Singer: Siobhan Magnus
Song: "Through the Fire"
Monkeys As Critics' Take: Clark Kent Siobhan describes herself as "wicked nervous" to meet Usher. Unlike Miley Cyrus last week, Usher is making no pretense that he knows who any of these people are. But he's impressed by Siobhan. There are weird vibrato moments early in her performance and then when Siobhan gets to the chorus there's an odd nasal tone. Instead of one big Siobhan Scream, the "American Idol" Munch-kin delivers two or three mini-screams, with diminishing returns. Siobhan's also settled into some strange facial mannerisms to accompany her performances. She almost transforms into a Barbara Streisand clone at certain points, eyes squinty, nose wrinkled. I like the silver space boots, but this is the second straight week that Siobhan has really let me down, as the gap between Crystal and the rest of the field just grows. 
Randy, Ellen, Kara and Simon Say: Randy thought it was a little all-over-the-place for Randy, but he loves her "courageousness and conviction." He eventually goes so far as to call it "kind of rough." Ellen compares it to a hiker who misses the trail, then calls it "dessert before the meal." Kara gives Siobhan credit for nervous and says she was entitled to one off week. [Actually, she had an off week last week.] Simon thought Siobhan was out of breath, comparing it to somebody singing at the end of a marathon. He tells her it was "by far" her weakest performance. There's much too much flab in tonight's episode and Ryan isn't great at this sort of vamping. It's like he's going all Socratic Method, leading debate with the judges.