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Tatiana del Toro mistreated and Top 13 announced, American Idol 8 Wildcard

March 5, 2009 by vongsundara

I had a lot of fun watching tonight’s American Idol 2009 Wildcard Round. There were some definite highs, some strange lows and the weird announcement of the Top 13. Making it through to the Top 13 (yes 13, not 12) are Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray and Megan Joy Corkrey.

I really don’t think much of Jasmine at all. She’s almost commercial, but not quite pretty enough or talented enough vocally to be a star. Megan Joy Corkrey has the looks and the voice to be a real star, but she definitely needs to work on her stage performance. Anoop Desai is very likable, but his vocals the last couple of rounds have been absolutely terrible. Matt Giraud had a terrible performance as well, but he has potential for sure.

I don’t like to mention the judges too often, but I do think they went a bit far tonight with their exploitation and bias against Tatiana del Toro. Paula blasted her for singing the same song, but then all four judges made excuses for why Anoop Desai made the right choice to sing the same song again. Their reasoning was paper thin. “You sang it better than last time?” Whatever . . . at least Tatiana rearranged her vocals this time and changed up the entire feel of the song and her look and performance. Anoop actually sang the same song in the same arrangement with the same stage performance.

Overall, the performances weren’t that great for tonight’s Wildcard Round. No one really broke through to prove that they absolutely belonged in the Top 13.

Ricky Braddy performs Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”

Ricky Braddy, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

Ricky Braddy’s vocals were absolutely fantastic tonight. Stevie Wonder is not an easy singer to emulate. Ricky hit some very low notes and transitioned well into his falsetto for a couple of notes. His vocals are on a whole different level than most of the competitors tonight.

Ricky Braddy’s hair and wardrobe were great. I liked the vest and the purple tie. Ricky’s stage performance was pretty horrible, though. I’m happy that Ricky tried to show his personality, but the performance made him look very amateur.

Review Score: ★★★★☆

Tatiana del Toro performs Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love For You”

Titiana Del Toro, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

Tatiana del Toro chose to perform the same song again for some strange reason. She struggled through the entire first verse, but the second half of the song is absolutely brilliant and better than almost everyone else tonight. It’s really too bad that she didn’t choose a different song.

Tatiana del Toro chose a very Las Vegas-style look tonight. Her dress was very shiny, and I don’t think I enjoy this look as much as what she was wearing last time.

Tatiana’s performance was a little more aggressive than last time. I like how she matched her performance with her look. Even the arrangement of the vocals tonight was more aggressive. It’s nice to see that Tatiana is able to perform the same song multiple ways.

Review Score: ★★★½☆

Megan Joy Corkrey performs KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”

Megan Joy Corkrey, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

Megan Joy Corkrey delivers a fairly solid rendition of KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” although she misses the last note badly. Megan has a piercing voice that works well for this song. There are a few times, though, that Megan didn’t place any breath behind her voice, and it sounded like she was talking instead of singing.

Megan Joy Corkrey looks absolutely stunning tonight. Her makeup and hair are spot-on and much better than she looked in her previous performance. Her dress is cute too, but her long black pants don’t really seem to fit.

Review Score: ★★★☆☆

Matt Giraud performs Jackson 5′s “Who’s Lovin’ You”

Matt Giraud, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

When I heard Matt Giraud was going to sing a Jackson 5 song, I immediately thought, “Oh no.” Matt actually does a really good job on the song. He definitely went a little bit overboard with the riffs. Matt did better with the high notes, but I still think that Matt’s high register lacks fullness.

Matt Giraud’s look is kind of dreary this week. He’s wearing a lot of black, and that hat and scarf are just not great. Matt commanded the stage a lot better than last time, although he didn’t move around a lot. He still definitely has to work on his performance skills, but I think he will be fine as long as he continues to improve as he did this week.

Review Score: ★★★☆☆

Anoop Desai performs Bobby Browns’ “My Prerogative”

Anoop Desai, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

Anoop Desai chose to sing one of my favourite songs of all time. When I first heard Anoop sing Boyz II Men during the auditions, I thought he had sparkling vocals, but the last couple of weeks have shown me that Anoop’s vocals are actually quite limited. Bobby Brown had incredible vocals for the original rendition of this song, and Anoop just can’t compete. There’s nothing particularly awful about Anoop’s vocals tonight, but the original version is so much better than it’s difficult not to notice.

Anoop Desai’s outfit tonight is quite plain, just a simple collared shirt. I didn’t much like his stage performance either. It definitely came off as amateur.

Review Score: ★★★☆☆

Jesse Langseth performs Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good”

Jesse Langseth, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

What a weird song choice for Jesse Langseth. This song doesn’t really show off any of Jesse’s range. Luckily for Jesse, her voice sounds very nice when she stays in her safe range, which is where this song had her for the most part.

Jesse’s hair was kind of farm girl and her outfit was not as good as last time. Luckily, Jesse’s beauty shines through no matter what she’s wearing. Jesse’s stage performance showed more personality, though, so good for her.

Review Score: ★★★☆☆

Jasmine Murray performs Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection”

Jasmine Murray, American Idol 2009 Wildcard

Jasmine Murray chose a huge song, trying to sing Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection” from Mulan. Jasmine did a lot better than she did last week when she was a complete disaster. Her voice still is not nearly good enough to be a real star. She also avoided many of the higher notes and only went into falsetto at the very end and not throughout like the original.

Jasmine Murray looked very pretty tonight but still a little boring. Her hair and makeup are suitably complementary to the performance, which itself was a little dull.

Review Score: ★★☆☆☆

Von Smith performs Elton John’s “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”

Von Smith, American Idol 2009 Top 36 Group 3

The opening vocals were absolutely disastrous, and I don’t think Von Smith ever recovers enough to save this trainwreck of a performance. He is absolutely off key during more than half of the song. It’s really too bad, because Von has showed in the past rounds that he can actually sing quite well.

Von Smith continues with his weird swept hair style that is taking away from his natural cuteness. His undershirt mixed with blazer wardrobe is similarly disastrous. Thick horizontal stripes are not what Von should be wearing. Von’s facial expressions and stage performance also took a step back and verged on dramatic.

Review Score: ★☆☆☆☆

Live Twitter.com/VongShow Micro-Blogging (Reverse Chronological)

# Poor Tatiana. She was super entertaining.
# Anoop and Matt both through.
# Jesse no. Von no.
# Tell me this is a joke and that Tatiana will be brought back. She sang circles around Jasmine.
# Are you kidding me? Both those choices suck. Megan and Jasmine? Uck.
# Why are Megan and Tatiana stuck together?
# Ricky braddy, please yes. What? Ricky had the best vocals of the night.
# What? Are you kidding me? Jasmine Murray in Top 12?
# Jasmine first? Please no.
# What? They’re going to yell at Tatiana about repeating but are making excuses for Anoop? Whatever. So biased.
# Anoop, I like you dude, but that was horrific.
# Oh Paula, please sit down.
# Oh, Anoop. I am so not loving this.
# I love Anoop, but his last song totally sucked. He’s also singing a repeat. Will they be mean to him too?
# I’m laughing my ass off.
# Haha about the accent.
# I like this version better than Whitney’s believe it or not. She’s singing it even better than last time.
# Tatiana has the most passion I’ve heard, and it comes through when she sings.
# What? Why is Tatiana singing the same song?
# I LOVE Tatiana. She absolutely had the best vocal performance so far in the Top 36.
# What? Those vocals were hot. Randy and Simon are totally not listening to the same performances.
# Paula looks like Wilma Flintstone.
# Terrible stage presence but beautiful, soulful voice. I hope he makes it through.
# I can’t stop laughing. Those pants are horrific. The vocals are hot, though.
# Ricky Braddy is back. I loved his last performance.
# Nice hair and an okay dress tonight. She started out okay, but her voice doesn’t seem very steady tonight.
# Ooh, tough song choice Jasmine. Good luck.
# Jasmine Murray’s up next. There’s something about her face I don’t like. She’s not pretty enough to be commercial.
# Haha, the music totally cut Paula Abdul off.
# Okay, that ending was a bit better. Still not good enough overall.
# This is a total trainwreck so far. Too bad, I like Von Smith.
# What a horrible start to the song. Let’s hope he recovers.
# Here comes Von Smith.
# Damn, that last note was totally awful. Sorry girl.
# The vocals are solid if unspectacular.
# Luckily for Megan, she looks really pretty tonight. The hair and makeup are way better than before.
# Megan Joy Corkrey is one of the worst stage performers I have ever seen in my entire life.
# Megan Joy Corkrey is up next. I really didn’t like her the first time.
# Matt Giraud’s voice is off tonight. There’s no fullness to it. It’s coming off a little weak.
# What is up with the horrible scarf, Matt Giraud?
# Jackson 5? Oh noes. Wait . . . it’s actually not that bad.
# Ooh, Matt Giraud is on next. Let’s hope he can rebound.
# What on Earth was Paula thinking? Pink leopard print . . . for real, Paula?
# Jesse Langseth . . . girl, that was terrible.
# What? They have live backup singers now?
# What is this song? It’s kind of boring. Jesse’s hair is way boring. That black dress and sweater are awful.
# Jesse Langseth is on first and looks hot in the video. She doesn’t look as good tonight as she did before.
# Randy Jackson has on a boring sweater. Kara looks super hot tonight. Paul is totally off her game. Simon looks the same.
# They’re scrolling through the Top 12. I can’t believe Scott and Michael are in.
# Wow, that was a big closeup of Ryan’s face. He’s starting to look old. I always thought he looked too boring to be a host.
# American Idol wildcard round is about to begin. I missed the early showing and have been avoiding the news on the internet.

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561One Response2009-03-06+05%3A50%3A26vongsundara to “Tatiana del Toro mistreated and Top 13 announced, American Idol 8 Wildcard”

agilog on March 6th, 2009 2:23 PM

Sadly, this is the least exciting group yet.
They must have tapped out the talent of the entire country over the years.
Where are the great singers?
Tatiana can sing, but she couldn’t be quiet long enough to listen to the judges last night, or ever.
So glad she’s gone.
Her selfishness was such a turn off, everyone else up there had the same dream.

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Tatiana del Toro mistreated and Top 13 announced, American Idol 8 Wildcard

Ricky Braddy performs Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”

Tatiana del Toro performs Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love For You”

Megan Joy Corkrey performs KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”

Matt Giraud performs Jackson 5′s “Who’s Lovin’ You”

Anoop Desai performs Bobby Browns’ “My Prerogative”

Jesse Langseth performs Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good”

Jasmine Murray performs Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection”

Von Smith performs Elton John’s “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”

Live Twitter.com/VongShow Micro-Blogging (Reverse Chronological)

Join The Discussion On The Comments and Message Board

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