Tuesday, March 25, 2008

American Idol: Top 10

Tonight's American Idol was a weird one. I think I disagreed with the majority of what the judges said (no shock there) but the performances were also off.

Ramiele Malubay "Alone" by Heart
I think it's time 19E retired this one, because every time I hear it, I ALWAYS think of Carrie Underwood's version and this is coming from someone who did not care for her all that much. Ramiele's performance was fine, and yeah, I'll take into consideration that she was sick, but at the same time, she should have known better than to do a song that most Idol viewers know has been covered awesomely by already AND on top of that as Randy mentioned, Carly did it earlier this season also (although I think Ramiele's version was better).


Jason Castro "Fragile" by Sting
I love Jason and he's my favorite of the guys. So imagine my loathing when I heard he would be doing Sting. I detest the majority of Sting's "songs," but I was pleasantly surprised by what Jason did. I absolutely LOVED that he did the Spanish in there (and a quick listen on youtube tells me it wasn't it in the original). <3!


Syesha Mercado "If I Was Your Woman" by Stephanie Mills
I dig Syesha, although I do have some problems with her at times. Tonight's was one of them. She really went ALL OUT to prove that homegirl can sahng. Yes it was good, but I think she went a little overboard with it. I much preferred her last week when she went lower on "Yesterday."


Chikezie Ezie "If Only for One Night" by Luther Vandross
Ugh. I'm so over Chikezie. I did not like this performance, I hated the song and I don't think he's that good of a singer or a performer. I'm still a little bitter that David Hernandez isn't here. Boo. Nikki McKibbin was a stripper too and she got her ass all the way to #3.


Brooke White "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
Ahhh! More Sting! Actually, this is one that I like, so I was fine with Brooke tackling this. These judges are so damn picky though. A few weeks ago I believe they told either Brooke or someone else who did a song with an instrument that they should have brought in the band. Today, Brooke wisely incorporated that advice into her performance and then the judges bitched about it. Argh. Whatever. She was great.


Michael Johns "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" by Queen
The judges may have lost their shit over this one and yeah I thought it was good, but if they want to criticize anyone about being safe this week, it's Michael. The best he's been this entire season was on "Bohemian Rhapsody" so, OF COURSE he's going to do Queen the next time he was able to. Predictable? Yes. Good? Also yes, but again, very safe.


Carly Smithson Hennessy "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
I do not like Carly. I don't care that she's from San Diego or that this is her second time around or that blah, blah, blah. She's meh. Boy, was I surprised tonight. I was a little pissed that she took the song that I thought Brooke should have sang, but she did the song justice (with the exception of that AWFUL money note at the end that she ruined). This was, by far, my favorite performance from her and as much as I hate to say it, this version put Jessica Sierra's version to shame.


David Archuleta "You're the Voice" by David Foster and Jeff Pescetto
This was some high-class bullshit. First of all, I agree with Simon. You know Archie had NEVER heard this song before in his life. Someone had to have been coaching him. The original version was from the 1980s by Aussie John Farnham (oh, did I think I would never hear from this guy again. Damn you Priyant!) so I'm not surprised that the other 2 judges haven't heard it either. It was such a ridiculous performance and song. Thumbs down Archie, but fear not. You are "The Chosen One" so nothing's going to stop you...yet.


KKKristy Lee Cook "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood
I. Totally. Called. This. Shit. When I found out that KKKristy was born in 1984, I thought of 2 songs. "Time After Time" and this clunker. It was such an obvious choice for her, since the only thing the judges have liked from her so far is "Amazing Grace" which was her audition song. Yeah, I liked the song when I was younger, but now I don't really care for it, especially when it's coming out of someone's mouth when they can't sing. This was decent for KKKristy, but decent for her is terrible for the others. Her best, so far, has been "Faithfully" so the Simon's wrong here.


David Cook "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson (Chris Cornell version)
Wow. That was pretty friggin' awesome. He still sounds very Daughtry-esque, but that's not a big deal. David has been VERY consistent and I do think that he might have what it takes to steal the win from Archie (although, no one wants to kick the puppy). We shall see.


Rankings:
1. David Cook
2. Brooke White
3. Carly Smithson Hennessy (would have been #1 if not for the butchering of the money note)
4. Jason Castro
5. Syesha Mercado
6. Michael Johns
7. Ramiele Malubay
8. David Archuelta
9. KKKristy Lee Cook
10. Chikezie Ezie


Bottom Three Predictions:
I think Chikezie and Ramiele will visit the bottom three for the first time this season. And I think one of my favorites will join them, so I'll say Jason joins them.


Bottom Two:
I think Jason will be safe but this will be the kick in the pants his fans need to call in for him. That leaves Chikezie and Ramiele. Both are young, which means they should be getting a lot of text message support. Both also went pretty early. Which one is more expendable to 19E right now?


Goodbye to...
Ramiele Malubay.