Idol 53 - Tim Urban

53. Tim Urban

Season 9, 7th Place

My hat is off to Tim Urban! You want to know why?

I think Tim truly came from behind and had a fantastic run on this show! Were his performances stellar? No, not really, but there were some gems during his Idol stint. I mean, there was even a time where it felt like I was being tricked.

Seriously. I officially put myself out there during Season 9 as one of the few online reviewers who thought Tim Urban has righted the ship, turned it around, and suddenly had momentum. He was obviously seen by many as an eye-candy that nobody really took all that seriously, but then he fought your his way up to Top 7 and somehow made me a discreet fan! Yes, I was a discreet fan of Tim Urban. Haha.

As we all know, Tim was previously cut during Hollywood but was asked to replace Chris Golightly after he was disqualified for some contract issues. Too bad, Tim didn't really stepped during his first live performance to prove that he's worthy of the second chance he was given. His rendition of Apologize was awful. He had this really funny “deer in the headlights” look throughout the beginning of the number that reminded me of Jon Peter Lewis and his falsetto was weak.

The next week, he did better although that's not saying much about him as a real artist. Then, Hallelujah came and everything changed. No, it wasn't ground breaking but from someone coming off the bench only a few weeks before that, it wasn't bad. To be fair, the song is so powerful that it’s almost impossible not to do well with it, but Tim’s subtle changes really worked.

That said, when he managed to sneak his way to the Top 12, I was somehow pissed because I thought he took a slot to a much more deserving contestant, Alex Lambert. Good thing, he managed to prove himself in the next coming weeks - although his first three performances since Top 12 were almost incredibly bad. Haha.

I believe his string of good performances started with All My Loving, after Kara questioned Tim's intelligence a week before that. Haha. Then, Can't Falling In Love happened and he, to me, seriously changed my opinion about him. His version was a beautiful, restrained and a perfect song for Tim and the way it was performed betrayed a sense of strategy and professionalism that I wasn’t aware Tim possessed.  Too bad, his Better Days were a little uneven and got him eliminated the next week.

If only Tim had simply stuck with the catchy melodies and easy vocal arrangements he could have made it to fifth, maybe even fourth, place and I wouldn't complain. Haha. I much prefer him over Aaron Kelly and somehow over Michael Lynche. Can we just get him on the Disney channel already? Haha.

Oh, and one last thing, wasn’t there just something hilarious about Tim Urban? I could never really place my finger on it. Maybe it was the hidden evil genius that seemed to always know how to sneak past the guards and move on to yet another week of contention or maybe it was his “so what?” reaction to every single one of the judges attacks. Haha.

Favorite Performance(s): His take on Elvis' Can't Help Falling In Love was definitely my favorite. This was the night I thought I was in a bizarro land because Tim actually was one of the best performers that week. It was mind boggling. Haha. Go figure!

Can't Help Falling In Love

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