AI5 Semifinals Round 2:
The Guys Outshine The Girls

American Idol 5 kicked into gear last week with a fierce battle between the girls and the guys. This week, the competition was not so evenly matched. The guys took the lead, easily topping the girls' lackluster Tuesday night performances.

Following is the It's Destiny! panel's take on the AI5 Semi-Finals Round 2: Guys.

Taylor Hicks "Easy"
Destiny: While I agree with the judges that the song choice isn't the best, Taylor still managed to turn in a professional level performance. He is "easy" to watch because he knows what he's doing, and I don't feel like I have to worry whether he's going to be good or not. He's in a different league than most of the other contestants.
Score: 8.0
Liza: Funny you should say that Taylor's "easy" to watch because for me, it's totally the opposite. It's so hard to watch him with his awkward movements. And the constant "woooo"-ing throughout the song was ridiculous. It's not a WOOOOO! song, and he didn't just win Dancing With The Stars. But Taylor started off with two big negatives before he even sang. First of all, he was wearing a "toboggan"? He's wearing a sled on his head? Then he told everyone to get up. For a ballad. He has a good voice that will allow people to ignore his mannerisms, but that whole package was kind of a mess for me tonight.
Score: 6.0

Elliott Yamin "Moody's Mood For Love"
Destiny: Nice song choice. Combined with the heart-tugging video clip about his mom and seeing her in the audience, the performance was full of emotion. I liked this much better than Elliott's previous showings. His nice tone and regular guy persona remains a potent combination sure to take him a long way in this competition.
Score: 8.5
Liza: That was fantastic. This guy can really, really sing. Great song choice, great job. (And see, Taylor, they'll get up if you're good enough, not just because you tell them to).
Score: 9.0

Ace Young "If You're Not The One"
Destiny: First off, the background singers need to shut up. I'd seriously love for Simon to call them out some time soon. They certainly did Ace no favors this week. As for the rest of the song, it must be noted that Daniel Bedingfield has one of the most beautiful and emotional voices around today, so it's a risk for anyone to do his songs because they'll pale by comparison. However, Bedingfield is such a great songwriter that anyone who sings his songs also gets the benefit of fabulous material. That being said, Ace did a nice job delivering the song. It wasn't brilliance, but it was nice.
Score: 8.5
Liza: That high note was "nice"? Dude, that made my ears bleed. The song just magnified his vocal weaknesses. And I really think he's being coached throughout this whole process by someone, possibly the producers or Simon Fuller. Fool doesn't even know the title of the song! Just like he didn't know the name of the Westlife song he auditioned with.
Score: 5.25

Gedeon McKinney "Change Is Gonna Come"
Destiny: Love the outfit. Love the singing. Love everything. Gedeon is a phenomenal talent. It's really a shame that he's been so underrated. Hopefully the judges' positive comments this week will help attract some votes and fans for Gedeon, because, yo, I truly believe that he's one of the greats to ever grace the stage of American Idol.
Score: 9.5
Liza: Whoah now. Let's not get hysterical here. He had his moments of greatness in the song, starting with when he got down on his knees, but the opening was kind of soul-less, and he ended with a pointy pose. A POINTY POSE! On THIS song?
Score: 6.5

Kevin Covais "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
Destiny: It's nice to see him having so much fun and milking the situation for all it's worth. However, this week Kevin still doesn't really do much for me as a singer or performer.
Score: 5.0
Liza: He's still high school talent show but with even more awkward moves. I have to agree with what Destiny said last week - he's the brunt of a joke he's not in on.
Score: 4.5

Sway Penala "Overjoyed"
Destiny: He seems so nervous with a shaky voice and shifty eyes. Evenso, he was much more enjoyable this week than last. Again, he's a nice guy, but he doesn't do much for me as a singer.
Score: 6.0
Liza: Sway started off rocky with a few bum notes that didn't hit the mark, but at times it sounded quite lovely. But Simon is right, there was no originality to it. It sounded like every other version of "Overjoyed" that's been done on this show and not as good as even Charlie Grigsby's. His mic-switching was a wee bit distracting.
Score: 5.5

Will Makar "Lady"
Destiny: Any guy who gives Justin Guarini props earns major points in my book. And, seriously, Will was only TWELVE when Justin and Kelly were rockin' on AI? Wow. As for his performance, it was vocally solid and sure to bring in the votes of young girls (a powerful voting demographic) across the country. He's just so cute.
Score: 7.5
Liza: Boy did he make me feel old with that "I was 12 years old" statement. Yikes. But that Justin shout-out was cute. As for Will's performance? Holy Kalan Porter! While Will didn't reach the level of greatness that the second Canadian Idol did with this song, he really showed that he can sing. And he's also a bit like Kalan in that he looked so uncomfortable and stiff while he was singing.
Score: 6.5

Bucky Covington "The Thunder Rolls"
Destiny: He was not able to hold his own on a Garth Brooks' song. His voice is just not strong or special enough. And what I really want to know is, why does Bucky have a Newfoundland accent when he speaks? It's crazy!
Score: 6.0
Liza: I'm no country fan by any means, but Bucky did his thing (and I swear I wrote that before Randy said it). That was quite good when you could actually understand what he said.
Score: 7.0

David Radford "The Way You Look Tonight"
Destiny: What the heck was Bucky doing up in the loft during this song? Funny to say the least. As for David, his singing yet again is on the boring and pitchy side of things.
Score: 5.0
Liza: His timing seemed off with the musicians. Ricky Minor looked quite pissed when David gave him the shout-out at the end. Heh. David has a tendency to launch into imitation and cheese when he sings. But he's a very good-looking boy, and the girls will adore him, and he looked so sad at the criticism that he'll get some pity votes as well.
Score: 4.0

Chris Daughtry "Hemorrhage"
Destiny: He has a good voice for what he does, but it's not my cup of tea. Despite all the volume and force he brings to the stage, I find it lacking emotion. He has yet to draw me in. I hear him, but I don't feel him.
Score: 7.5
Liza: Bo Bice really opened the doors for songs like this to be performed on the show, and it's only fitting that he was there for this. Chris sounded good on the verses and a bit too shouty on the choruses, but I liked the passion and originality he brought onstage. I agree with the judges that his performance was the only one that could hold up in the "real world", BUT they also forget that the powers that be never actually let their Idols "do their thing". Just ask Bo.
Score: 8.0

Who Should Be Eliminated
Destiny: Kevin, David
Liza: David, Kevin

Who Will Be Eliminated
Destiny: Sway, David
Liza: Bucky, Kevin

Click here to check out the It's Destiny! panel's take on the girls of AI5 this week.

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We asked you, "Several of This Year's Contestants Are Similar To Past Idols. What Do You Think About Them?"
82% Get Out! I'm Looking For Someone Original
17% I Don't Care Either Way
1% I'll Take It! I Like To See People Who Remind Me Of My Favorites

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