<META content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)" name=GENERATOR><STYLE type=text/css> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </STYLE> Threeeeeee.....it's a magic number. Oh yes it is. It's the semi-finals, and welcome to La Cage Aux Folles.... I mean, Episode 300. Ironic that the episode number is reminiscent of a male-dominated bloody male movie, isn't it? The ?Three Amigos? lead off this group, which won't be mistaken for the Three Tenors anytime soon. Three singers, two songs each ? so here we go:
- Kris Allen (5) ? Kris' Choice: ?Heartless? by Kanye West. Wow, that's risky. Didn't Kanye perform this himself during this season? Well, odds are it will be better ? because Kayne didn't do so great with his version. Hmm, Kris breaks out the guitar (two songs, two instruments? Talent right there....) Kris nails his second song and gets the entire crowd engaged ? and odds are the voters as well. A current song with a great twist that should cross many genres. Very, very interesting. That was hot, dawg. That could put him in the finals.
- Danny Gokey (4) ? Danny's choice was ?You Are So Beautiful? by Joe Cocker. A song built for him ? both in style and in range. He took it nice and slow, pumping it up in the middle to accentuate his voice in the middle and belted out a strong ?pimp note?. Good arrangement and interpretation of the song. Far better than his first song of the night, and the judges raved as much as they could to try and push him over the edge and on to next week. Will it be enough?
- Adam Lambert (6) ? Adam?s choice: ?Cryin'? by Aerosmith. Adam sticks pretty close to the original and does a good job with a vocally challenging Steven Tyler vocal. A few subtle changes (and I didn't like the background singers stepping all over him early), but a very solid rendition and the judges do what they are expected to do ? ?See you next week?. Are they right? Simon does the responsible thing and reminds everyone to vote...
- Kris Allen (2) ? Randy and Kara?s Judges Choice: ?Apologize? by OneRepublic. Playing the piano was a nice touch, and the wrinkles he put into the rendition were pretty solid. The ?too late? high part was a reach both times, but other than that you could see the emotion and touch he put into the song. Very strong performance even though he had a few weak spots. Kara ? swinging it out of the park.....um, what? Great moment when Simon put Kara on the spot for banging on Kris about playing the song close to the vest.
- Adam Lambert (3) ? Simon?s Judges choice: ?One? by U2. Two-thirds good ? the beginning and the end. Again, tweaking the song ? no, severely altering the song to not make it their own but this is ?indulgent? and self-serving to a tee. ?Gee, how can I get to my upper high range and belt out a note?? is the question ? every. Single. Time. I wasn't that impressed. Randy ? one of the hottest three left in the competition? Great judging there, Randy. Kara over the top with the fawning over it, but it wasn't a great interpretation.
- Danny Gokey (1) ? ?Dance Little Sister? by Terence Trent D'Arby was chosen by Paula Abdul. Interesting choice. ?Shout it out? was an early lyric, and it may as well have been advice for Goat boy. Once the shouting was done, we got some scatting (yes, scatting) from the horn-rimmed one. Frankly it wasn't a very challenging song vocally so he tried to put his persona out there with his emphasis and his ? ahem ? dance movies. Leading off the show with a ?meh? performance can only be one thing ? forgettable.
Everyone did a good job at least once tonight, and scoring this week based on 6 points for first down to 1 for sixth, I have it Kris 9, Adam 6 and Gokey 6. Wow. Could the Danny voters break out and keep him alive? Will Kris ride his wave to the finals? Will both contestants trump Adam's popularity and push the favorite out? I agree with Seacrest that there's no telling what will happen here.
Bottom 3: Seriously?
Your finalists were supposed to be Adam and Danny. A shock would be to have Kris make it, and a bigger shock would be Adam booted. As much as that would be for entertainment purposes, you have to expect Kris to go home this week ? but I struggle with that.
My picks for the final ? Kris and Adam. Danny has disappointed too much of late and Allison's votes won't go to him.
moment when Adam wants to ?give me every inch of my love?, but other than the double entendre with the androgenous one, it was indeed hard to top ? which is important to state from Simon considering he had to lead off.
