A Night of Country & Contemporary

The 10 girls showed some sass and class this week on American Idol. The night was strangely dominated by country music, and we haven't even hit the theme weeks yet! We've also seen more contemporary songs sung this and last week than in the entire history of American Idol. The performances provided some unexpected surprises, both positive and negative for the girls, and the judges provided a night of seriously questionable judgment.

Now here's the It's Destiny! Panel with our take on the show.

Aloha Mischeaux
"You Don't Know My Name"

Destiny:She was the night's first contestant to be totally misjudged. She was completely underrated. Major props to her for doing two contemporary songs in a row. Shakin' things up on AI! It was fresh and definitely not just an Alicia Keys impersonation. Rank For The Night: 4th Place
Liza:She's a smart girl, especially in light of what we saw later in the show. This is the second week in a row she has sung a contemporary song, and I think the younger audience, in particular, will gravitate towards her for it. And it set her apart from all the country singers. She has good stage presence. Vocals aren't the best, but it is overall a pretty good performance. Rank For The Night: 4th Place
Tammy:I am oddly distracted by her hair tonight. It is entirely too Supremes for me. This song is not at all right for Aloha's range. It is at once too high and too low for her, quite the feat. Her moves seem entirely too calculated onstage. Better luck next time.Rank For The Night: 5th


Lindsey Cardinale
"You're All I Think About These Days"

Destiny: It was nice that she chose a faster song this week. It was good to see her having fun. She is a cute girl with such rich, unique voice. The judges were again hypocritical in their comments. Rank For The Night: 5th Place
Liza: Shocker. Another country song from Lindsey. This is the first time she's shown any kind of personality in her performances, but unfortunately, this one's kind of cheesy. I completely agree with the judges about her song choices being very unmemorable. Rank For The Night: 9th Place
Tammy:Lindsey is doing some horrific dance moves tonight. The shoulder bounce is way too Up With People. Scale it back, dear. The performance comes across as desperate and awkward. Which is too bad, because she's one of the few girls who can sing.Rank For The Night: 8th Place

Jessica Sierra
"Broken Wing"

Destiny: She has such a great spirit about her and such a rich voice. She looked great tonight, too. She will do very well in the themed portions of the competition. Rank For The Night: 3rd Place
Liza: OK - is this Country Idol now? Having said that, though, I must say that she really brought it tonight. That was a really great performance vocally. Rank For The Night: 1st Place
Tammy:Jessica sings this song well. The only issue I have with it is how she sings it. This song is about abuse. Sexily breathing some of the lyrics is more than a little inappropriate. Luckily, she knocks that off when she reaches the chorus. Quite a good performance, aside from the disaster that is the last note.Rank For The Night: 1st Place

Mikalah Gordon
"God Bless The Child"

Destiny: Her hair, outfit, demeanor, and song choice were all much improved over last week. She needs to keep some of this composure when she switches back to up-tempo songs. She hasn't quite found her perfect style yet. In the meantime, it's nice that she actually took some criticism and toned down her antics. Rank For The Night: 8th Place
Liza: That was a strange arrangement of that song. I really didn't like the arrangement, but shockingly I almost kind of liked this performance. This is probably the best she's ever sounded on the show. Mikalah's actually tolerable when she's subdued. I hope she keeps that up. But I know she won't. What is Randy talking about being surprised to hear her sing that? She sang it in the final Hollywood round! Rank For The Night: 2nd
Tammy:This is an unusual performance. I like this restrained, less annoying Mikalah. Her voice is too affected for me to really enjoy, however. Despite being plagued by pitch problems, its entertaining, a definite improvement from last week. Rank For The Night: 3rd

Celena Ray
"When The Lights Go Down"

Destiny: Her fashion sense is awesome. The girl knows how to dress. Her singing, however, is just OK. She made a poor song selection again this week- like her voice, it was average.
Rank For The Night: 10th Place

Liza: ANOTHER country song? Yegads. She's very pitchy, and even when her voice is in tune, it's pretty generic. She will likely go home this week. Rank For The Night: 10th

Tammy:When I look at Celena, I see 'actress' more than 'singer'. As for the song, it's average. She's singing a song that really requires chops. Unfortunately, this song highlights her weaknesses more than her strengths.Rank For The Night: 9th

Nadia Turner
"My Love Does It Good"

Destiny: After a rocking showing last week, Nadia turned in a surprisingly weak performance this time around. She totally changed the arrangement of the song, and it wasn't in a good way. Instead of coming off as making it her own, it came off as making a mistake. Fortunately, she is cool enough to kind of make up for it. Strange. Rank For The Night: 6th Place
Liza: She continues to surprise me. I wouldn't have expected her to sing this song. She struggled a little bit with those notes, but it wasn't bad. And certainly not as bad as those hideous shoes! Rank For The Night: 3rd Place
Tammy:What was she thinking when she chose this song? I feel sleepy after having listened to that performance. Her voice sounds kind of raw to me, and is all over the place. Love her outfit though. Except for the boots. Yikes.Rank For The Night: 6th Place

Amanda Avila
"Turn The Beat Around"

Destiny: As soon as the music started, it seemed as though Amanda chose the wrong song, but she quickly "turned it around." It was really nice to see her do an up-tempo song and do it well. She totally changed my mind about her. Totally impressed. She showed that she actually has the voice and personality (and obviously the look) to become a legitimate pop star. Good for her. Rank For The Night: 1st Place
Liza: It seemed like she was struggling to reach those notes and hit a good volume. The band was way too loud. I think I am more appreciative of this performance just because it wasn't a country song, and it was a get-up-and-dance song. She gave an energetic performance, and she'll have no trouble getting the guy vote. She's a really sexy girl. Rank For The Night: 6th Place
Tammy:Why does the word 'vapid' come to mind when I watch Amanda? Poor song selection, but perhaps we should be grateful it wasn't another ballad. She oversings it towards the end. Another meh performance.Rank For The Night: 10th Place

Janay Castine
"Hit 'Em Up Style"

Destiny: She was the most misjudged contestant of the night. Too bad, because she really made quite a comeback after her shaky performance last week. She gave a contemporary, legitimate pop performance this week. It was fun and funky. Particularly great was her shout out to "Miss Paula and Mikalah" during the song. Fun! Rank For The Night: 2nd Place
Liza: She still looks petrified, but much better than last week. I never did like this song, but if you just listen to Janay and not watch her perform, it really does sound pretty good. But Paula hit it dead on - she was very disconnected in her performance. Rank For The Night: 7th Place
Tammy:Janay should not be wearing that top. And that's all I'll say about that. I will, however, add that her hair is a bit of a disaster this week. Bangs are in, but not like that, honey. I quite like Janay's voice. She had some rough places, but didn't deserve the harsh criticism that she received from the judges.Rank For The Night: 4th Place

Carrie Underwood
"Take Another Piece of My Heart"

Destiny:This was yet another good but not great performance from Carrie. The difference this week is that the judges didn't cover her with undeserved claims of greatness- a rare fair judgment this week. Hopefully, she can turn it around for herself and do something great in the near future. Rank For The Night: 9th Place
Liza:Oh my goodness no. Why is she countrifying and cheesing up one of the greatest female rockers of all time? This is sacrilegious. Oh NO. She did not just wink during this song. Oh man. Janis Joplin is rolling over in her grave right now. On pure vocals alone, she will get a pass. But it shouldn't. It was a really poor song choice for her. She is far too girl-next-door-ish to do any kind of justice to this song. It's just all kinds of wrong, like when Theresa Sokyrka did the same thing on Canadian Idol this summer. Rank For The Night: 8th Place
Tammy:Carrie seems ill at ease this week. Perhaps being a frontrunner so soon in the competition has started to get to her. Also, breaking news has it that Carrie is a farm girl. Who knew? This countrified version of "Take Another Piece of My Heart" really doesn't work at all. Bad arrangement. But she remains likeable to watch.Rank For The Night: 7th Place

Vonzell Solomon
"If Ain't Got You"

Destiny: Great outfit and accessories. Cute girl. Good energy. Weak vocals. Rank For The Night: 7th Place
Liza: I love this song, and it's definitely one that you can really wail on and showcase your vocals, but Vonzell tried to do too much with it. I agree with Simon that it was too much, and I think that this particular song is better off being sung in a more simplistic manner. She had moments where she really sounded good, but not enough, and she had a problem staying in synch with the band. Rank For The Night: 5th Place
Tammy:Vonzell does quite well for the first half of the song, but she misfires when she attempts to 'make it her own' and add some histrionics. Less is more, Simon says. I agree.Rank For The Night: 2nd Place


Who Should Go Home:
Destiny: Celena and Mikalah
Liza: Celena and Lindsey
Tammy: Celena and Amanda

Who Will Go Home:
Destiny: Celena and Vonzell
Liza: Celena and Lindsey
Tammy: Celena and Amanda
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