Semifinal Guys Step It Up
(Everything's Relative)

Due to a medical emergency with Crystal Bowersox, American Idol switched things up tonight and had the Top 10 guys hit the stage instead of the girls. The fact that the show was willing to go out of their way to juggle the schedule this way shows just how much the producers need a talent like Bowersox to stick around this season. The good news is that the guys really stepped up their game this week. With better song choices and performance skills all around, they showed that maybe there is something to look forward to each week. The judges, on the other hand, are a total mess. Their comments lack credibility. And the way Kara is now trying to be Paula Abdul with her leaning all over Simon and ditzy comments is a total embarrassment. She should be ashamed of herself. Makes me miss the days of last season when she and Randy stuck together as the straight men of the panel. But enough about the judges.

Following is the It's Destiny! panel's take on the AI9 Top 10 Male Semifinalists.

Michael Lynche "It's A Man’s, Man's, Man's World"
Destiny: A standing ovation, Randy? Really? Michael did sound great, but this performance left me wanting. I appreciate the effort he put into it, but it felt a little over-rehearsed, down to every facial expression and tilt of the head. Not natural enough for my taste. I didn’t FEEL it.
Score: 8.0
Liza: Randy's standing O seems to be more of an "Ok, this season is about to derail. We gotta make these people look GOOD!" gesture more than a sincere, "I'm giving you a standing O because that was incredible" gesture. That is not to say that Big Mike wasn't good. I thought he was the best of the night and the best of both nights from the guys. His best moment, though, was using Aaron Kelly as weights.
Score: 8.25

John Park "Gravity"
Destiny: After last week’s horrific song choice, John is lucky to be here tonight. This was a better song choice, no doubt, in terms of relevance. Unfortunately, it showcased the weaknesses in his voice, and, like Randy said, it wasn’t as good as the original. He did nothing to get Mr. Mayer’s version out of my mind. But I did enjoy Park’s choice of sentence to demonstrate his Korean in his video piece. “I’m hungry is there any food?”
Score: 6.5
Liza: It definitely was better than last week, and I want to like this guy, but he's just SO BORING on stage. There's no emotion, no passion when he sings. He just sings. His stoic delivery coupled with the slow build of that song made it another snooze-fest for the second-straight week.
Score: 5.25

Casey James "I Don’t Want To Be"
Destiny: Casey is smart to create a “mystery” about his pre-show ritual. This group needs something for the audience to look forward to. Casey’s rationale for choosing this song makes me scratch my head. Why would you want to be compared directly to multiple successful contestants from previous seasons? One should always try to do something we’ve never seen as much as possible on this show. That being said, he sounded good on the song. Not great, but good. As is the case with nearly everyone this whole season, however, this performance failed to be anything I need to hear or watch again.
Score: 7.0
Liza: EXACTLY! If I had found out sooo many people had sung this song before, I'd either steer clear or do something completely different to it if I was dead set on doing that song. For all the talk about Casey being eye candy, he sure isn't giving me anything good to look at. Looks aside (and I don't even think he's all that cute), I just can't watch him perform because all he does is stand there rooted to the ground. I agree with Kara - he took a step backward tonight.
Score: 6.5

Alex Lambert "Everybody Knows"
Destiny: Alex is one of the most likeable contestants of the season. He’s super charming both while talking and singing. And he has one of the best voices in the semifinals, if not the best voice. Despite what Simon says, I think Alex is on the fast track to perhaps winning the season doing just exactly what he’s doing.
Score: 8.5
Liza: I think he's starting to become a true contender as well. His voice is very unique and distinctive in this competition, and he has good song sensibilities and taste. If he loses the mullet, he's golden. We'll see how he does on the big stage, though. He might revert back to terrified.
Score: 8.0

Todrick Hall "What’s Love Got To Do With It"
Destiny: I have enjoyed every performance we’ve seen from Todrick, and this is no exception. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve heard by a long shot, but I like that he takes risks with his song choices- he adds some much-needed excitement to the show. I don’t get the judges’ comments on this one at all. Could they possibly contradict themselves any more than they did with him? Them saying that they don’t want contestants to change the arrangements of songs goes against everything they’ve blatantly celebrated for the past several years (including this season). And why did Simon call him Tundrick?
Score: 8.2
Liza: Well, I didn't enjoy every performance of Todrick's, but I actually kinda liked this one. Yeah, the judges are one big bundle of contradictions and hypocrisy, but he DOES need to find a happy medium. All he ever does is drastic rearrangements of female songs.
Score: 7.0

Jermaine Sellers "What’s Going On"
Destiny: Once again, I liked Jermaine better than the way he sounded. He has a tone that grates on my ears. I also have to agree with Simon that Jermaine needs to interpret the song in a more effective way. There was a major disconnect throughout the whole performance.
Score: 6.5
Liza: Jermaine's attitude is a constant turn-off. As is his constant oversinging. And to think he was one of my favorites from the auditions. Sigh.
Score: 5.5

Andrew Garcia "You Give Me Something"
Destiny: Love this song. Love this voice! What in the world was Randy talking about saying that was pitchy all over the place?! WRONG!!! And the judges praising Andrew’s original take on the Paula Abdul song & asking for more “surprises” like that when just moments ago they went on a tirade about how the contestants should not change the arrangements of songs must make Andrew and all the other contestants (Todrick!) want to haul off and punch the judges in the face. I know it makes me want to slap them right off the show.
Score: 8.9
Liza: Love this song. Can't stand this voice. I don't know what it is, but I am not a fan of his voice at all. Sorry! This performance WAS pitchy, and I'm still not sure just what kind of singer Andrew wants to be. The judges were frustrating me as well with their contradictions, but Andrew pretty much screwed himself when he sang "Straight Up" in the first Hollywood performance. He blew his wad with that and won't be able to replicate or surpass it. People aren't going to want to vote for someone who is regressing.
Score: 6.0

Aaron Kelly "My Girl"
Destiny: It’s not that I don’t like Aaron, it’s just that I’m not really looking forward to the long run that he inevitably will have on this show. A long run full of mediocre performances paired with lots of hype from the judges (they’re blatantly trying to make him come off as the next Archuleta or Bieber, as Simon suggested tonight). This performance, like every one he has turned in, just did nothing for me vocally or artistically. I didn’t get any artistry or inspiration from it. But good for him for the success he’s having.
Score: 6.0
Liza: The last thing in the world we need is another Bieber, not that Aaron is anything like him. He doesn't have the big ego or cockiness that the little twerp does. But Aaron doesn't seem to have any personality to speak of, really. He's just ... there. And what's with the song choice? Seriously? This isn't season 1 anymore! No creativity, no relevance, no artistry.
Score: 6.0

Tim Urban "Come On Get Higher"
Destiny: I’m sure that Tim is making young hearts flutter more than any other contestant this season. He’s cute and unassuming and can sing and sling a guitar- all things that can make girls go crazy. He so belongs on the Disney Channel. I knew last week that he would be around for some time, and he only increased his longevity this week with this superior performance. Simon’s positive comments show that he too sees the young pop star potential that he is on the hunt for this season. Look for him to bolster Tim more week to week.
Score: 7.9
Liza: Ellen hit the nail on the head with this guy. If he can act, he would be perfect for Glee or Disney Channel musicals. He sings about as well as Cory Monteith. This week's performance was infinitely better than last week's, but last week's was so horribly bad, that there was nowhere else to go but up. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "superior". It was ok. I think his poor performance last week is making this seem better than it really was.
Score: 7.0

Lee Dewyze "Lips of An Angel"
Destiny: Being the only “rock” voice this season combined with his Yamin-esque everyman quality, Lee remains a major contender to win this show. He needs a come-out-of-nowhere breakout performance like David Cook had with “Hello” and then maybe he can set off on a string of memorable performances to take him to the top. This wasn’t that breakout performance. Come on, Lee. It’s yours for the taking.
Score: 7.9
Liza: I'd settle for a David Cook "Hungry Like the Wolf"-like performance at this point. I'm not expecting a "Hello" anytime soon from anyone. Lee won points with me for his song choice last week ("Chasing Cars"). This week, I take those points back and subtract 3 more for choosing "Lips of an Angel". Gawd. That song blows chunks. And the world doesn't need another Nickelback/Shinedown clone. Lee's better than that, I think. He needs to learn how to perform, though. He looked TERRIFIED, and he hit a few vocal rough patches. It's like he switched personalities with Alex this week.
Score: 7.25

Who Should Be Eliminated
Destiny: John, Jermaine
Liza: John, Jermaine

Who Will Be Eliminated
Destiny: John, Todrick
Liza: John, Jermaine

Flavor of The Episode
Destiny: New & Improved
Liza: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

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