Three consecutive nights of Idol kicked off tonight with the Elite 8 who hit the stage and sang songs of inspiration. Tomorrow is the second annual “Idol Gives Back” show which raises money for children’s charities in Africa and the US. And Thursday is elimination night when one of our would-be Idols is shown the door and the Lucky 7 who still have a chance at Idol immortality are revealed. But enough programming notes, how did our Idols do where it mattered?—on center stage!
• Leading off was Australian native, Michael Johns who selected “Dreamweaver” by Aerosmith. For the second week in a row, Michael chose to sport an ascot while belting out his song. Not sure of the significance of the ascot look—perhaps it was an ode to Aerosmith front man, Steven Tyler, but whatever it was, Michael got the crowd into it. Randy was a bit critical saying he wasn’t sure the song was very relevant to Michael’s style. Michael explained that he was living his dream and the song fit just perfectly. Simon said Michael’s performance was an “imitation” and called it a bit of a “wannabe” performance—OUCH! But in the end, Simon said he still liked it.
• Syesha sang next and decided to cover Season 3 winner, Fantasia’s ”Believe”. I have never been a Fantasia fan—she seems to scream a bit much for me and I am beginning to NOT be much of a Syesha fan because she tends to be a bit over dramatic. Randy was all over Syesha saying she didn’t stack up to Fantasia and while Randy was delivering his critique, Paula babbled as usual saying that it was a shining moment for her—I didn’t get it. Simon said she sang it well, but didn’t meet Fantasia’s standard. Sounds like Season 7’s version of Kat McPhee may be in trouble.
• Speaking of McPhee(ver), Jason Castro decided to sing the song that launched her into Idol superstardom, “Over the Rainbow”, but Jason decided to do it in the style of Iz—as in Israel “Iz” Ka’ano’I Kamakawiwo’ole, the great Hawaiian musician. Jason sat on a stool, played his ukulele and blew the judges and the audience away with his interpretation. Randy called it the performance of the night (three singers in, mind you) and Simon said he absolutely loved it—and that should be enough to secure Jason’s safety come Thursday’s elimination show.
• Following Jason’s strong performance was Kristy Lee Cook who selected “Anyway” by Martina McBride—and if I’m being perfectly honest (like Simon), I thought she did quite well. I was a little scared for her when I heard her say she was going to do a Martina song, but in the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, she did her thing (Randy-ism). When it was the real Randy’s turn, he said it was pitchy, but good; Paula said it was her best performance to date, and Simon went several steps further saying she picked a great song, sang it well, and looks like a star! High praise indeed.
• So what would David Cook do for us tonight? The past few weeks he has taken seemingly strange song selections and created instant hits—I don’t care that he has covered other people’s covers of originals; he still did a great job. This week, David sang “Innocent” from Our Lady of Peace—never heard of them or the song, but they are David’s favorite group and with a name like that, they must give someone inspiration—tonight’s theme. I didn’t really like the song, but David’s a star and took his performance to the masses—as in he walked into the crowd and sang the final few bars directly to the judges. Randy didn’t get David’s performance (in comparison to previous weeks) and Simon plain didn’t like it calling it “pompous”—going so far as to critique his choice to wear a white jacket. David looked a bit defeated after the judge’s comments, but he’ll likely be safe.
• Carly was up next and picked a Queen classic, “The Show Must Go On”. Carly used her big voice to deliver what I thought was another strong performance. She still needs help with her wardrobe choices—a black and teal striped tank tucked into black slacks and divided by a gold belt doesn’t exactly spell pop superstar. When the judging began, Randy called the performance “disconnected”, Paula agreed with Randy saying she didn’t “feel engaged”, and Simon said she looked good (really?!), but called it a “strange choice of song”—according to Simon, she over sang the song and came off as angry. Simon said she might be in trouble—and what Simon says usually happens.
• David Archuleta struggled selecting a song this week, but decided on “Angels” by Jessica Simpson—the first time that I am aware of in the history of American Idol that one of her songs has been covered by an Idol wannabe. Seated at the grand piano on center stage and singing his heart out, David delivered a strong performance. Randy called it one of his best performance of the competition and Simon said it was the best song selection of the night—then he added that it sounded a bit nasally before assuring him that he will sail into the next round.
• Brooke White closed the show with Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend”—a fairly pedestrian song selection (and quite predictable for our Miss Brooke). Accompanied by the same grand piano that David A. played a song before, Brooke stood center stage, feet firmly planted on the ground, and sang her song—she appeared to be channeling a bit of Carly’s facial expressions (the scowl, the devil brow, not much smiling), and resisted every urge her body may have had to even sway to the music. When the song was over, Randy said it wasn’t her strongest performance, but he wasn’t “mad at you”—whatever that means. Simon called it a “pleasant walk in the park”, but not original. But the big news was that Brooke refrained from talking over Simon (or any of the judges) for the first time EVER!—which could be attributed to the somber tone of tonight’s show.
With the performances of the final eight Idols in the books, their fate rests in your hands—the voting public, that is. And as noted earlier, they will learn the results of the vote tallies on Thursday as tomorrow will be dedicated to raising money during the “Idol Gives Back” show—have I mentioned that to you yet? Well, it’s a good cause and should be a great show—so tune in tomorrow and donate what you can.
Come Thursday the Idols who will likely find themselves in the bottom three are Syesha, Kristy Lee Cook, and Carly—with KLC going home.
I have a prior commitment the next two nights, so you’ll have to wait until Friday for my reviews of nights two and three of this week’s shows—or you could watch the shows yourself, but what fun would that be?!
Until we meet again, I will continue watching TV so you don’t have to...
Charlie
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