Welcome one and all to the start of my American Idol 2008 review blogs! Last year was the first time I regularly did a feature blog week after week and it worked perfectly on a show like American Idol. I had a blast last year, but I'll admit it did kind of burn me out at the end (which is why I probably never did a review during finale week). But nontheless, these are always fun and I am looking forward to doing it again starting this week! I will say this, though; I am probably amped up over this season than any other since I've been watching the show because the finalists as so talented. I have my favorites and I'm sure you'll pick up on which ones I like as we move along in the weeks ahead. So let's get this review blog off to a bang! It's the top 12 of American Idol 2008 singing the songbook of Lennon and McCartney. So the start of the show was spent on showcasing the new Idol stage and opening - which was very nice and quite extravagant. In fact, I'd probably be pretty intimidated singing on a stage of that caliber. The question I have is; why did it take six previous seasons before deciding that they needed a stage like that? It's about time! Let's get to the reviews.Syesha Mercado - singing "Got to Get You Into My Life": It was a very fun and upbeat song for her; the kind of songs she's been sticking with week after week. The beginning of the song wasn't great for me. I didn't think she shouted as much as she has in some of her previous performances, however, and tonight she seemed a lot more controlled. I thought she did a decent job with this song but I don't know if it's one that America is really going to remember. It seemed to stick in the middle of all the other performances from tonight. She it definitely trying to improve week after week, though.
Chikezie - singing "She's a Woman": The award for the most surprising performance of the night goes to Chikezie. I was a little concerned at the way he started the song but he really impressed me overall. I think he definitely tried showing a different side of him in his performance and I believe it worked for him. He took a risk jazzing things up and rocking out and it couldn't have gone any better for him. I always pictured him as more of a ballad singer like we've seen from previous preformances. So this was really a breath of fresh air and he was very enthusiastic. I don't think he's going anywhere yet, America.
Ramiele Malubay - singing "In my Life": This is probably one of the more recognizable songs from the Beatles that were sung tonight and I thought it was a decent choice for Ramiele. However, it did not work to her favor and just as the judges said, it was rather safe and boring. I thought this would be a song that would help to show off her strong voice, but she really didn't do anything special with it. The final note she sang was really the highlight of the whole performance. I'm really waiting to see when she'll live up to the hype that has followed her around for several weeks now. I think she can do much, much better than this.
Jason Castro - singing "If I Fell": Jason goes back to his guitar, which he really does a good job with. I really didn't understand the praise he received last week - partially because I'm not all that familiar with that song. But I thought it was fairly similar to last week, except he didn't have his guitar a week ago. I really liked it when he showed off his falsetto range because we hadn't yet seen that so far in this competition. I thought he was in tune for the whole song and seemed very focused on his singing. He played the song straight with very little changes to the arrangement. So overall, I thought it was decent but not spectacular.
David Cook - singing "Eleanor Rigby": I was quite surprised to see David without his guitar! I didn't think he could perform without it but he really did an admiral job tonight. He puts a rocker-twist on this Beatles classic. For me, it seemed very odd not hearing the orchestral sound to it but I found myself enjoying it more and more. I thought he really amped things up once he reached the chorus of the song where he really rocked out and stayed true to his rocker-roots. Just as Simon commented, however, I didn't quite think it was as good as last week's performance where he took on "Hello" by Lionel Richie. But still, a very solid performance from David.
Brooke White - singing "Let it Be": Okay, I'll admit it. Brooke is one of my favorites. She just has this innocent quality that I really enjoy about her. She seems to be very good at playing instruments; first playing the piano during Hollywood week, then the guitar during semi-finals, and now back to the piano. I think whenever anyone plays the piano during a live broadcast, it shows tremendous guts doing so. Brooke is a very artistic musician and I thought she really connected with the song. "Let it Be" is one of my favorites and it was nice to see how she didn't change much with the overall style that the whole world has grown to love. She definitely made this peformance believable.
David Hernandez - singing "I Saw Her Standing There": The upbeat songs have been doing very well so far for the contestants, so will David have the same luck? Well, not really. I thought he had a few pitch problems here and there. It was a fun song but I didn't believe he did enough with the song. I thought his running around the stage and into the audience didn't make it any better, either. I thought it was just an okay performance; nothing great by no means. Maybe ballads suit him better like last week? It was a performance that tended to lack any kind of charisma, really.
Amanda Overmyer - singing "You Can't Do That": Here's a song I was completely unfamiliar with. And I can't believe that because I assumed I knew every Beatles song ever written. Nevertheless, Amanda does a decent job with this song. Again, she stays with her true rocker-roots (as if we'll ever see her sing a ballad) and definitely seems more comfortable up on that large stage tonight. Amanda definitely has a unique style of her own and it was clearly evident tonight. I don't think it was quite as good as last week, but she made it enjoyable to listen to. Seems like she's taking in all of the criticism she's received and is trying to improve where ever she can (i.e. looking at the audience instead of the ground, smiling, etc).
Michael Johns - singing "Across the Universe": Another Beatles song I'm not that familiar with (what is this world coming to!) but I thought Michael did a decent job with it. Certainly not his best and I think he's fallen back some since his performances during Hollywood week. With that being said, however, I still think these kinds of songs suit Michael better than trying to go the rocker-route. Yes, I too was waiting for something bigger to come out of Michael's performance, but it is what it is. I still believe he did a nice job with the song and should be sticking around this competition for a long time to come.
Kristy Lee Cook - singing "Eight Days a Week": Kristy held on by the seat of her pants last week and made it into the top 12. However, after tonight's performance, America REALLY got it wrong. Her country style version of this Beatles classic was pretty dreadful. I thought it was going way too fast in the beginning and it seemed to throw her off. She seemed out of sync at times and I thought it didn't sound all that good. I don't believe this song is ready to be turned into anything remotely country-sounding. She took a risk and tried capitalizing on the judges comments about going country, but it's a risk that failed miserably this time around.
David Archuleta - singing "We Can Work it Out": Last but not least is David Archuleta, another one of my favorites. He is such an amazing talent for being 17 years old. He's bashful, innocent, and just plain smiley. But tonight was clearly an off-night for David. Once he forgot the lyrics, my jaw dropped to the floor. Maybe this song was too big for him? I was critical on a couple of contestants last year who forgot the lyrics to their songs and I believe at this stage of the game, you can't do that. I also believe that David was particularly nervous and he just didn't feel all that comfortable being on that enormous stage. I will say this, however, once he got to the middle of the song, I thought he was really starting to get his emotions in check and did a decent job of closing the song. But again, not his strongest performance so far for David.
So there you have it, my reviews of the contestants performances. And something new I am doing this year, I am doing a power-ranking of sorts (like you'd see in sports columns), rating the contestants performances on a week-by-week basis. These are not going to be cumulative, so keep that in mind. The contestants you see in the last three positions did the poorest of the evening in my view but it does not necessarily mean they'll end up being in America's bottom three (David A. may in fact receive the MOST votes). So here are this week's Idol Rankings:
#1: Chikezie
#2: Carly Smithson
#3: Brooke White
#4: David Cook
#5: Amanda Overmyer
#6: Jason Castro
#7: Michael Johns
#8: Syesha Mercado (actual bottom three - 3/12/08)
#9: Ramiele Malubay - bottom three
#10: David Archuleta
#11: David Hernandez - bottom three (eliminated - 3/12/08)
#12: Kristy Lee Cook - eliminated (actual bottom three - 3/12/08)
Again, these are just my opinions based on tonight's performances. Kirsty's messed up country-version of "Eight Days a Week" gets the nod of being the worst of the evening. I wonder what Paul McCartney would say if he saw it (and not to say that he WON'T, either)? She may be pretty, but her song renditions have not.
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