April 20, 2010
Top 7 tonight and who goes home?
Ryan Seacrest greeted the crowd, said “When you cast a vote, you change lives” And “this is the time when we give back” and w’re very busy tonight, and Idol Gives back” Pasadena Civic Auditorium
Top 7, celebrity Alicia Keys, she has had tremendous impact on children, she’s known as the Princess of Soul, sold 30 million records, top selling R & B of the decade.
Tonight’s them is songs of inspiration. Alicia Keys said “it’s about how to bring out emotion” and “I want to help them find out what they’re made of”.
1. Casey James, first up, sang “Don’t stop thinking about Tomorrow” by Fleetwood Mac. Ryan Seacrest asked before Casey started about the song, Casey said “It’s about me ‘being in the song’, in the present.”
Randy said, “It was good, but not your best” and “I want you to step out of that comfort zone”.
Ellen, said “great guitar”, but the show is at the point now where we are looking for someone to be great and “You have to be great”.
Kara said this was not like last week when you sang ‘Jealous Guy’. “This was like ‘jambam’, like everybody else:.
Simon said, “not inspiring, no emotion, no originality” and thought it was a “lazy song choice”.
Ryan Seacrest asked Casey then, “Are you surprised at the Judges comments?” and Casey said “Not surprised, but I love that song, and I love Fleetwood Mac.”
2. Next up, was Lee DeWyze, whom Ryan Seacrest introduced as ‘former paint salesman’. Ryan asked Lee about his buddy, Andrew Garcia, who was voted off last week’s show. Lee said “I am supporting him in whatever he wants to do”.
Lee sang Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”, as he said the song ‘speaks to me’, and ‘inspires me’.
Alicia Keyes told Lee that when you sing this song “people have to feel like you ARE ‘The Boxer’”.
Randy said “You know, I’m one of your biggest fans”, and “You are going to be a great artist” and “You are going to have a great career”.
Ellen said, “Lee, that was a beautiful song choice”, and “It had soul and depth”, and “Best performance so far”.
Kara said “Last week, Simon said “you had your moment’, but I think tonight “You had your moment!” and “Clearly, you feel connected to the song”.
Simon said “Even though you are only #2 so far tonight, that was ‘Best of the Night!’” and “The difference is staggering, it was emotional, it was inspirational” and “Absolutely brilliant” and “Good for you!”
3. Tim Urban sang “Better Days”. Alicia Keyes said “when he is singing it, this could very well be his own song”.
Randy said “For me, this was an interesting song choice” and “it was like ok” and “It was like good karaoke”.
Ellen said “it was like soup of the day” and “I didn’t like your soup”.
Kara said “This was a new Tim” and “This wasn’t the best execution” and “not the best performance”.
Simon thought it was ‘a step too high’, and said while ‘you have improved’, this was ‘a little bit of a let down’.
4.Aaron Kelly, sang “I Believe I can Fly”.
Randy said “You picked a giant song” and ‘You’ve got a huge voice’ and ‘good job’.
Ellen said “I believe you can fly!” and thought Aaron ‘handled the song real good’.
Kara said “It was like you were taking off” and then “you hit it” and “you started flying”.
Simon said “It took guts to take on that song” and “You gave it your all” but thought “It wasn’t very good”.
Ryan Seacrest asked Aaron about singing the song since he was 5 years old and Aaron said he sang it at pre-school.
5. Siobahn Magnus, up next, sang “When you believe” and Alicia Keyes told her during practice “That’s your ‘money spot’” and was “very impressed”.
Randy said, “You probably picked the toughest song” and “it was just okay, for me”.
Ellen said to Randy, “I disagree” and she thought it was good.
Kara said “It was really well sung”, but it ‘was not a musical”.
Simon said “Not the right song” for her and thought it was “a bit all over the place”.
When Ryan asked Siobahn about her choice of song, she said” I love the song” and “The meaning of it is why I am here”.
6. Michael Lynche, sang “Hero”. He told Ryan Seacrest he had made a list of about 200 songs he wanted to sing if he was ever on Idol, and this is one from that list.
Alicia Keyes, said “I like it when people take a song and make it different, make it their own”.
Randy said “I was worried about the (choice of) song” and “you held your own”.
Ellen just said “Great job!”
Kara said “Not my favorite performance”.
Simon said “You sang it pretty well”, but said “that was from Spiderman, wasn’t it?” and thought it was ‘artificial’, and said ‘it didn’t jell for me’ but also said “you’re gonna be around next week”.
7. Last but not least, Crystal Bowersox, with no instrument for the first time, sang “People Get Ready”. As she finished the song, she broke down crying on the end of it.
Alicia Keyes said she thought Crystal was “very, very special” and “people are going to love this performance” and told Crystal “Go for it!:
Randy said “You know, I am a fan since Day 1! And Let’s give her a standing ovation!”
Ellen thought Crystal was ‘never more beautiful’ and just gets ‘better and better’.
Kara said Crystal’s likes ‘taking risks’ and said ‘everybody likes to call you Mama Sox” and “Now we know why, you schooled all the contestants tonight”.
Simon thought ‘it was inspirational’ and ‘fantastically….completely different class’.
Ryan Seacrest asked about her getting so emotional at the end of the song and Crystal said “My dad is here’ and that she was very ‘emotional’ and ‘thankful for her family’. And she had to borrow Ryan’s ‘hankie’ from his suit coat, which didn’t look like it was real, just a ‘prop’
