Subscribe in a reader
« American Idol Season 7 Cuts to 9 Finalists | Home | American Idol Season 7 Cuts to 8 Finalists »
American Idol Season 7: Top 9 Finalists Performances
By Jeff | April 2, 2008
This week was Dolly Parton week and to be honest I was not all that excited about it. I’m not a country fan although I do have some fond memories of “9-to-5″ and her duet with Kenny Rogers “Islands in the Stream”. That being said, this was an awesome show save one (and I think we all know who that was - yes… Ramiele).
I’ve slightly changed my position in regards to how many of the remaining contestants that I feel have a legitimate shot of winning Season 7 of American Idol. I now have three contestants instead of four. Unfortunately, Brooke White has fallen off even though she was a dark horse to begin with so that leaves David Archuleta, David Cook, and Michael Johns in my opinion. They are the most crowd pleasing, the most talented, and have the most support. All that equals certain elimination for the others.
Anyway, Tuesday April 1st, 2008, (April Fool’s Day) we saw each of the remaining nine finalists perform a song from Dolly Parton. This ended up being a pretty strong theme even though I was apprehensive about it. Overall, this was one of the stronger shows since the season began… really, only behind the first Beatles night.
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 nine finalists.
- Michael Johns - “It’s All Wrong”
- David Archuleta - “Smokey Mountain Memories”
- David Cook - “Little Sparrow”
- Carly Smithson - “Here You Come Again”
- Brooke White - “Jolene”
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Coat of Many Colors”
- Syesha Mercado - “I Will Always Love You”
- Jason Castro - “Travelin’ Thru”
- Ramiele Malubay - “Cross Your Mind”
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.
Michael Johns - “It’s All Wrong”
Michael rocked out this Dolly Parton song. I take back what I said last week about him only being able to do Queen songs. He totally made the song his own and he owned his performance. Once again I think that Michael has returned to the top and validates my position that the two Davids and Michael are the front runners in this year’s American Idol competition. The only thing we have to look forward to is to see who of those three will make the final three. My guess is right now the two Davids, but Michael is once again making a strong case. He is a natural performer and no longer needs this contest to get a record deal. Michael is my top performer this week. Looks like we saved the best for last.
David Archuleta - “Smokey Mountain Memories”
There’s the David Archuleta that blew us away in the beginning stages of the competition. The two David’s have definitely secured spots in the top three this week. Obviously, David will move on. We’ve seen him forget words and avoid the bottom three and I think at this point his spot in the Final two has been stamped so we are just waiting to see who will join him. Strong performance. The ladies love him. He will probably be the top vote-getter but I put him second this week.
David Cook - “Little Sparrow”
David rocks out a song that I’ve never heard before and continues his string of strong performances. This is easily the best performances by the early contestants in this season so far. I don’t need to say much. David will move and has probably moved into at least second place as far as potential winners go behind the ridiculously popular Archuleta. And let me say that I love the hair cut. I hated his hair before. It was stupid. This is much better and maybe if he was rockin’ this do before I would have liked him earlier. David Cook secures a top three performance.
Carly Smithson - “Here You Come Again”
Carly did pretty good, but so did most of the other contestants. Nothing memorable. I loved how Simon mentioned her bad choice of clothing. That was great. She looked ridiculous again. Her face was pretty so her face makeover has been good. But she has had a string of bad outfits lately. Funny. I love Simon’s honesty. Randy definitely spoke too soon when he mentioned Carly will have one of the best performances of the night. There were some strong contenders still remaining and Carly is not of those contenders. She will avoid the bottom three, but I think her days are beginning to be numbered.
Brooke White - “Jolene”
Brooke probably chose the right song for her. It was pretty good. She didn’t really change much on the song, but I think her sound still made it unique enough. I agree that her performance lacked emotion as Simon mentioned. It doesn’t appear that she has ever had a man stolen from her. She’s very pretty and maybe she has stolen a few guys. Who knows? This probably puts her in the middle of the pack and I think her strong fan support will keep her out of the bottom three. But of course, at this point, middle of the road isn’t necessarily safe as we saw with Jason Castro last week so we’ll see.
Kristy Lee Cook - “Coat of Many Colors”
I doubt it would have mattered what song Kristy chose this week as she is definitely right smack dab in her element. She is country through and through and very well may be signed in the genre when she does exit the contest. It flowed perfectly and she seemed very comfortable for once. She rocked it last week with “God Bless the USA”. I don’t see her making the bottom three this week. She is still in the middle as she didn’t blow us away with her performance. But it was safe and easy for her. I think most country fans will enjoy it and give her another week.
Syesha Mercado - “I Will Always Love You”
Syesha broke my golden rule. Don’t do Whitney or Celine. You saw what happened to Asia’h. She didn’t even make the top 12 when she should have. Divas make you look stupid in comparison. If you’re strong enough to sing a Whitney or Celine song, then you wouldn’t need American Idol for a label to sign you. Syesha did good job. Don’t get me wrong. I even enjoyed it to a certain extent. But when you compare that performance to Whitney Houston’s then Syesha pails badly in comparison. That will not bode well for her I’m afraid. Song choice is most important from this stage on.
Jason Castro - “Travelin’ Thru”
This is another song that I’ve never heard before. I’m not really a big Dolly fan so I guess that’s not a huge deal. Jason did pretty well. It’s not a performance that catches my attention. It wasn’t boring but it wasn’t great either. Jason found himself in the bottom three last week and I’m afraid that this Texan will once again visit the bottom three.
Ramiele Malubay - “Cross Your Mind”
Ramiele needs to go. Fo’ real y’all! I know I’m biased and that I can’t stand her anymore and that I haven’t exactly kept that a secret. Ramiele could win many karoake contests and I wish her the best of luck. But in comparison to the other contestants, Ramiele sucks. That’s my opinion. I understand that. Anyway, Ramiele once again gives the worst performance of the night and deserves to go home. She won’t go home but surely she’ll make the bottom three this week.
Elimination Prediction
So there you have my ThinkBox thoughts. This was another Idol night that I wish happened more often. There are still some very familiar faces at the bottom. Let me repeat myself from last week: Ramiele was horrible again but I doubt she will even make the bottom three even though I have her the absolute worst performance. That last sentence has been a familiar one. Ramiele is the weakest contestant on the show, but her Filipino support is too great to kick her off now. I hope I’m wrong but I’m not going to change my stance until I actually see her make the bottom three.
This is a tougher call than last week even though it shouldn’t be. Ramiele deserves to go home but I doubt will even be in the bottom three. I’m predicting that Jason, Syesha, and Kristy will make the show’s bottom three. I think that Kristy will avoid elimination because she seems so comfortable in the country genre. So, that leaves me with Jason and Syesha. Both were good, not great. Syesha may have made the death song choice since Whitney made that song choice popular in connection with her role in the movie “Bodyguard”. Jason has not helped his cause with his performances.
Syesha Mercado
After much deliberation, I’ve decided to use my elimination prediction on Syesha Mercado. 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 ultimately deserves to be eliminated. Ramiele should have gone home weeks ago so she can blame this elimination on her. Asia’h was eliminated before her time after singing back to back diva songs. Syesha, I’m afraid, has made the same mistake. In the words of Whitney Houston, “Hell-to-the-no” Syesha. You can’t make that kind of mistake. If you were strong enough to sing a Whitney made song, then you wouldn’t need American Idol. You’re a beautiful girl, but you are getting eliminated.
The Remaining Finalists
- Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
- Carly Smithson, San Diego, 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)
- Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (3/26/08)
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 - Top 9 Performances and see what Jason had to say about the performances.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 8-7 Jason 8-7
Am I your American Idol? Click the ThinkBox FeedBox to subscribe and be notified of new content.
Topics: american idol audition, american idol contestants cut, american idol girls, american idol guys, american idol judges, american idol season 7 |
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am
Hey Jeff,
Finally Ramiele is gone. I kinda thought she’s gonna go. I was right.
Asia’h Epperson Fan’s last blog post..Asia’h Epperson Performs at Springfield
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 am
Some very misguided choices my friend. You’ll never win our contest with choices like this. Time for Syesha to go? Nope.
Jason A Clark’s last blog post..?24? webisodes debut online - The Rookie: Day 3
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:33 am
Now Kristy Lee Cook inherits the worst contestant remaining moniker.
April 4th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Kristy is by far the worst and should have gone a long time ago! I predict Kristy next, then Syesha, then Carly. (She’s better than Jason but she doesn’t have the hearts of the little girls, which I assume are big voters.)
Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Girl’s last blog post..Striped Cane - An Easy Polymer Clay Cane Project For Beginners
April 5th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Yes, Kristy definitely is the worst contestant remaining and I agree it really isn’t even close. I would be surprised if Kristy is not eliminated next week.