American Idol 8 - Top 7

So April is turning out to be a rather slow month in the "Luke's Ponderings" blogging world. Thank god for American Idol at least! Ah yes, we have transitioned into a new week and we are now down to seven contestants to compete for this season's American Idol crown. So far, there is only one stand-out in this year's crop of contestants - but things can change. This week's theme on Idol is "Songs from the Cinema" with guest mentor Quentin Tarantino. He's created some epic movies and he seems to know music, too. I am glad to see he'll be a mentor that'll pull no punches and will say what's on his mind. Hopefully the contestants choose the right songs that'll make everyone happy. Let's begin!

Allison Iraheta - "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" : You know, I do like this Aerosmith song, but it doesn't seem to fit with the American Idol mold. David Cook did okay with it last year in the finale - maybe Allison can have better luck this year. The performance starts off too low for Allison; she has trouble with those lower notes in her registry and it's kind of hard to hear what she is singing. I don't think this is the right song choice for her. Even the part of the song where she totally rocks out and sings with that rocker flair is just okay for me. In my opinion, not Allison's best performance but it was miles above many of the other contestants tonight. However, with Allison being first and with her relatively small fanbase, she could be in trouble.

Anoop Desai - "Everything I Do" : Anoop is doing what works best for him: singing ballads. This really is his strong suit and he's really impressing me this week. I like how he's turning this song into his own - definitely not being a copy cat. He really seems to be in his element and is hitting all of the right notes. His vocals are very nice and they don't even waver on the upper notes when he belts it out, either. Another very nice, controlled vocal from Anoop. Maybe not quite as good as last week's performance, but certainly one of his best. He was definitely connecting with the song and it's nice to see Anoop stepping it up week after week.

Adam Lambert - "Born to be Wild" : And now we have reached the point in the hour where Idol becomes "The Adam Lambert Show"! What on earth is Adam going to bring to the table this week? And lookie here - it's Adam being his rock star-self. "Born to be Wild" is a very upbeat, uptempo, high-energy song. Again, when Adam goes this route, his stage presence is undeniable. However, I tend to enjoy his controlled ballads versus his shouty, manic rock performances. His song tonight was rather manic and wild, but it was a high energy performance. Just look at everyone in that audience on their feet. I bet his concerts are really going to be a lot of fun to be present at.

Matt Giraud - "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" : Wow, I am really impressed with the way he's giving this song a totally new sound. I love the original by Bryan Adams but Matt starts this little ditty by stripping it down with him just playing the piano while he sings. And then some elements of the band are added and it tends to lose its charm. I am not liking the middle and end portion of his performance, especially when his voice cracked at a few different points. I almost think that threw him off a bit and he started hitting some off-pitch notes. He's an amazing pianist, I'll give him that. However, tonight's performance overall was just average and a bit safe.

Danny Gokey - "Endless Love" : Interesting look for Danny this week. No glasses, he clearly did not shave for a few days, and he's dressing in a different style. Kind of like ... Kris Allen! He's even performing like Kris Allen - sitting on a stool and looking into the camera with a heart-felt gaze. Copy cat! Okay, so I'm kidding about the copy cat thing but the American Idol stylists did him a disservice this week. Yes, he starts his performance very controlled and we see a vulnerable side to Danny. However, I don't believe he was hitting the right notes in the first part of the song. The notes were kind of all over the place. Then, once we get into the crescendo of the song he begins to over-shout. Clearly not the best we've seen from Danny and it's just average for me.

Kris Allen - "Falling Slowly" : Okay, talk about a totally obscure song when comparing it to all of the other's we've heard so far. I am completely unfamiliar with this song, yet Kris is making me like it. And with tonight's performances only being about average for just about everyone thus far, Kris has the potential to be tonight's star. I am really enjoying Kris' performance. It's very sensual and soulful. His phrasing is elegant and his vocals are pitch-perfect. I can really sense the emotion from the song just in the way Kris is performing it and he has really connected with it. I think he did just enough with the song to make it is own - obviously he didn't want to experience another repeat from last week. Honestly, I don't know what Randy heard to make him dislike the performance that much. Was he in another world??!

Lil Rounds - "The Rose" : Ah, the coveted pimp spot. Ugh, the producers are giving it to Lil - who clearly is not deserving considering how horrible she's been the past three to four weeks. I am a fan of this song and Bette Midler's interpretation. Heck, I even sang it as part of a group performance for my high school chorus class (in which I didn't end up participating anyways - that is a story for another day). But Lil is not making me love her interpretation. In my opinion, this is a song that doesn't need to be changed drastically and she rearranged it horribly. The beginning of the song was horribly off-pitch and she didn't improve much once the song ended. Honestly, what is this woman trying to do? I am glad Simon called her out for her karaoke-like performance because it honestly was not good. A terrible way to end the show!

My goodness, in my opinion there were only two or three performances that I thought were good. All of the rest were mediocre at best. Here is how I rank this week's performances:

1.) Kris Allen
2.) Anoop Desai (actual bottom three - 4/15/09)
3.) Adam Lambert
4.) Allison Iraheta
5.) Danny Gokey
6.) Matt Giraud (actual bottom three {SAVED} - 4/15/09)
7.) Lil Rounds (actual bottom three - 4/15/09)

My pick to go home this week is Matt Giraud. And that pains me to say it because I honestly like the guy and have been rooting for him to do well since he's a Michigan guy. However, he's up one week and down the next. Tonight was clearly a down week for Matt and even when Kara finds it difficult to praise something you've done, you're toast. And Kara is Matt's biggest fan! Do I think the judges will use the save on Matt? I doubt it unless Matt makes a big improvement during tomorrow night's results show. Many of this season's performers have a really good week and then follow it up with a poor one. However, Lil has been absolutely poor for a good month at least. And it appears she may be getting more support since votefortheworst.com has made Lil their person to support in the competition. That's why I don't forsee Lil being voted off, even though she certainly deserves it. As for the potential that Kris or Anoop get eliminated - it's certainly possible as we really haven't seen a minor shocking elimination since Alexis Grace was booted off. However, if either two of them get voted off this week - I don't think it's going to be all that shocking, maybe more so for Kris but not Anoop. Let's face it, he'll lucky to reach the top five.

And that wraps it up for this week's American Idol recap. Be sure to check back in next week as we get down to the final six performer's of season eight! Enjoy tomorrow night's result's show!

Matt Giraud would've been eliminated if the judges wouldn't have used the save!! Matt Giraud is saved! But, two contestants will be eliminated next week!