American Idol, men week 2

The men didn't have much to live up to, considering the abysmal performance of the women last night. I was actually pleasantly surprised--I hadn't liked any of the guys throughout the Hollywood round and wasn't wowed by anyone last week. There were two performances I really enjoyed, one I thought was good (but I have a few reservations about) and one that I loved, but I realize my love is not rooted in any sort of reality.

1. Elliott Yamin. I really liked his performance. He sang in a style I don't love and I was really entertained. I thought his voice was smooth and the whole thing sounded easy and kind of effortless. I was surprised I liked him as much as he did, and he definitely sang David Radford's style better than Radford does.

2. Gedeon McKinney. It was a tough call whether to put Amish Elliott or Gedeon first, but I chose Elliott because Gedeon seemed a little quiet during certain parts of the song. However, I don't know that this is necessarily bad--he may have been showing restraint, and I am so used to watching American Idol I don't know how to recognize it anymore. I really liked his performance a lot. I was shocked that he is 17 or 18--I thought he was ten years older than that!

3. Chris Daughtry. I thought he did a genius job of picking a song. Choosing Hemorrage (In My Hands)" by Fuel was so smart, because the singer who sings that song is not that great vocally. It meant that Chris got a catchy, likable song, but he didn't have anythink to live up to. The thing about Chris is I think he is somewhat of a fraud. My boyfriend asked me whether I thought Chris would sing Nirvana in an upcoming episode, and I said that if he did it would be a very bad choice. I think if he took on a song by a real rock artist--someone who genuinely cared about his music, his phoniness would shine through. I'm willing to see if my opinion changes in the next few episodes, but for right now there are nagging reservations.

4. Will Makar. I grew up on Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Somewhere, there is an audio tape of me singing "Me and Little Andy" by Dolly and "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny and Dolly together. So when a Kenny song like Lady comes up (and I actually think it is a good song--Lionel Ritchie wrote it, after all!), I get a little bit happy. And I really loved Will singing it. I know I am wrong. I know he probably didn't sound that great. I'm sure that the judges were probably right. I suspect that I am irrational here. But I really enjoyed it. So much so that I might have put him in my top three, but I'm a little embarassed.

I thought there was a pretty distinct drop-off, and then:

5. Bucky Covington. I think he did a nice job on his song, although on the lowest notes his voice was a little too quiet--I think he had difficulty reaching them.

6. Sway. I think that there is something about Stevie Wonder songs--they really need to be sung by Stevie Wonder. I didn't think Sway sounded bad, and I thought he did a nice job with the high notes (although not a good job with the low notes). I actually liked him better this week than last, but I hated him last week.

7. David Radford. I can't believe he is actually this high, because I really disliked what he did with "The Way You Look Tonight." This was the one song he should be able to sing, but he couldn't do it. There was nothing wrong with the power in his voice or his vocal range, but I just hated the inflections and which notes he held for long and which were short. I thought the song sounded mangled, and the words he chose to emphasize made absolutely no sense. Luckily for him, three people were worse. Unluckily for him, two are already fan favorites, so he will be gone tomorrow.

8. Taylor Hicks. Yuck, yuck, yuck. He sang a Lionel song, "Easy Like Sunday Morning" which I thought he might actually sound good on. I closed my eyes for the first half of his performance, wondering whether I was more turned off by his look than his singing (I often do this during American Idol, but usually in later rounds). I realized something interesting while my eyes were closed--his look actually detracts my attention from how not good his voice is! Who knew? He sounded flat throughout.

I thought that the bottom two were clear.

9. Ace Young. I thought he was horrible, and I was really surprised. I don't think he is the greatest singer, generally, but I thought he was good enough to make it deep into the competition. When I heard him today I was shocked that he could sing that badly. Every note sounded a little bit off, and none of it was consistent (some sharp, most flat). If he wasn't a favorite and didn't have alleged good looks, he would be in real trouble. Definitely one of the worst two, but we'll see him next week.

10. Kevin Covais. How did this happen? How did he end up in this competition? Do the judges and producers have some warped plan to break a little kid? He needs to go home quickly before it starts getting really ugly. (And for the second week in a row, when his recap came on at the end of the show, my boyfriend and I burst out in instant laughter. He's terrible!)