Better Late than Never: Top Nine Review

Sorry for the late review - we are back in SoCal and just turned on the DVR. Here is DrL & K's recap of the Top Nine.

Shots of the crowd, Jordan 'fail' Sparks & Marlee Matlin - who will no doubt enjoy many of these contestants more than we will! Ryan's poof is in full effect this week!

Style time with Tommy H - 'create your own style' Gives them style advice when he is rocking Shawn Cassidy's hair-do from 1976!

Ooohhh, Jimmy Iovine & Stevie Nicks - Jimmy looks so cute!

Colton's dead beaver is looking worse than ever, but Stevie loves it….okay, so rocking a church tune - he knows his base. Not my cup of tea - but seemed to be heartfelt, if kind of schmaltzy. The judges seem like they've gotta throw softballs since this was about Jesus & worship. We didn't know this tune but seems like he did well.

Skylar - doing Miranda Lambert. And now we're headed straight for hello…..to quote Miranda! Catchy tune -but Skylar is getting too twangy & over-singing. This southern gal can't understand her…hmmmm. She's too excited about the performance & has lost the song. K says he absolutely hated the performance. I thought she looked good - K completely disagrees - says she is wearing Dil's jacket from 'The Crying Game'.

Trio interlude with Colton, Elise & Phillip - giving them some practice for the Idol tour.

Heejun - One of the most absolutely beautiful Leon Russell songs….Heejun did it justice. K says every one of the judges made such a point of reminding everyone they corrected him - the song got lost in the comments.

Hollie - Jesus take the wheel - heartfelt performance, sung beautifully - but some of her operatic pronunciation of a few of the words made it a little stiff. Not really a country kind of girl. K says he can't believe Randy & Steven praised Skylar - and are throwing a monkey wrench in Hollie's comments. He thinks that '19' management would not know how to market Hollie - so they don't want her to go too far.

Deandre - speaking of marketing - I think they could market him for the R&B market. Wow - he got the personal style message! Clearly compared to the Billy Joel week is much more comfortable & he wants to do this. DrL: loved it - I listen to a lot of R&B -and would totally add him into my daily mix of artists.

Jessica - Beyonce tune - Great! becoming a Jessica fan. She has really great control with her voice, nice interpretation of the song. Her maturity is incredible. Interesting point that Randy makes that she is a great singer -and not just comparing her to the Idol group - present or past.

Trio - interlude with Joshua, Deandre & Heejun - good selection of MJ tunes!

Phillip - Johnny Lang tune. (love the banter between Jimmy & Stevie). Wow…what a compliment for Philip about Fleetwood Mac. This song is perfectly suited to him and doesn't let him run off the tracks with it. Great choice! K says he always gives 150%!

Joshua - Harry Nilsson tune - Can't Live without You. K says - wow the stagehands are working their asses off tonight - all the props! DrL says - I can live without that jacket. Nothing really compares to Miss Kelly's version of this song…..Joshua is trying, but is trying to overcome the guts needed for the song with vocal gymnastics and it's not working. Not worthy of a standing ovation. He connected with audience much better on the MJ tunes in the group number.

Trio - Hollie, Skylar & Jessica - weakest of the trio performances. Poor Skylar - what a horrible outfit. Boring. The look on Jennifer's face says it all.

Elise - Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love. Jimmy & Stevie loved it. They finally got Elise's look right - she looks great tonight. That was worth a standing o! Must have sounded fantastic in studio. K says she should do more rock. Love the matching pants with Steven :) Great choice to end the show.

K says looking back - Colton is like a piece of dry white toast. Deandre was just fantastic - totally in his wheelhouse. Jessica's arrangement was fantastic. Philip needs a blues-rock band - sounded the least like DMB.

I know we are late - but if we had to pick a bottom three:
Heejun, Joshua & Skylar. We would have picked Heejun - even though we liked the song, just because without the humor - what would his voting base be? The rest are clearly singing to certain groups.

Fun week to watch!