American Idol Show Review, March 25, 2009

American Idol featured Motown Night on Wednesday, March 25, 2009. It was the first competition with the top ten contestants. Here is a recap of the best performances, average performances, and worst performances of the night.

Best Performances of the Night

Adam Lambert

Song Choice: "Tracks of My Tears"

Sporting a Motown hairstyle and light instrumental background, Lambert nailed every note of his performance of this song. It was absolutely perfect. Lambert can literally take any song and make it his own, and that is exactly what he did with this song tonight. He hit some incredibly high notes, and while the song choice won't necessarily blow your socks off, Lambert has re-established himself as the vocalist to beat in the competition.

Lambert is a near-lock to stay in the competition for another week-look for him to be among the first names called "safe" in this week's results show.

Allison Iraheta

Song Choice: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"

One thing that Allison certainly has is style, but man, she can really sing. It is difficult to tell which performance tonight was more solid: Adam's or Allison's. She hit all of her notes-they were mostly lower notes tonight-and ended with a major end note that make everyone rise to their feet. I believe that Allison is the best female vocalist remaining in the competition, and if she keeps trucking at her pace, it will be an Adam vs. Allison showdown.

Kara even got to her feet...how often do you see that?

Kris Allen

Song Choice: "How Sweet It Is"

Allen sang a classic song, "How Sweet It Is," for American Idol Motown night. His easy listening feel was very apparent, and it looks like he is getting very comfortable up on the stage. One of the things that makes Kris great is his proficiency at the guitar. The acoustic guitar is a big part of his stage image, and he incorporates it extremely well into each and every song he performs.

Allen should be safe from elimination this week, but where does he rank within the other male vocalists on the whole? I think Allen is safely behind Lambert but ahead of the rest. His personality and love is apparent every single time he performs. Allen has improved from week to week, and should keep on getting better.

Anoop Desai

Song Choice: "Ooh Baby Baby"

Am I the only one still trying to get the terrible performance of "Beat It" out of my mind? Well, Anoop had another great performance tonight with his performance of "Oooo Baby Baby." It was a great, easy-listening song, and he hit many of the notes. Some people may complain that the song was too slow-the song choice wasn't ideal, but he still delivered a solid vocal.

Desai needs to be careful in song choice-he has had some out-there choices in the past few weeks. That being said, he should have another week to make another selection and continue to prove his worthiness in the competition.

Worst Performances of the Night

Megan Joy Corkrey

Song Choice: "For Once in My Life"

Man, this performance made me facepalm. She missed notes-it did not sound very good at all. She tried to dance and move to the music-she failed miserably. She tried to walk around the stage and judges to enthrall the audience-people just watched.

Likely Page BreakAfter "Rockin' Robin," can anyone take her seriously? With this performance complete, she may have set herself to be voted out of the competition of this week. If that is the case, there is very little chance that the judges will take her back. She is an attractive contestant with style, but those two qualities can only get you so far. I see Megan Joy getting the boot in the Results Show.

Michael Sarver

Song Choice: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"

There is nothing especially standout about Sarver, except for the fact that he is a decent vocalist with a high likability factor. However, his performance tonight was merely average, and I was personally not engaged with the performance.

As for what Sarver could do differently-that is extremely difficult to say. Is it possible to be "not average"? Sarver seems to be more of a placeholder in the Top 10 than a true contender, and he has not done very much in recent weeks to show that he is anything more. Look for Sarver to be on the chopping block at the Results Show.

Scott MacIntyre

Song Choice: "You Can't Hurry Love"

MacIntyre is a talented, talented pianist and has a great ear. His song choice was upbeat, but not exactly engaging. With every passing week, it appears that MacIntyre is regressing to the mean. Scott had some stellar performances early on, but it is starting to become apparent that he is not the best vocalist on the show.

He has heart, but he is not a serious contender to win the competition by any means. An average performance this week was the wrong time-there were so many top-notch performances. He could potentially be sent home at the Results Show.