Michael Lynche, affectionately known as ‘Big Mike’, put the other top eight men of American Idol to shame Wednesday night. Lynche’s rendition of “This Woman’s Work” by Maxwell was by far the standout performance of the evening. But how did the rest of the American Idol guys do? Here’s our ranking of the American Idol men’s performances for the evening.
8. Andrew Garcia: “Genie In a Bottle” by Christina Aguilera – First off, what the hell was up with this song choice? So not suitable for Garcia or his voice. We’re rather disappointed because Garcia was kind of growing on us until this performance. It was bland, boring and lacked any personal touch to make it stand out.
7. Todrick Hall: “Somebody to Love” by Queen – First off, we just have to say, if you are going to dare to do a Queen song, you better damn well rock it hard. Although it wasn’t too terrible by the end, the beginning was so rough it made us cringe. Regardless, it was a mediocre performance at best and messy all the way through. Plenty of folks will probably disagree, but we’re tired of Hall and ready for him to go.
6. Aaron Kelly: “I’m Already There” by Lonestar – Sure, he’s cute, but would he really be star material without his looks? We don’t think so and this performance just reinforces that belief. Not a great song choice at all for Kelly and we agree with Kara DioGuardi that it didn’t fit his age.
5. Lee Dewyze: “Fireflies” by Owl City – Dewyze has a decent voice but it’s the same old same old every damn week. Dewyze needs to break out of his shell and really “wow” folks with something new, unique and powerful – or he’s a goner.
4. Casey James: “You’ll Think of Me” by Keith Urban – If James’ intention was to put the audience to sleep, he nearly succeeded with us. James needs to really connect with the audience, dig for better song choices and put some real power into his performances.
3. Alex Lambert: “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne – Where’s the passion boys? That’s what we’re asking of most of the male contestants this year and Alex Lambert in particular. The song wasn’t terrible, but it lacked any real emotional oomph. Lambert also still just gives off this vibe of being entirely uncomfortable on the stage. Boy needs to chill out and get in love with the music. Then he might actually be a real contender.
2. Tim Urban: “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley – This is one of our all time favorite songs, so we have very high standards when it comes to anyone doing a cover of it. Urban certainly couldn’t touch the original version of the song, but it wasn’t all that bad. Certainly we think it was Urban’s best performance of the season so far.
1. Michael Lynche: “This Woman’s Work” by Maxwell – There is no doubt Michael Lynche blew it out of the water with this Maxwell cover of Kate Bush‘s song. It was absolutely a fabulous song choice for Big Mike’s big voice and we agree with Ellen DeGeneres that Lynche’s performance was entirely “beautiful”. Although we didn’t quite turn on the waterworks like Kara, we did feel a bit misty-eyed watching Lynche work it. We are so glad Michael Lynche wasn’t eliminated from the show as all those rumors claimed he was. He’s our definite favorite of the guys so far this season.
>> Previously: Ranking American Idol’s Top 8 Women