American Idol 2, March 4: Pretenders and Contenders

This is it! This is the Wildcard Round, the round that Simon predicted would blow all others away! One would have to consider the process of choosing this year’s wildcards a gamble. The fact that the judges dug way deep, including two contestants cut at the first Hollywood, makes it impossible to handicap (thank you for ruining my article guys! Fear not, Handicapping will return!). Did the gamble pay off? Did those who slipped between the cracks deserve the slippage?

Ryan welcomes us to the show. He jumps right to it, Simon what is the twist? Simon says the twist is... (drum roll)... Dunkleman’s coming back! The judges applaud, Ryan introduces Brian Dunkleman! (Sweet Lord above, no!)

They were just kidding! I try to get my blood pressure back down.

The real twist is that the round of 10 is now a round of 12! The judges will choose three performers, and America will decide on the fourth! Randy says that everyone is even and they will be judged on what they do tonight. (And tonight, they had music track to sing to, and not just a piano accompaniment. Maybe that is another experiment that is gone forever.)

Foul! I have several disagreements with this. One: America already knows five of these folks, they saw them perform, and if they improve, America is more apt to vote for them rather than the four we haven’t seen in awhile/ever. Two: the five who performed before have the advantage that they have already been through this. They’ve been through the blocking, worked with the vocal coach, dealt with the cameras, the pressure, the judges eyes, the fact that they are singing to an empty studio... all of these things are quite jarring the first time you have to do them. Three: the pressure is more intense for the four that were picked from oblivion, because they were selected based on what the judges remembered, not what they just saw... and the memory is fallible. So, if they come on and are ordinary, the critiques from the judges will be worse because it looks like you blew it. I doubt that will ever happen again. Here’s why.

The performances!

Kimberly Caldwell, “I Feel The Earth Move”

Randy - “I didn’t love the song on you”

Paula - “star quality... a little under the key the whole time... remember, we saw you perform better on the last show” (she was implying that they won’t hold this performance against her too much, but that throws out “everyone is level,” doesn‘t it!)

Simon - “glad this was not your audition... unimpressive”

Sting7 - It seems like a theme of this show will be “improvement.” All the things I liked about Kimberly were still there, she’s still beautiful, she still had great presence, great confidence, but it didn’t ignite me. Something was definitely wrong. Her voice wasn’t explosive enough for this song. I’m kind of afraid for her chances.

Clay Aiken “Don‘t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”

Randy - “(standing ovation) look fly... really good... right song for the right guy... did your homework”

Paula - “(standing ovation) big fan... love your hair... raised the bar”

Simon - “really impressed... fantastic... the fact that you don’t look like a pop star makes you memorable... you look better to me every time I see you”

Sting7 - The second that Clay opened his mouth I thought, “perfect song!” Clay delivered the goods this time, I was afraid that he had too many runs without vibrato, showing a little weakness in power, but it all came together like true talent should. I believe Clay will be unbeatable tonight!

Nasheka, “Wind Beneath My Wings”

Randy - “waiting for growth in emotion and connection, didn’t happen... did you smile (during the performance)?”

Paula - “you definitely did much, much better... I’m concerned about the song choice... we’ll see what happens”

Simon - “definite a most difficult song to sing... I think you performed brilliantly”

Sting7 - I, too, am really concerned with the song choice. Something about Nasheka makes me pull for her, it’s an ugly duckling sort of thing. Not that she’s ugly, far far from it, but there is something about her that is very uncomfortable. That, to me, is not Idol material. Simon is curiously high on her, but I don’t think I would have put her in the Wildcard round. She needs time.

Carmen Rasmussen, “Can‘t Fight The Moonlight”

Randy - “keep trying”

Paula - “work on your showmanship”

Simon - “tonight, you needed to shine. You didn’t... not good enough”

Sting7 - I think the judges were a wee bit hard on Carmen. I saw plenty of potential. Amazingly, she struck the same awkward leg pose as George Trice! Her voice has a Christina Christian kind of vibrato, and she seemed as unable to control it as Christina, at times. But, I did not hate her performance as much as the triumvirate. I don’t know that I am ready to put in her in the Top 12, though.