American Idol Male Performances on March 2nd 2010

Last night's American Idol performances from the men did not have as many lows as last week, but there still were not a lot of highs, but nearly everyone improved over last week. Here is a breakdown of what happened on last night's show, including what each contestant sang, my opinion on the performance and a brief summary of the judge's comments.

The evening started out with Ryan Seacrest announcing that the guys will be performing tonight instead of the girls because one of the female contestants Crystal Bowersocks is in the hospital and under doctor's orders was not able to perform. He did not say why she was in the hospital, but I am assuming she will be on tonight's show. Ryan then asked the judges what this last minute change will affect the contestants tonight.

First up Michael Lynch he sang: This is a Man's World by, James Brown. He came out really strong and held on powerfully throughout the entire song. He obviously came out swinging and to win tonight. This was my second favorite performance of the night. The judges all agreed with me saying he was much improved over last weeks performance.

Second to Perform John Park he sang Gravity by, John Mayer felt kind of bad for him. I could really tell that he really put an effort in to this song. Unfortunately I think the song choice might be is doom. He sang the song nicely I thought, but unfortunately the song doesn't have any of those moments that just grab the audience, it doesn't stand out. It's a nice song but you really need to have a moment where the audience feels the need to stand up and clap. He sang nicely, but in order to succeed on Idol you have to do better than nice. Also what kind of bothered me is that he did not follow through on the ends of some words. For instance at one point he sang knees but it sounded like knee. The judges said he was better than last week, but the consensus is that he played it too safe, and there was nothing special about the performance. So basically they agreed with me.

Third to perform was Casey James. Casey wanted to show that he has some mad electric guitar skills and came out playing I Don't Want to Be by, Gavin DeGraw. The audience really liked the guitar playing and so did Randy. Unfortunately the guitar playing caused his voice to suffer. I was surprised that none of the judges pointed it out but the guitar playing seemed to take his breath way, and often didn't complete phrases strong, sometimes he would end words really weakly. He had a lot of good strong moments, but I think if he was not playing the guitar he would have had better breath control and could have done the song much to stronger. Randy liked his guitar playing, and said this was the kind of song he should be singing but didn't think it was the strongest vocal, Ellen thought it was great but thought he was stiff. Casey's biggest fan Cara did not like the performance she did she say the notes were weak on the bottom which is essentially what I said, just a bit differently. Simon agreed with Cara (and me), he thought it was an average bar performance.

Number 4 was Alex Lambert who sang by Everybody Knows by, John Legend, he was really nervous the week before and this week he did much better. He has a very naturally nice voice. He still seemed a bit nervous but the song came out nice and clear he played the guitar as he sang. This was my 3^rd or 4^th performance of the night I can't decide between this one and one I have yet to discuss yet. Randy liked the performance, and so did Ellen, they said it was so much better than last week. Cara said he had a wonderful recordable voice and she said from this show he will learn how to use that voice, Simon said it was a million times better than last week, and told him he has a very good voice, but he said that he needs to get the killer instinct, and he needs to stop all the nervous nonsense, because he is very capable.

Number 5 up to the microphone was Todrick Hall he sang a Tina Turner song, he sang a new arrangement of What's Love Got To Do With It? I thought it started out kind of strong, but when he hit the chorus and he had the opportunity to go for the wow factor he took it down instead of up. I think he has a nice voice, but the arrangement got a bit sloppy. The judges did not seem to like the arrangement either. Randy did like the falsetto run at the end. The main advice they gave him was to just come out and sing a song without changing the arrangement. Ellen said to he needs to perform more and use his dancing experience to perform a little more. Cara said he is all over the place and just needs to sing as well too. Simon was pulled out his mean side and said that he is just getting this really wrong.

Number 6 was Jermain Sellers he sang What's Going On by, Marvin Gaye. Last week the judges told him to be more current, and be young not in those words but that is what they meant. It seems he didn't really listen as he pulled out another old classic and then sang it with very little excitement. He did have one really run, but the performance was kind of boring up until the end. Randy thought there were a couple of bright moments as I did, but overall not great. Ellen started out saying he has great style, but he was off a bit, Cara said he can hit great notes, but he is kind of trying to do too much in every song and that he does not need to show every trick he has in every song, and Simon added that he needs to quit playing around with the songs too much, he also said he was too old fashioned. When he asked the judges what he should sing next week Simon said he did not think he would be there next week.

Up in the 7^th spot was Andrew Garcia he sang James Morrison's You Give me Something. This is not a song I am familiar with so I can't compare it to the original so I don't know how much he changed up the original. Andrew was one of my favorites going in to this as I am sure he was many people's and I thought the judges were kind of overly critical to him last week, so it pains me to say this was a weak performance. It didn't seem like he was carrying his notes, I didn't feel any power until towards the end. It just didn't seem like his heart was in to it. Randy said he was kind of pitchy, Ellen said that he is not playing up to his potential, Cara said pretty much the same thing, Simon said he needs to find the right song, he said it was just OK and he is better than OK. I am hoping he stays because I think he has a lot of potential, but based on this last performance I don't know.

The 8^th spot was taken by Aaron Kelly he sang My Girl by, The Temptations which I think was a really bad song choice because you are never going to have an amazing moment singing that song, sure it is upbeat and happy and all and he sang it Ok, but these contestants have to be aware that they need to come out and do something that is going to wow us all. We don't just want to be entertained we want to be wowed. Still he works it and the beginning was strong and he is enthusiastic and it wasn't bad, it just lacked any kind of Wow. Randy liked the performance, Ellen likes him, didn't like the song choice. Cara liked it. Simon did not like the song choice either, and said he needs to do something younger, and that the arrangement was too old fashioned. Aaron is only 16.

Number 9 was Tim Urban Come On Get Higher by, Matt Nathanson. Even though Tim kept forgetting his words during the audition weeks I still saw a voice in there but after last week's performance which was not good I thought he was just getting by on being cute. After this week though I am glad he stayed because he was pretty good. There were a couple of pitch problems, but he was very current and sang a song that suited his voice and he was actually one of my favorites of the night, this was my 3^rd or 4^th favorite performance and I can't decide whether or not I liked this performance or Alex Lambert's performance better. Randy didn't like it however, Ellen said he was really adorable and should be on Glee as an actor but not that much of a singer. Cara said he could get there but is not quite there yet. Simon liked the performance and thought he did a relevant song for his age group, and he is impressed with his worth ethic.

Last but certainly not least was Lee Dewyz. Lee sang Lips of Angel by, Hinder. Lee came out swinging. He sounded very strong from the get go. He has a great really modern sounding voice. There were couple of times he went out of pitch, but overall it was really good. He was very in to the song you can tell he was really in the moment. Though it was not a perfect performance it was a very good performance and it was probably my favorite vocal performance of the night. The judges pretty much said what I did about a couple of pitch problems, but overall really good, and they would like for him to exude more confidence and Simon added that his voice was the best in his area of the competition, I am not sure if he just meant out of all the guys or out everyone.

I am not going to make any predictions about who is going home tonight I will say who I think is safe and that is Lee Dewyz and Michael Lynch, and I am fairly certain Alex Lambert and I think Casey James will get through based on past performances, and because he is a fan favorite. I am not sure about the rest of the guys. I think it will come down to who America likes the most.