Song choice hurts the ladies on ‘Idol’

The theme of Wednesday’s “America Idol” was ’70s music, but the storyline was all about song choice. In the vast majority of cases, the judges were unimpressed with the contestants’ selections, and several left themselves in danger of being voted off by picking songs that didn’t give them enough of a chance to shine onstage.

Amanda Overmyer, for one, didn’t impress with Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son.” Randy Jackson accurately pointed out that the song was too much melody, and focused too much on the band and the backup singers. Considering she was in danger of being voted off last week, she should be particularly nervous heading into Thursday’s results show.

Paula Abdul tried to throw her a life raft. “You are special, you are needed in this competition, you are a brilliant, brilliant artist,” she said, but also added, “This song was not for you.”

Simon Cowell, on the other hand, argued that “everything felt contrived. I couldn’t wait for it to finish. If you want the popular vote, you’re not going to get it by doing that.”

Alexandrea Lushington struggled through Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now.” It was a safe, boring choice, and it didn’t pay off because she never seemed able to get the vocals to work the way she wanted them to. The 17-year-old is struggling right now, and she seemed to know it.

“What’d you think?” Randy asked after she finished.

“Uh … it’s over?” Lushington said.

More mistakes
If the judges were disappointed by Overmyer and Lushington’s picks, they were frustrated by Kady Malloy. Once again, Malloy was charming on her introductory video, and after she sang. But while she’s proven she can imitate Britney Spears, she had a harder time channeling Heart’s Ann Wilson on “Magic Man.”

“It’s a hard thing to give you constructive advice at the moment except that you’ve just got to find the right song,” Simon said. But since this is her second week in a row with a less than impressive effort, she may not get that chance.

Syesha Mercado was one of the judges’ favorites a week ago, and hoped to impress them again when she turned around Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones” by switching the genders in the song. However, the judges didn’t think the pronoun shift made it an appropriate song choice.

“That wasn’t what you got … it was just a little taste of what you got,” Randy said.

“The song obviously wasn’t written for a girl, so it was probably a silly thing to have done that,” Simon added.

Second-chance sweepstakes
Some singers managed to garner more positive feedback even if their songs didn’t thrill the judges.

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Alaina Whitaker is the youngest singer in the competition, but it was hard to get that youthful vibe from her performance of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from “Grease.” It was slow throughout, and didn’t allow her to stretch her voice the way she has in previous weeks.

“I like you, but it’s almost as if your grandmother prepared you for this audition. Everything about you is very old-fashioned,” Simon said. Perhaps sensing that she might be in danger, he quickly added, “On a positive note, I actually think you’re one of the dark horses in this competition. I like you more now than I did a couple of weeks ago.”

Ramiele Malubay sang Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” Like David Archuleta, her voice is a lot bigger than expected for someone of her diminutive size, and when she blasted through the finish, she had some of the most powerful notes of the night. It wasn’t as good as last week’s, but the judges made sure to remind the viewers of how well she’s done in the past.

“I think you’re terrific. I think you’re one of the top three best singers in the competition — this wasn’t one of your best,” Simon said.

Asia’h Epperson also had a tough week. She sang Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself,” and clipped a note early on. That seemed to energize her, and she belted out the chorus as if she needed the people in the back row to hear.

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Both Randy and Ryan were quick to point out that she wasn’t feeling well. “I know you’ve been really, really sick this week,” Ryan said.  But in hindsight, picking an easier song might have been a better choice if she was feeling under the weather.

Unlike Malubay and Epperson, Kristy Lee Cook really needed a strong performance after struggling a week ago. She got it by singing “You’re No Good,” and looked about a thousand times more comfortable onstage than she did a week ago.

Randy was looking for more breakout moments, but liked it anyway, and Paula agreed. Simon suggested that she go more with the country route, but that she had real potential.

“I’m a total country singer. If I’m here next week, I’ll prove it to him,” she said.

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Meanwhile, Carly Smithson didn’t impress Simon last week because she didn’t live up to her hype. Hoping to rebound, she took on Heart’s “Crazy On You.” That didn’t wow Randy or Paula, but she did get Simon to change his opinion even if he didn’t like the song choice.

“I think you are an incredible singer. I don’t think any of these girls can touch you vocally,” he said, adding that when she finally connects with a song, she’ll be the girl to beat.

Star of the show
On this night, however, only one of the women wowed all three judges, and not surprisingly, it was the one who picked the most appropriate song for her musical skillset.

If beauty school dropout Brooke White can figure out a way to sing Carly Simon songs every week, she’ll challenge for the crown. Simon told her in the Hollywood auditions that he liked her Carly Simon vibe, and as soon as she was given the chance, she took the opportunity to sing one of Simon’s signature songs.

White brought out her guitar and sang “You’re So Vain.” On a night when the judges began by harping on the importance of song choice, White’s performance was the textbook example of why it matters.

“Was this ‘You’re So Vain’ song about someone up here. Maybe about another guy other than me?” Randy said, gesturing toward Simon.

If it was, Simon didn’t care. “It absolutely connected. This is the reason why we put you through into the latter stages,” he said.

On a night where everyone else made it hard for themselves, White gave herself an easy road to the next round.

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