‘American Idol’ top 10 preview: What should Lazaro Arbos, Paul Jolley sing?

As we promised last week when the theme for Wednesday night’s “American Idol” was first announced, we are going to do our best now to hand down some suggestions for all of the remaining ten singers. This time around, the catalogue is a rather interesting one in songs that past winners of the show have performed in some shape or form. This mans that we could see covers of some performances from past seasons, or original music that they recorded after the fact.

So what should our remaining contestants take on? We’ve got our ideas below, but we also want to hear about what some of your own personal picks are by leaving a comment in the box below.

Burnell Taylor – “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel. Ruben Studdard did this song back in season 2, and it is a classic pop song that seems perfect for his sort of smooth, soulful voice. It’s also not a song that has been done to death so much that anyone will be sick of it.

Curtis Finch, Jr. – “I’m Doin’ Me” by Fantasia. Curtis wants to show a different side of himself, right? Then why not turn this Fantasia track from 2010 on its head? It’s a little more uptempo, and while it is in some ways a feminist song, it could be worked around to reflect his mindset.

Devin Velez – “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne. It’s an overdone “American Idol” song, but Devin has such a pretty voice and could really do this song (covered by Taylor Hicks) real justice.

Lazaro Arbos – “Hello” by Lionel Richie. This song was nailed by David Cook back in season 7, but it could be a good choice for Lazaro: he’s shown a tendency to do ballads, and this gives him just enough of a rock edge to be something different than usual.

Paul Jolley – “Wasted” by Carrie Underwood. The big thing that Paul needs to do at this point is focus on the emotional connection. Give him this Carrie song and let him turn it into something soft and subtle.

Amber Holcomb – “Battlefield” by Jordin Sparks. We get the impression that Amber wants to be someone who does well on radio, and this has enough opportunities for vocal runs while still also sounding current, a rare combination for an “American Idol” these days.

Angie Miller – “Falling Slowly” from the musical “Once.” We’ve gone back and forth on this, since we do want to see Angie do some more uptempo music. However, this song (which has been covered by both Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze) is so beautiful that it must be performed. It must!

Candice Glover – “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson. It’s not as soulful as some of her other songs, but we really think it would do Candice some good to take on a more traditional pop song here. Her voice is already incredible, so she needs to work a little on expanding her audience further.

Janelle Arthur – “You’re Still the One” by Shania Twain. Lee covered this song during season 9, and we can’t really see Janelle really going too far out of the country genre this season, though it would be nice. What this song could do for her is help to really establish the sort of emotional commitment that viewers are looking for.

Kree Harrison – “Two Black Cadillacs” by Carrie Underwood. Kree’s a bona fide country star, and she’s also a great storyteller. We can literally think of no better song to show this off than Carrie’s current hit.

If you want to see where we ranked some of these contenders moving into Wednesday’s show, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: Fox