American Idol 9 - Top 9

So here we are, another week of Idol performances. This week, it's another recycled theme from a past season of Idol, songs from the Lennon-McCartney songbook. During season seven, we had two weeks of L-M songs which was a bit of an overkill. However, these songs are truly epic no matter how great or terrible they're sang (how can we forget Kristy Lee Cook's horrendous rendition of "Eight Days a Week" two years ago?). Even though people were generally disappointed to see this theme re-appear again, I was actually looking forward to it. Beatles music (or Lennon-McCartney songs) brings the best out of people and maybe it'll do the same to this season's crop of contestants. Here is what I had to say about the night:

Aaron Kelly - "The Long and Winding Road" : Aaron has had some pretty strong performances as of late, so let's see if he's able to continue the momentum. Unfortunately last night was an off-night for Aaron. Right from the start, he sounds rather flat. I don't know what it is, but he appears to be lacking energy. I do not like the sound of the background singers during his performance - they are not helping matters much! I am partial to David Archuleta's rendition of this song during season seven and Aaron just doesn't compare. He definitely wasn't on his "A" game tonight and that's unfortunate. It was a less-than-inspiring performance from Aaron this week.

Katie Stevens - "Let it Be" : So it's quite obvious that Katie has been taking a beating on her Idol journey thus far. However, I think she's slowly beginning to turn the corner. Her Fergie cover a couple of weeks ago was decent, and last week's Aretha song while not great, wasn't terrible. How will she do with a Lennon/McCartney song? Well, it turns out, quite great! She chooses possibly the best Lennon/McCartney song of them all - one of the most famous, and sings the heck out of it. This is the Katie we've all been waiting to see during this season! She was passionate, she connected with the song, and turned it into a believable performance. Well done, Katie.

Andrew Garcia - "Can't Buy Me Love" : Andrew has mirrored Katie's Idol journey thus far quite similarly. He, too, appears like he's turned the corner of his mediocre performances and has finally become the contestant we saw during Hollywood Week. His cover of Chris Brown's "Forever" was such a huge improvement over the past few weeks. Now, that doesn't mean there wasn't room to improve, but it was a step in the right direction. Last night, Andrew took a few steps back again. He gave the song a big-band feel and made the performance quite sleazy sounding. He just didn't give the song a great sound and the performance felt off for me. Andrew may be in trouble this week.

Michael Lynche - "Eleanor Rigby" : Michael, a strong contender for the guys, took a few hits from the judges the past few weeks. Although his most recent performances weren't spectacular, they were still very good. One thing is for sure, you can expect Big Mike to be on pitch. I was a little concerned at first with the way the song started, but my concerns were quickly put to rest. Michael delivered a soulful, confident, and enjoyable performance of this Beatles' classic. Again, his enunciation of some of the lyrics is a bit much at times, but that's relatively minor. He is a polished performer and once again excelled this week.

Crystal Bowersox - "Come Together" : Last week, Crystal took a bit of a risk by stepping away from the guitar and playing the piano. You could tell she was nervous during the performance, but it hardly affected her vocals. Crystal is back strumming to her guitar this week, playing the instrument that gives her the most comfort while performing. I would not say this was her best performance to date. You could definitely tell she was struggling with a cold this week. And apparently she messed up the lyrics to the song a bit at one point, but I couldn't tell much. She's entitled to have an off-night, and even in this case, she wasn't off that much. Still another solid performance from Crystal.

Tim Urban - "All My Loving" : Up next is the contestant who's always smiling, Tim Urban. Despite all of the flack he's received since the live shows began, Tim is certainly a trouper. He has yet to pout, whine, or complain about the lack of positive reviews by the judges. He really enjoy singing for his fans - and yes, he has fans. Last night, he finally delivered a solid performance on the big Idol stage. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was definitely his best to date (even better than "Hallelujah"). I liked him playing the guitar and I also liked a few of the changes he did to the song and some of the runs that he sang during the performance. Now that's what I like seeing from Tim.

Casey James - "Jealous Guy" : So Casey has been kind of stuck in the middle of the pack for awhile. His cover of classic '80's songs have been good, but not spectacular. He hasn't really delivered on any memorable performances to date, so I am really looking to see if Casey can jump towards the top of the heap. And I must say, Casey finally delivered on a memorable performance. His cover of "Jealous Guy" was so smooth and soulful. I loved the acoustic feel of the song and I thought it was especially great that it was a song never-yet-covered on the Idol stage. Yes, there were a few off-pitch moments, but those pale in comparison to the overall feel of the performance. It was spectacular.

Siobhan Magnus - "Across the Universe" : Last week, Siobhan had a bit of a stumble with her Chaka Khan cover - and it was her worst performance to date. Let's see if she's able to turn things around and deliver a performance we're all used to seeing her do. And while it certainly was an improvement over last week, I wouldn't quite call it great. I do agree with the judges that the performance was a bit sleepy and boring. However, I did like that she stayed away from singing that big note at the end of her performance; which she's accustomed to doing. So, better than last week but still not on par. Her vocals were quite good, it was just the song that kind of let her down this week.

Lee Dewyze - "Hey Jude" : Lee put together a great performance last week with his cover of "Treat Her Like a Lady" that really placed him as a front-runner for the males. I would not be surprised if the competition came down to Lee and Crystal in the end (with Lee possibly winning - who knows?). Lee needs to keep the positive momentum going with another strong performance this week. And I will say that his song choice was stellar - another great, popular Beatles' song. However, I did not love the performance overall. The bagpiper was too much of a gimmick and it took away from Lee on stage. He also sang too many of the "na na na's" in the song and it really became quite cheesy to me. It became too sing-songy for me and I think Lee could've made some better decisions with the song.

Top 9 Performance Rankings:
1.) Casey James
2.) Katie Stevens
3.) Michael Lynche
4.) Crystal Bowersox
5.) Tim Urban
6.) Siobhan Magnus
7.) Lee Dewyze
8.) Andrew Garcia
9.) Aaron Kelly

Going Home : Andrew Garcia. As much as I believe Aaron Kelly delivered the worst performance overall last night, Andrew's is probably the least memorable and his overall record this season hasn't been good. Even though last week he delivered a decent performance, I don't think that momentum will be enough to save him this time around. And yet, he hasn't even appeared in the bottom three yet! But tonight, he'll earn a trip to the bottom three, and his first appearance will definitely be his last. It's a shame because he had so much potential earlier on. But he just hasn't showed up. He's truly a one-trick pony.

American Idol (Season Seven) - Top 12

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.