The eight season of 'American Idol' continues rolling with the second 12 contestants vying for a place in the Top 12.
- Feb 26, 2009
AceShowbiz - Pre-empted by President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday, February 24, "American Idol" is back to air the second wave of Top 36 performance the next day. Highlights from this second batch of performance is the Broadway -sounded Adam Lambert, the young divorced mother Megan Corkrey and the man with double personality Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle.
Spotted in the audience seat are the three finalists, Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver and Danny Gokey, who have advanced to the next round through last week's live votes. Host Ryan Seacrest opens with "Where else can you find a bartender, a font designer and a comedian?" The judges are seen not in their usual seating arrangement.
First up is Jasmine Murray, the 17-year-old, singing "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. She is not particularly impressive with Kara DioGuardi branding it "all over the place". Simon Cowell said, "I like you. You've got a great look. You've definitely got the attitude and the confidence. You just haven't got a great voice."
Matt Giraud is put on as the second one, singing Coldplay's Grammy-winning single "Viva La Vida" sans piano. A rather bold choice, the song does not deliver him good praises. Next up is Jeanine Vailes, the mentioned bartender, who had little camera time in the audition rounds. She sings "This Love" by Maroon 5 and is butchered by the judges. She gets a compliment for her legs though.
Nick Mitchell actually dresses as himself and takes the stage to perform his best piece, "And I Am Telling You". He, as usual has the stage presence which is as good as his vocal. Judges praise him except for Simon. An ever younger contestant, 16-year-old Allison Iraheta sings a rather old tune, "Alone" by Heart. However, she gives a solid performance and is deemed the best of the night so far.
A Michael Jackson appears through the performance of Kris Allen. Singing "Man in the Mirror", he gets three favors from Simon, Paula and Randy Jackson but not from Kara. Megan Corkrey heats up with "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae. Kara seals her as a "package artist" while Simon hopes that America would vote for her. Matt Breitzke sings Tonic's "If You Could Only See". Randy thinks it is "OK" but Simon says that it is a bad song choice. Matt defends himself, "I'd sing that song no matter what! It's my favorite ever!"
Single mom Jesse Langseth goes with "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. Again, Randy thinks it's an "OK" performance and he gets talked back. Kai Kalama does a rendition of Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" and true to the song's year, the performance is old-fashioned. A finalist who failed in last season, 18-year-old Mishavonna Henson tries "Drops of Jupiter" by Train this time around and she gets unpleasant tone from the judges for choosing such song that doesn't fit her age.
The last performer of the night is Adam Lambert who takes on The Rolling Stones' "(I Can Get No) Satisfaction". Unanimous opinion from the judges who compliment him being contemporary. Simon, however, has a slight problem with some parts of it but absolutely loves the rest.
