Siobhan Magnus Tops Even Crystal Bowersox on “American Idol”

Throughout the semifinals, previously-unhyped Siobhan Magnus started gaining traction with “American Idol” fans and critics. But because she had yet to truly nail a performance, there was some doubt about whether the buzz was due to her ability or due to her, for lack of a better word, weirdness.

Whatever the case might have been initially, Siobhan proved on Tuesday’s Top 12 performance show that she indeed has talent.

Make no mistake, she is still rather odd. But her theatrical, haunting take on “Paint it, Black” was far and away the highlight of “Rolling Stones night,” solidifying Siobhan’s status as someone to watch in this competition for more than just her odd facial expressions and off-beat comments. She knows how to sell a song, and her recognizable, powerful voice is leagues above much of her competition.

She is not yet perfect–her occasionally muddled lower register almost involves a “bellow” at times–but her “on” moments Tuesday were absolutely the best of the night. By taking a classic song and making an impact, shocking note at the end or not, Siobhan established herself as one of those contestants viewers cannot help but enjoy.

The performance gave her the edge over established frontrunner Crystal Bowersox, who predictably secured the ‘pimp slot’ for her “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” For what Crystal was trying to accomplish, she was fantastic. She sang well, displayed confidence and connected with the audience.

The problem, unfortunately, was that she selected the wrong song. Recently immortalized by “Glee,” this song needed to be bigger, almost church/gospel-like. Bowersox’s charming acoustic rendition was musically pleasant enough, but it was too grounded to fully capture the depth of the song, at least as it is known to contemporary America. At the same time, Bowersox’s effort to rise for some of the more powerful notes, while effective at engaging the audience, took her performance out of the genuine, singer-songwriter realm, dampening the emotional impact Crystal normally makes on stage.

Also hurting the emotional strength of Crystal’s performance was the fact that for as good as she is, her style is not exactly unique this year. The straight-ahead, guitar-playing, bluesy-rock style is quite common, and while Crystal is the best of the mold, she gets slightly hurt by not being the mold’s only cut.

Lee DeWyze represented one of those singers Tuesday, delivering a strong rendition of “Beast and Burden.” Though he found a sweeter spot in his upper register than in past weeks, his tendency to basically mumble some of the lower notes created a bit of a disconnect. His voice remains one of the competition’s best, and he absolutely did well with the song, but it did not quite click in any sort of special way. Simon Cowell’s valid criticism regarding his lack of personality also resonated, as it is clear that Lee’s coldness is preventing the power and appeal of his voice from catching on with some skeptical voters.

Casey James did not go the acoustic route, but he definitely fell into the Lee Dewyze mold with “It’s All Over Now.” Casey’s look gives him an edge, but his actual performance was only decent. He continues to sing well with an interesting vocal texture, but he remains baffled when it comes to “selling” the performance. There was nothing that popped about this performance, and because he does not have a tone quite as vulnerable and appealing as Lee’s, his performance was even more forgettable. It was solid and by no means the kind of ‘bad’ that would make someone question whether he is here for any reason other than his looks, but it was not the kind of ‘good’ that makes someone a contender on “American Idol.”

Elsewhere, Tim Urban proved his initial doubters right with a fairly poor take on “Under My Thumb.” The reggae-inspired rendition was interesting, but the vocals were just so minor-league and lacking, and he displayed nothing in the way of personality or star quality on stage. Worse, any merit his unique arrangement might have possessed was destroyed by the fact that it lacked any sort of personal expression from Tim. Over the past few weeks, Tim carved out a niche in the Matt Nathanson-realm (he even performed “Come on Get Higher”), and this effectively neutralized that progress, reviving the confusion about what kind of artist he represents.

Even worse, and even more baffling given the judges’ high marks, was Aaron Kelly’s “Angie.” While he hit most of the notes, his voice blurred the line between boring and painful for the bulk of the song. Everything was razor-thin and devoid of emotion; he frankly would have worked better as a duet partner for eight-year-old Katie Stevens in the wedding video she introduced. There is something to be said about being youthful, but Aaron goes beyond that, offering a stage presence and voice that, while charming to some, is devoid of any sort of texture or maturity. In a pop music environment where some of the most successful female teen singers (the Miley Cyruses and Demi Lovatos) have thicker, edgier, more recognizable voices, it is just hard to take the airy Aaron Kelly seriously, especially when he does not have the swagger to pull off the style. This was an A- “American Juniors” performance but about a C- for “American Idol.” The only saving grace was that he did build the song well and told a fairly decent story, so it connected a bit better than some of the other weakly-sung numbers.

Lacey Brown was in similar territory with “Ruby Tuesday,” albeit a bit worse due to lacking the likability of young Aaron Kelly. Her voice is still gorgeous and intriguing when it works, but she has a rather thin sweet spot, and it can quickly devolve into something unpleasant. That was the case with many of the notes Tuesday. She technically hit them, but she did not power and control her voice all the way through, causing some of the performance to come across as “whiny.” And for as good as her tone technically is, there is something to be said about power-selling a chorus (eit–Lacey cannot really do that. Without really owning the chorus and selling the song to the audience, it is extremely hard to make a connection.

Andrew Garcia, though, was in many ways the night’s worst with “Gimme Shelter.” A case can be made that he technically sang his song better than some of his peers Tuesday, but when taking the whole performance into context, he failed miserably to make any sort of mark. Mock Kara DioGuardi’s war comments all you want, but she was on the right track–this is one of the most important and classic Rolling Stones songs of all time, and Andrew Garcia’s diluting of the song was tantamount to butchering. This was absolutely a “Rock Band” performance in that he was playing to hit the notes without singing as a star (and he did not even hit all of them). The verses were karaoke, and the chorus (granted, some of this was the lack of prominent background singers) was just egregious, turning one of the most famous rock song segments of all-time into something far too low and ordinary. There are some songs that are not meant to be altered for the range of the singer, and after seeing Andrew Garcia stumble through “Gimme Shelter,” this particular Stones song is absolutely one of them.

Also disappointing was Michael Lynche, whose “Miss You” brought him many steps back from last week’s showstopper. Though he sounded fine, this was a textbook example of a wedding performance. Simon Cowell could not have been more accurate in criticizing Lynche’s movement, which was so bad and comedic that it almost looked as if Lynche was in some ironic lip-syncing contest. Michael has the biggest and most charming personality in the competition, but this week’s showing was quite sobering in its emphasizing of how far from perfect he is as an artist.

Didi Benami, who earned widespread acclaim for her “Rhiannon” last week, was solid this week with “Play with Fire.” Her voice sounded beautiful at times, and while her “angry” facial started to get repetitive and insincere by the end, at least it represented a step in the direction of personality for Didi. A few rough patches in the vocals–notably a consistently uncomfortable delivery of “fire”–prevented this from battling with Siobhan at the top, but it was still a great, standout performance.

After taking a beating from the judges and critics in the semifinals, Katie Stevens finally showed some life on “Wild Horses.” For all her shortcomings, she absolutely comes across as a poised, believable star on stage, and this song absolutely brought the best out of her vocals. Her voice is still a bit generic and underwhelming for this competition, but as she finally ‘owned’ a performance and even managed to make some Katharine McPhee-like adjustments to the melody, this was a big step for the young diva. Will this performance help her transcend the belief that her status in the competition hinges on her youthful cutesiness? No. But it should start to make people reconsider whether she has the potential to do great things on the stage, because she clearly is a good singer.

Paige Miles’ “Honky Tonk Woman” was the standard, overpraised performance from the judges. Especially considering the fact that she was suffering from laryngitis, there were some great vocal moments, and she was never boring. Still, her weird delivery of the chorus and general failure to ‘own’ the song made this your standard bar performance. It was good to see Paige have fun after last week’s disaster, but she still has yet to prove she can transition from performer to star.

Top 12 Rankings
*This is an assessment of the performances Tuesday; it is not a prediction of vote totals.
Siobhan Magnus
Crystal Bowersox
Didi Benami
Lee Dewyze
Katie Stevens
Casey James
Michael Lynche
Paige Miles
Tim Urban
Aaron Kelly
Lacey Brown
Andrew Garcia