AI4: Girls Gone Bland

The girls of American Idol 4 had their last chance to make it into the Top 12 this week. While some gave good performances, overall they proved that this season is all about the guys. With safe song choices, lifeless performances, and nerves aplenty, the girls did not put their best foot forward.

Amanda Avila
"River Deep, Mountain High"

Destiny: The last two weeks she has proven herself to be a strong vocalist and performer. She did that again tonight. I do not understand the judges' negative comments at all.
Rank For The Night: 3rd Place

Liza: That was the type of performance you'd see at that Legends show in Vegas. Except that Amanda does not have the powerhouse pipes you need for this particular Tina Turner song. It was just okay for me. Negative points for the distracting noise from the hand-tapping on the microphone!
Rank For The Night: 6th Place

Janay Castine
"Dreaming Of You'"

Destiny: Major points for doing a song by the fabulous Selena. Janay showed moments of vocal greatness, but they were surrounded by moments of weakness. Too bad she couldn't pull herself together and give a knockout performance.
Rank For The Night: 5th Place

Liza: She looks really cute tonight, but she should have concentrated more on her vocals than her appearance, because that was really not good. She had a horrible start to the song, and she never recovered. Her pitch is all over the place. Luckily for her, Simon's comments might have guaranteed her a slot in the Top 12. Which is unfortunate because the girl is not ready for this.
Rank For The Night: 8th Place

Carrie Underwood
"Because You Loved Me"

Destiny: She gets the award for ugliest shirt of the night. As for her performance, she was very shaky, "pitchy", and boring. She is really lucky that the judges love her so much, because she sure hasn't done anything in the semi-final rounds to warrant their extreme praise. Luckiest contestant ever.
Rank For The Night: 6th Place

Liza: Let me get the criticism out of the way. The top is hideous and looks like something Wonder Woman would wear. Her intro clip was unbelievable - too saccharine sweet to be true. Now having said that, Carrie has the best female voice in the competition, and she nailed this song. That was great. I liked the vocal nuances and subtleties she put into it. I'm really surprised the judges were so lukewarm to it.
Rank For The Night:3rd Place

Vonzell Solomon
"Respect"

Destiny: Word to the wise: do not attempt a song perfected by the great Kelly Clarkson. Vonzell made that mistake, which only made her average voice sound weaker than it is. She's adorable, but at this point that isn't enough.
Rank For The Night: 7th Place

Liza: I think Vonzell made a big mistake with the whole country motif. There are quite a few country singers in this competition, and as a result, Vonzell stands out because she is different. Joining in with the country thing is not a good thing for her. Especially on a song by the Queen of Soul. The whole thing was just so odd. As for the song, she's no Kelly Clarkson, but she looked like she was really having fun, and she engaged the audience in the performance, which is always good.
Rank For The Night:4th Place

Nadia Turner
"A Little Tenderness"

Destiny: Nadia knows how to craft a performance and take the audience on a journey that leaves them amped up and wanting more. She is the best female performer in the competition.
Rank For The Night: 1st Place

Liza: Great song! Great performance! That was terrific. She really owns the stage. I love the fact that every week she has sung something brand new to Idol. But how in the world did she manage to not know this song? She had to have seen Pretty in Pink and The Committments, right??
Rank For The Night:1st Place

Lindsey Cardinale
"I Don't Want To Miss A Thing"

Destiny: She has the most original voice in the competition. She needs to work on her performance skills.
Rank For The Night: 4th Place

Liza:Oh no. Not this song again. I have heard this song many a times on different versions of Idol, and I have never heard a good version come out of a non-rock performance. Lindsey didn't do much to change my opinion, although it was better than, say, Heinz Winckler's soulless performance of it on World Idol, and it was the best female performance of it I have seen in the Idol series. It's good for her that she brought out the husky voice again because I think that is the only thing that makes her stand out.
Rank For The Night:5th Place

Mikalah Gordon
"Somewhere"
Destiny: Unlike Nadia, she doesn't know how to craft a song into a journey. She kept it too flat and dull for too long, thus making a potential showstoper song boring. Her vocal stylings are strange and overreaching, and tonight they made her voice sound weak and warbly. She needs some serious advice on song choice and arrangement.
Rank For The Night: 8th Place

Liza: My second consecutive "Oh no" reaction to the song choice. But this one is even worse. This is way too ambitious of a song for Mikalah, and she does not have the vocal chops to pull it off. She starts off horribly with a really bad note, she's very much out of tune, and I think she messed up the lyrics a little bit. It's a very boring performance that she almost saves at the end with the big glory note.
Rank For The Night:7th Place

Jessica Sierra
"The Boys Are Back In Town"

Destiny: She is sassy and fun. This is the kind of song she should sing every week- something with a lot of personality. It will be fun to see what she does with the upcoming theme weeks.
Rank For The Night: 2nd Place

Liza: She should serve as a reminder to all departed contestants that lack of prior airtime does not have to hold you down. It didn't hold Kelly down, it didn't hold LaToya down, and it shouldn't hold Jessica down. She has brought it her last two performances, and she has earned her spot in the Top 12. This is obviously a song that she is comfortable with, and while I don't like when contestants repeat songs, I'll give Jessica a pass on this because she put a whole different spin on it than she did in the Hollywood round. She gave a really good, fun performance and did an excellent job.
Rank For The Night:2nd

Who Should Go Home:
Destiny: Mikalah and Vonzell
Liza:Janay and Mikalah. Janay is not ready for this competition, and it's painful to watch her struggle week after week. Mikalah's song choices throughout the competition suggest a comfortability with musical theater. I think she should pursue that avenue and leave the pop world behind. Her hammish tendencies will suit her well in musical theater anyway.

Who Will Go Home:
Destiny:Vonzell and Janay
Liza:Amanda and Lindsey. If I've learned anything from watching hundreds of episodes of Idol shows, it's that to go far in the competition, you gotta have a gimmick and you have to be either really good or really bad to get noticed. Unfortunately for these two, they fall into the average category. Amanda's pretty, yes, but so are the other girls. Lindsey is not the only country singer in the competition, and the other ones have way more personality than she has. They were not the best in the competition, nor were they the worst. They won't benefit from fans trying vigilantly to save them. They shouldn't be the ones to go, but past voting patterns indicate the strong possibility of it.

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