Top 24: Guys

It's time for the top 12 guys to take their place on the stage and show us their chops. I have to start out by saying it was another weak night overall. Nerves must be running extremely high through these folks because nobody is bringing their "A" game. However, it always seems the contestants struggle most when they do current songs versus oldies and being their first night performing live, nerves are a given. Nobody wants to fall short and go home when they are so close to making the Finals. Anyway, let’s hope for better next week.So how did the guys stack up? Let's discuss...

Todrick Hall (♪♪♪♪) – I was not sure what to make of Todrick, but I have to admit he guy got up and entertained. He took my girl Kelly’s song, which is an anthem classic, and gave it a fun groove turned it into something totally new and I have to say I am not mad at him for it. Yes, he is a music theater person but look how well that worked for Adam Lambert. This was all about the performance but next week I would like to hear him focus on just singing, because I think he has the ability to nail a great vocal.

Mike Lynch (♪♪♪♪) – Where have I heard this exact voice before?? Oh yes…Ruben Studdard. Don’t get me wrong, Mike has a solid voice and he maintained his pitch through the entire song, but if I close my eyes while he is singing I hear Ruben Version 2.0 and let’s be frank…we all see how “well” Ruben did in the music biz. I am on the fence about this guy. However, he did well enough to earn 4 notes from me, so I will leave it at that.

Casey James (♪♪♪ ½) – Casey was one of my faves going into this performance and although he did not disappoint, he did not excite either. (side note: Kara, you are married AND how rude was it for you and Randy to be a complete and obvious distraction to Casey during his performance). At any rate, Casey was solid and he is authentic and unlike Tyler, he has that old southern/blues/rock vibe and makes it current. The only suggestion I have for Casey is to be careful of his vibrato…it came off a little goat-ish in moments. Either way, I am sure he will be in our Final 12.

Andrew Garcia (♪♪♪ ½ ) – Andrew, my golden boy of the competition, showed a little tarnish tonight. It was the classic case of poor song choice and a very odd rendition of a song. However, I give him props for continuing to take risks and stand out, that is more than I can say for almost all the other guys. As much as I wanted to get into it though, I just could never get the vibe. Andrew is leaps and bounds better than this and I know he will bring it next week.

Joe Munoz (♪♪♪ ½) – This is an example of someone who is virtually unknown to America prior to stepping on the Semi Finals stage and coming in and making a statement! Joe did everything right. He has one of the smoothest voices of all the guys and sang with ease. He also comes off very likable and believable. This was the most pleasant surprise of the night for me.

Aaron Kelly (♪♪♪) – I LOVE Rascal Flats and I think this song is great, but I am not sure young Aaron has quite the vocal chops to fully pull this off. The veins bursting out in his neck are proof of this. I think Aaron is a solid singer, when he is not trying too hard and that is what this performance was. No doubt he is going to be around, but he needs to pick songs that don’t require him to strain his vocal chords and cause him to not have total control of his pitch.

John Park (♪♪ ½) – Ok, so initially I did not understand why John got a spot in the 24 and although I am still not completely sold on him, this performance was pretty solid. He has the deep baritone thing going on and he has pretty good control minus a few shakes parts. The runs were a little sloppy for me and he could have cut out a few of them. Vocally it was fairly solid, but overall it was sorta forgettable. 

Tyler Grady (♪♪ ½) – Ok Tyler, we get it, you are a 70’s rocker. It’s obvious in your hair, clothes, your stage presence, the songs you sing, etc, etc, etc. However, this is 2010. What you really need to do is take that 70’s vibe and find a way to infuse it with today. I mean, we saw this from Bo Bice and although it got him to runner-up status, it did not do much for him in the music biz. They don’t play contemporary artists on the oldies station, so where would your music get played? Aside from that, the vocals just are not that great, and the whole thing just came off like everyday karaoke.

Alex Lambert (♪♪) – We know nothing about Alex, and I feel like this performance did not help that. As a side note, are mullets in style again? I missed that memo. At any rate, it felt like he was never on pitch throughout the entire song. He looked completely unsure on stage and it just made me uncomfortable. I didn’t get it. I gave him 2 notes simply on the strength of his vocal tone but nothing else.

Jermaine Sellers (♪♪) – My church singing boy with insane range. I really liked him based on his initial audition; however, he completely overdid it with this performance. Wow! “Get Here” is a song that needs no real embellishments as it is already perfectly crafted. Jermaine, we get it, you can hit high notes; however, tonight they bordered on ear piercing. Nothing about the song was enjoyable because it was all just too much. Settle down Jermaine, it doesn’t always have to be over the top. A simple, moving performance with your smooth vocals will go much further.

Lee DeWyze (♪ ½) – Oh man, I really wanted to like Lee’s performance and I hate giving him such a low score. I dig his gravely, raspy, Daughtry-esque vocals but this performance was just a little too unstable for me. He was all over the place with his pitch and he himself did not even seem to buy into his performance, which is evidenced by his facial expression a second after finishing the song. I felt your pain too, Lee. Hopefully America gives him a second chance because I think would be a great contribution to the Final 12.

Tim Urban (♪) – Tim gets the privilege of being this season’s last minute replacement contestant…poor guy. Was it just me or were there moments during the performance when Tim’s eyes looked like they were screaming for help? He picked a song that was obviously too big for him. He did not have control of his falsetto when he would go into those upper register “too late” parts of the song and it just sounded week. This was not a great introduction to America.

So, who goes home? This is another night of my predictions not completely matching my ranking, but you have to consider a lot of other things than just singing ability when predicting what America will do. So, for the guys, I think it will boil down to who did not get any airtime prior to the Semi's AND did not do enough in their performance to prove they should get a second chance tonight. Thus, Alex Lambert, Tim Urban and Lee DeWyze are in trouble and I think we will say goodbye to Alex and Tim. Although, I would not be shocked to see Jermaine peace out either. We will find out at results time!