‘American Idol’ top 9 review: Lazaro Arbos cries, Kree Harrison still shines

We’ll start off this review of “American Idol” with something rather sad, but true: it’s time that the voters send Lazaro Arbos home. He is clearly a nice guy, and we want to root for him in life. At the same time, though, you do have to recognize that this is a singing show, and this sort of performing does not suit him well at this time. He needs a few years of vocal training to hone that voice, and to build up confidence away from these lights and critics watching his every move.

Kree Harrison – That. Was. Sublime. There’s nothing more “beautiful” (sorry, Steven Tyler’s not on this season) than someone nailing “With a Little Help From My Friends,” since there is so much room to just go off the chain. Kree stayed true to her country self, but reminded us that true stars can sing anything.

Burnell Taylor – We’re not going to give Burnell much flak for going slow again with “Let It Be,” mostly because this would not work out for him uptempo. We’re not sure it will get him any new fans, but it shouldn’t alienate him or hurt him in any way.

Amber Holcomb – We’ve said for weeks that we are worried about Amber’s stock in a field of strong women, but we must admit that we rather liked what she did here with “She’s Leaving Home.” It was funky, and not the typical sappy ballad that you tend to see. With that being said, this is not a particularly memorable song, and this could land her in trouble.

Lazaro Arbos – We really feel for the judges after this performance. It wasn’t good, and you could almost see them wincing as they tried to find some of the words to describe it without being offensive. The guy was already crying after Randy Jackson’s critique! We unfortunately blame this one on producers for putting him through the top 40 when he really wasn’t ready to be there, and the emotional heartstrings got involved.

Paul Jolley – “Elanor Rigby,” really? This is the song that dooms contestants! It was also a surprising choice for a country singer to do something that is so theatrical. It just didn’t work for us: it needed to be faster, and while his voice was not terrible, it was also quavering a bit too much for the emotion to be effective.

Candice Glover – Yes. That’s what we have to say about the vocal on Candice’s “Come Together.” Nicki did have a great comment, though, on what is at this point the favorite’s biggest flaw: she knows that her voice is stellar, and she oftentimes forgets to have emotional on her face to go with it. If she could project more of that Beyonce or Fantastia sort of fierceness, she will be an unstoppable force even after this show is over.

Angie Miller – Another ballad, Angie? While all of the other women have tried to speed things up at least once, she kept things slow with a take on “Yesterday” that felt like it was out of “The Phantom of the Opera.” What we’re trying to say here is that Angie’s becoming a little depressing, and we desperately need some of that fun side to go with her talent. The vocals were yet again incredible, but this may not be enough to win this competition. With all this being said, the second half of this was pretty sublime.

Devin Velez – In the commercial break before this performance, we literally thought “here comes ‘Imagine.'” It wasn’t that, but it was another slow song that may not help him much in “The Long and Winding Road.” We do believe the guy when he sings, but we feel like we have the same thing to say every time he performs: a great singer, but is there enough charisma here to go far?

Janelle Arthur – This was straight country, more so than anything that Kree or Paul did on the show … and it was nice. Ended the show with three straight ballads? Not so much. We don’t want to be mean to Janelle, mostly because you can see that she is trying so hard and she did so much right in closing the show. The only thing we feel at times is that she maybe forces some of the hand gestures and facial expressions more than she needs to, and this has been a recurring problem for her during ballads. (On a different note, didn’t she look like Hollie Cavanagh’s twin tonight?)

Who was your favorite from the top 9 performance show, and do you agree that Lazaro should be sent home now before it is any harder? Vote in our poll below; and also, you can see some more of what we picked for the contestants over at the link here.

Photo: Fox