AI Review, 2006/03/01

Winner:

• Chris: HELL-o. Really, what more is there to say. Oh, and he's hawt. :)

Runner-up:

• Elliott: Damn, that boy can sing.

Strong:

• Bucky: The combination of the redneck accent, overly-blinking eyes and complaints about how confusing good cuisine is just SLAY me. I want so much to mock. And once again, as soon as Bucky started to sing, that all vanished. Very, very good. I particularly liked the vulnerability he brought to the first part of the song. Nice. However, Simon has a point. If we compare Bucky to Chris there really is no comparison - Bucky would be the opener and Chris would be the main show. I do think Bucky will make it pretty easily into the top 12, but if he wants to go far in that group he needs to pack on some star quality. Since I think it's his shyness/modesty that keeps him right now from 'owning the stage', hopefully a few more weeks of confidence-boosting will do this for him.
• Gedeon: Still loving his voice. And his performance and moves were more 'real' this week. I don't think for a moment that he's going to win this competition but he's definitely interesting to have around.
• Will: I have no idea what Randy and Paula were on tonight when they criticized Will's performance. I thought it was very good. He chose a song that really showcased his voice, and despite his young age he was pretty convincing with a love song. I think his target audience probably wet themselves during that performance. He's not going anywhere this week.

Good:

• Taylor: Not so jazzed on Taylor's performance this week. What I really like about Taylor is that when he's in his zone, it's like he's 'preaching the good word', you know? (In a totally joyous and non-thumping way.) And unfortunately there weren't a lot of moments like that for him in this week's performance. Also, too many 'WOO!'s. :) (Chalk that up to nerves, I think.) Hopefully next week he'll jump back up.

Okay:

• Ace: Ouch. There were a lot of painful notes during that performance. I was impressed with his falsetto but quite a bit of that magnetism that we saw last week was just not there this time. Forgettable song choice.

In danger:

• David: I think Simon said it best - if you do that genre without confidence, it doesn't work. And tonight...it didn't work. There were one or two short moments where a tiny bit of something happened, but mostly it fell flat.
• Kevin: I'm glad Kevin had fun tonight. I'm glad everyone wants to squish him. I love that he can laugh at himself. But that song did no favours for his voice and overall the performance was just plain silly. However, of the three guys that I think are in danger, I think he has the best chance of making it through because he probably has a rabidly devoted fan base who are going to go nuts trying to vote him through.
• Sway: We've gotten to see a fair number of clips of Sway singing in the auditions, and you know, there he had a great voice, good control, performance and style. NONE of that was in evidence tonight. He was pitchy, the song was boring, his stage presence was blah...he's my bet for lowest vote-getter of the guys this week. Which is a shame, because I think he has talent.