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American Idol Season 7: Final 12 Performances - ThinkBox Style
By Jeff | March 14, 2008
Now is the time to start paying attention to American Idol Season 7. We have gone from thousands to 50 to 24 and now 12. These are the top contestants (for the most part) and they better bring it every time or risk tears and the shame of elimination.
As of right now, I can only see four contestants that have a legitimate shot of going all the way. Obviously my opinions may change as the contest progresses, but as I see it Brooke is the only girl with a chance of victory. She is still a long shot as I have David Archuleta, Michael Johns, and David Cook as the male front runners. I also believe a guy will win this season. Brooke is talented and may very well land a record deal out of this season of American Idol. I just don’t see her or any of the other females making it to the end. The guys, especially lately, seemed to have outperformed the girls on a regular basis.
Anyway, Tuesday March 11th, 2008, we saw each of the remaining contestants perform a song from the Lennon McCartney songbook that American Idol has been desperately trying to use for some time now. Let’s take a look at each with my personal thoughts included. First, here is a quick rundown of how I ranked the performances.
- David Cook - “Eleanor Rigby”
- Chikezie - “She’s a Woman”
- Brooke White - “Let It Be”
- Carly Smithson - “Come Together”
- Jason Castro - “If I Fell”
- Michael Johns - “Across the Universe”
- Syesha Mercado - “Got to Get You Into My Life”
- Amanda Overmyer - “You Can’t Do That”
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Eight Days a Week”
- Ramiele Malubay - “In My Life”
- David Hernandez - “I Saw Her Standing There”
- David Archuleta - “We Can Work It Out”
Some of those could be interchangeable with some others, but I had to put them somewhere. The line is easily placed between 6 and 7. The bottom six were far and beyond below the quality of the top six. Aside from David Archuleta, they should be knocked off one by one in the coming weeks. Here are the videos of the various performances and a brief description of my thoughts on those performances in the order in which I have them ranked.
David Cook - “Eleanor Rigby”
What can I say? David has pretty much come with it every week. He rocked out last week and he did it again this week. Mark it down now. I’m officially a fan of David Cook. I can’t help myself. I can’t stand his hair but I love his sound. David has been my Dark Horse to win and Paula seems to echo my sentiment - I’m not sure how I feel about that, but it is what it is. David Cook has a serious legitimate chance to win this season of American Idol.
Chikezie - “She’s a Woman”
Wow! I was prepared for another lame performance from Chikezie and I was utterly disappointed. It was great! Well, I guess I can’t say that I was disappointed really, I guess more surprised that it wasn’t another lame performance but rather a great performance. Chikezie just may move up a notch on my personal talent belt. Don’t ask. I’m not even sure what that means.
Brooke White - “Let It Be”
I’ve said before that Brooke has a Jewel-like uniqueness. I’m not really saying she is like Jewel or intentionally trying to compare her to Jewel because they are nothing alike. However, there is something in her voice and performances that lend me to relate her to Jewel for lack of a better reference. I like her. I loved her performance. She continues to validate my opinion that she is the leader of the female contestants.
Carly Smithson - “Come Together”
Carly was finally able to take a song from the past and do something fantastic with it. We’ve known that Carly may have had the strongest vocals of the females since the beginning, but for one reason or another was unable to wow the masses. Carly rocked out a Beatles’ classic. Very well done. This puts her in the top performers category.
Jason Castro - “If I Fell”
I actually liked it. I don’t know that I would spend money to buy that performance, but if it came across the radio I would sing along with it. I was surprised to see the judges not like it other than Paula - she seems to like everything and everybody. I think America liked it enough as well so Jason is safe this round.
Michael Johns - “Across the Universe”
Michael has been a front runner from pretty much day one and maintains an idol judge and producer favorite. He has been passed by David Archuleta recently, but more performances like this could put him back on top. He looks like a natural. At this point, this competition is simply a formality because Michael will get a deal out of this season of American Idol so I’m happy about that. Not as good as his version of Bohemian Rhapsody, but good nonetheless. The judges were a little bit more harsh, but I can understand their point that it needs to be better than “good”. Still, Michael will have no problem lasting several more weeks.
Syesha Mercado - “Got to Get You Into My Life”
It wasn’t great. Her performance was lacking and I immediately thought she had a chance to go home. It was dreadful. Although, I later found out that several would do worse so it appears Syesha should be safe this week.
Amanda Overmyer - “You Can’t Do That”
I knew this day would come. Amanda has a unique voice, but it’s also a voice that was made popular by Janis Joplin decades ago. So, it’s been done before. I have no doubt that Amanda has formed a sort of fan base. The unique ones always do. Maybe it will carry her far and maybe it won’t. I’m guessing not. Her hair is ridiculous and is no longer a novelty. Her voice is rough and is now irritating. Amanda needs the right song to continue and I think she did that this week, but she is wearing thin I’m afraid.
Kristy Lee Cook - “Eight Days a Week”
Ugh! Did I mention that I’m not a big fan of country music? I think I did. It started out okay, really. I was thinking well, this might be okay. No, not so much. Nevermind. It was awful and I can’t imagine even die hard country fans pouring out their hard earned money for that song. Kristy is on the elimination block.
Ramiele Malubay - “In My Life”
She showed a beautiful voice. It was nice. It also put my son and I to sleep. Okay, truth be told, it doesn’t take much to put my 5-day old son to sleep but it was still boring to watch and listen to. Very few, if any, would ever purchase that performance save her mother. Zzzzzzzzzz… Ramiele’s performance was lacking life. Ramiele is a potential elimination candidate.
David Hernandez - “I Saw Her Standing There”
Gay stripper jokes aside… David blows. Okay, my bad. I couldn’t resist. My will is not strong enough. One day it’ll pass over. And that day may very well be soon. The performance was horrible. He seemed to be off key for most of the song. Maybe that’s the pitchy-ness that Randy keeps talking about. I don’t know and I don’t care. David has a strong chance to go home based upon that performance. Awful. And it’s not because he’s gay; it’s becaused he sucked… um, oops, I did it again.
David Archuleta - “We Can Work It Out”
Archuleta, Archuleta, Archuleta… What had… what had happened? David forgot some words, which is a giant Idol no no. David’s awesome vocals were exposed maybe. David was given a song that he had no idea what to do with. This was by far David’s worst performance and the worst performance of the night. At least Hernandez didn’t forget the words. David surprises America again this week; it’s just that the surprise wasn’t a good one. Dont’ worry Archuleta. You have a zero chance of being eliminated based upon your unrelenting cuteness and past performances. Just let this be a wake up call that you better bring it every week.
So there are my ThinkBox thoughts. There were some strong performances. Some bad performances and definitely a few surprises. However, after careful consideration of all that has happened I have decided to choose David Hernandez as the contestant who will get eliminated. His performance was awful. I don’t think he has the amount of fan support that some of the other poor performers have and the whole gay stripper news can’t help either. Unfortunately for David (and uh, gay men everywhere), there is just nothing for America to grab a hold of. Okay, sorry… last time. Actually, I can’t promise that will be the last time, but at least if David does go home I will have fewer chances to keep this up.
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 - Top 12 Performances and see what Jason had to say about the performances.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 7-5 Jason 7-5
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Topics: american idol audition, american idol contestants cut, american idol girls, american idol guys, american idol season 7 |
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