American Idol: Top 9, Music of Motown Week

One of my favorite music genre’s! Here’s how tonight’s performances shake out for me (not overall standings, mind you, just tonight’s):

Matt Giroud (Let’s Get it On) – 10 out of 10. I like Matt without the piano, too! I didn’t expect that. As a quick aside, I’m simply in awe of his piano skills … did you know he doesn’t read music? He’s a baby savant! And so cute and sexy and BAM!, that Voice. Yummy. Gonna iTune it.

Adam Lambert (Tracks of My Tears) – 10 out of 10. I know, right? Shocking! Loved the get-up and the set-up. The song selection was right up Adam’s vocal alley (what isn’t, really?). The sonuvagun nailed it. Adam just said, “Suck it, detractors!” with panache. Gonna iTune it.

Danny Gokey (Get Ready) – 9 out of 10. Like buttah. Okay, Danny gave me my asked-for frippery … now, back to that voodoo that he do so well. Brought it! Again! Baby! And there is something so endearing about his being such a big, gawky, goofball onstage, no? I make no excuses, Danny just does it for me. Gonna iTune it.

Anoop Desai (Ooh, Baby Baby) – (9 out of 10). I like it! Anoop staged a big comeback last week, and has just solidified it with this performance … and did you see how he sang directly to me? Lovely. Gonna iTune it.

Kris Allen (How Sweet it is) – (8 out of 10). Solid job. Not the best song to show off Kris’ skills, but he definitely did it justice. Sweet, sweet, vocals. Gonna iTune it.

Allison Iraheta (Papa Was a Rolling Stone) – (8 out of 10). She has such an awesome voice, so why doesn’t she appeal to me? This makes me crazy! I so want to like Allison, even love her, especially with Megan’s slow, boring, fizzle … but it’s like Yukon Cornelius would say; “Nuthin!” (Or was that, “Bumbles bounce!”? Anyway, that said, tonight’s performance was terrific! Gotcha, didn’t I?

Michael Sarver (Ain’t too Proud to Beg) – (7 out of 10). One of my all-time favorite songs; it was very difficult for me not to sing along so I could actually hear Michael (okay, I admit it … I had to rewind it). It was better than okay, but not knock-my-socks-off. My problem is that I’ve heard so many better versions than this, I’m probably not being fair in my assessment of Michael. Hence, it was just better than okay; not ground-breaking or get-out-of-my-seat-and-move. Then I remember, Michael’s had the flu all week! Well, hell … then he rocked this puppy!

Lil Rounds (Heatwave) – (7 out of 10). So has the chops! So chose the wrong song! This one is better for a group and didn’t allow Lil to showcase her mad vocal skills. It also seemed the fast pace got away from Lil at times, until she was able to reign it in, at which time she soared. I would have loved to have heard Lil sing Diana Ross’ “Reflections” … wouldn’t that have been awesome? Oh yeah, she'd have slayed that.

Scott McIntyre (You Can’t Hurry Love) – (6 out of 10). Slowed it way down to a ballad right out of the gate, then popped into it. I found myself wishing Scott had kept the slower pace and made the song his own. I think his vocals would have been well-suited to it. I would have liked to have seen what he could have done with that. In any case, I think what he wanted to do here was a little beyond his capabilities, so it was not great, and even a bit off-pitch at times.

Megan Joy (For Once in My Life) – (4 out of 10). Hugely, hugely, hugely disappointed with Megan’s song choice, which resulted in this wretched, horrible, screeching mess. I liked it that she changed it up a bit and actually moved around the stage, but Miss Megan is beginning to irritate my canker. She doesn’t take any chances and all the songs have the same hear-it-in-a-jukebox style. But that place where she accidentally yodeled was good snortworthy fun. In a nutshell, Megan is not living up to my expectations, and I’m, done with waiting.

I'm really thinking Megan will be saying goodbye tomorrow night. In fact, if it's anyone else I'll be surprised.