Siobhan Magnus Can’t Touch Michael Lynche on “American Idol”

A combination of a male mentor in Usher and the suitability of the soul/R&B theme led the “American Idol” males to run the table this Tuesday.

Of the females, only one made any sort of impact, and even her “moment” shared the limelight with two fantastic performances on the male side. From day one, this year’s competition has appeared destined for the crowning of a female winner, and while that nothing assures “Idol” is leaving that path, it is clear that the men do indeed have a chance.

Battling for the night’s top spot were Michael “Big Mike” Lynche and Lee DeWyze, and it will be impossible to find a consensus as to which was better. On the one hand, you had Michael show infinite poise and charisma on “Ready to Love,” connecting with a song that almost no contestant–male or female–would be able to turn into something memorable. His smooth vocals and passionate delivery, all with guitar in hand, absolutely screamed seasoned veteran. While there is some opposition to Michael’s success due to his likeness to struggling past winner Ruben Studdard, the fact is that Michael is immensely likable and phenomenally talented when he gets on stage. A likely long-term commercial success story or not, one simply cannot deny that he is one of the better contestants.

Though not as poised and controlled, there was still something truly incredible about Lee this week. No one doubts the unrivaled quality of Lee’s voice, and his interpretations of some songs (“Lips of an Angel” and “Chasing Cars,” in particular) have taken rather cliched, overplayed pop-rock numbers to the next level. But he has struggled to emerge as a dominant force with his occasional pitch problems and frequent personality issues. Simply, he has failed to consistently hit home runs when he tries to “reach” and take songs to the next level.

That did not happen on “Treat Her Like a Lady.” Lee absolutely nailed it, simultaneously capturing the song’s subtly and showing how big and exciting he can be as a vocal performer. His failure to “work the camera” still minimizes his impact, but everything from the dramatic build of the song to the David Cook-like enunciation made this one of those “American Idol moments.” Simon Cowell was absolutely right to say this could be the performance that changes Lee’s life forever.

Very close behind was clear frontrunner Crystal Bowersox. Her heavily-hyped “surprise”–a ditching of the acoustic guitar for a piano-driven rendition of “Midnight Train to Georgia”–made for an interesting number that again showed how multi-faceted Crystal can truly be. Her vocals would have held up in any arena; she sang this song as a soul diva, escaping the ‘low-key rock’ stigma she has had in the past. Essentially, instead of figuring out a way to bypass the soul/R&B theme by choosing a rock female’s cover of a soul classic, she went right at the song and proved that she’s not one-note. She’s the best all-around contestant this year.

That being true, what prevented this from achieving “moment” status was the fact that there was still something a bit uncomfortable about her delivery. Simon Cowell addressed it perfectly. This performance did prove that Crystal is a real, versatile singer with an absolutely brilliant, controlled voice. It nonetheless only served to remind viewers WHY she has generally been doing the same thing in this competition. From the awkward wardrobe to the uncoordinated choreography around the piano, she did not feel “at home” this week. She showed she can do R&B, but she did not give any indication that this is who she really is. In that sense, this was similar to Chris Daughtry’s infamous “What a Wonderful World” from season five. For as much as it proved she can actually sing straight-ahead, it did not show that she is particularly comfortable or believable outside of her ways.

After weeks of taking a beating from the judges and in this review column, Andrew Garcia finally stepped up with a fantastic take on “Forever.” In addition to selecting a song that matched his voice perfectly, Garcia actually found a way to be himself–and make the song MORE soulful than the original. Make no mistake–“Forever” is a phenomenal pop song–but it’s ultimately a novelty dance number meant for the clubs and the radio. Garcia offered a rendition that showed there is true beauty and artistry in the song, and that was exactly what he needed to do. His voice still seems a little too thin and is act remains a little too cliched for him to have a real shot at winning this competition, but he at least showed he can still deliver something interesting.

Casey James offered another solid male performance with “Hold On, I’m Comin.” His overrated guitar playing and excessive smiling dampened the effect, but he truly did sound great this week. Casey is by no means as talented or as interesting a vocalist as Lee, but he does bring a unique charm to that edgy, soulful vibe and thus makes for a perfect complement in this competition. That likability and talent should keep him around for several weeks, because while he has not yet had one of those desired “moments,” he really has only had one less than solid performance.

Elsewhere, Katie Stevens continued her trend of being “good, not great” with “Chain of Fools.” She continues to struggle with some notes and occasionally loses control of her voice (allowing it to enter a weird ‘bellow’ realm), but the fact remains that there was something very intriguing about this performance. Contestants like Katie typically give the pageant, manufactured vibe on “American Idol.” There are portions of her act that absolutely do fit that robotic criteria, but there is also an element of star quality that eclipses what virtually every older contestant brings to the table. In what is good and bad on “Idol,” Katie is the type of contestant who one could envision ‘making it’ without the show. The problem is that voters normally want to connect with a contestant as they develop, and Katie is simultaneously not developing quickly enough and a bit too polished and self-assured to really “connect” with viewers. The result is that America can receive vocally-solid, entertaining performances like this from Katie and still not completely feel impressed.

Hit-or-miss Aaron Kelly leaned a bit towards the ‘miss’ side with “Ain’t No Sunshine.” He was not terrible, but this was one of those weeks that made viewers ask ‘so what?’ There was just no character or substance in his voice, so while he hit the notes fairly well and still shows off a degree of charm, he did not come across as a star or someone who could take a song to the next level. His more straight-ahead, karaoke take on the song also paled in comparison to Kris Allen’s brilliantly soulful take last year.

Tim Urban’s reign of ridiculousness continued with an absurd take on “Sweet Love.” As Randy Jackson mentioned, he actually hit his notes and sounded decent at times. The problem was that he not only sucked any emotion out of the song, but actually lost anything unique about himself in the performance as well. He, at times, was offering a John Stevens-esque ‘lounge act’ rendition, something that does not really suit the character of his voice at all. At other times, he was simply boring, spending more time going overboard in making eye contact with the camera than finding his way through the song. Though this week’s performance was a rebuttal to those of his critics who say he cannot sing, it was not a performance that proves Americans are wrong for wanting to see him eliminated.

In one of the night’s strangest turns of events, the worst competitor was Siobhan Magnus, who had previously been delivering as one of the frontrunners. Her take on “Through the Fire” was absolutely brutal, featuring some of the most painfully out-of-tune notes of the finals. Absent any sort of emotional connection or theatrics, not even her screams could register this week. Everything about her was just awful, and as she does not have the personality or charisma to turn a bad performance into something entertaining, this was a seriously disillusioning showing.

Also near the bottom was the seriously-overrated Didi Benami, who once again came across as significantly B-league on “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.” Her facials were as exaggerated and insincere as ever, and any glimpses of beauty in her voice were ruined with her string of missed notes and ridiculously over-the-top accent. Her personality is also becoming as grating as her accent, resulting in a contestant that, top to bottom, is just not working. There is still something to Didi–with the right song, she can do so much more than a singer like Tim or Aaron would ever hope to do. But if she keeps going for these melodramatic ‘moments,’ she is not worth watching.

TOP 10 PERFORMANCE RANKINGS
*Rankings by performance quality, not anticipated vote total
Michael Lynche
Lee DeWyze
Crystal Bowersox
Andrew Garcia
Casey James
Katie Stevens
Aaron Kelly
Tim Urban
Didi Benami
Siobhan Magnus