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American Idol 9, March 16 Recap: Hope You Guessed My Nameby Jenn Brasler -- 03/17/2010
View Printable version of this article The judges get their own special intro this week, since it’s been a few days since someone paid special attention to Simon. Also, we’re LIVE! Ryan shows off the big stage, then brings out the top 12. Katie looks like a Disney TV star. Maybe that’s where she’ll go next once she’s inevitably voted off. Ryan reminds us that the theme tonight is the Rolling Stones. Cue the montage teaching the young’uns who the Stones are. Michael is up first, and tonight we get to learn more about the contestants’ lives. Mike grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has always been a performer. As a teen he played football and thought that would be his future, but then his mom got sick (and eventually died), and his priorities shifted. He found solace in music, playing guitar again after her death. His wife Christa tells us that until he picked up a guitar, she didn’t even know he played. Mike thinks his mom would be extremely proud of him. 
Mike does “Miss You” almost like it’s a Michael Jackson song. The performance seems a little over-the-top to me, but the vocals are great. He’s setting the bar high. This is what everyone needs to do tonight – make the songs different. Randy says Mike has been good every week. He didn’t love the arrangement at the beginning, but Mike reminded him how great of a performer he is. Mike slayed it. Ellen loved the performance; she thinks at some point she’ll be disappointed, but not yet. That was the way to start the night. Kara says it’s hard to fill up the big stage, and the Stones are able to do that because they’re great performers. Mike delivered that Mick Jagger attitude and swagger (heh, that rhymes) tonight. Simon notes that Mike definitely has his confidence up, especially after last week’s terrific performance. His performance, especially his dancing, was a little corny. Mike sang well, but when he watches back, he might see some desperation. Ryan wants some elaboration. Simon asks if he wants him to talk to Ryan or Mike. Ryan comes down to the table and quietly tells Simon that he’s trying to help Mike. Simon backs up to preserve his personal space, then sends Ryan back to the stage. He tells Ryan they’ll sort this out in his trailer afterwards. Yeah, like Simon has a trailer. Didi’s mom gets too nervous to watch her daughter perform; that makes Didi nervous in turn. She also can’t watch Didi during the critiques. Didi grew up in Knoxville, the middle of three very different girls. She was always the dreamy, artistic one. Didi’s mom says she screamed a lot as a baby, so they knew she would always get what she wanted. Mom’s enjoying her time in L.A. Didi thinks she pushes herself the most out of everyone in her family, but her mom is also very supportive. Didi sings “Play With Fire” in a low-key way. I’m bored. Really, I don’t have anything else to say except that. It’s fine, but boring. She screws something up but gets right back into it, which is really the nicest thing I can say about this. Randy’s always interested to see which songs people will choose with themes like this. He thinks Didi made a great choice. Ellen loves Didi’s voice. She likes how she recovered when she lost her way. Kara thinks Didi loses it a little when she pushes her vocals. She went dark tonight, and it’s compelling to hear a sweet voice singing an eerie song. This week and last both moved Didi toward who she is as an artist. Simon agrees with everyone. Didi’s showing the kind of artist she wants to be. He liked the song choice, too. He thought Didi was going to lose it about 30 seconds in, but she picked it up. However, she can do better than this. 
Ryan asks Didi why she went darker. Didi says that Siobhan was her roommate for a while and is rubbing off on her. Heh. She thinks her claws have kept her alive in L.A., and she wanted to show them. Casey’s from Cool, Texas, as we learned at his original audition. His parents divorced when he was four or five. His mom tells us that he had seizures as a baby, thanks to a bad reaction to a vaccine, and the doctors thought he had brain damage. Wow. Casey would hum tunes in his crib, and his mom knew he would be okay. Some of Casey’s relatives sing, so he fits in well with them. Mom gets emotional over the tough times the family’s been through. He credits his family with helping him get to where he is. With his electric guitar, Casey does “It’s All Over Now,” sounding like a mix between Elvis and the Beatles. This is my favorite performance he’s done so far in the competition. It’s the perfect song choice, and he made it fit his style. He seems more confident right now, too. Randy’s also excited to see Casey back to the guy he loved. He thinks he can have a career doing this sort of thing. Ellen believes “most women” will find their hearts racing when they look at Casey. But for people like her… blondes… it was fantastic. Kara said previously that Casey was trying to be a rock star, but tonight, he was a rock star. He picked a country-ish song that also had some blues and soul. This was his best performance so far. Simon disagrees – Casey looks great and sang well, but this was like an audition performance. He didn’t use the stage and this platform to do something incredible. He can’t just stand there and play the guitar. Simon continues that Casey’s a good artist and people like him but he needs more. “Just be a star,” he says. 1 2 3 4 Next-->View Printable version of this article
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