American Idol Final 12

[Rubyn]

The songbook consists of Rolling Stones songs. With performers such as Lilly Scott and Todrick Hall gone, the interesting arrangements will be few and far between. How will singers such as Katie Stevens and Aaron Kelly hold up in unfamiliar territory?

Michael Lynche

‘Miss You’

[Robyn] Green Mile’s moms died when he was a young aspiring football player (2 x’s multiplier). Mike dropped the guitar for the second week in a row and had a pretty decent, yet robotic performance. He isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
[JoeyB] There were honestly parts of this performance that made me think Lynche was channeling Michael Jackson... and not in a good way. His falsetto was a little too much, and didn't have any of the wild, raw nature of Jagger. Green Mile continues to weird me out with his movements as well... big man is not going to pull off any of Mick's strutting. Overall not a bad performance considering he was doing a song by a group that is so far out of his realm, and he should be safe tonight.

Randy - Yo! yo yo! Looking to see who is in it to win it. You slayed it!
Ellen (Wearing an ascot again) - What's not to love about that, Mike?
Kara - You are hot on stage! You conveyed the message of the song.
Simon - Dancing was kind of corny but you sang it well. Verging at times a tiny bit desperate.

Didi Benami

‘Play With Fire’

[Robyn] Well, her pre-performance clip pretty much solidified that she comes from a long line of nuts. Her mother can’t even watch her daughter perform and holds herself up in Didi's LA apartment. But even so, I loved LOVED her performance tonight. I have been a fan of her voice, but haven’t really connected with any of her song choices thus far. I thought she did an amazing job and her emotions were spot on with the lyrics.
[JoeyB] Didi should never, ever speak. She loses any cuteness points as soon as she opens her mouth. Secondly, she should never try to come across as serious or angry, because it's as believable as a cross Elmo. Forgetting lyrics is also a little frowned upon. I actually liked her voice, but not for this song, one of my favorite in the Stones' catalog.
Randy - Yo! For the first times in weeks, you were on fire, dude!
Ellen - I thought you sounded great and you made the word fire with two syllables.
Kara - You had an intensity with the lyrics and sounded great.
Simon - What I like about you is that you are showing the kind of artist you are going to be.

Casey James

‘It’s All Over Now’

[Robyn] Casey’s pre-performance clip indicates that his mom and dad are divorced, you know, because we can all relate. Unfortunately for Casey, the entire family likes to jam out like some kind of middle-aged meth version of the Partridge Family. I am not a fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan, so the less he sounds like him, the more I like. But tonight, he was teetering very close to the cheesy white people blues I am not fond of. But alas, he will not be going anywhere tonight. Fear not, white people!
[Joey B] Casey is in his element tonight. He gets to play his guitar and sing a true rock song, and he didn't disappoint. I'm not quite sure the song choice was the right one... perhaps something a little more known would have been better, but he certainly performed well tonight.

Randy - Check it out, you are back to the Casey I love. I loved it, you are back for me!
Ellen - Most women, their hearts would start racing....but for people like me...blondes. I thought it was fantastic.
Kara - Tonight, you were a rock star.
Simon - You look great, you sang it well, but for me, that was like an audition performance. There's gotta be more. Be a star!

Lacey Brown

‘Ruby Tuesday’

[Robyn] Bore me to tears. I understand what they are trying to do, but Beth Gibbons she is not nor will she ever be. It is a shame that better singers had to leave when clearly this Nikki McKibbin look-alike should have been sent home last week. I will continue picking her as my choice to go home each week until she goes home.
[Joey B] I swear to God Lacey sounds like she's putting on a fake southern dialect. I'm astounded that she's still in the competition. Someone should have sat baby girl down and told her she can't pull off the chorus with that little voice of hers. The arrangement was a little strange. I think she was trying to make it hers, but the cutesy, "Still I'm gonna miss you" part was just bizarre. It took one of the most important sentiments of the song and made it sound silly. At this point in the competition, we should be getting a much better performance, and I think it might be time for Lacey to go back to singing at church.

Randy – Yo, listen. Definitely listen. I was pleasantly surprised, but you kind of held it together.
Ellen - Um, I thought it was a little sleepy for me, but I am a fan of yours.
Kara - It was 50/50 for me. There were some issues where you didn’t hit the notes right.
Simon - You perform like an actress, very thought through. You need to stop over-thinking this.

Andrew Garcia

‘Gimme Shelter’

[Robyn] Andy’s performance was so completely contrived tonight. He is desperately trying to grasp what he feels the public wants to hear and is falling flat. Like I said last week, I did some youtube research and the kid has an amazing talent. But he doesn’t seem to have the ability to translate that to the American Idol stage. If he survives after tonight, he just needs to be true to his Mexican/Asian roots (you would understand if you did a youtube search).
[Joey B] Andrew seems to be suffering from what a lot of the contestants are tonight by trying to take on a song that requires a strong vocal and just not having the pipes for it. He started to pick it up by the end of the song, but by then it was too little, too late. Granted, I don't see the Stones as Andrew's type of music that he would be singing, but the choice of a ballad might have been more of a showcase for his talents. Andrew may be in trouble tonight with just one too many lukewarm performances.

Randy - It was pitchy everywhere, it wasn't great, dude.
Ellen - What do I know, that was your best performance yet.
Kara - I want to make you better.
Simon – I genuinely hope you survive another week.

Tim Urban

‘Under My Thumb’

[Robyn] Tim has nerd parents and for some reason, I don’t get the feeling that he is very close to his gigantic Osmond-like family. Just a hunch. I sense a little bit of corporal punishment mixed with “WHAT?? YOU WANT TO BE A SINGER?” going on with his creepy mustache sporting father. I am not sure I will ever have anything positive to say about poor Tim. He never should have made it to the Top 12 and will only stick around via the Jason Castro clause. Meaning, the girls will vote for him for his looks, even though he doesn’t deserve to be there. The whole performance was just gross and vile to me.
[Joey B] Hey! I see what you did there, Tim! You put a reggae beat behind it and made it yours... except you aren't Jamaican, or really even a singer. I don't even know where to start with this total failure of a performance. Jah should rise up and smite this young man for blasphemy. And that sound you heard in the background? Yes... Bob Marley spinning in his grave. When is he going hooooome?
Randy - Listen man, I didn't get that, dude. It was very bizarre for me. I didn't understand it.
Ellen - Yeah, I felt like I was at a resort, you sounded great, but you just didn't wow me.
Kara - I gotta applaud you for doing something so incredibly different with this song.
Simon - I have to applaud you for doing something different, but it didn't work.

Siobhan Magnus

‘Paint It Black’

[Robyn] First off, I have to say that she has THEE coolest tattoo of tattoos and I don't even like tattoos. I have had this picture on my MySpace page for years and have titled it “Babysitter”. No clue what the picture is officially titled or where it came from but it's creepy and weird and I love it.

Anyway, can this girl be any cooler? I think she is the most interesting contestant American Idol has seen thus far. She is so quirky and bizarre, I love her! I always take notes as the contestants are singing and I compared her to a female version of Adam Lambert. I was not at all shocked when I heard Kara say the same.
[Joey B] This arrangement was a complete loser. I finally figured out what is wrong with her voice. She's only good for one good belted out note. She saves up all her energy for it and the rest of the song suffers. This was all wrong, wrong, wrong. The whole thing sounded flat. I'm sure she won't go home tonight, but only because there were worse performances tonight.
Randy - Bringing the drama to American Idol Season 9, that was hot!
Ellen - I love the way you look, the way you sound, you rise above!
Kara - I am having flashbacks of Adam Lambert, the best interpretation of the song tonight.
Simon - Standout performance of the night.

Lee Dewyze

‘Beast of Burden’

[Robyn] He sounded decent, but the problems with his pitch continue. If Lee were a more consistent singer, I would slate him as a dark horse to win the show, but he has terrible intonation issues that will never allow him to go that far.
[Joey B] ‘Beast of Burden’ is sort of a boring song and Lee tried to perk it up a bit, but there's only so much you can do. Bad song choice, with all of the strong songs he could have picked. This was just a wasted opportunity for Lee, but he'll be safe for this week.
Randy - I thought it was dope, one of your better performances.
Ellen - I expected a tiny bit more , kind of like hospital gown, but it was a little less than I expected.
Kara - You are growing faster than anyone.
Simon - I like you as a story (paint salesman), but your personality holds you back.

Paige Miles

‘Honky Tonk Woman’

[Robyn] Well it was finally nice to hear Paige sing. Up until now, I kept wondering what the judges were alluding to when they were saying she had the best voice in the competition. I wasn’t fond of the song for her, but she did a decent job with it.
[Joey B] Paige has laryngitis this week. I didn't think this would ever come out of my mouth, but someone just OVERsang a Stones song tonight. Considering her performance was the first time she sang the song, being unable to rehearse, she did a good job over all. Please, please, please America, let me have my black girl.
Randy - You did alright with this.
Ellen - You have such great star quality, no one would know you have struggled with your voice.
Kara - You attempted to do a lot with that song. But the Paige we fell in love with is back.
Simon - Laryngitis - taking that into effect, you did great. You still haven't quite connected. But at least we heard the big voice we loved in Hollywood.

Aaron Kelly

‘Angie’

[Robyn] His mother's name is Kelly Kelly? Wow. I know that they are all starting to get the infamous “Idol makeover” but why did it look like he took a nap after they did his hair? That was just weird. I can't help but wonder how much longer Aaron can ride the coattails of a ballad before the judges start tearing into him. Be forewarned, it is coming soon.
[Joey B] Are you kidding me? He totally flubbed the beginning of perhaps the best Stones song. I was wondering who would get saddled with this one and was completely disappointed to see it was Aaron. It was so very wrong for him. This is not a song for a young man's voice. It needs to have an undertone of cigarettes, whiskey and Marianne Faithfull's holy of holies. Aaron brought a Snickers bar, Sprite and that girl he got to second base with behind the gym after second period last month.
[Robyn] Joey B! I don’t know a Stones song from a hole in the wall, but that right there made me LOLZ.
Randy - Yo, hey man. Your mom was right. You were definitely born to sing.
Ellen - Are you trying to do your hair like mine now? Great song choice for you, next to Siobhan.
Kara- I beat you up good last week, but you showed me this week! Really great.
Simon - I must admit, I feared for you when I heard it was Rolling Stones week, but you chose absolutely 100% the right song.

Crystal Bowersox

‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’

[Robyn] It doesn’t surprise me much that she is from a creepy farm in Ohio. Hey guess what? She has teeth now! I love how they are putting in starter teeth, trying to convince the audience that the missing teeth were always there by leaving a teeny bit of a gap. Nicely done, American Idol! I don’t know what else to say about Crystal. She is good, but she is the same every week and this will not appease the insatiable American Idol public after a while. If I were inclined to grow armpit and leg hair, I am sure I would be in love….but no. I prefer shaving and washing my hair. Crystal will never make it to the final two.
[Joey B] Crystal made an excellent choice of song tonight, one that could have been written for her. Her voice was perfect and she totally rocked it out. She looked a lot more comfortable tonight and showed a lot of personality.

Randy - Yo! Alright Yo! Listen! I don't think it was your best performance, but let me tell you, man. I...love…you.
Ellen - You sing with such ease. You were born to be on stage.
Kara - It wasn't the greatest vocal performance, but you are very easy to watch.
Simon - This was the first time I feel that you were beaten by someone, which was Siobhan.
Going Home:
[Robyn] Lacey Brown
[Joey B] I don’t think he realized it was only one, so he said Tim Urban and Lacey Brown

Bodog.com odds:

Aaron Kelly 40/1
Andrew Garcia 10/1
Casey James 7/1
Crystal Bowersox 7/4
Didi Benami 18/1
Katie Stevens 22/1
Lacey Brown 40/1
Lee Dewyze 13/2
Michael Lynche 5/1
Paige Miles 50/1
Siobhan Magnus 5/1
Tim Urban 40/1