Music Features
American Idol Recap
Michael Lynche set himself apart from the rest of the men on American Idol on Wednesday night, bringing Kara DioGuardi to tears with a show-stopping performance to close the program. Bur first, the rest of the show.
Before the guys took the stage, Kara apparently confirmed the persistent rumors that Simon Cowell is engaged to his girlfriend, Idol makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy. When Ryan Seacrest asked Kara and Simon why they've been so touchy-feely this season, she suggested the reason must be "separation anxiety" because Simon misses his fiancée. Simon ignored the comment and changed the subject.
Here's what happened once the male contestants entered the spotlight:
Lee Dewyze transformed the recent Owl City electro-pop hit "Fireflies" into an acoustic tune. Randy Jackson was pleasantly surprised that Lee did well with a "soft" song. Ellen Degeneres agreed, but noted that Lee added a rock edge to it.
Alex Lambert didn't have much trouble handling Ray Lamontagne's "Trouble." Ellen told Alex he looked adorable onstage. In the most bizarre comment of the night, Simon implored Alex to stop focusing on the TV cameras and find a way to become more relaxed, such as imagining Randy wearing a bikini. Randy quickly shot down that idea.
Ellen literally jumped out of her seat after Tim Urban took on Jaff Buckley's rendition of "Hallelujah." She ran from the judges' table to the stage to hug and compliment Urban, saying she'd been rough on him in recent weeks and felt bad about it. Kara also liked the performance and said Tim's chances of sticking around on Idol had improved dramatically.
Andrew Garcia pulled out his acoustic guitar again for an unusual reworking of Christina Aguilera's debut single, "Genie In A Bottle." He was obviously trying to recapture the magic from when he covered Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" a while back, but he'll want to stuff this performance back into the bottle. Randy said it was an interesting choice that fell flat, Simon added that Andrew was over-thinking his performances, and Kara again stated that she thinks Andrew peaked too early on the show when he did "Straight Up".
Casey James abandoned the rock genre and went country with Keith Urban's "You'll Think Of Me." Randy preferred Casey's rock persona and Kara and Simon were lukewarm on the performance, but Ellen enjoyed it.
Aaron Kelly delivered a rendition of "I'm Already There" by the country music group Lonestar. Ellen told Aaron he carries himself like a veteran singer onstage, despite being only 16 years old. Kara didn't think Aaron can relate to the song because it's about a man calling home to speak with his children, but Simon dismissed that opinion as "utter rubbish." Simon said they all should just accept it for what it is -- a good song.
Randy declared that Toderick Hall is "back" in the competition following a gospel-leaning version of the Queen song "Somebody to Love." Simon said it felt like it belonged in a musical, but he gave Todrick credit for acting more animated onstage than the other male singers.
Michael Lynche came through with what was arguably the strongest performance this season to date. Kara couldn't control her emotions after hearing Michael sing the hit Maxwell version of Kate Bush's song "This Woman's Work," repeatedly saying he was amazing. As Simon consoled a tearful Kara, he said Michael's vocals were exactly what the show needed at this stage of the game.
Idol's top 12 will be decided on Thursday night's results show, which will also feature season-eight contestants Scott Macintyre and Matt Giraud performing a piano duet of the Billy Joel hit "Tell Her About It."
