The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 8

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.

Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the star-makers, 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
People, don’t you understand, Michael Lynche needs a helping a hand. Big Mike’s performance of “In the Ghetto” may not have set the world on fire, but it did get to his roots as a guy with a beautiful voice and acoustic guitar skillz to complement it. He’s an engaging guy, and on a strong night, he offered the best pure musical performance out there.

GONE
Andrew Garcia won’t ever cut a record and he ain’t no friend of mind. OK, so Andrew probably will cut a record, because everyone who makes it this far on the show does. Nonetheless, this snore of a performance of “Hound Dog” continued to expose Andrew as a talented, but mellow, and sort of a one-note performer. Last week exposed the fact that Andrew is in danger of elimination. While I expect Michael’s faithful to come to his aid and make sure he’s safe after last week’s scare, I don’t think Andrew has enough of a fanbase left to keep him around.

GIVE IT A SECOND LOOK
I can’t help falling in love with Tim Urban (and neither can Adam Lambert…). Just when I thought Tim was, without question, out of this competition, I think he finally hit his stride with “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” It wasn’t Tim trying to be anything he wasn’t, or dumbing down a good song to some weird reggae-pop-acoustic lick. He took a classic, put a marginally different spin on it, kept it honest and turned in his best performance yet on the show.