Chindi’s Take
Another week, another interesting mix of musical performances. Thankfully, no group number. They start off the show with a Ruben Studdard appearance and Ruben looks likes he’s been making strides towards getting healthier. Ryan is pretty obsessed by his own tininess so we get a funny moment of him with Ruben on one side [...]

Chindi’s Take:
On the plus side tonight, Big Mike did what we knew he’d do on R&B week, delivered a solid, soulful  performance. Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox blew away the other performers this week each throwing something a little difference at the audience.
On the down side, I think Simon called Siobhan a silly little karaoke [...]

Song Selection: Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone – Bill Withers
Chindi’s Take:
High-risk, high-reward song choice by Aaron, as this can either raise goosebumps on the arms of the audience, or make them a little queasy. It wasn’t bad, he delivered a much more convincing rendition of the song than I thought he was going to [...]

Song Selection: Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips
Chindi’s Take:
Crystal’s surprise for us this week is apparently stiletto heels, and her playing the piano on Midnight Train to Georgia. This was a good choice by Crystal to show people another side of her other than the subway busker standing behind her guitar [...]

Song Selection: Treat Her Like a Lady -  The Cornellius Brothers
Chindi’s Take:
This was Lee finally taking the Judge’s  (and Usher) at face value and believing he belongs in this competition. He starts with just his guitar and his voice, with the chorus and band joining him as the song progresses, and it was a great [...]

Song Selection: Chain of Fools – Aretha Franklin
Chindi’s Take:
Gutsy song choice, but actually a good one as her voice fits the song well. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good a performance as I thought it would be. Part of that is this is definitely an older lady kind of song, it’s from the perspective of someone [...]

Song Selection: Forever – Chris Brown
Chindi’s Take:
What I really like about Idol is that we get to see the mentors in new and different ways sometimes. Yes, mostly they’re there to get a little publicity for whatever their latest movie, tour, or album is, but sometimes when they take it seriously we get some really [...]

Song Selection: Sweet Love – Anita Baker
Chindi’s Take:
Tim’s lower range has improved since his first attempt at ‘Apologize’, which meant this song started off on much better footing than that performance did, but it didn’t really go anywhere after that. This isn’t really an ‘exciting’ song, and the only way you’re going to have a [...]

Song Selection: What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted – Jimmy Ruffin
Chindi’s Take:
Again, while I make it a point to avoid wardrobe commentary, I’m forced to note that Didi looks like a billion dollars up there tonight. This is the kind of Didi performance I like best, where she just delivers a strong vocal with a minimal [...]

Song Selection: Ready For Love – India Arie
Chindi’s Take:
Great soulful performance from Big Mike. This is what we expected from him this week, it’s R&B and it’s in his wheelhouse. There are so many soulful songs in the collection and one of Mike’s strengths is his ability to connect with the song and through the [...]

Song Selection: Hold On, I’m Coming – Sam & Dave
Chindi’s Take:
This is something of a gimme week for Casey, a Blues guitarist on R&B week and he goes with a song that let’s him show off his guitar chops a bit as well as just being a high-energy song that the crowd should be able [...]

Song Selection: Through the Fire – Chaka Khan
Chindi’s Take:
It sounds at first like there’s a bit of an audio problem as there are a couple of tinny echoes when she starts, but that may have been in the music itself. This was the first week for me where Siobhan missed, and she missed badly [...]