Kris Allen Falls From Idol Judges' Graces
The Dark Horse of the Season Falls Short with a Don Henley hit
Apr 8, 2009
Danny Gokey, who was born in 1980, kicked off the night with the Mickey Gilley version of the Ben E. King song, “Stand By Me”.
A much slower version than the original tune, the music arrangement left much to be desired with American Idol judge, Randy Jackson.
“I didn’t love the arrangement, but you made me love it,” Jackson said.
Judge Kara DioGuardi said of Gokey’s performance, “You turned it on it’s head and made it your own.”
The Dark Horse Loses Momentum
Next up was contestant Kris Allen, who had been slowly, but surely becoming a front runner in the competition, lost his footing this week after performing on electric guitar to Don Henley’s, “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”.
Allen, who was born in 1985, seemed to struggle with his performance, which took place in the “mosh pit”.
After the performance, Abdul told Allen, “You are likeable”.
DioGuardi commented, “It kind of felt like jazz-funk homework.” After booing from the crowd, she added, “It lost a lot of it’s youth.”
Before Cowell’s critique of the performance, audience members yelled out, “Kris, you’re hot!”
Allen blushed and Cowell replied, “It’s not about that.”
Cowell told Allen that his performance was “indulgent, boring and forgettable.”
Highlights Of The Night
The youngest contestant, Allison Iraheta born in 1992 took on the Bonnie Raitt song, “Can’t Make You Love Me”.
Iraheta was praised by judge, Paula Abdul for sticking with the same music arrangement as the original song.
DioGuardi exclaimed, “Lets make a record right now!” after telling Iraheta that she made the adult content in the song believable.
Matt Giraud, born in 1985 made a strong comeback with Stevie Wonder’s “Part Time Lover”. He returned to the soulful singer that the judges were partial to in earlier rounds of the competition.
DioGuardi expressed that the performance was “incredible on every level,” and Jackson claimed that Giraud’s performance was “Vocally, one of the best of the night.”
Adam Lambert Remains The Frontrunner
Adam Lambert, who was born in 1982 performed Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”.
Lambert’s performance led judge, Simon Cowell to do something he has never done in any prior season, which was give a contestant a standing ovation after their performance.
Due to American Idol running over it’s allotted time slot, Cowell was the only judge able to comment on Lambert’s performance.
After voting was completed on the west coast, the only contestant predicted to be a hundred percent safe by Dial Idol (a website that predicts which constants are safe by measuring busy signals on their voting line) was Lambert.
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