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American Idol Season 7: Top 10 Finalists Performances
By Jeff | March 26, 2008
American Idol Season 7 is definitely getting tougher. The weakest performer is not the one that necessarily gets eliminated. Other things tend to factor in and they all need to be taken into consideration. Without a doubt, tonight’s show was the best as far as overall performances from all the contestants so far this season. The weak are slowly getting weeded out and that’s a great thing.
I still only see four contestants that have a legitimate shot of winning with David Archuleta leading as if this was some sort of popularity contest. David Cook has confirmed my way of thinking as I continue to believe he is the most talented of the group and could leave the contest now to start selling records. What can I say? He’s turned me into a fan. If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you’ve seen my transformation from not liking David at all to absolutely loving it. It’s crazy.
Anyway, Tuesday March 26th, 2008, we saw each of the remaining ten finalists perform a song from the year of their birth. This was actually a cool theme as it gave us enough variety because the birth years ranged from 1978 to 1990. 1990… wow, that makes me feel old. Of course, I’m older than every contestant and I knew that, but wasn’t force to consider it until this show. Anyway, I’ll stop whining like a little baby and get on with it.
Let’s take a look at each performance along with my personal thoughts. First, here is a quick rundown of how I ranked the performances of the ten finalists.
- David Cook - “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
- Michael Johns - “We Are The Champions” by Queen
- Syesha Mercado - “If I Was Your Woman” by Stephanie Mills
- Brooke White - “Every Breath You Take” by the Police
- David Archuleta - “You’re The Voice” by David Foster
- Jason Castro - “Fragile” by Sting
- Kristy Lee Cook - “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood
- Carly Smithson - “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” by Bonnie Tyler
- Chikezie - “If Only For One Night” by Luther Vandross
- Ramiele Malubay - “Alone” by Heart
We are at the point where I still believe half of the contestants have no shot of winning and will be eliminated one-by-one in the coming weeks. The order in which they exit is only important to me because I’m trying to beat my good friend Jason at predicting it more accurately. Let’s check out a video of the performances and review my thoughts for each contestant.
David Cook - “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson (1982)
David easily gave the best performance of the night. Wow! That was impressive. I know that I am now a David Cook fan and so it might be hard for me to give an objective opinion, but seriously, that version of a Michael Jackson song was awesome. I just hope he is able to release this and his Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” after he is signed. At first, I didn’t recognize the song. But, Wow! David Cook may be the first American Idol contestant that I spend money on. I listened to his performance at least ten times. He gave the best performance of this season on this night by any performer. I easily retain my opinion that David Cook is the most talented contestant this season. David Archuletta may beat him on popularity, but I will also maintain my position that Cook will sell more CDs. Wow!
Michael Johns - “We Are The Champions” by Queen (1978)
Great song choice. How can you go wrong with that? Maybe Michael should just stick to Queen songs. His last strong performance was during Hell Week when he busted out Bohemian Rhapsody. I wasn’t too keen on the beginning ‘Rock you’ part. It seemed like Michael was yelling more than singing, but then he finished strong. Easily the best performance he has given in weeks. Michael already has a ton of support and remains in the top three contestants that are favored to win behind David Archuletta and David Cook. Michael seems like a natural on stage and I feel that he will be able to secure a record deal whether he wins or not. Michael is safe from elimination.
Syesha Mercado - “If I Was Your Woman” by Stephanie Mills (1987)
Somebody please tell her that the baby cry imitation is scary, not cool. It’s creepy. It’s good. Don’t get me wrong, but it should be kept for audiences of close friends. That being said, Syesha has a beautiful voice. Honestly, the first time I heard it, I didn’t think it was that great. However, when I played it over again in order to type my thoughts for this blog, I agreed with the judges. I’m not sure what I thought I was listening to before, but she did give her best performance so far. Although, can I interject that I like her hair down much better. Syesha was smokin’ hot last week with her hair down. That’s just my opinion. I don’t know, maybe she thought she was close to being eliminated and decided to try sex appeal since it seemed to work for Kady Malloy a few extra weeks. Oh wait, did I type that out loud? My bad. Anyway, Syesha is safe.
Brooke White - “Every Breath You Take” by the Police (1983)
I loved The Police back in the day. 1983 was a good year. I know that Brooke messed up the beginning, but it didn’t really bother me that she just started over. I don’t think it really subtracted anything from the performance. The beginning was awesome. I was prepared for another “classic” Brooke White. Then she his the chorus and something was off. I don’t know if it was the speed or the band or what. She didn’t seem out of tune, but it almost seems like she couldn’t keep up with the pace. Like when you run then try to talk after you’re out of breath. How many times can Paula say ‘niche’ in one show? Anyway, Brooke will move on without issue.
David Archuleta - “You’re The Voice” by David Foster (1990)
What song was that? I don’t know. Actually, I hated it. David sings well. I’m not saying that. I hated the song, so I hated the performance. Maybe hate is strong. I didn’t really like it. It was okay, but it didn’t seem to be typical David Archuletta. It doesn’t matter. I’m sure you all heard the ladies say “Awwwww” when the video of him as a little boy dancing was played. Yeah, we know. He’s adorable. That’s great. Anyway, he could sing monotone at this point and still make it pretty far based upon his ridiculous support. Truthfully, I agree with Simon; although, I was thinking of some kind of High School musical instead of a theme park show but it’s the same principle. David will avoid elimination. Like that was a stretch.
Jason Castro - “Fragile” by Sting (1987)
Honestly, I’ve never heard that song before. I like Jason but he had me confused on this performance. I’m not sure about this one. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t blow me away either. It was pretty safe, I guess but at this point in the competition safe may not cut it anymore. I think Jason still has plenty of support from fellow Texans and the ladies to move on, but it’s time for Jason to return to the form that got him into the Final 12 or he may be exiting sooner rather than later. Jason will see another week.
Kristy Lee Cook - “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood (1984)
Wow! Brilliant song choice. Kristy was fortunate that this song was written in 1984. Singing this patriotic song at this point in the competition when she has been in the bottom two several weeks in a row was absolutely genius. There is no way she is getting eliminated. She probably deserves to have gone home already, but so does Ramiele and she is still here. Kristy got a little shaky in the middle but for the most part nailed the song. It didn’t raise any hairs on my arms like some artists do when I hear this song, but it was solid. I can’t see America eliminating her even with so-so support in the past. Although, something tells me that she could re-visit the bottom three again. I just think she will escape elimination once again.
Carly Smithson - “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” by Bonnie Tyler (1983)
The Irish accent was in full effect during the interview process. This is going to be hard for me because I love this song. There’s a twist that is performed during the movie ‘Old School’ that cracks me up everytime I watch it. For the most part, she was right on. It wasn’t original, but it didn’t suck - well, that is until the stupid ending. She tried to overperform the last word and it was horrible. She also closed her eyes way too much during the performance. Closing your eyes when performing tends to shut out the audience. It doesn’t allow the audience to draw closer. And what was with the going to the bathroom answer she gave to Ryan. That didn’t even make sense to me. Ryan Seacrest simply asked if she was tense. I guess the Irish relieve tension when they… uh, relieve themselves. Maybe I should try that next time Momma ThinkBox feels the need to have a ‘talk’ with me. Something tells me that won’t work either.
Chikezie - “If Only For One Night” by Luther Vandross (1985)
At this point, there is no doubt that Chikezie can sing. He does have a strong voice. There’s something missing however. I can’t put a finger on it. I’m just not crazy about him. I think it’s his performances. The visual part of them. I don’t know. It was boring. Maybe Randy was right. It just seemed a little old-fashioned. There we go. Simon hit it on the head. The performance lacked originality. We’ll see how I feel after I’m able to compare all of the performances, but Chikezie may find himself in the bottom three.
Ramiele Malubay - “Alone” by Heart (1987)
No no no Ramiele. Ramiele picked a great song. It’s one of my favorites from 1987. She started out strong. Everything was good and just when I thought she was beginning to give a good peformance… ouch. That song was too big for her. American Idol is too big for her. In fact, at 4 ft. 2 everything is too big for her. I have no idea what her height truly is, maybe I’ll look it up but it doesn’t matter. I’ll admit that was a cheap shot. Oh, the chorus was horrendous. Randy was 100% right. Her pitch was all over the place. So she was sick. Sorry. Was she sick every other week? She’s been near the bottom repeatedly, yet she is still here simply because of her Filipino background. Does that support continue? Probably. And that sucks for me. By the way, she is 4 ft. 11 in. I was close, sort of. Ramiele was the first contestant and the worst contestant of the night.
Elimination Prediction
So there you have my ThinkBox thoughts. This was definitely an Idol night that I wish happened more often. There are still some very familiar faces at the bottom. VotefortheWorst.com has pegged Kristy Lee Cook as the worst and their contestant to be voted for. I think that along with her patriotic song choice will keep her in the contest. Ramiele was horrible again but I doubt she will even make the bottom three even though I have her the absolute worst performance. Just because she did better doesn’t mean it was great. Ramiele is the weakest contestant on the show, but her Filipino support is too great to kick her off now.
And that’s stupid really. Texans have as much pride as anyone. We love the fact that Kelly Clarkson won the first season. Jason Castro should go far as well because of Texans do support their own so I totally get the Filipino support for Ramiele. But if Ramiele was Texan, she would be off of the show by now. Why would we want anyone sub par representing our state? Well, we wouldn’t. Jason is one of the stronger contestants so that helps us in our support. He doesn’t have a real chance of winning. He would need a strong collapse by the two Davids and Michael to win but Texas still has a strong competitor to root for. Please, wake up Filipino nation and rid us of Ramiele. I beg of you for the love of all that is holy.
This is a tough call. Ramiele deserves to go home but I doubt will even be in the bottom three. I’m predicting that Carly, Chikezie, and Kristy will make the show’s bottom three. I truly believe in the magic voodoo that Kristy has been taking advantage of and will avoid elimination again after yet another visit to the bottom three. So, that leaves me with Carly and Chikezie. Both were good, not great. Chikezie was boring and Carly murdered her ending.
Carly Smithson
After much deliberation, I’ve decided to use my elimination prediction on Carly Smithson. This will be her second straight visit to the bottom three as well as her last. While she doesn’t deserve to be eliminated at this point, she does deserve to be eliminated because she cannot win. I’m going to stick by my thoughts that Ramiele has too much support even though she’s the worst and that Kristy temporarily got it together. I think Chikezie’s days are numbered but he has too much support from the ladies to exit now. Jason remains one contestant back in our Idol Pick off contest so tune in to see who guess correctly.
The Remaining Finalists
- Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
- Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA
- Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA
- David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
- David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
- Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX
- Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR
- Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA
- Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL
- Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
Top 12 Eliminated Contestants
- David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (3/12/08)
- Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (3/19/08)
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 - Top 10 Performances and see what Jason had to say about the performances.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 8-6 Jason 7-7
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Topics: american idol contestants cut, american idol girls, american idol guys, american idol judges, american idol season 7 |
March 26th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
For starters, once again Paula makes me want to gauche my eyeballs out as well as my ears.
I agree with you about Carly. That performance was just bad. She looked like she was rushing through it to get to the bathroom. She confirmed it by squatting at the end even though she claimed to have gone to the bathroom beforehand.
Monique’s last blog post..Yeah Dumb Ass, I Understand You
March 26th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
March 27th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I was surprised with tonight’s (3/26) bottom three. The last two African-Am (Chikizee & Syesha) on the bottom three???@! I always thought the black vote is very strong in American Idol. Seems like they are out this time. There’s probably an Obama rally and everyone was there. Just can’t believe it.
Syesha - she sang well .. but that baby cry is really creepy. It probably turned off a lot of potential fans.
David Cook - He was awesome last night. He could probably win the show.
I just have a problem with his “chubby-ness”. It’s cute but it doesn’t go well with the rockstar persona that he wants to project. Whenever I think of the “rockstar” image, what comes to mind is someone skinny or muscular, hard and edgy, sometimes dirty looking. Cute and chubby kinda doesn’t fit in for me.
Asia’h Epperson Fan’s last blog post..Asia’h Epperson News From Her Town’s Newspaper
March 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I was totally shocked to see Syesha in the bottom three. She made it, but I guess the voters didn’t like her song like Simon said. Now that every one is pretty much solid vocally, song selection is HUGE.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I was kinda shocked too with Syesha. She performed well, although it wasn’t awesome.
Asia’h Epperson Fan’s last blog post..Asia’h Epperson News From Her Town’s Newspaper
March 27th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Jeff,
I’m kinda getting hooked to your site lately but I got to tell you that from here (Vancouver,BC), your site loads up real slow although I’m on cable internet.
Asia’h Epperson Fan’s last blog post..Asia’h Epperson News From Her Town’s Newspaper
March 27th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I totally understand and I apologize and hopefully I’ll have time this weekend to see what’s going on. But I appreciate all of your recent comments. You’re awesome for dealing with it.