American Idol 9, March 9: Give Me One Reason to (Let You) Stay Here

It looks like things are back to normal, with all eight remaining girls present and accounted for. Oh, wait, things are not normal at all. Ellen’s sitting on Simon’s lap. I hope Portia understands. Ryan reminds us that after the guys perform tomorrow, Thursday’s results show will give us our top 12 singers. Simon says that this is the week where you can be so close and yet so far.

We only have an hour tonight, so we’re skipping the videos (yay!) and lots of blather (double yay!). Katie attempts to be young like the judges told her to last week by singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway.” She needs to learn to sing with the band. She’s off the beat. It’s a mediocre performance at best. And there are few “at best” moments. It’s sooooo sloooooow. And painful.

Randy thinks this song was too big for Katie. Yes, exactly. This version paled in comparison to Kelly. It was like karaoke. Ellen likes that Katie took the judges’ note; she thinks this was a good song choice. But Ellen didn’t feel the words, like taking a risk and breaking away. This is a singing competition, but personality is also important.Kara thinks Katie has a good radio voice. However, there are people in the competition who really know themselves, and Katie isn’t one of them. She doesn’t know herself as an artist. Her voice is almost years older than she actually is. Kara thinks she needs more experience. Katie needed to be perfect tonight to stand out, and she wasn’t. Simon thinks Katie’s confused by this experience – she took the judges’ advice, but she hasn’t figured out what kind of artist she wants to be. The second half of the song didn’t go right. Katie sucked the energy out of the song and made it gloomy. Simon gives her 10 out of 10 for trying.

Simon notes that Katie was eight when Kelly won American Idol. Seriously? I feel old. Katie says that she did try to take the judges’ advice, and she’s trying to break away like the song says. She wishes the song had come out with more of her feelings. Katie wants to be a soulful yet youthful artist. Katie, just say you want to be Kelly. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Siobhan is going to sing “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals. She chose it as a surprise for her dad, who was the first person to teach her anything about singing. She says he’s the best singer she’s ever heard but he says the same about her. Awww. Siobhan does the song a capella and sounds fantastic. I don’t know how the judges will react to this song choice, though. It’s certainly not current and she doesn’t exactly make it sound current. Personally, I couldn’t care less. The girl is awesome.

Randy makes sure Siobhan knows he’s a fan. He likes that she surprises everyone every week. She takes a risk every week (hear that, Katie?). He doesn’t think Siobhan listens to the judges at all – and she needs to keep ignoring them. Ellen says that Siobhan did exactly what she needed to with the song. She thinks it was current enough.

Kara loved the a capella beginning. Siobhan is unique and different, and every week she surprises Kara. She’s an unlikely person to be on the show but she’s doing great. Simon wasn’t as impressed. He thought everything about Siobhan tonight – her performance, her chat with Ryan, and her clothes – were all weird. If this were her first performance, he’d be worried. She didn’t have a big “moment” this week like her high note last week.

Ryan asks Simon if Siobhan gets any credit for range or her a capella portion. Simon says he wasn’t listening; that was fine, she just didn’t have a “moment.” After giving the number, Ryan asks Siobhan if it was tough to go a capella. She doesn’t really answer, but I can tell you, yes, it is.

Lacey sings Brandi Carlile’s “The Story.” It’s a great song, and it kind of works for Lacey, but she’s not good enough for this performance. Points for taking a risk, because that song can’t be easy to sing, but… no. Lacey’s in over her head. I don’t get how she’s still here, and if she makes it to the top 12, I’ll be ticked. She’s nowhere near as good as most of the other girls.

Randy thought the song was boring and sleepy, and yet it was Lacey’s best performance in a long time. Yeah, like that’s saying something. He did like the way she did her falsetto and head voice. Ellen thought the song choice and performance were unique. Kara says this is the kind of performance that got Lacey here, and this is the kind of record she needs to make. Simon didn’t love the song, but Lacey sang it well. No one else heard the pitch problems I did, huh? He also likes that she knows where to look. It feels like she’s been doing this for a long time. Simon still hasn’t heard the right song connection yet; this is in danger of being forgotten.

Katelyn opts for something much more upbeat than last week, Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.” Not the Carole King song I would’ve picked for her. She’s on keyboards, but standing up. Awkward. It’s kind of lackluster. Katelyn sounds great, but there isn’t much energy. She’s definitely hindered by having to stick by the keyboard. What happened to being current? Basically, she sounds really good, but that’s really the only good part of this performance.

Starting with the positive, Randy likes Katelyn’s hair and instrument. He doesn’t feel like she connected with the song. It was like a put-on. There was nothing special about it. Agreed. Ellen asks if the keyboard is a guitar. Heh. She’s not sure this was the right song to wow the audience with going into the top 12. Katelyn has a great voice and is adorable, but it might not be enough to get her votes. I fear the same thing.