Crystal is genuinely funny, with her “Danny Gokey babies” and now “Hollywood!” When she lets go, she seems genuinely a pleasant person to be around. I agree with the judges–she tends to be very guarded, and when she lets loose, her personality is a pleasant surprise.
Heh, they could not have made it more obvious that the recaps are done during dress rehearsal.
I wonder if her blood sugar dropped. I read speculation that she’s a diabetic, and that’s why she was hospitalized a couple weeks back.
Man this episode (and season) is all kinds of boring. Only one worthy of mention tonight was Crystal, and I’m so glad she put that fucking guitar down and just let herself sing and feel. Judges were right: she’s the only one who feels like an authentic performer. Everyone else is like a prefab lesser version of some other artist.
I still like Mike’s voice, but he’s just not an interesting artist. Ditto with Casey and Lee. Their instruments sound great but they’re dull as dishwater to watch and listen to. Siobhan is just yuck with her slow-as-molasses vibrato and cultivated weird persona. Aaron has a surprisingly nice voice but he’s nowhere near ready for this level. The less said about Tim the better.
She’s a Type 1 diabetic, but I’m guessing this had more to do with the whole “Ryan Seacrest talked me out of leaving the show two weeks ago” thing that came out this week.
Why do you feel it’s ‘cultivated’? I have to disagree with you on that as strongly as I can. Just because you don’t like something about someone (their performance, voice, etc) doesn’t mean you have to manufacture reasons to hate everything about them.
What can I say, I find Siobhan’s artfully weird hairstyle and clothing as cultivated. Especially since they’re at such odds with her musical sensibilities – despite the wacky hair and clothes, as a musician she’s just a big ol’ traditional bore. If she were really an artsy rebel, I think we’d be hearing a lot more iconoclastic performances from her.
What are you referring to? They cut away to some odd shot during Crystal. I am slightly confused.
It’s just a coronation at this point, isn’t it?
Crystal suddenly broke down and cried during the last line of her song. Apparently looking at her father choked her up. Fortunately it was just at the very end, just in time for her to finish the song. Thank God it didn’t happen earlier and inconveniently interrupt the rest of the performance!
(Yeah sorry, I’m very cynical tonight. I don’t doubt that it was an emotional song but she showed no signs of freaking out until the very last line. Her father was, presumably, there for the whole rest of the song, so how come it didn’t affect her earlier?)
Edited to add: And by the way, she’s my (not particularly enthusiastic) pick for winner, so this ain’t sour grapes.
There was definitely a sign of the impending meltdown in the last few lines of the song. She started grabbing her chest with her hand. I thought at first she was having a wardrobe malfunction.
Yeah, I could tell Crystal was having a little trouble holding it in for a while before she finally broke down at the end. Awesome job up to that point, though.
So, she’s already had a save?
I forgot to say, I also saw Katie Stevens and Andrew Garcia perform on Letterman - she was quite good, and he was quite justified in getting kicked off. 
Casey - “Don’t Stop” - no, actually, please do. Wrong song for him, sung badly (and boring on top of it). He’s a good performer, though - I’d like to see him do something more appropriate for his limitations.
You mean like Adam Lambert did last year? Except, after his “Ring of Fire” performance, he didn’t do that at all. He deliberately moderated his choices to appeal to a wider pool of ppl. Besides, one can be odd in some ways, and be quite bland and traditional in others. One does not need to be uniformly quirky or boring. In fact, most ppl usually aren’t, unless they’re making a concerted effort to be, and isn’t that the definition of cultivated? Like hipsters.
It’s easier for me to think she’s a young woman in over her head doing the best she can. That’s really the first, best answer for every poor decision and performance on this show.
Ooh, Lee (“The Boxer”) - that was so close to good. I see what you guys are saying about the band sucking the singers down, though.
In my opinion – informed by years of singing on the stage – the point at which she broke down makes perfect sense. It’s easy to let the emotion flow through the big notes while maintaining control, but when you pull it back for a soft part, the voice can break down. Once it catches in your throat, you’re in trouble. (IMO, soft notes are waaaaaay harder than belting out the big ones.) Furthermore, it’s hardly uncommon for performers (and athletes for that matter) to maintain focus during the tough parts and have an unfortunate break in concentration having overcome that hurdle. She got through the big notes and then started looking around and let her focus go.
My personal beef is not the timing of the breakdown, but the breakdown itself. It’s unprofessional. Granted, she’s under a lot of pressure – and I sure as hell couldn’t hold up under that – but, nevertheless, it’s the job of a professional performer to figure out how to release that emotion without letting it undermine the function of the vocal instrument.
I think if Crystal can take it to the edge like she did tonight, but not let it undermine her vocals, she could really be something!
Tim Urban - “Some GooGoo Dolls Song” - oh, man. I think that could have been an excellent song choice for him, but he can’t sing. Kara nailed it (shut up, you stupid audience. A good singer has to actually hit the freaking notes.)
The other part about the timing of Crystal’s “breakdown” was that it was at the end. Just when you think you are safe to sneak the peek at dad, 'cause you are almost done–that does it every time.