Doogie Howser is Not Going, He's Staying

Jasmine Murray
"Love Song" - Sarah Barielles

Jasmine's voice has always been hit or miss for me. Sometimes, she nails her technique and her voice really rings out in a positive way. Other times, and I'll cite age and nerves as reasons, she goes straight into her nose and gets reedy and shrill. Her performance of "Love Song" demonstrates that aesthetically she's an absolute pleasure to watch and someday when she gets her shit together she'll be great, but vocally she has a bit of training left to do.

Grade: C-

Matt Giraud
"Viva La Vida" - Coldplay

Matt has the most awkward face ever. It always looks tense and scrunched up, like he just cleaned a particularly messy cat litter box. During the auditions, he had a great musicality about him, but he pisses it away on this song. His vocal interpretation doesn't match the arrangement, and the whole performance never comes together. Also, the are real issues with his vibrato here. It's the biggest fail of the night from one of the stronger contenders.

Grade: D+

Jeanine Vailes
"This Love" - Maroon 5

Jeanine hasn't been featured on the show yet. And she hopefully won't ever be again. She really is all legs though. The whole thing is just bad. Nothing more to say about it. Her singing sucks and her friend looks like Ugly Betty.

Grade: F

Nick Mitchell
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" - Dreamgirls

Oh Nick. I kind of completely love him. It's like a classic SNL character showed up to audition for American Idol, almsot like a Gilda Radner, Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan (you cannot touch the MANGO!) or something. He's actually the first contestant who stays in tune for a good majority of the song. In the middle, his schtick gets in the way of his tuning, but like the singing was ever the point. I seriously thought it was the most flat out entertaining performance of the semi-finals thus far, and that has to count for something. Normund pulls out a pretty impressive glory note at the end of the entire thing. I'd love for him to get a call back in the WC. DOOGIE!

Grade: Personally? An A+. Objectively? B-.

Allison Iraheta
"Alone" - Heart

Holy crap, it's a rock version of Camile Velasco that can sing! Allison has terribly fake red hair and is so awkward in her Seacrest segment. The awkwardness is kind of endearing at first, but it'll grate should she move forward. I cringe when she says she's singing Heart's "Alone." Then my cringing is proven wrong. Allison has this really cool and natural raspy tone in her voice and she's totally owning the stage. Her top range isn't as full as her middle range, the performance is dramatic and verges on theatrical, and she kind of looks like a Rocky Horror Picture Show extra, but it's easily the best performance of the night and I think all of those things are absolutely fine.

Grade: A

Kris Allen
"Man in the Mirror" - Michael Jackson

Kris is another male contestant the show hasn't featured that much who ends up being pretty decent. The beginning isn't that strong and it's kind of easy to tell that Kris is waiting to open up, which bugs a bit. Pick a song that's good throughout, idol contestants. When he does open up, it's typical idol goodness, but really cheesy to me, even for this show. Solid singer though. I'm not sure. I can only take so many "up with people" contestants and we already have Danny Gokey in the finals.

Grade: B

Megan Joy Corkrey
"Put Your Records On" - Corrine Bailey Rae

Megan's a cool chick. She's quirky, fun, and got a bit of a sense of humor about her. Her tone is very unusual. Her voice naturally breaks throughout her range, but it's very listenable. I could see how the bodily ticks would bug some people, but I'm not really bothered by it. She really is kind of this combination of a throw back and contemporary jazz singer. I think there might have been one or two songs she could've really owned, but this easily one of the most interesting engaging performances of the night.

Grade: B+

Matt Breitkze
"If You Could Only See" - Tonic

Matt's performance is a perfect example of why the jduges can annoy me. All four judges can't put their finger on why the performance didn't move them, so they treat it like it was bad. They get it half right when they label it boring. The problem was that Matt took no risks, did no attempts at breaking out and being aggresive with a song that calls for it. He took a song full of tension and made it laid back, which was a mistake.

Grade: C+

Jesse Langseth
"Bette Davis Eyes" - Kim Carnes

I thought Jesse's performance was reminiscent of S4's Nadia Turner. Jesse's not one the younger girls nor does she act like it. Jesse's got this amazing tone and would be easily recognizable on the radio, and her phrasing is unique. She hits a few bum notes here and there, but her presence and vibe more than make up for it. "Bette Davis Eyes" doesn't lend itself to the idol format, but... fuck the format, I like a left-field choice here and there. She's a really hip chick. I hope she gets through, or at least a Wildcard. She's a very mature performer.

Grade: A-

Kai Kalama
"What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" - Jimmy Ruffin

Kai is techincally solid and proficient, but he's a total snoozefest. He really is background music, and I agree with Simon that he'd make an excellent back-up singer. Unlike Simon however, I don't think that's the worst thing in the world. He's okay, but unmarketable with the retro box he insists on staying in.

Grade: C

Mishavonna Henson
"Drops of Jupiter" - Train

Mishavonna is a S7 reject and if I got cut in favor of singers like Amy Davis, I'm not sure I wouldn't come back just to punch Simon in the face personally. She's got a nice voice, but she comes across as very serious and intense. Actually, she kind of reminds of Katharine McPhee with her phrasing and clothing style. The whole thing is well delivered and if this show were fair and about the performances on a given night, she'd be in contention for a WC bid. But I doubt we'll see her again, which is a shame.

Grade: B+

Adam Lambert
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones

Adam is actually able to reap some form of useful advice from the judges critiques, thank deity. Or at least, he knows what they're saying: tone it down, cause you're all way up in the face of the viewer. However, I kind of think Adam either doesn't care, or knows enough about Idol to realize that his best bet with this format of the semi-finals is to be a big giant bag of flame. Adam is definitely an amazing live performer, no doubt about that. Where he'll run into troubleis with selling CDs. I like him well enough that if he were in town I'd go and catch his show, but I don't think I could deal with a CD of that over the top, but impressive, vocal style. But he should sail through tonight.

Grade: A

Should go through: Allison Iraheta, Jesse Langseth, Adam Lambert

Will go through: Allison, Adam, Kris Allen (though I won't count Matt Giraud out completely)

WCs: Jesse/Kris/Matt, Megan Corkrey