chop by Sigvold
BUT FIRST!
PREVIOUSLY ... On American Idol 7 ...
Two weeks ago, Kristy Lee was so nervous she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. She landed in the Bottom 2, only to be saved by David Hernandez, who'd made the colossal mistake of revealing that his first choice at college was broadcast journalism. His performance had the aura of one who is doing it just to be able to say he'd done it, like when Tyra was homeless for a day. Anyway, he stank more than Kristy did.
Then last week, Kristy Lee got better control of her nerves but some viewers were still pleading for her dismissal. Once again, someone else's more rotten performance saved her cute lil ass. Amanda Overmeyer had been losing fans steadily, even dropping from the #2 spot to the #10 on my own list. Amanda's snotty attitude towards Simon with respect to his suggestion that she try a ballad probably clinched her dismissal and saved Kristy's butt again.
There's a reason I liked Kristy when she was selected all these months ago. What's gone wrong? I mean, her audition went well but I've been wondering if perhaps that's because she was in a room the size of where they keep the stacks of floor exercise mats in high school.
Anyhoo, last week Kristy showed she can overcome her nerves but she needs more than that. Can she find the vocal that won us over in the beginning? Can Kristy Lee survive on her own merits or is it simply a matter of hoping there is someone else over whose dead body she can claw her way to yet another week? Let's find out...
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
chop by Sigvold
The songs are from the year they were spawned.
Dean: "I've never looked up the songs from the year I was born. Have you?"
Me: "Yeah."
Dean: "They had songs back then?"�
The show is slowly reducing in length, only 90 minutes tonight. Still too long, but at least it's a move in the right direction. In fact, it didn't feel that interminable because most of the little movies for each contestant were actually adorable. I still decline to report them in major detail. Just saying, I did enjoy learning about the contestants; I just wish they would choose really interesting songs and deliver them in ways we haven't heard 6 billion times before.
The order in which I list the performances is the order of my enjoyment, not the order of B3 prediction. My predictions for the Bottom 3 follow the performance reviews.
1. David Cook took the 1983 Billie Jean hit by Michael Jackson and gave us a slow, dark version. A few people mentioned that it borrowed rather heavily from Chris Cornell's version. Those of you saying, "Who?" Soundgarden's yummy lead singer with fabulous distinctive voice. David C. did an excellent job of selling the version. Randy called David C. "most original, most bold" contestant, adding, "You might be the one to win the whole rock." The other two judges were similarly impressed. Simon said it was "brave" and I can see how he would think so. Chris Cornell's version isn't as well known as Jackson's, for one thing. I'm now officially rooting for David Cook to win the whole show. I've given him a 3rd and a 7th and now, a 1st.
This gap is larger than it appears.
2. Michael Johns. Born in Perth, Australia. Thought he was going to be a tennis player until age 15, when music found him. I cringed when I saw he'd chosen 1978's We Are the Champions by Queen. The actual delivery was mostly loud without being too screechy, although there was that one note that may have required an audio referee, like in tennis or football, to advise if he did in fact cross the shriek barrier. Since I thought it was going to be much worse, it was pretty good in comparison to my extremely low expectations. In fact, hey! This is how much the rest of them were meh or totally sucked. The crowd went nuts for a full minute. Randy gave props for finally using "that big ole voice." Paula declared it a shining moment and Simon finally saw star potential and someone who looked like a front man. I would have to agree with all of that. He gets a 2nd to offset the two 8s I already gave him. He needed a good week, that's for sure.
3. Syesha Mercado is cute, but an ability to sound like a baby won't win fans who can vote. Her rendition of 1987's If I Were Your Woman by Stephanie Mills was pretty good. It took a while for me to get into it, as my notes show I was noticing that she was singing "If I was your woman..." instead of using "were." It wasn't bad at all. She emoted properly, she didn't smile too much. The vocal was good. But... something is missing. The crowd went nuts, Randy went nuts (called it stellar and unbelievable) and Paula declared this will be the benchmark against which all future performances will be compared and fall short. (Okay, she didn't use those words, but that's what her prattle meant.) Simon felt the song showed her limits vocally. He might be right in the sense that I don't think she can do more, but I have to disagree that she came across as weak vocally. The weakness is more difficult to pinpoint. There's nothing unique about her, nothing to differentiate her from thousands of similarly capable nightclub acts. One of the better ones tonight. She had a 6 and 1, and adds a 3 to her scores from me.
4. Brooke White. 1983's Every Breath You Take by The Police. She's the oldest kid in her family. Her parents are both good looking. She taught herself to play piano by ear. Her voice has lovely tone this evening. But she's shown us this kind of performance before. Is this really the best choice from 1983?� Randy thought it interesting but didn't love the arrangement with the band coming in half-way through. Paula liked this more than last week. Simon agrees with Randy about the arrangement, and with Paula that it was better than last week. I felt it was okay but in some ways I liked last week better. There was a fun vulnerability. However, because so many sucked she actually gets a higher score. She now has a 6, a 5 and a 4 from me. But Brooke - you may be safe but you need to expand your range of song choice and performance presentation.
5. Jason Castro is an Aries and it's his birthday today. That might be worth a few votes. Plus he's so adorable. 1987's Fragile by Sting is yet another quiet song and Jason accompanies himself yet again on guitar. Sounds like this song has a foreign language in it too. Yep, it's Spanish this week. Nice. Nothing fabulous, but nice. Then again, I'm pre-disposed in his favor, since I find him to be adorable. Randy thinks it a good choice of song but... Jason seems to laugh at the idea of producing a "jump out vocal." Paula babbles reiterating what Randy said, so situation normal with her. Simon thinks this performance constituted a bad week, the equivalent of someone busking outside a train station. "Too laid back. Potentially a winner but won't win if he doesn't break out." Jason says in a very laid back voice that "yeah" he is taking it seriously. Jason knows he doesn't have to do that much to skate along at the moment. Even though it was bland, I'm giving him another 5th. 7, 5 and 5 so far. I'd tell him to do more but I think he's actually going to be okay with getting booted whenever it happens. I'd be very surprised if he were in the bottom 3, but not shocked. I would be shocked if he left this week.
6. Kristy Lee Cook. Born in Seattle and is the youngest child in her family She's adorable, really. Her song choice (1984's God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood) borders on pandering, but she might actually not even land in the bottom 3 this week. Her voice was the strongest it's been since auditions, and her outfit and presentation felt appropriate. Randy noted a bit of pitchiness but thought the song a good choice. Paula used the word "poignant," adding she's seen better performances from Kristy. I'd like to know when, since I agree with Simon that it was her best performance by a mile. He concluded, "Most clever song choice I've heard in years." 12, 11 and 6. She might just have earned her way to another week by her own merits. I would like to see her avoid the B3 this week.
7. Carly Smithson was born in Dublin, Ireland, as we are reminded each and every week. We learned she's named for Carly Simon. I love 1983's Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler but I couldn't tell you a whole lot about the vocal since my attention was absorbed with the horrible outfit she squeezed herself into. A total eclipse of fashion. A piece of crap. Dean and I both question why she keeps showing off her fat arms. She looks like a Tonka truck. By the time I started paying attention, it was about over. Randy didn't like the note at the end, neither did I. Sorry about Paula's comments, they're either too weird or a rehash of Randy's Simon noticed Carly was uptight and told her to lighten up a little bit. Well, she was in the bottom 3 last week, Simon. Haha, at least she admits it too. Meh. It was rocking out, but when I wasn't horrified by her appearance, I was bored. 4, 2 and 7. That's a bit of a drop. She could be in danger.
8. Chikezie. Born in Los Angeles, CA of Nigerian parents. Blah blah repetition. He gets a min-interview with Ryan pre-sing, blathering about song choice, which for the record is 1985's If Only For One Night by Luther Vandross. He's an adult or whatever you want to call him. This was even more boring than Carly's. Randy says it was old school and he didn't love it. Not hip or cool. Boring. Paula disagrees and a segment of the crowd whoops. Blah blah textures of vocals. Simon says, "You sang it well, cheesy performance." Chikezie argues he put his hand in the audience because he was singing it to them. Simon perseveres and says he missed the personality. I agree. That was bland and dull. When Chikezie stood next to Ryan, Dean called my attention to the suit Chikezie was wearing. OMG who let him out of the dressing room wearing that revolting. garment? He looked like he was standing on the street corner under three rows of birds all pooping on him. He was mesmerized by Jason's street-corner busking. A 1 and a 3 and an 8. Not good.
9. Ramiele Malubay. Born in Saudi Arabia, and she knows she is lucky to be here. For some reason she chose an even more horrific outfit that accentuates her short stature. It doesn't go with 1987's Alone by Heart, either. As always she has quieter parts and shrieking screaming parts to her treatment of the song. It didn't seem bad at the start of the night, but overall? Randy called the song too big for her and her rendition pitchy. Paula drew our attention to the fact that Ramiele is sick with a cold. Simon thought it would be enough to get through this week, seeing as how she sucked last week and still survived. When Ramiele said her voice went bye-bye, I think she lost votes. She isn't the absolute worst but her cumulative scores of 10, 9 and 9 are pretty bad.
10. David Archuleta also got to have a minterview with Ryan.
He was born in Miami, Fla. and there are a lot of kids in the family.
His mom is cute. He starts singing 1990's You're the Voice by David Foster with Jeff
Pescetto. Dean: "This makes me want the draft to come back." Randy laments the strange song choice, but says he can sing. Paula
hauled out the "you could sing the phone book" comment. Simon didn't like the performance at all. "Reminiscent of a theme park
performance." (ooOoo hurrah for a new analogy.) Simon mentioned animated creatures, which 
I see chops in David A's future. 9, 4 and 10.
BOTTOM 3 PREDICTION
This week it's a bit of a tough call, actually. I'd like to see David Archuleta land in the bottom 3 and have that smug grin wiped off his lip-licking lizard face. The obscene amount of pimping this boy has received thus far needs to blow up in the show's face. I really doubt he will land in the B3, and much as I wish it, I can't quite bring myself to call him landing in the bottom 3... this week. His day is coming, however, of that I feel sure.
Kristy deserves to avoid the Bottom 3 this week. Not so much for the song itself, but the quality of her vocal, which was much improved especially compared with two weeks ago. She's going from strength to strength, and while I don't see her able to win, if she's lucky with the themes, she should outlast a few of the others.
Cheesy Chikezie played it straight this week, and failed dismally. I think he'll be in the Bottom 3, but I also expect he will be declared safe. With the level of enjoyment I've had the previous two weeks, I'd be happy with that result. Give him a wake up call, but don't send him packing yet. Please arrange for someone to help him with wardrobe next week. That suit was a mess.
Carly and Ramiele should form the Bottom 2, with Ramiele sent home. Although frankly, on outfits alone it's hard to say whose was the greater travesty. Carly resembled a sausage tubing and Ramiele looked like she'd had half her torso removed.� They've made the tour, can we have a double elimination?
Thanks for reading! See you all next time!!
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Fans of Survivor - enjoy my weekly essay on the Half-Ass Season in the S16 forum, here.
Check out Sir Links A Lot American Idol for more articles and recaps for this show.
I mostly agree with you this week, but I kinda liked Ramiele. I fast forwarded through Chikezie,
so I will take your word for how he did. I loved David Cook this week, I'm rooting for him too.
