: Vince Bucci / PictureGroup
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| Jon Stewart nails Randy, Kara and Simon Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST Add Jon Stewart to the long list of people poking fun at the "American Idol" judges this week. On Thursday night's "Daily Show," Stewart showed a brief clip of Katharine McPhee performing at the White House on Monday during an International Women's Day event. Then he launched into an alarmingly spot-on 30-second impression of three of the four "Idol" judges. Only Ellen DeGeneres escaped unscathed. It must be said, if Randy Jackson ever decides to go the way of Paula Abdul and, soon, Simon Cowell, the producers could just sub in Stewart doing his "Yo dawg, um, yo, I thought that was, for me, a little bit pitchy" routine, and viewers might not notice the loss. Wrapping up the bit, Stewart quipped, "By the way, if you like that, you'll love my one-man show on Broadway, 'Jon Stewart Is: The 'Idol' Judges!'" Then he sheepishly confided that he watched the show "a lot." Find the applicable section about two minutes and 30 seconds into the segment below.
– Amy Reiter
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| The ‘American Idol’ Judge Power Rankings: Sorting out the Top 12 Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST Kara fights hard to keep her seat — and produces genuine tears! Meanwhile, Randy settles into his usual interchangeable phrases (this week: "I dunno, man. It was just aiight for me"). Simon's weariness begins to show, to which I say, "You've only got yourselves to blame for this ho-hum lineup!" And Ellen still can't do anything except make Kara and Simon look that much better. This week's Power Rankings:
Styled mighty fine this week. Both nights. A+ +10
Talking truth to Siobhan. "You didn't do anything with the song … ploddy, boring, dark." +5
Stooping, once again, to sexual jokes involving Simon. Who is laughing when Ellen's mock making-out with Simon? Besides Seacrest. He does not count. Ever. -10
Relaxing into his general state of uselessness. -20 – Denise Martin RELATED The COMPLETE 'American Idol' Judge Power Rankings 'Idol' judges get hammered on 'The View' How is Ellen DeGeneres working out? Our TV critic weighs in Photos: Kara DioGuardi (Peter Kramer /AP), Simon Cowell (Charles Pulliam / Associated Press), Ellen DeGeneres (Michael Rozman / AP), Randy Jackson (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times),
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| Adam Lambert strips down for ‘Unplugged’ Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST If you haven't caught any of Adam Lambert's "Unplugged" performance, we strongly encourage you to hop over to VH1.com, where they've posted several clips of performances ("Whataya Want From Me," "Music Again," "Down the Rabbit Hole," "Broken Open") and interviews with the season 8 runner-up. The show was recorded in New York last month, and although from certain angles it looks like it could have been shot in a hotel room, it was apparently a decent-sized space. As the mechanics of a stripped-down, acoustic set were still being sorted out, Adam did have a few false starts, but he told us a few weeks later that it was all in the name of perfection. "I am a And did he ever. Take away the pomp and circumstance (but keep the guyliner and finger-less gloves), and what's left is quite simply a beautiful voice. Check out "Mad World" below.
– Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter
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| ‘Idol’ boys start swinging, but familiarity still rules Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST
As for the boys? They took a few more chances than their female counterparts, some with greater success than others. Lee DeWyze's riff on Owl City's "Fireflies" was a win; Andrew Garcia's "Genie in a Bottle"? A bit of a fail. But after eight years of "American Idol" finalists, familiarity still rules. In practically every Season 9 hopeful, you can find a predecessor, so the question becomes: Can these guys do it better? Let's start with the two apparent front-runners, Michael Lynche and Lee DeWyze. The former is a burly but huggable teddy bear of a guy with a velvety voice. His tender, soulful take on "This Woman's Work," which was incredibly moving when originally sung by Kate Bush in 1988 (and appeared in the movie "She's Having a Baby," appropriately enough), and later by Maxwell, brought Kara DioGuardi to tears and had Simon throwing out his coveted "You're the one to beat" line. For all intents and purposes, Big Mike took the lead on Wednesday night. Ruben Studdard redux? Lee, meanwhile, is a middle-of-the-road Midwestern dude who straddles the line between Chris Daughtry and David Cook. He can handle the Nickelback/Live/Fuel/Hinder catalog with Daughtry-like aplomb, but like Cook, he's also smart enough to pluck an Owl City song out of a hat, twist it up and pull off a more-than-competent performance. Obviously, the judges are seeing dollar signs in his rock-star potential, but you have to wonder: Is Lee too Kris Allen to be Chris Daughtry? Another favorite is Casey James, who delivered a sweet and sincere version of Keith Urban's "You'll Think of Me." He didn't quite persuade Kara to take another ride on the "Casey train" (her words), but in a Bo Bice-meets-Jason Castro sort of way, he embodies everything we want in a hunky "Idol" without the inherent cheesiness. And lest we forget, the guy can actually sing, which is why he'll inevitably go far — possibly all the way to the finale. Then there's the former shoo-in, Andrew Garcia. He's one of the unfortunate hopefuls who had a moment early on and was never able to match it. Sadly for us, he's also the rare contestant whose vocal style we really haven't seen or heard before — on the show, at least. But in trying, he's gained a sizable audience (remember during the few days when the Season 9 contestants were allowed Twitter accounts, he led in followers), which could carry him beyond the show even if he doesn't make it beyond this week. But if he does, let me offer this — and Andrew, if you're reading, pay attention: Sing Sublime's "Santeria" stat! Moving on to the mop tops. Alex Lambert took on a song that Taylor Hicks killed in Season 5, Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble," and executed it well but not brilliantly. Still, Alex already has been branded the dark horse, and with the same last name as 2009's runner-up, it's clear the judges are not ready to part with another Lambert. Now Tim Urban — or Turban, as I like to joke — went with one of the most obvious song choices for a male contender, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It was introduced as Jeff Buckley's version, but could you really hear the difference? Was there any hint of the nuanced and passionate rendition I saw performed live on New York's Lower East Side in the early 1990s? Nope. It sounded like an above-average singer, no more, no less. And how many of those have been shown the door these last eight years? You could credit the night's biggest tumble to Aaron Kelly, a 16-year-old whom the judges hoped would be another David Archuleta, but in his own bid to be the next country superstar (do we really need another Billy Gilman?), fell way short with his all-over-the-map take on Lonestar's "I'm Already There." The judges went easy on his achy breaky heart, but whether he'll make it through to next week is undeniably shaky. On the other hand, perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was Todrick Hall, who didn't exactly put the 'tude aside but delivered a rousing rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love" nevertheless. Exhibiting the kind of showmanship that takes years to develop, Todrick proved that he's a cut above the rest, thanks in large part to his theater experience. Still, how many Broadway-bound, soulful singers have wowed us on that stage, only to be escorted off the following day or week? It's final-judgment time. Whoever makes it through this third semifinal round will be assured a spot in the Top 12 and, should he/she make it to 10th place, another on the "Idol" summer tour. But first they'll have to get through next week's theme: songs by the Rolling Stones. Needless to say, we don't see the Jagger swagger of Adam Lambert in any of these contestants, but who do you think deserves a shot? And are the guys bound for "Idol" gold or will it be a girl, as Simon and Randy predicted? – Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter
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| Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST Season 9 really gets going Thursday night when the top 12 are announced. Two guys and two girls will be served their walking papers, leaving behind a world of possibilities and taking with them stories they'll one day tell their grandchildren. Who's looking at a one-way ticket back home? Performance-wise, we'd put money on Paige Myles and Aaron Kelly, with Katelyn Epperly and former front-runners Katie Stevens and Andrew Garcia treading on dangerous ground (with musical accompaniment by season 8's Scott MacIntyre and Matt Giraud — see the video below for a preview). After the results (Fox, 8 p.m.), the finalists head to Hollywood for the official top-12 party. Of course, we'll be there with bells on. Have a specific question for a season 9 Idol? Leave it in the comments. Elsewhere in California, Kris Allen continues his radio tour, visiting Monterey's Planet Gemini at noon, where he'll perform as part of the 2010 Beach Lounge Series. He then heads to San Jose for KEZR's after-work mixer. On Friday, he returns to Los Angeles, where he'll again sing for a radio audience, this time at the Grammy Museum for a contest sponsored by MyFM 104.3. On the East Coast, Allison Iraheta is the guest of honor (along with Edwin McCain) in Greenville, S.C., where the Little Black Dress party is thrown by local station B93.7, and Danny Gokey will perform in Nashville at a benefit for the Alex LeVasseur Memorial Fund, named for the 13-year-old son of a Music Row songwriter who died in a tragic accident three years ago. Carrie Underwood kicks off her "Play On" tour at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa. – Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter
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| ‘Idol’ judges get hammered on ‘The View’ Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST No matter how the rest of the world responded to Kara DioGuardi's post-Big Mike breakdown last night, you'd think she would have gotten a sympathetic reception from the women on "The View." No such luck. "They were so wacky last night," Joy Behar said Thursday of the "American Idol" judges on Wednesday night's show. "They were flirting. They were fighting. They were crying. … All sorts of wacky stuff was going on." Elisabeth Hasslebeck called the judges' antics an "emotional mess." (Entertainment Weekly says DioGuardi's tears were prompted by her own desire for a baby.) Then, after viewing a clip of DioGuardi gushing that Big Mike's rendition of "This Woman's Work" was "amazing," Behar jumped on the "Idol" judge for that too. Through all this, guest Elton John sat silently, until Sherri Shepherd asked him what he thought of DioGuardi's suggestion that a young fellow like Aaron Kelly couldn't possibly have enough life experience to put across a song like Lonestar's "I'm Already There." "It's so hard for the contestants," John said. "I mean, A) They're on television, live. B) They're trying to do the best they can in the two minutes they're given." But then the pop legend, whose name has been bandied about as a potential replacement for the departing Simon Cowell, revealed himself to have been nearly as transported by Big Mike Lynche's performance as DioGuardi was. He said, "The difference between Big Mike and the other boy that was singing [Tim Urban] is that Big Mike has the most God-given voice. I mean the other guy's got a nice voice. But Big Mike — I've only seen a small clip of it — is like Luther Vandross. He's like the voice of an angel." "But will he be the 'American Idol'?" asked Behar. "Why not?" said John. "Ruben Studdard was." – Amy Reiter
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| Orianthi will perform on next week’s ‘Idol’ Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:13 AM PST Australian rocker Orianthi, whose single "According to You" is steadily climbing the U.S. charts (it's No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100), will be the guest performer on next week's elimination episode, Idol Tracker has learned. You may recall seeing the guitar virtuoso all over Michael Jackson's "This Is It" documentary — she was his touring guitar player — but this 24-year-old Adelaide native actually got her break by backing Carrie Underwood at the 2009 Grammy Awards (check out the performance of "Last Name" below). Orianthi, who is managed by 19 Entertainment, also recently joined Mary J. Blige, "Idol" judge Randy Jackson, drummer Travis Barker and her personal Idol, Steve Vai, to record a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." Read all about it here, and tune in next week to witness Orianthi's killer licks for yourself. Carrie Underwood and Orianthi – "Last Name" (Live) – Shirley Halperin Follow @IdolTracker on Twitter Photo credit: Meeno
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