'American Idol' Top 11 Up Their Game on Motown Night

Sometime way back we were told "American Idol" wouldn't be doing theme nights. Apparently the Powers That Be realized we might end up with a total snoozefest if the contestants kept selecting songs in their comfort zone. Hence the return of Motown night, with good songs that have been unfortunately beaten into the ground year after "Idol" year. The good news was that the Top 11, for the most part, tried to follow the constructive criticism they'd received. We got tighter, more entertaining performances, and there wasn't a colossal failure in the bunch. The bad news was that we still haven't had a truly break-out performance that takes over all the water cooler/Twitter/forum discussions the next day--and beyond.

What It all Means: Asked what Motown meant to him, judge Steven Tyler said he remembered "making out with the girls" and that Motown provides the "rhythm of the kiss." Ryan Seacrest cheekily replied that Steven had apparently done "More than make out--didn't I see Liv Tyler here?" The camera panned to a gorgeous Liv, grinning and blushing profusely. Naughty Ryan, at it again.

Casey Abrams, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine": Now if Casey ever needed to use his bass, this would have been the time. Instead we got another growly, self-aware performance with too harsh of a start. The stylist slicked Casey's hair back in an attempt to make him look suave, and instead he looked more Wolfman, especially with that weird angry-violent look he does now when he sings. Once he relaxed and dialed back the vocals, and his hair got a little tousled, it was better for everyone. It was distracting when he sang to one member of the star-studded audience and I thought, "Is that the Geico caveman?" No, apparently it was just one of Casey's friends. Sorry, I am not getting the caveman-chic look.

While this was an improvement over last week, it wasn't a brilliant performance. Apparently the judges thought otherwise, however, rolling out their "you can carve a niche for yourself" type praise, or as Randy Jackson so eloquently put it: "You only do you and that you is great."

Thia Megia, "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave": I'm not sure if it's a good thing for a contestant when producer Jimmy Iovine says he's "pleasantly shocked" that you do an uptempo tune well. Thia ran with it, though, and did finally liven up a bit on the "American Idol" stage. She had a great start, and even got a little sassy with her movement and gestures, but her tone went a little flat in the middle. The "yeah yeahs" refrain had a much prettier tone, but then she seemed like she lost her nerve and trailed off in her energy at the end.

Thia got damned with faint praise, with Randy and J-Lo's comments basically boiling down to "thanks for trying, go you!" Then there was Steven's shrug of a "I'm good with it."

Jacob Lusk, "You're All I Need to Get By": Jimmy once again tried to convince Jacob that less is more, and that winding up to histrionics on every performance starts to become monotonous. Thankfully, Jacob listened, and we got a lot more control and pretty vocals. My problem with Jacob is that you pretty much have to close your eyes to objectively hear his singing talent--I just can't help being put off by his campy hand-waving and bug eyes and 72 facial expressions per minute.

The judges appreciated the new control, with Steven going so far as to say Jacob's previous performance "was a mess." Jennifer Lopez was the most enthusiastic: "You make us beg for the notes!" Jacob then went out to the audience to hug his grandmother. After this, Ryan called up a bunch of young girls to the stage to hug Jacob--erm, really? Suddenly there was a guy in line for a hug, and Ryan stopped the whole thing right there--perhaps that was too much reality for reality TV?

Lauren Alaina, "You Keep Me Hangin' On": Lauren explained how the song was perfect for her because people had been saying mean things about her on the Web and she just needed to persevere. I guess The Supremes could have been singing about a bad relationship with peeps on the Internet. Not to sound like Steven, but whatever her motivation, Lauren did have some beautiful, beautiful notes at the start of her performance. She got a bit weaker when the tempo picked up, but she made the vocals work, was pretty engaging on stage and looked nice in a long, formal dress. Then she kind of blew it by dissolving into a breathy giggle at the end of her number. Way to break the mood.

Steven cut through the "woe is me" vibe of Lauren's intro and declared "I don't think you listen to anybody," which seemed like a little jab and a compliment all in one. I couldn't help thinking that J-Lo's effusive compliments about how "beautiful" Lauren looked were because they had straightened Lauren's hair, but maybe I'm just touchy about curl-prejudice. J-Lo and Randy pointed out Lauren's head-bobbing 'tude in the song, which worked well. Though Lauren then let that attitude carry over post-performance, she thankfully seemed to make a conscious effort not to engage in inappropriate banter with Ryan.

Stefano Langone, "Hello": My husband had guessed Stefano's Lionel Richie number would be "Dancing on the Ceiling," which honestly, could have been a much better choice to liven things up. As it was, Stefano turned this classic ballad into an overblown cruise ship number--complete with white dinner jacket. After plenty of pointed advice from both the "American Idol" judges and the producers, Stefano tried to open his eyes while singing--and ended up being completely twitchy and strange as he visibly fought his natural facial instincts. Dude is really going to need to practice that more.

Stefano is cute as a button, and I loved his practice performances when he sang "I've been alone witchoo..." I realized that part of Stefano's charm in the early rounds was his way of making even the most poetic ballads have a spicy tone of "boy from da neighborhood" to them. Now that they've apparently cleared up Stefano's diction, he ends up sounding really pretty, but fairly bland. He also lacked the emotional death he showed so exquisitely in his Wild Card performance.

Jennifer put it best when she said she didn't want Stefano to sing with "the intensity from 'I want to do well' instead of 'my heart is breaking.'" Randy and Steven agreed, and Stefano looked crushed and maybe even a little confused.

Haley Reinhart, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me": Jimmy told Haley she needed to "walk with the confidence you sing with." Unfortunately, they decided to accomplish this by putting Haley in sky high heels and starting her out on the stairs. The fact that she had on hot pants with a blazer probably distracted most of the men in the audience, but it was a very awkward beginning physically and vocally. Once she got in her groove, however, we got the wonderful sexy growl and vamping and it was another entertaining performance. It also seemed like her knee-bending, hair-tossing moves were starting to relax into a signature style rather than something she was trying to do. I keep hoping Haley gets further in the competition so we can see more of the rough edges smoothed away and a relaxed performer emerged.

The judges were definitely more generous with the praise tonight, with Randy comparing Haley to Janis Joplin and J-Lo declaring that Haley had the most control and the most soulful voice in the competition. Steven told her she didn't look "a day over fabulous" and then was so moved by Haley's "growl" that he launched into his own trademark gravelly wail. The audience went wild, and Haley was surprised and thrilled.

Scotty McCreery, "For Once in My Life": It's always tough for a singer to leap genres, and Scotty got help putting a country spin on this Stevie Wonder classic. The range was a teensy bit high for Scotty, but he largely made the vocals work, and the slide from high to low added some nice texture to the song. Unfortunately, Scotty's leaning, head-bobbing trademark style got wayyy too affected near the end of the song. The whole thing devolved into a corny chicken dance and it dampened what had been a pretty sweet performance up to that point.

Sadly, none of the judges pointed out the less than stellar moves, sticking with generic comments like "this wasn't your strongest performance." Steven did make an interesting and valid comparison of Scotty to Glen Campbell, and noted that Scotty's low notes "tweak everybody." Randy called it the "ladykiller" notes.

Pia Toscana, "All in Love Is Fair": Jimmy's advice to Pia was to "get out of our head, stay in the moment and don't overthink it." Unfortunately, Pia was perhaps thinking too hard about not thinking too hard, and she sounded nervous and hesitant at the start of the song. Once again, the big, soaring notes were lovely and impressive, but it just doesn't ever seem to amount to anything that exciting. Even Steven looked asleep when the camera made its way to the judges' table.

"Hello, beautiful Pia," Jennifer greeted. This is kind of like asking if a prospective blind date is attractive and being told they have a good personality. On a singing competition, being told you're beautiful is not really the compliment you're looking for. The judges all agreed that it was enough of the "ballad ballad ballad" routine, and Steven advised Pia get on some "sneakers and kick some ass."

Paul McDonald, "The Tracks of My Tears": Dealing with the legacy of Smokey and the "American Idol" legacy of Adam Lambert left Paul with some pretty big shoes to fill. "I can't sing it like Smokey," Paul said straight away, coming up with a folk rock version instead that suited his style. Connected to his guitar during the number, Paul's moves were more groovy than distracting, and the back-up singers were an immense help. Paul seems to sing much better when he's got a girl's voice to play off of--hence his excellent duets with Kendra Chantelle. He still has the weakest voice in the competition, but he's also one of the most unique.

Randy hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that the last bars of the song were sung so tenderly, that it was the perfect highlight of his unusual style, and that he needed to "bring more of that." Steven compared Paul to other distinctive voices like Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. J-Lo called him the "most seasoned performer" on this year's "American Idol," with his relaxed, "Hey, how's it going" vibe up on stage. "All you need is a good producer," she said, and Paul immediately turned to Jimmy for some confirmation.

Naughty Randy came out to play again, asking Paul about a jaguar pin he was wearing, noting it looked more like a "cougar," and maybe Paul was trying for the "cougar vote." Paul sputtered and grabbed Ryan's shoulder--giving him a good shake for his goofiness, but grinning all the while.

Naima Adedapo, "Dancing In the Street": Naima decided to take a risk and liven up her routine with some African dancing. The producers warned her that she had to figure out how to incorporate the dancing into the performance without compromising her vocals, so Naima's solution was to just throw in a dancing interlude at the end of her number. We thankfully got to see the Naima we loved at the beginning of the competition, belting out wonderfully strong, deep vocals that danced along with the upbeat song. The dance bit was gorgeous and vibrant and included some well-placed kicks at the camera that made the best use of her flared pants. She also slipped right back into a pretty vocal after the dancing, which was a big improvement over the previous weeks. After the song, Naima warmly hugged her accompanying drummers--and thanked them in the backstage interview as well.

It was obviously getting late in the evening, as Steven announced something like "E to the Z to twiddle dee dee," and said Naima "ate the stage." This was apparently a good thing. Jennifer said it was the first time she'd gotten goosebumps that night, and praised Naima for being an "exciting performer." Randy admitted he'd been a little rough on Naima in the past, but he felt she'd brought all the qualities he admired her for together finally--combining strong vocals with the dance moves to form the "whole Naima." Ryan then joked that they should go to show producer Nigel Lythgoe (also producer of "So You Think You Can Dance") for the dance critique, and a grinning Nigel applauded enthusiastically. So it's four thumbs up for Naima.

James Durbin, "Living for the City": James sounded growly and soulful in the studio, earning two thumbs up Bob Babbitt, bassist from Motown studio band the Funk Brothers. That was plenty of validation, but James of course loves to perform on stage as well. While his performance was energetic and he blended well with the backing vocals, I thought he went a little sharp in a few spots. He was definitely feeling it, though, and he did some pretty slick footwork on the side of the stage that made it look like he was dancing on a moving sidewalk. After the performance, he went and hugged Bob again, and then he gleefully accepted the applause and adulation from the "American Idol" audience.

Jennifer started out with "Ohmigod Ohmigod Ohmigod," but it took her a few minutes to get James' attention with all the crowd love going on. Finally she got him to focus again, and she raved over the performance and the groovy little "back step"--an "incredible thing to watch." Randy braved J-Lo and the crowds boos of disapproval when he pointed out that James' performance was a little rough at the start, but then the James hit his stride with the dance moves on the side of the stage--"that's when we all got it." Steven thought James' voice was "incredible" and that it was a perfect song choice.

Ryan teased James that it was obvious he wasn't comfortable in front of a crowd. "It's intimidating," James replied, playing along. Whatever the outcome of "AI," James will definitely keep performing, because the guy lives for that energy.

The Final Verdict: All of us "American Idol" critics sound like broken records, but the song choices really are dismal most times on the show. Out of all of Motown, we seriously only had songs from five different artists for 11 contestants? Crazy. Each artist did well enough to maintain their fan base, and some who fared poorly last week really upped their game tonight. It could very well be a surprise who ends up in the bottom three tomorrow. Last week, Jacob had definite bottom 3 potential, but him toning down the wail so dramatically could help keep him safe another week. For me, personally, Casey has lost a lot of his early appeal, but I suspect Wild Card Stefano has more of a chance ending up bottom 3 if a guy actually gets there.

Haley is a polarizing contestant, and so she's always in danger, even when she does amazingly well. Naima could go either way this week--her vocals were vastly improved, but the dancing could be considered gimmicky or extraneous to a singing competition. Thia livened up this week, but it may not be enough to break her out of that bland, Disney mold some have her cast in.

The Jackass Award Goes To: Gordon Ramsay of "Hell's Kitchen." We started with a cute moment between Ryan and Stefano, where Stefano shared some of him mom's home cooking. Ryan nibbled on some pasta out of a Tupperware, got handed a soda when he exclaimed over the garlic, and then delightedly announced "It's like I'm on a picnic!" Stefano's mom was delighted by the attention--that is, until her cooking got dissed by Gordon Ramsay after the break. I realize he's got a reputation as a tough guy, but this woman is not a competitor on his show. Try being a little more gracious, Ramsay. It's not her fault you're annoyed at having to appear on "American Idol."

We'll find out Thursday night who makes the Top 10 and the "American Idol" tour. Watch every Wednesday and Thursday night on FOX at 8/7c. Check your local listings to verify times.