Thaindian News

By Anita Thomas

Grammy winner artist Alicia Keys is the mentor this week for the 7 Idol finalists. Alicia has had such hits as “No One” and “Empire State of Mind” she was awarded the Top Female R&B Vocalist in 2009.

Casey James sings, “Don’t stop” by Fleetwood Mac. Randy wants Casey to jump out of his comfort zone even Ellen agreed that his performance was not great. Lee DeWynz a paint salesman from his hometown in Mount Prospect Illinois performs “The Boxer” a Simon and Garfunkel song and is great. Randy tells Lee that he will be a great recording artist and Simon told him he was brilliant to make the song sound current. Tim Urban sung “Better Days” by the Google Dolls and Alicia thought it felt very good for him. The judges were not excited about his performance; Ellen compared him to bad soup. Aaron Kelly told needed to connect to th e song “I believe I can fly” by R. Kelly Alicia thought and he soared. The little guy with a big voice connected to the song and made it his own.

Siobhan performed “I believe” and impressed Alicia with her voice, will the judges agree? Her choice of song and her butterfly outfit distracted Simon and he found it somewhat annoying. Michael Lynch performed Nickelback’s “Hero” and the panel of judges was divided between sounded good and not impressed. “People Get Ready” Crystal Bowersox is taking the stage with no instrument to accompany her. She started out acapella and later the band joined in making her entire rendition of the song a huge hit with the audience and the judges. Crystal became emotional at the end of the song when she spotted her family in the audience. Simon said he was glad to see her emotions come through since she has seemed a little closed off since beginning on Idol. They definitely saved the best for last on this episode of Idol.

Tomorrow night Idol kicks off the start of Idol Gives Back with Alicia Keys taking the stage.