Casey James - was it His Final Performance on American Idol Tonight in the Top Three?

How did Casey do tonight on American Idol? Let's just say not as good as Lee or Crystal. Tonight Casey and the other American Idols performed two songs. One was their choice, and the other, the choice of the judges. Kara and Randy picked, "Daughter's" by John Mayer for Casey to sing.

It was the stronger song of his for the evening, and he did sound a bit like John Mayer during the first minute or so, but his voice isn't as strong as John's although his guitar playing may be on par. Casey's voice quivered a bit, and he started the verses more softly than he should have so his vocals were a bit hard to hear at first.

I can defintely see Casey as a very strong lead as a front man for a band. His voice does not have enough depth to be powerful enough on it's own except for short spurts. When he holds a note, it is awful, with his vibratto taking over the song rather than delivering soul it sounds sad.

For his own song choice, Casey sang, "Okay, It's alright by me", by Eric Hutchinson. I hate to say this, but I just listened to the show not more than 30 minutes ago, and I had to look up what Casey song, because I'd already forgotten it. Maybe it was because it was an unfamiliar song. Maybe Casey sang it ok, but I don't know because I didn't recognize the song. He might have been phenomenal but from what the judges had to say, I don't think so.

This is what the judges had to say about Casey's song choice tonight.

Randy said, "Casey, what's going down. Simon Cowell is a funny guy. The funny thing about that lyric is that the song was just kind of alright now for me. It didn't quite work for me man. Ellen said, "This is like the moment, do or die, lefty tighty, lefty loosely. You should have blown us away." (BUT YOU DIDN'T!)

Kara said, "You should be fighting, and if you take a first listen to a song, when people haven't heard it before, it is hard to establish it as your own."

Simon said, "This is arguably the most important night of your life. I hope that was the salad and that the main course is going to be better. Unfortunately, that song will have no lasting effect. I think that was a dud song choice but you sounded good."

Casey looked good, and he can play guitar, but in my opinion, he doesn't have the vocal goods and, he didn't pick the right song. Simon did good by Lee this week, but I"m not so sure about Randy and Kara with Casey. Was ithe song choice in any way a way to combat the "cougar" image? Now I'm wondering if the judges gave Casey a "bland song" hoping he would spice it up, but he failed to bring the cinnamon and sugar.

Maybe I'm wrong - it all depends upon the votes. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see, but at this moment, I predict Lee #1, Crystal #2, and Casey #3.

Source:
Fox Television, American Idol, 5/18/2010