Twelve Guys. Twelve Good Voices. What A Concept!

At the dawn of every season, the producers and judges of American Idol claim that they have the best contestants ever. That claim has never had any merit, but judging from the debut of this season’s 12 male semi-finalists, they may finally be right! This batch of guys is the best of any season. Unfortunately, while the guys are better than ever, the judges are annoying as ever. Do they have to be there every week?

Being the strongest group of guys the show has seen, they provided several noteworthy performances. Here's the It's Destiny! Panel with our take on the show.

Nikko Smith- “Part-Time Lover”
Destiny: The ability to do justice to an up-tempo Stevie Wonder song is extremely rare. Anyone who has watched American Idol from its inception knows this all too well. Fortunately, Nikko has this ability. His version was fresh and stable. While it wasn’t the best of the night, it certainly was good.

Liza: Wow he totally sounds like Stevie Wonder.
He kicked off the competition quite nicely with, as Paula says, an up-tempo
song. I agree with Randy and Paula - he made Stevie proud. And he made me like a song I really don't like. I love his style. He's a cool cat.

Tammy: My favorite of the night. Love the song, and if you close your eyes you'd swear that was Stevie singing on that stage. I'm not sure who his fanbase will consist of, however. He needs to Usher it up a bit if he wants to win this competition. I'd lose the hat. Makes him look like an old man. His performance was the most effortless of the night.

Scott Savol – “You Are My Lady”
Destiny: He is one of the most strangely endearing contestants ever on AI. He also has one of the richest voices of the season. While it wasn’t the best song choice for him, he sounded good singing it. Hopefully, in the future he will choose material that better allows him to show off his personality.

Liza: I LOVE this song, and I have always wanted
someone on Idol to sing it, but not Scott. He is not suave enough for this song. This isn't Scott's best performance, and he does have some pitch issues, but he has a great voice overall, and I do give him credit for picking one of my favorite songs and one that hadn't been sung before on Idol.

Tammy: Scott has a good voice, but awkward stage presence. He doesn't seem quite sure what to do with his body, or how to play to the audience. A rather bland song choice, too. It will take more than a good voice for Scott to get much further, as the men’s group seems stacked with talented voices, but poor song selections.

Anthony Fedorov – “Hold On To The Nights”
Destiny: There’s no denying that he has a great voice, but he lacks personality. He is in major need of some stage presence. His version of the song was tepid. He’s capable of better, but he doesn’t have much time to prove it. Time to step it up, Anthony.

Liza: zzzzzzzz. Ok, I'll admit he did a nice job vocally, but that arms outstretched, looking to the high heavens pose?! And the arm motions at the end of the song?! Ugh. How pretentious. And can he please step out of his box for a change? I love the judges for calling him out on his boring one-dimensional self.

Tammy: Wow, he really sounds like Richard Marx. Methinks he is quite good at mimicry, but has little personality of his own. And this song gives little personality. Ah well. My grandma probably liked it.

Bo Bice – “Drift Away”
Destiny: His “Drift Away” was certainly the best version ever performed on American Idol (although not better than Canadian Idol’s Ryan Malcolm). He has a strong, original voice. He seems nice enough, too. There just isn’t anything spectacular about the performance, and with this group of guys there is no room for the really-good-but-not-spectacular.

Liza: I hate how the song skipped around from the end to the
beginning, and that outfit was hideous. Ahem. And now that I got my inner Cowell out of the way, I must say that he totally rocked that song. Bo has a great rock voice with a country-twinge, and he picked the perfect song. Loved it!

Tammy: Ah, if only we could have a contestant with Bo's voice and Constantine's face. It was a good performance, but I kept wishing the What Not To Wear team would leap from the shadows and tame those eyebrows. His performance was good, but not great.

Travis Tucker – “My Cherie Amour”
Destiny: He has a nice voice, a nice face, and nice moves. Too bad he didn’t showcase any of those qualities in his rendition of “My Cherie Amour.” It was the epitomy of wrong song choice.

Liza: Oh dear. Why THAT song? I hate this song. Travis, you're the cool one in the competition. You're the next Usher. This isn't your type of song. Once again, I agree with the judges, except for Simon. I thought Travis sounded good, but that was horrible song choice for him. I think he might have enough fans to save him this week, but he needs to step it up next week or he'll be out.

Tammy: Eyes glazing over...so...boring...Okay, the song is bad enough, but the outfit isn't any better. Talk about bland. This will not inspire the masses, boy. Tsk tsk.

Constantine Maroulis – “Kiss From A Rose”
Destiny: This guy is just too much fun to watch. While “Kiss From A Rose” isn’t the best song in the world, Constantine proved that he is the best performer of the group. He commands the stage and the audience, both in the studio and through the camera. He just knows how to perform. Oh, and he’s not bad to look at. Those long legs, that scarf, the grabbing of the mic stand. Bring it on! He is vintage American Idol. He has it all. The voice. The look. The charisma.
Also of note is that he was the victim of poor editing on tonight’s show. With the camera angles used, it appeared as though Constantine dissed Randy with the comment, “Stick to the rapping, Randy.” In fact, that comment came from the mouth of Ryan Seacrest. Hopefully, this misrepresentation won’t have any negative effect on Mr. Maroulis.

Liza: Oh dear. Another bad song choice. I think that he has the best stage presence of all of the guys, and that microphone stand thing was pretty hot, but he was out of tune and, honestly, the least rock of the three rockers. I laughed when he got a little Broadway towards the end with the shouty point-to-the-sky thing.

Tammy: The song isn't a favorite of mine, but I suppose he did as well with it as he could. The come hither looks will help him make top three, at least.

David Brown – “Never Can Say Goodbye”
Destiny: While this could have been a good song choice for him, it didn’t turn out that way. He sounded whiny and unattached. From the little we’ve seen of him previously on the show, it’s obvious that he is capable of much better, both vocally and performance-wise. Too bad he didn’t bring the top of his game tonight.

Liza: I like his voice, but the performance wasn't particularly memorable, save for the ugly shirt and repetitive lyrics. Having sung in the middle of the pack and having a lack of airtime recently, I think he might be in serious trouble.

Tammy: Yet another case of good singer, bad song. Take a chance! Stand out from the pack! Ugh. Totally and completely forgettable performance.

Jared Yates– “How Could I”
Destiny: He is the most underrated contestant of the night. The judges totally missed the mark when they panned his performance and song choice of “How Could I.” Besides possessing a rich voice, he knows how to move on the stage, and he knows how to interpret a song. He gave a mature performance, and he deserves to come back next week. Hopefully the voting public agrees.

Liza: Bow-legged stance, unrecognizable song choice, some pitch problems. I think he really just helped David out here. Jared's had the least airtime of any of the guys. And he'll probably end up having the least airtime because I think he'll be out after one week. He hasn't had any time to build up a fanbase to save him.

Tammy: I couldn't enjoy this performance less if Jennfier Lopez walked onstage. Oh wait, I could. Again, a good voice, but these songs choices...agh! Not really selling the song either. This night is turning into Battle of the Bland.

Anwar Robinson – “Moon River”
Destiny: There is nothing bad about him. He has a gentle and cool demeanor, a fierce sense of style to complement his long legs and long locks, and a solid vocal instrument. He provided an artful, jazz-infused rendition of “Moon River” that is pleasing to both the masses and music aficionados alike. He deserves to be around this competition for a long time. He is the class of the class.

Liza: Whoah. I didn't know he had all THAT! I never would
have expected that from him. He hadn't really shown that power before. I was a little concerned at first with his song choice, and he started off slightly shaky, but he really put his own spin on the song and sang the crap out of it. As the resident music teacher, his music expertise is going to get him really far. Anwar also provided the funniest moment of the night when Seacrest was giving out his phone number. Anwar had this creepy Stepford smile and stare into the camera. I could not stop laughing at that.

Tammy: I love this song. Just not this rendition. It seems awkward, and many parts near the end is very shout-y. I hate, hate, hated the BIG! BLOWN OUT! ENDING! to the song. It was too 'Jazz Hands!' for me. Don't do that to Moon River, please.

Judd Harris - Travelin' Band
Destiny: He deserves props for choosing a song never before done on Idol and for doing it with no holds barred. That being said, “Travelin’ Band” doesn’t lend itself to superstar status. Judd is talented and spirited, but he needs to choose songs that show the artist in him more than merely the entertainer.

Liza: Big props for doing something different. He is the much improved and very much-upgraded JPL v2.0. He really is a fun performer with a great voice but his stage persona is borderline cheesy. I just don't know if he has the versatility to get very far in this competition. He can't sing these types of songs the entire season. And I think he got down on his knees to beg for votes so that people wouldn't see that he's much shorter than Ryan Seacrest.

Tammy: Lots of energy, very fun. He'll stay for a few weeks, a la JPL. Good voice, too. But those pants! Waaay. Too. Tight. Makes his legs look teeny tiny.

Joseph Murena – “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You”
Destiny: He sang the song very, very well, but he needs to choose songs with a more modern sensibility if he wants to get the votes. He has an incredibly rich voice. Here’s hoping that his song choice didn’t jeopardize his chances of sharing that voice with us again.

Liza: Boring song choice, and he sounds like he has a cold. He definitely has the pipes, but, as the judges said, it was a safe choice. And he needed to do something spectactular to stand out since he was one of the unknowns. He failed in that regard.

Tammy: Good grief. What on earth possessed him to sing this song? Michael Bolton will give you the edge in this competition? Yes, lets see how well this theory pans out.

Mario Vazquez – “Do I Do”
Destiny: Visions of Mario in the Final Two at the end of the season with Constantine immediately come to mind after his stellar performance of “Do I Do.” He has one of the strongest male voices ever in the competition, and he knows how to work the stage. Topped with his edgy sense of style, Mario is guaranteed to groove us for the duration of the season. Bravo!

Liza: Had some pitch problems, but overall it was a good performance, especially after all of those cheesy ballads. Snort. Why was I not surprised that Paula loved that performance from Marioguarini. Touchdown?? Oh please. Not quite. Maybe a field goal.

Tammy: And now, for the most overrated performance of the night. I did not care for the way he was begging the crowd to get into it. If he's any good, that kind of begging isn't necessary. The singing was kind of all over the place, but he had good energy, and it wasn't a ballad (thank god!), plus he's easy on the eyes, so he'll be around for a while.

Who Should Be Eliminated:
Destiny: David, Anthony
Liza: Jared, Anthony
Tammy: David, Joseph

Who Will Be Eliminated:
Destiny: David, Joseph
Liza: Jared and David. Jared has no fan base, and David will be the first victim of the year in the annual Ironic Song of Death.
Tammy: David, Joseph

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