American Idol 4, March 15: Opening Night Jitters

Anthony Fedorov, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"

Randy - "I never thought I would say this, but that was definitely like I was in a bad hotel in a very low average performance of – I don’t know what that was dude."

Paula - "It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t up to par with what we’ve been experiencing from you... it was a little pitchy –"

Simon - "Anthony, let me put this into perspective for you (Paula groans, "oh no"). It was akin to... the office Christmas party when somebody gets up to entertain and they fail."

Sting7 - I don’t think Anthony was as bad as the judges made it seem. Definitely pitchy in spots, and Anthony has such a clean, honest tone, every mistake will show. I am sure it’s nerves, because Anthony is going to go a long way.

Nadia Turner, "You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me"

Randy - "Yo! I got to give you props, the show has finally started tonight!"

Paula - "I’m a fan, I’m excited for you because you’re playing to win... I’m proud of you Nadia."

Simon - "Nadia, in a competition full of hamburgers you are a steak."

Sting7 - I will forever dub Nadia, The Professional. Star quality all over the place. While we’ve seen nervous kids one after the other go up and do somewhat reasonable jobs, but flawed all the same, there is Nadia who is apparently made of steel. Hit every note, rung every emotional bell, and this song is a wringer! If she’s nervous, she doesn’t show it, and she is clearly in it to win it. She’s doing everything right. You can only admire that.

Bo Bice, "Spinning Wheel"

Randy - "You already know you’re one of my dawgs, you come out here, you get it done, you’re fearless, I love you, this is the way to get it done dude."

Paula - "You’re already a superstar, keep going, do your thing."

Simon - "This stage can either make you or break you tonight. You look like you’ve been doing it for twenty years!"

Sting7 - Constantine - outrocked again. Somewhere out there, Clive Davis is scratching his chin, thinking "can I sell this?" It’s almost like this is too easy for Bo. Can a rocker win American Idol? Prepare yourselves. Bo is as much a complete package as Nadia. I would not be at all surprised if these were the last two standing.

Vonzell Solomon, "Anyone Who Had A Heart"

Randy - "Very ambitious song choice, that’s what I like about you, if you can get control of that, you can work that out because you’ve got a really good instrument there."

Paula - "You look beautiful and you sounded lovely tonight... really good showmanship."

Simon - "Vonzell, I think what you’ve done is stay absolutely in the middle. At some point you’ll have to do something great, otherwise you’ll be out in five weeks."

Sting7 - Vonzell was stunning tonight! Vocally, there were times when she sounded like Diana Ross, that sort of love-wounded ingénue Diana sold so well. I would have liked to have heard a bit more vocal control out of her, but by and large, she did her job well. I have no real complaints.

Scott Savol, "Ain’t Too Proud To Beg"

Randy - "Scott, you’re back baby, I enjoyed tonight, you were confident... mostly in tune, you were hot!"

Paula - "It looked like you were having a lot of fun up there."

Simon - "You surprised me tonight because I thought you’d have a problem, but you did good."

Sting7 - What I am learning about Scott Savol is he has quite an impressive arsenal of vocal weapons. He can do the soul man growl (which he did so nice tonight), he can toss you a falsetto, you can give you fast or slow. I’m so sick of the commentary on his looks, just listen to the man. He is for real. Very confident, commanding performance on a song that has swallowed up many neophytes.