'Any Man of Mine' Is Siobhan Magnus' Swan Song on American Idol

Just as we predicted after her unsettling Tuesday night performance, Siobhan Magnus' rendition of Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine," proved to be her swan song, as she was voted off American Idol's competition last night.

Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze and Aaron Kelly were the only contestants judged "safe" by voters, while Casey James and Big Mike Lynche joined Siobhan in the bottom three, before she eventually got the boot.

Crystal was lucky not to finish in the bottom three, after a lackluster performance of "No One Needs to Know," on Tuesday night, as the field of contestants each adapted and performed a song from Twain's country-pop song catalog.

We disagree with the American public's vote tally that put James in the bottom three:  his performance of "Don't" was his best of the season, followed by a very strong but sensitive showing by young Aaron Kelly on "You've Got a Way."    Big Mike turned in a decent but predictably vibrato-exaggerated performance of "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing." Meanwhile, Lee picked the best song from Twain's repertoire - her pop classic "Still the One" - but despite his nice styling of that song, we were bothered by his continuing pitch problems.

Next week, we think it's time for Aaron to step up and show he can vocally deliver and capture an audience with an up-tempo tune, while Casey needs to remain unfazed by this week's vote - and continue to deliver progressively strong vocal performances in his Huey Lewis meets Southern rocker tradition. 

While we believe that Lee has a vocal style that is both commercial and contemporary, it's high time that he and the AI judges honestly address his persistent and distracting pitch issues.  If not, even if he wins the contest,  his unlucky producer will have to seriously auto-tune everything he sings in-studio.   And that won't address the pitch issues he will continue to have in his live shows - much like Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers and other young artists whose singing chops are very weak and artistically unsatisfying.  Lee's strength is that he has a highly identifiable voice and an alt-rock, singer-songwriter style that are well-defined and relevant to today's market.  He just has problems hitting and sustaining pitch when he pushes his voice into its higher register.

We still believe the competition is Crystal's to lose.  But she needs to stay away from weak material like Twain's "No One Needs to Know," avoid the contemporary-country genre like the plague - and continue to play to her strengths as a folk-blues-rocker ala Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt.

And that's our view from The A & R Room.