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Lee DeWyze Shines Like Winner On “American Idol” Top 3 Night

In the past several weeks, Lee DeWyze began emerging as a potential rival to presumed “American Idol” winner Crystal Bowersox. Across his two performances on Tuesday’s top three performance show, DeWyze did one better: he created a situation in which anything other than a Lee DeWyze “American Idol” victory would be a shocker.

After finally showing some inconsistency in the latter part of the competition, Crystal Bowersox absolutely rebounded with a strong night Tuesday. Lee’s dominance was therefore earned–he did not take advantage of Crystal having an off-night or shine by virtue of being the “best of the worst.” This was a perfectly solid night for Crystal, and she did not just lose the charm or personality battle–she lost the singing battle.

Having the judges on his side to sell his “story” has served to further enhance the success of his performances. The evolution from paint salesman to star is resonating well with fans, and it almost makes viewers forget that Crystal, herself, is very much a storybook performer who wants to provide for her child without compromising her identity.

Ultimately, unless the judges are deliberately “swerving” fans in order to suddenly get behind Crystal Bowersox for having a “moment” during the finale, Lee appears to have all the momentum necessary to win. Some will be quick to note that Bo Bice was in a different league during the Top 3 show in season four and ultimately lost in the finale to Carrie Underwood, but the difference here is that aside from gender, Crystal is no more reflective of Carrie than Lee is. It is not as if she is the “people’s choice” to win the competition; she, above anyone else, was the producers’ and judges’ original selection to win (whereas Carrie was the original judges’ and producers’ choice and, also, a beloved fan option against the more seasoned Bo Bice). So, with that in mind, this scenario can also be compared to last year’s Top 3 in which dark horse-turned-show-favorite Kris Allen outsang Adam Lambert and built the momentum needed to take down the odds-on favorite.

Casey James’ conspicuous absence from the aforementioned analysis is intentional–he simply made no mark Tuesday night. While his staying power past strong contestants in Michael Lynche and Aaron Kelly proves he has loyal fans, if they go ahead and vote him into the finals, they really have done this year’s “Idol” a great disservice. He is perfectly talented, but he did not show any sign of belonging with Crystal and Lee this week. In the rare event that he does get through, it will not matter anyway–he will lose to Lee or Crystal.

Round One – Contestant’s Choice
The worst thing Casey James could have done was say that his choice of “OK, It’s Alright With Me” represented who he planned to be as an artist. He basically told America he will be a generic, boring artist. The song is unrecognizable to most and simply uninspired to those who know it, which resulted in a boring, vibrato-rich mess for Casey. His vocals were not especially terrible, but they were especially unremarkable, and he did nothing to show he sees himself as an “American Idol.” With minimal audience engagement, minimal vocal ownership and minimal confidence, Casey came off as someone who knows it is over and simply wanted to get through a night of misery.

Crystal Bowersox also struggled due to song choice, picking the beyond-predictable “Come to My Window.” For someone whose only real knocks have been self-indulgence and limited ability to beilevably adapt her style to a less comfortable song, Crystal went as safe as possible with a song that literally IS her kind of song. Even though she sounded good, she showed nothing new or exciting, so it was a worthless performance. Those who like this kind of Crystal were going to vote anyway, and those who have previously found her to be too distant and indulgent would not see this as a sign that she can break out of her shell. For all the criticism, the vocals were, nonetheless, strong, although her voice seemed to be less powerful and more subject to cracking than in the past.

Round one thus belonged to Lee Dewyze. His “Simple Man” was a perfect song choice, successful not only for its status as a ‘working man’s anthem’ but because it allowed him to maximize the raspy edginess of his voice. He was confident. He was sincere. And, best of all, he was smart, hitting key notes with strength and force without overextending his voice and exposing the limits of his vocal technique. It was a simply show-stopping performance that millions of people would have paid to see live, and it simply showed that Lee, better than anyone else this year, knows not only who he is but how to make who he is relatable to the general public.

If there was any criticism for Lee, it was that he patted himself on the back a bit too heavily for the song choice. It might not be “current,” but it is also not a bold, abstract song–it is one of the most cliched theme songs and karaoke numbers in the history of southern rock.

Round Two – Judges’ Choice
If Casey James did not put the nail in his coffin with his own choice, Kara and Randy cemented it shut in choosing John Mayer’s “Daughters.” One of their biggest criticisms has been Casey’s general inability to deliver a hard-hitting, show-stopping emotional moment on the stage. So they choose a song that they, themselves, refer to as low-key and relaxed? It just made no sense, and one had to feel a bit badly for Casey. Neither his vocals nor stage skills were perfect, but even if they had been, this song still would not have delivered the kind of performance Casey needed to make a mark Tuesday night.

Judges’ choices are traditionally quite cliched, but why not go for something like “Outside” by Staind? Why not choose a harder-hitting, more passionate modern rock song that would better situate Casey as a commercially-relevant artist? He is NEVER going to be John Mayer.

For all her flaws, Ellen DeGeneres gave Crystal the boldest song choice in “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Crystal’s voice again seemed to be a bit shot, and the constant “I’m a man” lyric felt a bit odd, but the overall performance was leaps-and-bounds better than her first number. With this song, Crystal actually showed how her soulful, down-home vocal talent could be applied to a more grandiose number–it showed that she is, above all, a legitimate singing talent. And had she not looked a bit bored during her walk around the stage, this would have been an unequivocal slam dunk.

Over the past few years, Simon Cowell really has not chosen songs “for” the contestants. He instead has chosen songs that an “American Idol” contestant should be able to sing in order to appeal to the masses. His pick of “Hallelujah,” which has become cliched for “Idol” viewers, has nothing inherently to do with Lee or his vocal style. But what it did do was allow Lee to interpret a beautiful song and prove that, for all his flack about not being a talented technical vocalist, he could deliver in a big way.

He did. Though the background choir helped, Lee’s ownership of the song was phenomenal–and it, in some ways, was the best version of the song ever on the show. While Jason Castro’s was more hard-hitting at the time, Jason did not stray from the famous Jeff Buckley cover nearly as much as Lee did, and thus relied moreso on that song being a bold “Idol” choice–at the time. With Lee, he took a generic “Idol” song and absolutely made it his own, incorporating a rocker tone into the number without taking away the song’s personality or beauty. In some respects, this was the best performance of the season, and it impossibly overshadowed anything else performed on the stage Tuesday.

Top Three Rankings:
Performance One:
Lee
Crystal
Casey

Performance Two:
Lee
Crystal
Casey

Overall:
Lee’s “Hallelujah”
Lee’s “Simple Man”
Crystal’s “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Casey’s “Daughters”
Crystal’s “Come to My Window”
Casey’s “Ok, It’s Alright”

Written by Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002.

Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj.

Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

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