IdolPhenomena

Tonight the Top 12 Idol Finalists took the stage singing songs from their birth years. As usual there were some outstanding performances; some okay performances and some what happened to the melody kind of performances. Where do your favorites fall in?

Up first tonight was Naima Adedapo performing Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got to Do With It? I love how every week Naima gets on stage and does her thing even if it’s not incredibly amazing. Rodney Jerkins modernized the track for her tonight which is one good thing about this season, the contestants working with the producers. However, I feel she was always singing something else; her melody didn’t quite match up. It wasl almost as if she was singing the old version against the new accompaniment. Tonight you get 1.5/3- Stars from me. I know you got that amazing voice in there; you just need to bring it out more and find that comfort vocally to match your confidence on stage. Next Paul McDonald tackled Elton John’s I Guess that’s Why They Call It the Blues. Paul was just okay tonight. It didn’t feel like the normal Paul onstage tonight. I do agree with Steven Tyler we all think your swagger is way cool. So that would be 1.75/3- Stars from me this evening. Pick something that suits you better, I personally would have loved to hear you sing Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen. Highlighting that unique rasp and character in your voice you would have definitely been able to move around to that without a care in the world. ;-)

The first ballad of the night was done by Thia Megia as she took to the Idol stage with Vanessa Williams’ Colors of the Wind from the Disney Movie Pocahontas. It was a great Idea to choose a ballad like that; I personally loved the guitars and strings on stage with you. However I would have loved to hear you sing something that highlighted the uniqueness of your voice since you were compared to having and Adele type voice back in your Milwaukee audition. You keep trying to sing something out of a cookie cutter repertoire but I feel you have such incredible potential that you are just not yet tapping into. Don’t be afraid to take risks. For your average performance you get 2/3- Stars from me. Following Thia is James Durbin with I’ll Be There for You by Bon Jovi. I agree with Randy that you made the song your own. Great job 2.5/3- Stars.

I like how next contestant Haley Reinhart can take each challenge given her and consistently deliver a good performance. However, we still don’t know who Haley is as an artist and I feel that at this is important not only for the viewing audience but for the contestants as well. It will allow her to find a niche in the music industry. Tonight she delivered a good performance of Whitney Houston’s I’m Your Baby Tonight. 2.25/3- Stars from us and by us I mean me here at IdolPhenomena. Like several other bloggers out their tonight I wanted to hear Stefano Langone perform If You Don’t Know Me by Now by Simply Red. When he delivered his performance tonight he was by far the best compared what came before him. He’s outstanding I definitely feel he is a dark horse in this competition. I’m starting to see him become more and more Top 5 material even though I have envisioned him leaving before that portion of the competition. For your amazing vocal tonight Stefano you get 2.75/3- Stars from me.

Pia Toscano is up next with Whitney Houston’s Where Do Broken Hearts Go? Amazing as always tonight Pia brought a new spin to an incredible ballad. It was nice to see her tackle something more upbeat. As viewing audience we got to see another side of her as a performer. Rodney Jerkins did a great job making this song more current. I truly think she’s the one to beat, 3/3- Stars absolutely phenomenal job tonight. The great performances keep on coming as Scotty McCreery takes the stage with Travis Tritt’s Can I Trust You with My Heart. And in thousands of living rooms across the states there are girls replying yes, yes you can.

After Scotty’s amazing vocal Karen Rodriguez takes the Idol stage with Taylor Dayne’s Love Will Lead You Back. I can’t help having flash backs of Carmen Rasmusen of Season 2 and Mikalah Gordon of Season 4 both girls sang this the night before they were eliminated. Dare I say that this is a precursor for Thursday night’s results??? Karen is incredibly talented but and I do agree with Steven I love it when you break into your ethnic what it is-ness. I just don’t feel America is rooting for you but I still love you and wish you the best of luck in this competition 2.5/3- Stars from me. We are now down to the last three performances of the night. Up next is Casey Abrams with Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit. Tonight for the first time ever, I was disappointed with Casey’s performance. The whole time I wanted to know why he was allowed to play an instrument at this point in the competition and nobody else did would have loved to see Paul because he’s in his element more with it in hand or even Thia pick up a guitar to change it up. Nirvana was definitely a risk for Casey it was just okay for me tonight 2.25/3- Stars tonight.

Lauren Alaina takes the stage with Melissa Etheridge’s I’m the Only One. She does an incredible job tonight way better than last week. Lauren is now headed in the right direction to being the contender they saw in her back at her audition in Nashville. Like Steven Tyler said you are a shining star. You have crazy star potential I can’t wait to see how the competition unfolds for you. 2.5/3- Stars this evening you still haven’t wowed me yet ;-). Last but not least Jacob Lusk has chosen to perform Alone by Heart. Why? God only knows. For the judges this performance was outstanding, but for me I just wasn’t feeling it tonight. There was just something awkward about the vocal that just wasn’t in tune. I was left wondering what happened to the melody in that tonight. However for giving it all you’ve got you get 2/3- Stars from me tonight.

So IdolPhenomena followers how did your favorites fair in tonight’s portion of the competition. I foresee the bottom three contestants being Karen Rodriguez, Naima Adedapo, and Thia Megia with Karen potentially being eliminated. What do you all think???