'Idol' Top Ten Ladies - You Better Think About Song Choice

The bad news:

-The middle of the field remains uneven. Either it was a big, pitchy snooze or technically gifted singers picking the wrong song.  

I like Katelyn quite a bit vocally but that Coldplay song went beyond lullaby to Ambien.

Lacey's cute, but I had the exact same thought as Randy. At karaoke night her sweet Sixpence None the Richer wows the gang from the office but was too small for "Idol."

There's something I like about Didi but she is not a soul singer. She self-identifies as a singer-songwriter so if she wants to switch it up she should take something left-field and strip it down instead of stepping completely into another genre. (Shawn Colvin does a fun version of Talking Heads "This Must Be Place" she might want to investigate.)  Tonight it felt like she was leading a really nifty singalong around the bonfire at sleepaway camp with "Lean on Me."

Katie Stevens continues to impress me vocally and in terms of confidence but Kara's right, a song like "Put Your Records On" is pleasant on the radio but not as dazzling live. That said I thought that her performance had great moments.

Lilly Scott may be "unique" but something about her hiccup-y style didn't work for me the way it did for the judges on "A Change is Gonna Come." (What's with the singer-songwriter girls doing the big soul songs?) I liked her quirky "Fixing a Hole" last week much more. (I'd like to see her try on Lily Allen).

-Haeley Vaughn, I'm afraid, has sealed her fate. I also think that lyrics like "sometimes I'm going to have to lose" might prove prophetic.

-Simon used the word "misunderestimate."

-Ellen confused a piano for a guitar.

-Kara confused "Hand in My Pocket" for "You Oughta Know"

-Ellen is already repeating herself with that bit about forgetting she was at a singing competition. Given how middling some of the singers are at least we know Randy won't be hauling out his hoary phone book cliche anytime soon.

Watching the show got me to thinking about song choice in a different way. Yes, it's crucial to pick a song that works vocally. But I also feel like a good percentage of what one given viewer likes or dislikes on "Idol" can depend on how much affection or animus they have towards the song itself. The best contestants over the years have been able to make any song, no matter how corny or overdone, bulletproof. (For me it was stuff like David Cook's "Hello" or Fantasia's "Summertime.") No one has dressed up a song in Kevlar for me yet this year and that's worrisome.

For instance, I am not a Creed fan and found that Michelle Delamor's performance of "With Arms Wide Open" wasn't interesting enough to get me over the annoyance that I was being forced to think about Scott Stapp. Conversely, I love Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" and that made it easier to ignore the few flaws in Paige Miles' generally strong performance. I liked how you could see her confidence building as the song progressed.  And something about Lilly taking on such a huge civil rights anthem by a  vocal legend just felt odd.

My prediction for the chopping block: Haeley and Lacey

Thoughts? Did the girls beat the boys? Were you glad the judges acknowledged their whiplash-inducing advice? Was it sucking up or savvy for Paige to sing a song Kara co-wrote? Now that we've heard more of their voices do you have any song/artist suggestions?  Were you distracted by Katelyn's ginormous earrings? Coloring books??