American Idol - Week Eight- 4/29/08

Oh Paula.
I kid you not, of all the seasons of Idol I have watched, I have never seen Paula so blitzed. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then let me very briefly descibe what happened last night.

First off, the theme of the night were the songs of Neil Diamond, who is a legend. I admit, I’m not too familiar with his works, besides the big well known songs, but all in all I enjoyed the songs performed tonight. Ryan started off the evening by telling the audience that there are doing things differently, because of the fact that the contestants have two performances each. Each contestant would perform the first song of the night without judges’ comments, then would sing the second round of songs with the judges critiques of both songs.

After round one, Ryan lined up the contestants on stage and asked each of the judges for their first, quick impressions of the round one songs. Randy begins and give a one to two sentence review on each contestant’s performance. Moving on to Paula, she began to review Jason Castro’s performance (he was first), then goes on to review his SECOND song choice, even though he hadn’t performed it yet. Truly a Paula moment. When Randy pointed out that they had only sung one song, she commented that she thought Jason had sung twice already. HUH?! Is she that spaced out during performances? Is it any wonder why no one actually cares what she says anymore? (Personally, I think she either read her notes on another contestant by accident, but still….SPACY)

Anyway, I think I touched enough on the ridiculousness of Paula. I have bothered you all enough, so let’s get to the meat of the night….the performances:

1.JASON CASTRO – sung "Forever in Blue Jeans" and "September Morn" - I came away from Jason’s performances tonight with only one thought in my mind; no effort. It’s true what the judges said, in that the Jason we all remember from the beginning of the season was no where to be found last night. Jason has gone back to “just getting through” the songs, and it showed very obviously last night. All three judges called him out on it, and personally I agree. Both performances were uninspired, and even more so, downright boring. He didn’t change it up, he just sung them. This is what bothers me most about Jason. If it isn’t a genre he likes, and he’s forced to sing songs in that genre, then he just gives up, doesn’t try, and hopes his charm and smile will win him through to the next round. His attitude stinks, and is a complete opposite to someone like David Cook, who takes a genre, turns it on it’s ear, and makes the best of it. I’m sure David C.’s first choice wouldn’t be Neil Diamond songs, but guess what? He made the best of it, and got high praise for it. (more on that later). For now, I think it’s pretty obvious Jason is my first choice for the bottom two tonight. Heck, he practically earned that place with those performances.

2.DAVID COOK – sung "I'm Alive" and "All I Really Need is You" – Week after week, I grow more and more impressed with David, and though I still like “porkchop”, I think David C. is the guy I see as a breakout star. I don’t even think it matters if he wins Idol or not, he is already a star. I didn’t think his first performance was that great, but it wasn’t bad. His vocals were solid, and I liked his added “rock” vibe to a relatively unknown Neil Diamond song. As for his second performance, it was, as Simon said, “brilliant”. I never heard of “All I Really Need Is You”, but damn if it didn’t sound like a song that could be on the radio right now, thanks to David’s amazing arrangement. I’m actually curious to hear the original to see how far removed Cook’s version was. By this point, David has secured a place in the finale, and without a doubt, completely safe this week.

3.BROOKE WHITE - sung "I'm a Believer" and "I Am I Said" - Ugh. UGH. Brooke, what in the world drove you to pick “I’m a Believer” as your first song!? Especially after (as one of the judges pointed out) that cheesy video on Idol Gives Back of different celebrities lip-synching to it? It doesn’t matter that Brooke sounded okay singing this song, it came off completely karaoke. Simon called Brooke’s first song performance a “nightmare”, and I have to agree. Thankfully, she had a second song choice, and this is where she shined. Something about Brooke at that piano raises her performances every time, and this time was no exception. “I Am I Said” sounded great, and Neil’s suggestion of replacing “New York” with “Arizona” (Brooke’s home state) worked extremely well. It made the song more personal, creating a fantastic emotional connection to the song. But I have to go back to that first horrible song choice. I think it put Brooke into trouble, and despite a great second performance, she is my second and final choice for the bottom two picks this week. Sorry Brooke.

4.DAVID ARCHULETA – sung "Sweet Caroline" and "America" - Porkchop was a smart boy this week. For one, he chose two of the most well-known Neil Diamond songs. I love Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”, but I don’t think David’s version really gave it justice. I mean, I had to bite my tongue during the performance not to sing “bah, bah bah” and “so good, so good, so good”. (and don’t look at me that way, you know you wanted to as well) This is one of the first times I have to admit, I didn’t think porkchop’s performance was good enough. I come to expect more from him at this stage, so he let me down a little with his first performance. His second performance was a little better, but not much better. What will save him with the second song choice, is just that; his song choice. SMART. He’s playing to the same audience as Kristy Lee Cook did when she sang “God Bless The USA”, so it’s a guaranteed success. I give credit to David, because of his song choices this week, he is definitely safe. (Come on, this point we all can start to see David squared in the finale, no?)

5.SYESHA MERCADO – sung "Hello Again" and "Thank the Lord for the Night Time" – For once, I have to say I enjoyed Syesha’s performances, and I’ll even rack them up as two of the best of the night. Her first choice was sung beautifully, her vocals were so spot on, you heard her range from beginning to end. The second choice showed her personality and vocal ability. Her second performance cemented my theory that she would be a brilliant stage actress. I can see Syesha be a blowout star in Broadway musicals, because she has that special something that combines both amazing vocals with stage acting. That all aside, I think it’s too late for poor Syesha. She has blossomed way too late for her new fans to make a difference. Her constant place in the bottom doesn’t help matters much. Despite last week’s fantastic performance, she still wound up in the bottom two. It’s like she can’t win, no matter how hard she tries. I have to disagree with Simon on her last night though. He said that she could be in trouble, but I don’t think so. I think she’s safe tonight, but considering the way voting has been against her, I could be very wrong. Let’s watch and see.

My Bottom TWO Picks: Jason Castro, and by virtue of that horrible first song choice, Brooke White.

My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: Is it Brooke’s time? Or has Jason’s uncaring attitude finally spelled his doom? I have to say it could go either way tonight. If I want to think logically, Brooke should be safe because her second performance was good, and Jason is out because both his performances stunk. So I say Jason is going home. However, be prepared if out of left field Syesha goes home.

So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!

ONE LAST NOTE! I’m asking all my readers to please take a very quick poll/survey for me.
Take our Online Survey
I’ve gained so many readers, I would like to keep writing for all you, and at the same time, help me flex my writing muscles during the summer. It’s a quick survey I promise….Thanks!

American Idol - Week Seven - 4/22/08

To start off this week, I never realized how much some of you guys depend on my review. I got email complaints! I’m flattered that this review is well-liked, and I promise to make arrangements next time for me to continue my review, regardless of whether or not I’m home or not. A thank you to all my readers for being so loyal! I love writing and reviewing shows for you guys, so if you want to continue reading my views, perhaps on a different show after Idol is over, then let me know. Within the next two weeks, I’ll be placing a website address here for you guys to take a survey, and vote on what show, if any, that you guys would like me to review next, in the absence of Idol. Please participate!

Just to touch upon last’s week’s performances, I actually downloaded David Cook’s performance of “Always Be My Baby”. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would be downloading a Mariah Carey song, but I take comfort in the fact it sounds nothing like it. David’s version of the song is a haunting, eerily stalker-ish, emo rock ballad that could DEFINITELY appear on a movie soundtrack somewhere. To close, it was finally the other Cook’s time to go home. Kristy Lee turned out to be a very smart girl in her song choices, and I could see her doing very well on the country circuit. (hey, remember our resident Idol airhead, Kelly Pickler?)

Now, as far as this week’s theme goes, I think I could honestly say I haven’t seen all of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s plays. I could safely say I’ve seen at least half though, which I think familiarizes me enough with his style and passion. He truly cares about a song’s emotion and words, and wants the person singing the tune to reflect this. Of all the mentors I’ve seen on Idol, he is the only one who I truly thought had some real advice for the contestants. We’re down to six, so it’s coming down to the wire. I’m starting to make out two figures as the final two, and they both have the same first name.

Okay enough, I can actually hear some of saying to get on with it.
So let’s get to the performances:

1.SYESHA MERCADO – sung "One Rock and Roll Too Many" from Starlight Express – This had to be the first time I actually saw some personality from Syesha. It wasn’t a diva tune, it wasn’t over the top. It was actually good. She looked like she was having fun, and just like Simon said, it was also very sexy. I agree with the judges in the respect that you can tell very easily that this is Syesha’s element. Look back at all her past performances and then look at this one. The passion and personality she showed in this performance makes the other performances pale in comparison. But the problem I see, is that it might be too late. She found her “niche” so to speak, too late. I think that her performance was good enough to make her last another week, but I see her going home soon. She just connected to the audience too late, and now eyes are on other contestants. Safe this week, but going home within the next couple of weeks.

2.JASON CASTRO – sung "Memory" from Cats – I couldn’t agree with Simon more when he described Jason as being forced to sing this. Though Jason sung this well, I felt it was void of all emotion. I didn’t feel anything from him during his performance, and it kind of stood out for me. On top of that, Jason admitted never seeing any of the Webber plays. He didn’t even know the song he was going to sing was sung by a “cat”. Take all this into account, and I can completely figure out how Jason made the choices he did. Let me set it up for you; Jason finds out next week is the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber; Jason looks at the list of songs and does not recognize any of them, except one, which he samples; he recognizes the tune, maybe because it’s one of the most famous ones, and decides, “hey, I kind of recognize that, I’ll do that one”. No connection whatsoever to the song, and though I don’t think this was one of Jason’s strongest performances, I think it was one of his weakest. This will definitely make him my first pick for my bottom three choices.

3.BROOKE WHITE - sung "You Must Love Me" from Evita - By now, if you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you know I’m a big fan of Brooke. But dear God, twice in the season she had a bad start, and restarted the song?! Yikes. Granted, it was the right thing to do, but it was a catylist to how the song went from there. I truly believe it when Simon said that the stopping and starting of the song completely threw her off, and it affected the first half of the song greatly. This was one of my all time favorite songs from Evita. (the movie – I regretably never seen the play, but would very much love to see it – especially with Patti Lupone- but I digress) In the movie, Madonna sung this song with such passion and sincerity you felt yourself choke up at the emotion from the way it was sung. Because of Brooke’s stop and start, the beginning of the song lacked any heartfelt emotion. It totally did not work, but thankfully towards the middle, Brooke took control of it again, and the emotion finally burst through. By the end of the song, the heartbreaking emotion of the song was there in full force, which made a fantastic ending. Unfortunately, the overall performance of the song was marred by that unemotional start. Add to the fact that Brooke was thisclose to being eliminated last week, and I think she needs to worry. I hate to do this, but Brooke is my second pick for my bottom three choices.

4.DAVID ARCHULETA – sung "Think of Me" from The Phantom of the Opera– To start off, I would like to say how appropriate the nickname “Porkchop” is for little David. (my thanks to my friend Dawn for coming up with it). As for his performance, I think I need to agree with Simon, as opposed to Randy and Paula on this one. Though I think David will sail on through to next week, I think this wasn’t as great as the other two judges made it out to be. I feel it was one of Porkchop’s weaker performances, and almost as forgetable as that horrible “The Voice” song choice he did weeks ago. David sung it with passion, and I did find it quite entertaining watching him try to keep his eyes open during his performance. I still love David, but I’m starting to really not see him as a pop star. In fact, I’m not quite sure where I see him if he wins. If the rumors about his dad are true (that he’s a typical “show-dad”, making choices and adding unneeded pressure to his son), then I don’t see David doing well at all if he wins. Hopefully, the rumors are wrong. David is definitely safe this week.

5.CARLY SMITHSON – sung "Jesus Christ Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar – Finally, I can say Carly made a good song choice. Though can I really say she did though? Didn’t Andrew Lloyd Webber tell her to change it? Regardless, it was definitely the better song to choose of the two she had. I was somewhat unfamiliar with this particular tune, on account it being one of the plays I’ve had the unfortunate luck of never seeing. I went to iTunes and heard the sample tune from the soundtrack, to compare to Carly’s performance. Saying that, I didn’t think it was that bad. It wasn’t great though, and just I said in previous posts, I keep waiting for Carly to wow me, and it still hasn’t happened. I think this was one of her strongest performances, but it just didn’t leave me speechless (like David Cook last week). I think she got lost a little in the middle of the song, but she recovered by the end. Overall, a great performance, but I’m still waiting for the “wow”. I think the audience is still waiting too, so I think she may need to be my last pick for my bottom three choices.

6.DAVID COOK – sung "Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera– God, Simon and I were both on the same wavelength last night, because we are agreeing on almost all the contestants. Except maybe this one. Simon said that he didn’t like this side of David, and he prefers the harder rocker David. Well, duh Simon. It was Broadway tunes for crying out loud, what did you expect? I think David made the best choice he could as far as songs go, and to be honest, I kind of agree with Paula (did I just really say that?) and Randy on this one. This performance, though forgetable, showed David’s versatility. He’s not a one trick pony (I’m looking at you, Amanda Overmyer), and he stuck with just his natural voice for this performance. It made it a truly great performance, and yes though not his strongest, (last week) or his most memorable, it most definitely made him safe this week. (by the way, I’m officially on the David Cook fan wagon now, and rooting for him all the way)

My Bottom Three Picks: Jason Castro, Carly Smithson and unfortunately, Brooke White.

My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: I hate this, but I gotta be unbiased. Jason’s performance and his goofiness will get him by again. Carly and Brooke are in trouble, but I think Brooke’s stop and start has doomed her to go home.

So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!

American Idol - Week Five - 4/08/08

It was going to happen this season sooner or later, so appropriately enough, it fell on the “Idol Gives Back” week. This week, the contestants were asked to choose a song that inspires them. Inspirational songs were the theme of the evening, and though some excelled (David A., Jason), some completely surprised me (Kristy?!) some really disappointed me, considering their past performances. (David C., Brooke!) I found myself agreeing with the judges a lot this week, not on everything they said, but most of the things. They brought up good points and were pretty on target with their assessments.

This is all I’ll say about Idol Gives Back; say what you will about the show, about the contestants, the controversy, the genuine “reality” of the show, the awful group numbers, etc. But when you get right down to it, the type of exposure and connections this show has puts it into a great position to actually, truly “give back”. How many other reality competitions take the time to do this? The fact remains that the money they raise goes to dozens of great causes, and it’s great to see the popularity of a show being used to help people and children in need.

As most of you probably know, the Idol Gives Back show was taped on Sunday night at the Kodak theater, but will be broadcast tonight. Is it worth a watch? I would say yes, but only with the lucky ones of us who own a DVR and can fast forward the endless plugs, promotions and commercials you are sure to get bombarded with. Why do I say it’s worth a watch? For me, it’s mostly to see where this money is actually gonna go. I want to see who it is that is going to be receiving the money. Are there performances I would sit through and watch? I would say a few. (Daughtry comes to mind) Give it a watch. (besides, Top Chef doesn’t start until 10:00pm, so might as well no?)

Wow, I really babbled too much this week.
Let’s get to what you came here for; the performances:

1.MICHAEL JOHNS – sung "Dream On” by Aerosmith – The first performer of the evening had me agreeing with the judges to a degree. I think Michael sung this very well, though I agree that it wasn’t the best song choice for him. I just don’t see Johns as an Aerosmith guy, or rock guy of that genre. I see him more like a Michael Hutchence (the late former lead singer of INXS) genre, then a rock guy. It doesn’t mean his performance wasn’t good, because it was definitely sung well. It just didn’t fit or suit him in my opinion. I don’t know about him this week. I could easily pick him for one of my bottom three picks, but he could easily be replaced with the next contestant. I choose Michael as one of my bottom three picks, but he will share this position with….

2.SYESHA MERCADO – sung "I Believe” by Fantasia – Yep. I think she’s the one who will share Michael’s bottom three spot. I don’t mean she’s my second choice, I just mean, you can switch out Michael or Syesha in that first bottom three stool. I didn’t think Syesha sung this song badly, however, what is this girl’s constant songs that are too big for her? Randy pointed out that last week it was Whitney, this week it was Fantasia. The judges always say this, and I say it too; unless you’re gonna sing the heck out of a song made famous by a diva, then you will always look bad. She chose to change it up and make it her own a little, but I still don’t see the real Syesha here. We’re down to eight, and I still don’t know what kind of singer she is. This is due to the fact that she constantly picks songs by bigger divas. Perhaps it’s a bit of arrogance on her part? I don’t know, but her lack of giving a “wow” performance, coupled with somewhat “ehh” reviews from the judges, along with the problem of audience connection, could easily make her another bottom three pick. Michael or Syesha, one of them will sit in that first stool.

3.JASON CASTRO – sung "Somewhere Over The Rainbow” as performed by Israel "Iz" Ka'ano'i Kamakawiwo'ole – I have always LOVED, loved this version of the song. I first heard it at the end of the movie 50 First Dates, (one of my fav movies, though I like almost anything Drew (Barrymore) is in…but I digress) though the song itself was released many years earlier. To borrow a phrase from Simon, Jason performed it brilliantly. Not only did it sound perfect, he added his own little “Jasoniatic” runs to make the song his own a little. (that’s right, I just made up that word. Bite me, Webster’s dictionary!) I’m glad to see Jason come back from mediocre performances from the past 2 weeks, and I may be tempted to download the studio version of Jason’s performance, because I liked it that much. (so far I only downloaded one other performance, which was Brooke White’s studio version of “Let It Be”) By far, Jason is safe this week.

4.KRISTY LEE COOK – sung “Anyway” by Martina McBride – I want to say upfront that I’m about to write Kristy’s review through gritted teeth. I really wanted to hate the performance, mostly because Kristy should not have lasted this long. But darn it, I need to remain somewhat objective, and give props where it’s due. Saying that, Kristy, I give you props. Smart smart choice this week. Not only did you pick the perfect song to fit the genre of music you do well in, but you actually sung it well. It wasn’t as fantastic and great as Paula made it out to be (does anyone even listen to her comments anymore?). I’m glad Simon gave the audience a reality check and said, it wasn’t that great, but the song choice was spot on. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m going to say this yet again, but I think Kristy is safe this week. (Note, I was gritting my teeth so much when I wrote that sentence, I chipped a tooth. Thanks, Kristy.)

5.DAVID COOK – sung "Innocent” by Our Lady Peace – I want to start off saying that if you’ve been reading these reviews from the beginning, you know I have become a fan of David. I like the chances he takes that seem to pay off week after week. This was by far, the weakest performance I ever saw from him, including Hollywood week. I thought this was no where near his past performances, which I think made it stand out more as an oddball performance. I can think of at least 5 other inspirational off the top of my head that would have suited him more then his song choice. While I doubt David is gonna go home, I think this performance will put him in the bottom three, so saying that he will be sharing the second stool with someone else this week in my choices for my bottom three picks. (just like Syesha/Michael before).

6.CARLY SMITHSON – sung "The Show Must Go On” by Queen – I really am on the fence about Carly. I don’t think she is a bad performer per se, but she has very odd song choices sometimes. This song just did not suit her at all. I don’t think she sang it well, and at some spots, she was very pitchy. (God, I can’t believe I just said that…those judges are influencing me more then I thought) I am worried for Carly, mostly because she has yet to give us a “wow” performance, just as Ramiele failed to do week after week. In my opinion, I think Carly has a much better voice then Ramiele, but she fails due to her song choices. Part me if afraid of saying that Carly is one of my bottom three picks. (not sharing the stool with anyone…she is definitely one of my picks). So why am I afraid of choosing her for the bottom three? Have you seen her husband in the audience? That guy scares me. Cool tattoos, but the way he looks at the stage is creepy. Is it just me?

7.DAVID ARCHULETA – sung "Angels” by Robbie Williams – My friend Dawn’s “pork chop” is definitely back on top! What a fantastic performance, sung with both maturity and skill. I liked that fact that he stuck by the piano, and didn’t do anything dramatic like getting up once the band started in. It was classy in a way, showing that David can emote whatever emotion that a song needs. He finally added a couple of “David-isms”, as randy pointed out, and that’s what I think put his performance over as one of the best of the night. As Simon said, David is going to sail right through to next week.

8.BROOKE WHITE - sung "You’ve Got A Friend” by Carole King – I love Brooke. I love her sound, and I like the type of music she chooses….usually. This had to be one of her worst performances, and a very poor song choice. To start off, I hate this song. I never liked it, whether Carole King or James Taylor is singing it. I find it boring, dragged out and monotonous. Brooke’s version was no exception. I hate doing this to one of my favorite performers, but I need to be objective. This was not good, and I think this performance has me picking her sharing the last pick I make for the bottom three with David Cook. Switch out either of them in that second stool.

My Bottom Three Picks: For the first stool, switch out either Michael Johns or Syesha Mercado, for the second stool, switch out either David Cook or Brooke White, and finally on the last stool by herself, Carly Smithson.

My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: The only one who really needs to worry is Carly Smithson. Her lack of “wow” performances has put her in critical danger. So she’s my pick to be eliminated tonight, though I won’t be surprised if Syesha is eliminated either.

So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!

American Idol - Week Four - 4/01/08

I’ll start off this week’s review by saying I’m not a huge fan of country music.

I don’t hate it, though. On my iPod you’ll find a few songs by the Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, Shania Twain, etc. And I’ll be the first to admit, the only Dolly Parton songs I knew were the staples that we all know. (“9 to 5” , “Islands in the Stream”)

But I found myself entertained for the most part. Because of my unfamiliarity of all the songs, I decided to do something different for this week’s review. Last night, after Idol was over, I decided to download the original versions of all of the songs performed on Idol last night. (off of Limewire of course!) In order for me to properly give a good and fair critique, I needed to hear what the originals sounded like, so after hearing them once last night, and again this morning, I feel confidant I can give you all a fair assesement of last night’s performances.
Saying that, I didn’t think it was as awful as I expected it to be. Country nights in Idol’s past seasons came up diasterous for some contestants, but this year, I didn’t think they were as bad as past seasons. Maybe it was Dolly?

I find it silly that Simon said he loves country music, when it’s been proven in past seasons that he hardly ever gives positive feedback to contestants on country night. (Last night as no exception) I found myself disagreeing with Simon more then once last night, but I attribute that to the theme of the night. Simon just isn’t a country boy.

I think you guys heard enough of my prattling, so let’s get to the performances:


1.BROOKE WHITE - sung "Jolene” – I didn’t think Brooke did that badly on this tune. However, after listening to the original, I don’t think she did anything new with the song. I love Brooke, but it sounded the same to me, so I think this is probably one of her weaker performances. (though I think the “Here Comes the Sun” performance was a little worse then this). Would she be in danger? Possibly, but I’d like to think the positive reviews from the other two judges will get her by this week. I’m gonna call her safe.

2.DAVID COOK – sung "Little Sparrow” – David continues to impress me. He’s smart, and he takes chances. Last night, David put his own arrangement to a song that Paula said she had never heard by a guy. After I heard the original, I would have said there is no way a male singer could pull this off. I would have been wrong. In my opinion, the original pales in comparison to the new version David did last night. He turned this Parton tune into a certifiable rock ballad. I disagree with Simon when he said it wasn’t as good as last week. I think it was better then last week, because this time it was an original arrangement, as opposed to him borrowing from someone else. I may not like his type of music, but I got to give this guy his props. Truly inspiring and smart, and most definitely safe this week. (keep this up, and he’s gonna sail to the finale easy)

3.RAMIELE MALUBAY – sung "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” – Ramiele is in trouble. I don’t think this was a bad performance per se, but this just did not rank high as compared to everyone else’s performances last night. She sung it well, and I don’t think she faltered too much. The problem is, this would be one of her final chances to “wow” us, and she didn’t. She didn’t do anything different to the song, so she falls in the same category as Brooke. I had such high hopes for her when she started on Idol, but she has done nothing but struggle from the beginning. It’s sad, because you can hear how strong her voice is, it’s just that it didn’t go anywhere. Add her lackluster performance to a couple of harsh comments by the judges, and you can see why Ramiele is my first choice for my bottom three picks this week.

4.JASON CASTRO – sung "Traveling Thru” – Ok, this is where I diverged from the judges a little. I actually liked his version of this song. This was one of the only songs that sounded vaquely familiar, and when I downloaded the original, I was reminded that it was featured in the movie Transamerica (a truly awesome movie, but I digress). Jason did actually do something a little different with it, and I think his voice was perfectly suited to the song. It sounded great, and I can see that Jason took Simon’s advance seriously last week, because I saw focus from him this week. Was it enough? I don’t think the viewing audience had the same appreciation for Jason’s version as I did, so I think that’s what will make him my second choice for my bottom three picks.

5.CARLY SMITHSON – sung "Here You Come Again” – I found this to be one of Carly’s weaker performances, though I have to admit, that power note towards the end was amazing. I found I was bored, and though she sang the song well, I wasn’t blown away. Carly has a great voice, but except for that power note, I don’t think this song showcased how good she is. Maybe blame it on the song choice, but I don’t think this was good enough at this stage. And as for Simon’s comment on the way Carly was dressed, I have to say I partly agree. PARTLY. Whoever is dressing her is just not giving her very good advice. Her outfit last night looked almost….frumpy. That tattoo is distracting, and I think the problem is you expect a tattoo on a real rock singer, singing a rock song. Coming out and singing a ballad, with that tattoo showing…it didn’t mix well. Wardrobe choices aside, her performance was mediocre, so I think she will be my final choice for my bottom three picks.

6.DAVID ARCHULETA – sung "Smoky Mountain Memories” – Okay, finally, the David I remember. Let’s forget about the absolutely weird, strange, and downright bad song choice of last week. This week, not only did David pick the right song, he sung it masterfully. His voice totally fit the song, so well in fact that after listening to the original, I thought it could have easily been a current single. You could feel the emotion in his voice, and he put his all into the song. Finally, as my friend Dawn calls him, her “little porkchop” got it right. Totally safe and on to a new week.

7.KRISTY LEE COOK – sung " Coat of Many Colors" – Kristy is a smart girl. Not as vocally talented as the rest of the contestants, but smart in her choices of song lately. Last week she picked the perfect song, and this week, though not as good as last week’s song, was still a spot on choice. But let’s face it, did we really expect Kristy to do bad this week? This was her niche, the country night that has become a staple of every Idol season so far. She’s just lucky country night fell now, before she was eliminated. Love her, hate her, but you know for a fact she’s safe this week. She didn’t sing that badly, and you can chalk that up to singing in the genre that she does best in. Hate to admit it, and I say it through gritted teeth: safe this week.

8.SYESHA MERCADO – sung "I Will Always Love You” – This was VERY chancy. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t even know that this wasn’t a Whitney original. So I heard the Parton version to give myself perspective and understand Syesha’s version of the song. And you know what? I liked it. I think Syesha’s power note was great, and though I see the problem being compared to Whitney, I didn’t think she sung it that badly. I look at it this way; the Whitney version was far better then the Dolly version; the Syesha version was not as good as the Whitney version, but still better then the Dolly version. I think I can finally say that Syesha is safe, regardless of Simon’s comments.

9.MICHAEL JOHNS – sung "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right” – One of Michael’s best performances? I didn’t think this was quite the level that the judges suggested. Was it because Idol went into overtime, so they rushed their judegments? I mean, I don’t think I heard the performance they heard. I didn’t think it was horrible, not by a long shot. But I didn’t think it deserved as much praise as they gave it. To borrow from Randy, it was “aight for me”. I heard the original, and though I liked his take on this song, I didn’t think it stood out that much. He’s safe though, because there is only one contestant who truly disappointed last night. (see below)

My Bottom Three Picks: Ramiele Malubay, Jason Castro and Carly Smithson.

My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: The only one of my bottom three picks that truly deserves to go home now is Ramiele. She has been given plenty of chances to wow us, and she just has not done it. A mediocre performance, topped with bad comments and weeks of “no-wow” performances has made this Ramiele’s last performance.

So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!