American Idol 3, March 9: Twelve Will Get You Eight

Ryan welcomes us to the Wildcard Show with a twist! What twist, you ask? Ryan tells us there is good news and bad news. The good news is the Wildcard show, last year, brought us Clay Aiken. The bad news is, though 12 Wildcards were chosen, only eight will perform tonight. That is determined by the performance of the Wildcards during the rehearsals (and whatever other criteria the judges were using!).

Intro the judges.

Intro the twelve Wildcards. They look especially jittery tonight. Who can blame them?

On to the video package of the Wildcards rehearsing. Paula says it gave the judges “great insight” to the performers. Randy notes that Lisa potentially has “one of the best voices in the competition.” Simon says he was “greatly disappointed.” He doesn’t elaborate.

It’s clearly hard to decide. Simon moans that he doesn’t see any obvious stars. Paula says it’s hard to cut anyone at this stage. Ultimately, Simon says that someone will make the Top 12 who shouldn’t be there, and it will raise eyebrows. Especially his. Cryptic and nonsensical. It’s Simon. What the hell? Oh never mind, I guess it will make sense later.

Now, it’s time for the verdicts. One by one, the contestants stand center stage and find out whether they will even get to sing tonight! Here we go:

Lisa Leuschner- Randy says he thought she potentially had the best voice in the competition, but he’s sorry, she will not be performing tonight. Lisa looks shocked. Then shattered.

Matt - Paula says he has nice tone in the song he rehearsed, a bit pitchy, but he is going to perform tonight!

Marque Lynch - Simon says they brought him back because they thought he had a nice voice, he does have a nice voice, but they see him more as a stage singer. Not performing tonight. (He is totally shocked, asking, “are you serious?” I think they are.)

Katie Webber - Randy says it was a hard week for the judges, but she has another shot! She is performing tonight. (Katie can take that to mean she was definitely on the bubble.)

Jennifer Hudson - Paula says Jennifer proved that she does indeed deserve another chance, she is performing tonight!

George Huff – He has to wait through a commercial break, but Simon says he is performing tonight. And not much else. Seems like Simon may have been overruled on George, and he hates that.

Elizabeth Letendre - Randy notices she made some changes, calmed down on the operatic thing, she is going to perform tonight!

Leah LaBelle - Paula says the judges are comfortable with her performing tonight.

Jon Peter Lewis - Simon says they had a lot of problems with him this week. He should change his middle name to “lucky,” he is performing tonight!

Tiara Purifoy - Randy says she made a lot of changes, changed the hair, no contacts, but she is not performing tonight. (She does a quick about-face, but we see the tears coming.)

That leaves Eric Yoder and Suzy Vulaca. Paula bails on delivering the news, babbling something, Simon picks up the ball. Eric is not performing, congratulations Suzy.

That was harsh. The whole thing. More on that later. Time for the performances!

Jon Peter Lewis, “A Little Less Conversation”

Randy - “ I was like laughing! Did you have a good time?… You picked a bold time to do that dance! … You sounded good singing up there!”

Paula - “You made everyone smile… I thought you were great… loved how you went for it!”

Simon - (nervous groan from audience) “I thought the entire performance was horrible” (Randy and Paula loudly disagree, Simon holds his ground).

Sting7 - This was a risky, risky move! Jon Peter gave up the chance to show the rich uniqueness of his voice to go for a crowd pleaser. As for the dancing, he kept the beat, all you have to do. I’m just blown away. I was wincing for the first twenty seconds, but by the end I have to admit I was smiling. This I know for sure; Jon is a smart kid. He may be clever enough to win this whole thing in a way we’ve never even imagined possible.

Elizabeth LeTendre, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”

Randy - “A little nervous, very pitchy in spots… but I liked it, it was very good.”

Paula - “One of my favorite songs to date… you are a vocal performer who knows her range… great control, I loved it.”

Simon - “The problem with you is, you don’t have an ‘it’ factor… very nice voice, very pretty girl… don’t see a star.”

Sting7 - I was impressed, It was a first step in separating her from Katie image-wise. There is real power and passion in her voice that I hadn’t imagined she had. But, when the time came, the instrument didn’t take us all the way to where she wanted. Better than average.