Gedeon's Idol memory is when Simon told the Hollywood contestants that if they forgot the words to their songs, they'd be 99% sure to be eliminated. This was before the group sing, I guess, so that's pretty much bull, because: Elliott, the Brittenums, Sway, et cetera. Oh, and Gedeon, too, because he forgot all his words, and he made it anyway. But Gedeon is telling us a fable here, and the moral is that the hardworking, smiley frog must always heed the warnings of the aging foreign-born scorpion. Or something. Gedeon sings "A Change is Gonna Come," by Sam Cooke. It seems unfair to ding him for smiling too much during the song, but that's my main issue with it. Too bouncy, too light. There's no gravity there, and this is a heavy song. His voice is very nice to listen to, and the song itself is excellent, and it carries him to where he needs to be. ["I have to give it up for Gedeon, who I still do not like -- I thought his stepping to my man Sam was going to be a hubris-y disaster, but he got by with it." -- Sars] Randy critiques quite well, as he says Gedeon was shaky at the beginning, but pulled it out by the end, which is essentially the truth. Paula calls him a performer we'll be seeing "for decades." Dial it back, Paula, could you? For me? Simon starts off by calling Gedeon a "funny little thing," and I wish one of the judges had called him on "patronizing" there, because it's just as patronizing as when Paula does her "at least you're pretty" stuff. Simon actually compliments the song choice here, and says if Gedeon stays in this style, he can perform quite well. So good news for Gedeon. Ryan asks Simon about the dangers inherent in singing something by Sam Cooke, but Simon says it wasn't a copycat. Paula, at this point, is hugging herself. No reason, but she looks like maybe she thinks bugs are crawling on her. And Bucky is, like, way up in the balcony, so it's gotta be all in her head.Back up in the lounge, Ryan's talking a mess about "50 Cent," Jay Z," and "Snoop." All the rappers that old white people know about. But the most hardcore thug around? That's right: Kevin Covais. Kevin emerges, and there is a hand-pound and a chest bump. Kevin will pretty much do anything you ask him to, as I've said before. He doesn't seem to have a capacity for embarrassment, which is great, honestly. But how is this any different than dressing him up like a sailor and parading him out in front of your cocktail party guests? And I guess I'm back at the "Motherboy" place again. Point being: Kevin's actual parents seem nice, and I don't think they'd do that. It's his TV parents who don't seem to have any shame. Kevin's video is about how he's used to being the quiet, non-threatening one at school, but now he's got 12- and 13-year old girls writing him and telling him he's so cute. And all the Idol girls want to pinch his cheeks. And this makes him a "sex symbol." Oh, Kevin. They lie to you at this show you're on. They lie so bad. Kevin's chosen to sing "Heard It Through the Grapevine," a song I first heard as it was being sung by a group of Claymation raisins, and that's pretty pathetic, even I will admit. Kevin's pretty bad here. There is nothing about the performance that doesn't scream "junior high talent show." And he'd have brought the house down at one of those, but on the AI stage, it's playing dress-up and nothing more. I bet Simon calls it "very karaoke." If he won't, I will, because that's what it is. He's very bouncy, like how he was in his "dancing like assholes" video. He's adorable, but he's not an actual singer, even if he tends to sing pretty well. Randy and Paula are having a ball with him, but for all the reasons that he'll never win this show. They're doing more than just humoring him, which is nice, but that doesn't mean I'm not relieved when Simon once again shows up with the cold water. He says if he heard that performance on the radio, he'd turn it off, and you absolutely would. If you didn't have the rest of what's going on with Kevin being tiny and adorable and bouncy, the vocals just aren't strong enough. Paula and Randy can't reside in the real world for two seconds to acknowledge this, which is very annoying.