Still buzzing and in shock from last week’s elimination of Michael Johns, tonight the Lucky 7 Idols took the stage and sang the songs of Mariah Carey—the newly crowned Queen of # 1 hits (surpassing Elvis, the King of Rock ‘n Roll) with her 18th #1 hit.
So with a seemingly endless supply of quality songs from which to choose, it is now up to the Idols to do something memorable with them. But what would that “something” be?—would they do the unthinkable and try to imitate her five-octave range or would they try to make the song their own? Only time would tell…and that time has come, so read on…
- Leading off the show and singing “When You Believe” was David Archuleta—another in the long line of ballads chosen by David. Upon meeting Ms. Carey, David was flustered and admitted to not being worthy of being in her presence. Her only advice to him was to not be afraid to go up into his falsetto—which he did for one note. The crowd loved it—I wasn’t so much into it. When it came to the judges, Randy called it “the bomb”, Paula said he likely “made Mariah proud”, and Simon called it “very, very good”—he also pulled a Randy and said that he had a number one hit with that particular song in the
- Looking like she finally met with a stylist, Carly wore a lovely blue dress with sleeves and looked the part of torch singer to a T! Mariah was quite complementary of Carly upon meeting her and thought Carly’s choice of song, “Without You”, was a good one. Mariah called the song a classic—high praise for one’s own song, but when you are the Queen of the Pop Charts, you can do just about anything. Randy thought she challenged herself with a difficult song and didn’t really get into it until the middle of it. Paula told her she needs to trust herself more. And Simon said he didn’t think she pulled the song off—which brought out boos from the audience. Simon said she appeared to be thinking too much during the performance and that adversely affected the song.
- Syesha selected “Vanishing”, a song Mariah wrote as a 17-year-old girl. Mariah gave her some nice tips on how to sing the song. Like Carly, Syesha chose to have a piano on stage along with the back up singers. Randy thought she picked one of the toughest songs of the night and did well; Paula pointed out that she was smart to pick a song which few people know (guilty, again!); and Simon said Syesha was good technically, but it might have been a mistake picking a song not very well known…and I couldn’t agree more. If it weren’t for my “job” of watching the entire show, I would have fast forwarded through Syesha’s performance.
With three of the seven performances in the bank, Simon said that so far the night belongs to David Archuleta—he called him “the one to beat” while Paula tried to get a plug in for Syesha…which didn’t work, of course because who listens to Paula?
- Brooke was next and before seeing her mentoring session with Mariah, she sat with Ryan and whined about missing her sister’s wedding. Brooke selected “Hero” and Mariah encouraged her to be real and to sing from her heart. Seated at the piano and dressed in a sparkly black dress, Brooke poured her heart into the song, but may have come up a bit short as the vocals were no where near Mariah’s. Randy picked up on Brooke’s shortcomings, but gave her credit for doing the whole “singer/songwriter” thing—meaning she kept the orchestra out of the mix. Simon compared Brooke’s performance to “ordering a hamburger, but only getting the bun…because the bit in the middle was missing”. And while I wouldn’t make the same analogy, I agree that Brooke missed the mark especially during the second half of the song.
- During her meeting with Mariah, Kristy Lee Cook gave Ms. Carey goose bumps while practicing “Forever”—a song Mariah thought was a good selection because not many people know it and she felt KLC would do a good job singing it. Standing on stage in a shiny silver knee-length number and with a piano accompanying her, KLC did her version of “belting out” the song. The crowd seemed to like it, but having never heard the song myself, I had no reference point from which to start. Randy was wishy-washy in his critique; Paula thought it could be a hit for KLC the way it was arranged…and then proceeded to stumble over her words; and Simon said he didn’t get chills like Mariah.
- David Cook selected “Always Be My Baby”, a huge pop hit to which David was sure to add his unique flavor. Mariah called his version “haunting”—a compliment. David slowed the arrangement and gave it more of a rock feel which fit his style perfectly. As with previous performances, I think David could have a hit with this version—especially when the full orchestra and background singers kicked in after the bridge. But what did the judges think? Randy seconded my thoughts and went so far as to say Mr. Cook is ready to make an album, then he gave him a standing “O”…Paula thought the song could have be in a movie soundtrack…and Simon said it was like coming out of karaoke Hell (boos from the audience), but then it became clear he wasn’t talking about David’s performance because he went on to say that the performance was “original, daring, and stood out by a mile” and gave David mad props for taking risks and delivering—words that brought tears to David’s eyes and, no doubt, thrust him into the lead position for the night.
- With the unenviable job of following David’s strong performance was Jason Castro who chose to do “I Don’t Want Cry” which Mariah thought was different. Flanked by two acoustic guitars and a bongo player, Jason sat on a stool during his performance. Basically the song sounded just about like every other song Jason has performed with the exception of last week’s “Over the Rainbow” and “Hallelujah” from several weeks back. Randy didn’t love it—he compared it to being at a luau on the beach with some music off in the distant. Paula said she wants to be at the luau and then Simon shocked everyone by agreeing with Paula and heaping praise upon Jason and his performance.
With all seven performances over, Simon said the boys won the night—which can only mean one thing in his mind: the bottom three could be missing a “Y” chromosome. And based on the judges comments tonight, I am inclined to agree. So to recap the bottom three:
- Carly
- Syesha
- Brooke
Going home? Against my better judgment, I’m going to predict that
Tune in Wednesday night to see Mariah perform one of her hits and then watch as Ryan puts the Lucky 7 through living Hell as they learn the results of your votes.
Until then, I will continue watching TV so you don’t have to…
Charlie
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