Michael Lynche Sings "Will You Be There" on American Idol

Michael Lynche sang "Will You be There" by Michael Jackson for American Idol's "Songs from the Movies Night". Jamie Foxx was this week's American Idol mentor. This week's elimination is going to a difficult one with only four contestants left. Michael Lynche was saved by the judges earlier this season, but does he have what it takes to be in the top three?

American Idol Mentor: Advice from Jamie Foxx to Michael Lynche

Jamie Foxx is a singer, actor and stand-up comedian. He should easily put the contestants at ease when they work with him. He won an Academy Award for the film Ray and a two Grammy awards. His first Grammy was in 2006 for being the Favorite Male R&B Artist. With Jamie Foxx's extensive career combining film and song this week's "Songs from the Movies" theme fits him perfectly.

Jamie said that he got the sense that Michael feels that maybe he shouldn't he here, so he tried to loosen him up by having Michael punch his hands. Comparing Michael's size to Jamie's size I don't think that the brightest idea Jamie could have come up with.

Jamie Foxx brought in t-shirts that either said 'artist' or 'contestant' on them. He gave each contestant a shirt depending on how their rehearsal went. Jamie tried to give Michael a 'contestant' t-shirt because he flubbed the words to the song, but Michael would not accept it.

Michael Lynche's "Will You be There" Performance

Michael started out standing on the steps with the backup singers behind him. Once he got into the song he moved down stage and sang to the audience.

Michael Lynche put a gospel spin on Michael Jackson's song. He sang it with confidence and emotion. He also held a few impressive notes. Michael made the song look easy.

What the Judges said about Michael Lynche's "Will You be There" Performance

Randy Jackson: Randy thought it was cool song, but it was just alright. He thought that Michael should have picked an R&B song.

Ellen DeGeneres: Ellen said that you can't really go wrong with a choir behind you. It's a great classic from "Free Willy," but she thought his performance was good but a little predictable.

Kara DioGuardi: Kara said she wanted goose bumps, but she didn't that way about the performance. She thought that Michael played it safe.

Simon Cowell: Simon said that he has no idea what "Free Willy" is so he can't connect it to the song. This led to a stream of Willy jokes that I will spare you from hearing. Simon summed up Michael's performance by saying that he at least gave it 100% and felt that he meant it.

I think Big Mike's "Will You be There" performance wasn't as bad as some of the judges said. He did a good job with song and he expressed emotion. At the beginning Michael said that he felt added pressure from his family and city to get into the top three so that may have been why the judges felt that he played it safe.

Sources:
http://www.jamiefoxx.com/