Idol Thoughts

A few thoughts on last night's Motown-themed American Idol...

Matt Giraud: He opened things up and brought it on with a very strong, soulful version of “Let’s Get It On” – perhaps his best performance of the year, starting off at the piano, and then getting up and parading around a bit.

Kris Allen: Not a fan of the song “How Sweet It Is,” but I’m sure the girlies will like his solid acoustic guitar-accompanied rendition of it – are we supposed to vote for one of those numbers on his shirt?

Scott MacIntyre: His “You Can’t Hurry Love” wasn’t memorable, just meh, but at least he showed that he could do something up-tempo, albeit something a bit jumbled. I was going to take pity on him for getting dressed in pink pants and a paisley shirt – but he admitted that he knew what he was wearing! So forget that.

Megan Joy: Maybe she should bring back her Corkery. Her version of “For Once In My Life?” Totally pitchy, dawg! And somebody get her a lozenge. The old-school arrangement was too loud and forced her to scream, eliminating her trademark “vocal quirkiness,” of which I’m not all too fond of anyway. She should have done a slowed-down acoustic version.

Anoop Desai: He laid down a rock solid vocal performance of one of my most unfavorite Motown songs, Smoky Robinson’s “Oooh, Baby, Baby.” Not a lot of showmanship and he sang it straight – he’s been all business these past two weeks. It’ll be interesting to see if he brings the party next week like Randy suggests…

Michael Sarver: His voice just wasn’t big enough for “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” and each judge told him his karaoke-like version sucked donkeys. Strangely enough, nobody mentioned his terrible dancing. He’ll still probably make it through to the next round anyway.

Lil Rounds: Unfortunately, on of my favorites, Lil, was a Motown disappointment for me with her version of “Heatwave.” It wasn’t bad, per se, but it got shouty at times, and it didn’t give her a chance to show her range. I expected more this week. Cool Motown outfit.

Adam Lambert: Finally, somebody used a stripped-down arrangement so they didn’t have to compete with all those loud Motown horns! I don’t know if I’m an Adam fan, exactly, but I’m definitely curious to see what he cooks up each week, kind of like with David Cook last year (though I liked David Cook better). Anyway, Adam’s acoustic performance of “Tracks of My Tears” was interesting and used his falsetto nicely. Good job.

Danny Gokey: Wow, he had such great texture to his voice, though his version of “Get Ready” seemed a tad on the hammy side, however. The judges really brushed him off afterwards!

Allison Iraheta: She really dug her gritty, bluesy vocals into “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.” Wow. And she gave it a realistic worn-down by life sound the song needed. Very impressive.