#130 - mariah carey night

so... no one took my advice huh? haha, well i'm pretty surprised actually, i thought that they would try to stay away from all the well-known songs, but only syesha and jason castro went for less popular ones. here's what i thought:

david archuleta - safe choice of a safe pop song, sure it's a hard song to sing, but even when sung nicely it still sounds like just a good pop song. and he did sing it very good, but i absolutely think that he's gotten kinda dull, predictable, i thought this week would be a great time to show something more than just pop sing-ability, that's why i really wanted him to sing "vanishing," but i guess syesha got to it. also, maybe "i'll be there" is a jackson 5 song and not a mariah carey song. either way, he's gotta do something different. i think this season of idol really is a battle between the performers (michael johns, syesha, carly, kristy lee cook) and the "songwriters" (david, david, brooke, jason castro). but david's early songwriting style (that he showed in "imagine" and "another day in paradise") has faded away to just pop performances and i think he's gonna start having trouble keeping that top 3 spot very soon... still, safe for this week

carly smithson - not a great choice for her i think, i also really wished she had sung something with a little more grit (like "vanishing" or something less popular) because her voice is a little more unusual. pretty good, but i think people will forget her performance (especially since she was second) and she'll be in the bottom 3 this week and may be going home

syesha mercado - GREAT choice! but she sang it just like mariah carey sang it, no different. fortunately, i think not a lot of people know this song so they'll think it's very good i bet. i think she'll be safe this week

brooke lee - poor brooke, she was so nervous you could see her shaking. and then i think she knew she was messing up and then she got all off-tempo and started rushing. too bad, she should've had someone play the piano for her. still, i like her style and i hope she'll stick around... but she'll be in the bottom 3 this week and may be going home

kristy lee cook - i didn't think it was that great, just because her song was all big high notes, which were good, but boring when the whole song is all big long high notes right? still, i think people are gonna look at this and last week's performance as a mini-comeback from her and i think she'll be in the bottom 3 but safe (i hope she goes home though...)

david cook - half of it i really liked, and half i didn't like. still, he's doing exactly what he needs to do, be different and good at the same time, something david archuleta was at the beginning, but everyone else has caught up to his level so now i'm putting the two davids in the final... well, he's safe for this week anyway

jason castro - what's it gonna take to send this guy home? i love the song he picked (although i really wish david cook had sung it instead), but he's just not a good singer! right?! what am i missing here? whatever, he'll still be safe though...

so, i'm predicting carly, brooke, and kristy in the bottom three... and i hope kristy finally goes home, but mostly because i want those other two to stay.

all that being said, i really liked everyone's performances tonight, it's about time they had a contemporary artist, someone who performed in our lifetime (and the lifetime of the contestants), so we finally know all the songs they sing, haha. man, comparing this idol to all the idols past, phew, any one of the performances would've been huge on any of the previous seasons right? good stuff.

ps - did you see ramiele in the audience? she's a cutie...