American Idol 2008 – Top 7 Performance (4/15/08) Recaps

Week nine of America Idol 2008 live performances brought us the Top 7 contestants and the very noticeable absence of another. Last week’s shocking elimination of Michael Johns was still being felt as the final 7 took the stage to perform Mariah Carey songs. Mariah Carey herself was there this week to act as mentor to the young hopefuls.

Upon hearing it was Mariah Carey week, my first impulse was to immediately think that a couple of the girls (Carly and Syesha) would probably do alright while the guys and the other girls really struggled. I mean, how many people can really sing Mariah Carey songs like Mariah Carey does? Turns out, I was way off base.

The guys had a tremendous night while it was the women who struggled the most. Syesha managed to sing well, but choose poorly while Carly wasn’t able to pull it off. The two Davids, meanwhile, clearly used this night as an opportunity to reestablish their dominance.

Before I give my rankings for the week I want to give a big thanks to my wife (the best wife in the world, by the way) who watched the show and took notes for me because I wasn’t feeling well when it came on. Her notes were very helpful when I was reviewing the performances later. Well, except for the one where she wrote that Paula said, “blah, blah, blah”… That was just funny.

This is how I felt the contestants performed last night, ranked from best to worst:

The American Idol 2008 Top 7

1. David Cook – Always Be My Baby – David might have stumbled last week, but he came back in a big way this week. I think he knew he had to so he took a big chance. I couldn’t have imagined him doing what he did to this song and it working. But it does work, and, once again, it’s so far above and beyond what the other contestants are doing to the songs that he’s not even in the same league. David knows what his style is and he knows how to make a song his own.
   
   

   David Cook – Always Be My Baby

   [youtube yp0M1AqCgXk]
   

 

2. David Archuleta – When You Believe – Like Randy said, when you can sing, you can sing anything. And David can sing. If we were voting on just the singing part of it I would have to give the edge to David A. as he tore this song up. The only problem I had with his performance is the same as I’ve always had; he doesn’t do enough to change a song to make it his. He always sings well, but he doesn’t differentiate himself enough as far as style. That’s the reason I put David C. ahead of him even though David A. is a better singer overall.
   
   

   David Archuleta – When You Believe

   [youtube E8-BBoyoy10]
   

 

3. Jason Castro – I Don’t Wanna Cry – Jason is as good of a vocalist as some of the other contestants. He knows this. The judges knows this. But he almost always does a good job of choosing songs that he can change enough to fit his style so that they sound good when he sings them. He did it again with this song. I would have thought that Jason would have gotten killed on Mariah Carey week, but instead he turned it into a chance to do something original.
   
   

   Jason Castro – I Don’t Wanna Cry

   [youtube SJzVbYMUdus]
   

 

4. Syesha Mercado – Vanishing – I honestly believe that if this contest was strictly about vocals it would be between Syesha and David A. Syesha can really sing. Once again she went big and pulled it off for the most part. The problem I think she’s going to have is the same problem Simon pointed out – no one knows this song. Paula thought that no one knowing the song would be a positive, but we’ve seen time and again that at this stage of the competition people vote more for the songs that they know and like than they do songs they’ve never heard of. I think she made a mistake. If she had sang one of Mariah’s well known songs and done as well on it, she would have been a sure thing for the Top 6.
   
   

   Syesha Mercado – Vanishing

   [youtube mI5a2EhnRlU]
   

 

5. Kristy Lee Cook – Forever – I’ve been saying it all along, you cannot count this girl out. She’s a scrapper. Once again Kristy came out and defied expectations by taking a Mariah Carey song, making it slightly country, and then singing the heck out of it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was actually really good. I think Kristy just saved herself again.
   
   

   Kristy Lee Cook – Forever

   [youtube Lno7m7fav6M]
   

 

6. Carly Smithson – Without You – When I first listened to Carly sing this song it didn’t sound that bad. Unfortunately, after hearing the other contestants then listening to it again, it was obvious that the song was too big for her. Simon was right when he said that she didn’t pull it off. Besides that, she didn’t do anything to try to make it her own. Wasn’t a good week for Carly.
   
   

   Carly Smithson – Without You

   [youtube phyGYE4dTtk]
   

 

7. Brooke White – Hero – Brooke seems to have been in steady decline for a few weeks now and it’s culminated in this. Almost everything about this performance was off. Most notably wrong was the tempo which seemed to be way too fast and made me feel uncomfortable. In addition to that, Brooke didn’t sing the song very well. Simon was right when he said that she didn’t have much choice but to do what she did (unplugged type version of the song) in order to try to pull off a Mariah Carey song, but it didn’t work. It was easily Brooke’s worst performance of the competition.
   
   

   Brooke White – Hero

   [youtube TTwhIVYlsZg]
   

The Top 7 Performances For April 15, 2008

1. David Cook – Always Be My Baby
2. David Archuleta – When You Believe
3. Jason Castro – I Don’t Wanna Cry
4. Syesha Mercado – Vanishing
5. Kristy Lee Cook – Forever
6. Carly Smithson – Without You
7. Brooke White – Hero

Who’s Going Home?

I’ll be the first to admit that ranking the contestants from week to week is purely subjective and based largely on the likes and dislikes of whoever happens to be doing the ranking (yours truly in this case). However, I try to set a lot of that aside when determining who I think will be going home and base it not just on my rankings but on logical deductions and reasoning.

There have been many times this season that my bottom three were not the three I predicted would actually be in the bottom three. This week I have a conundrum because there’s so few contestants and there’s no definitive way to know what kind of following each of them have.

For instance, I like Jason Castro and I think he did well this week. I ranked him high because I think he did a good job of changing a Mariah Carey song to fit his style. Now, if Jason has a lot of fans, he’s going to be okay. If, however, people vote strictly on singing, he might not make the cut.

I say all that to justify what will probably be a controversial person in my bottom three – at least partially. Two of the bottom three picks this week are pretty easy for me. I have little doubt that Carly Smithson and Brooke White will be in the bottom three. The third person is tougher. If you look at my rankings you’ll say that Kristy Lee Cook should be in the bottom three. However, I don’t think it’ll be Kristy.

I think the third person in the bottom three will be Syesha Mercado. I know she sang the heck out of the song she sang and I know she is a tremendous talent. However, I think the fact that no one knows the song she sang is really going to hurt her. Kristy sang a well known song and changed it so it appealed to the country audience that is her niche. Syesha sang well, but didn’t try to appeal to anyone in particular.

Having said all of that, I think the person going home this week will be Brooke White. As I mentioned, Brooke has been in a steady decline for a few weeks now. It seems she has been finding it harder and harder to fit her style into each week’s theme and her timidness is really starting to hurt her. She lacks the confidence necessary to win over audiences and she lacks the talent to wow them. There’s a chance she could get a reprieve if people have had enough of Carly, but I think Carly sang well enough to earn herself another chance. I think Brooke will be the one going home.

The American Idol Top 7

• David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
• Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX
• David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
• Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR
• Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
• Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA
• Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
• Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA (Top 8)
• Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL (Top 9)
• Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (Top 10)
• Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (Top 11)
• David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (Top 12)

For a quick recap of each contestant from a slightly different perspective and to see who Jeff’s picks are, swing by Static ThinkBox and see what Jeff has to say about last night’s episode. As always, please remember that we make our picks independently and without knowing who the other is picking as the best and worst.