Karen Rodriguez Top 24 Performance for American Idol 10 (2011) - Mariah Carey's "Hero"

Karen Rodriguez is a singer who performs in both English and Spanish. She tried out through MySpace for American Idol 10 and ended up being the only contestant who started on MySpace to make the Top 24, which is the first public voting round. According to Rickey.org, Karen sang Mariah Carey's "Hero" during the Top 24 round scheduled to air on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

Initial Thoughts:

I have yet to be as impressed by Karen as I know many others have. It is often hard to judge someone by listening to just their solos because you have to keep the performances of other singers in your head for comparison purposes. Although some comparisons are not really that fair (no one should have to be as good as Mariah in her prime to win Idol), comparisons simply must be done if we are going to have a contest.

And a comparison that applies in this would be Pia. Removing all biases and simply judging vocal talent, I don't see how anyone could rate Karen ahead of Pia. Just look at their Las Vegas performance of "Can't Buy Me Love." They both received praise, but Pia, who is not even my favorite, just owned her. And since they sing the same type of music (except that Karen sings in Spanish, as well), Rodriguez is not even the best singer in her own genre in American Idol Season 10.

So Karen starts out low to me and needs to show something special other than singing in Spanish (that is not uniqueness).

Now, instead of picking a song where we can every possible ounce of greatness out of Karen, she makes the terrible choice of Mariah Carey's "Hero." What a huge error. That song is not going to impress anyone unless she changes it up.

So while it is rumored that she got not-so-good reviews from the judges, it doesn't necessarily mean that she did a bad job. But simply hitting the notes is not good enough for American idol. Uniqueness is important. Karen seems to think that singing in Spanish is unique or something. It is not, and that is not going to add to her performances if she is trying to win.

You have to look at what David Cook did to Mariah and Michael Jackson songs (although "Billie Jean" was a cover of a cover). Or at least a minimal change like what Danny Gokey did to "Hero" is what is needed for American Idol.

Prediction:

I still don't get why Karen is supposed to be anything special. A simple comparison with Pia (no Mariah or other comparisons are needed) shows a complete difference in emotion created by their respective tonal qualities. Rodriguez is simply too common to excel on Idol. Look for her to get eliminated in the Top 24 or to possibly get in via a wildcard.

Results:

This article will be completed after Karen performs Mariah Carey's "Hero" on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

Karen mixes English with Spanish throughout the performance. She has a pleasant voice but lacks any substantial power, at least on this boring song. The crowd was obviously tricked by a long note, which is not the same thing as power. Karen can sing in Spanish, but she needs to dial back on the whole "Latin is cool" thing. Some people will interpret that as arrogance.

Jennifer grossly overpraised the performance, which was just average. Randy said it was good. Steven gave the inexplicable comment that she is one of a kind, which makes no sense. She's actually somewhat like Jennifer Lopez, who happens to be sitting right next to him. These new judges were great during the audition rounds but have little to no integrity when it comes to the live judging. They are pretty much pointless.

Sources:

Rickey.org Top 24 Spoilers