American Idol

American Idol's top ten performed tonight and the theme was a massive sham.  According to Ryan Seacrest, the theme of the night was “songs from the year you were born.”  Every American Idol contestant would perform songs recorded the year they were born.  However, almost half of the singers cheated.  Apparently, it was OK for the contestants to do songs that were recorded long before they born (or conceived, or even before their parents met) if those same songs were re-recorded by no-name artists in their year of birth.  Just once, I'd like American Idol to say "we cleared a bunch of random songs from all different time periods and the singers chose from the list we gave them."  No one really cares about the theme, especially if the various songs are going to span genres anyway.  Tonight's episode was better than last week, and I have no real idea who will head home tomorrow.

1. David Cook - “Billie Jean”

While I'm not sure if what David Cook is brave or original (as the judges claim), he is kicking some ass.  This rocking version of Michael Jackson's famous song was riveting from beginning to end and will go down as one of the defining performances of the season.  I loved the arrangement, and Cook showed once again that even if you take away his rock sensibilities, he probably has the best pure singing voice in the competition.

2. Michael Johns - “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions”

Johns finally clicked with a song and, like he did in the Hollywood rounds, he did it with a Freddie Mercury vocal.  For Johns, the degree of difficulty wasn't particularly high and the arrangement wasn't original, but he showed off a great voice and excellent stage presence.  Hopefully, this is the Michael Johns we'll see for the rest of the season. 

3. Carly Smithson - “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

I have a difficult time taking this song seriously(thanks to Old School), but I think Carly did a reasonably good job with it.  She's got a big strong voice, and this song fit nicely into her wheelhouse.  However, I don't think it was very memorable and it might represent the best of what we can expect from Carly.  Given her bottom three appearance last week, Carly may be in trouble. 

4. Syesha Mercado - “If I Was Your Woman”

I love this song, so I might be a little biased.  But, she did a fine job with it.  I'll agree that it was a tad old school for the competition.  Syesha has come on strong the last two weeks and think she'll once again avoid a spot in the bottom three.

5. Brooke White - “Every Breath You Take”

I'm a staunch Brooke supporter and even though she's hit a rough patch the last couple weeks, I still love her.  I agree with Simon – the first half of the song was great and had she stuck with just her and the piano, it would've been in my top three.  But, I have to take points off for the mess-up at the beginning and the poor second half arrangement.

6. Jason Castro - “Fragile”

Kind of blah, but it was another performance that will keep Jason around for another week.  He doesn't have to wow us every week, and I'm confident that he'll turn in a great performance somewhere down the line.  His stage presence was a little weird tonight, especially after he performed.  Don't know what that was about. 

7.Chikezie Eze - “If Only for One Night”

OK, Chikezie, time to go back to the fast-paced stuff.  This was his best performance of a ballad, but it still wasn't good enough.  He's stepped up his singing technically over the season, but he can't compete with the other singers in terms of pure voice, so he needs that extra bit of personality and showmanship that he gave us in the first Beatles week to really impress.

8.David Archuleta - “You're the Voice”

This is based on my opinion, OK?  And my opinion is that Archuleta is a one-note performer who can only succeed with slow, cheesy ballads.  Tonight was just a lesser imitation of his better performances this season.  He has yet to perform a faster paced song well, and I've just gotten tired of his whole routine.  But, like always, my opinion is worthless – the votes are going to keep pouring in. 

9. Ramiele Malubay - “Alone”

Boring.  Again. 

10. Kristy Lee Cook - “God Bless the USA”

Not the worst vocal of the night, but a desperate song choice.  Desperate, but really, really smart. I have no doubt that Kristy Lee will make it to next week, and the reason will be because of the song she decided to sing.  It was the song choice equivalent of excessive cleavage.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)