First up: I was kind of meh about Vocal Point’s Bieber cover. Not badly done, just not my bag.
Delilah was second, with “Whataya Want from Me?” (P!nk via Adam Lambert). Well done, with a slow buildup–and I really liked the way they dropped back down to one singer on the last line. But I’m a sucker for Delilah already.
Oh, and I thought I was hearing drums, or a drum machine, in Delilah’s performance. Some of these percussionists make me wish I’d had the opportunity to be a beatboxer when I was a tone-deaf youth. Not that I would have done it, but it would have been nice to have the chance.
Urban Method: I wasn’t thrilled with the rap at the end since the rest was so good.
Afro-Blue–oh! they’re a jazz group! Yes, that was premium work.
Once again, I find myself wondering about the super-white girl in Afro-Blue. What’s her story? I now suspect she’s a giant jazz-head who went to a historically black college for that reason.
The U-Rochester group are pretty good, but I keep forgetting their name. The Hornets or something? No, really, I have nothing much to say about their Taio Cruz cover, they were good.
Kinfolk 9 say they’re underdogs, & I don’t really buy it. Their first song–Jessie J’s “Price Tag”–was delicious. A little sharp at the end though. Anyway, I love that Moi isn’t really THE lead singer; the ladies carried this and Moi was just part of the group.
Maybe posting every two performances is excessive. OK, I’ll do one post for the 1960’s covers:
Delilah did “Heat Wave” which seemed like it would be really suited to their tools. Not as inventive and exciting as their other arrangements, but well done. I think if they’d gone for something masculine and/or rocky (like the Who) and had to make it their own, it would have made more of an impression. But as a close cover, this was right on.
Urban Method did Sly Stone’s “Dance to the Music.” I wasn’t sure about this until they started the fake instruments. Cute, clever, and technically proficient.
When Vocal Point (the BYU lads) came on, I thought, “They have to knock it out the park,” for me to not want them gone. Well, with Jake channeling Sinatra, their take on “The Way You Look Tonight” was at least a solid double. The backing vocals were a bit strangely high for me, but that’s not really my bag (fg not-so-secret: I really, really don’t like brass). I guess they can stay. Depends on the acts following.
Afro-Blue doing “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”? Uh-oh. Even if they do it perfectly, it’s still “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” I think they managed to get outside the box enough at the end. I think they managed to show they can sing it in classic style, and jazz it up as well. Vindicated.
The Yellowjackets “can’t take their eyes off” [del]you[/del] Sara. The chorus was* really, really good!* The lead was stronger when he started singing over them I think. But good job, blatant flirting aside.
Kinfolk 9 gospelized “Let it Be.” Moi and this song belong together. At the end I was all shaking my fists yes yes.
OK, definitely keep Kinfolk 9. Dump, I don’t know, one of the three college groups maybe. I can lose the BYU boys, since we have the Yellowjackets and in the other bracket the Dartmouth guys.
But the judges cut Kinfolk 9. Unbelievable.
“I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me.” 
Here we go again…
I guess I’ll liveblog somewhere else.
Disagree with foolsguinea on the “Let It Be” performance. Vocal freakouts like that one do not belong in that song; maybe he thought it was “Hey Jude”? It just made the frontman look egotistical.
I was also not the least bit surprised this week to see them eliminate Sonos. It was like even the group didn’t know what kind of mood they were going for, and after three songs, that’s a problem. I wish they’d kept the African group instead - they already had a great style that just needed more polish, which is easier than building something from nothing. Oh, and I’m calling it now: North Shore is going to the end. They’re awesome.
North Shore is fun as hell to watch, but I don’t see them selling records. I loved their first song–the Bruno Mars one–but Unchained Melody lacked some emotion. I guess by the 50,000th time you sing something, it loses meaning.
I have a soft spot for The Collective, but they won’t win. Both of their women are really strong.
I got the feeling that the guys who did Pinball Wizard had done that number in concert before. It just looked too polished.