The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 2, Part 1

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the starmakers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GOOD

Michael Lynche declares that this world is his own: After an underwhelming, borderline Gokey-esque performance last week, Big Mike came back strong this time around, pounding out some soulful James Brown sounds. I wouldn’t want to see this side of the guy every week--I think there’s plenty of room for him to be upbeat and still really sing, perhaps in the form of a little Stevie Wonder. Nonetheless, he redeemed himself nicely this week, reasserting himself as one of this year’s frontrunners.

GONE

Alex Lambert fails to build on his legend: I like Alex’s voice a lot, but the dude is not memorable, and, despite what the judges said, didn’t look much more at ease on the mic this week than he did the week before. Sure, he gave his hands something to do with the guitar, but it looked as though he was hiding behind the thing as much as he was playing it. Furthermore, where Tim Urban’s underdog cred swelled, and Jermaine Sellers pandered to the religious vote, Alex did nothing to truly distinguish himself on this episode.

What’s Todrick Hall got to do (with it)?: Todrick Hall had his second straight week of being kind of boring, and kind of off-putting in his reinterpretation of a popular song. Granted, the reinterpretation wasn’t half as radical this time around, and the guy did focus on the music. Nonetheless, he was far from great, and his act of imploring the judges for song recommendations read more desperate than endearing.

GIVE IT A SECOND LOOK

John Park tries defying gravity: John Park fell victim to his own poor song selection last week. “Gravity” is the song he should have sung on week one, and while week two should have been more upbeat, this John Mayer tune still gave him the chance to really show his chops and win some hearts. He’s a week behind the curve, but given another week or two to catch up, John could still emerge as a dark horse contender in the competition. The collegiate a cappella world is certainly in his corner.