American Idol Top 11: or How Not To Play Harmonica or Speak French

American Idol – The Top 11

Well I nailed the first week, except for having Syesha in my Top 3. I still think Ramiele was much worse, but the Tween-tards of America got it mostly right. Stripper Dave is gone, and we are down to 11 this week, week 2 of the Lennon/McCartney Songbook. I think maybe they should have waited a couple weeks to revisit this theme, but the songs are great source material so hopefully the Idols do better than last week. Grade scale is changing this week to a normalized A, B, C, D, and FAIL.

On a side note, thanks to this being my spring break and a four-day all-expenses paid trip to lovely Marietta Ohio for March Madness weekend (or shall I say Easter weekend), I'm doing this without internet from Cincy and then uploading Wednesday morning. But still, the insights should be good. At least when I'm not flipped between this and the second half of OSU's first round game in the NIT against UNCA and their 7'7" center…yes he wears 26 size shoes, the biggest in the world. It's amazing. Anyways, back to idol…

1. Amanda Overmyer, "Back In The USSR" – This was actually the exact song I thought she would pick. Good stage presence and outfit tonight (for her), but the performance was not great at the beginning. Solid vocals once she got going, and did not have to bend the song too much to make it Southern Rock. Judges were right on, and I think she had the perfect response to Simon's critique. If she drops out of Southern Rock, she will fail. Overall not impressive, so…
GRADE: C

2. KK-Kristy Lee Cook, "You Got To Hide Your Love Away" – Yeehaw, picking songs based solely on titles, uh-oh city. She needed a big performance to get off the chopping block. At least she really did not go out of her way to countrify a Lennon song for the second straight week. Still a little country in the black cowboy boots to match the normal-looking dress. Nice song for showing off vocal range, which I think she actually tried to do. The judges say she was too safe, but honestly she needed to play it safe after last week. I wish they'd stop encouraging the damn glory notes at the end of songs…I know they can sing a strong note, I want to see their vocal prowess, range, and performance style. Careful does not win Idol.
GRADE: D

3. David (I'm so good I can pimp the fact that I miss lyrics in a singing contest) Archuleta, "The Long and Winding Road" – Ahh, now we're back in Archuleta's wheel-house. I'm all for pimping the colored jackets with T-shirts, but I don't know about maroon jacket plus jeans. His performance needs to be better, as in move around the stage without fucking up the lyrics. He did not commit the cardinal sin this week, and actually did a nice job with the song. Of course the judges get on their knees and worship the holy Archuleta, just in case the Tween-Tards of America forget who they scream endlessly for. Tonight is the first time his voice has not completely annoyed me…a nice rebound.
GRADE: A

4. Michael Johns, "A Day In The Life" – I'm going all Randy here, but I didn't like what Michael did with the pitch of the notes early on. The outfit was fantastic…it screams don't pay attention to anything but the singing, except it would fit in nicely at a funeral. His haunting voice did not work for the slower parts of this song, and he couldn't show off during the fast part. Another Idol slayed by picking his most favorite song ever. Judges were spot on, and Michael may not leave this week but is headed in the wrong direction. Dedicating the song to your passed friend is cute one time…but don't pull it again.
GRADE: D

5. Brooke White, "Here Comes The Sun" – Surprisingly, it sounded like KKKristi during the opening, but Brooke sounded more like herself during the rest of the song. I know the yellow dress was supposed to be with the song, but it looks like something pulled out of a Goodwill dumpster. A huge drop off vocally from Let It Be last week, and will be OK thanks to prior performances. Judges continue the spot-on analysis, the song choice was the worst of the night. Brooke at the end telegraphed that she will go back to her wheelhouse and be stuck on the piano for many weeks to come. I think she'll succeed eventually, but only as a poor Alicia Keys knock-off and not in this competition. You are allowed to bring instruments, but not as a crutch (listen up Dreds).
GRADE: FAIL

6. David Cook, "Daytripper" (the White Snake version) – I love the crappy emo rock band who cried foul that DC stole their cover of Eleanor Rigby last week, when DC did it better. The outfit is totally cheesy Bon-Jovi style rock, but it fits the version of the song he did. This was a case where the instrument came out and did a good job because he doesn't rely on it like a crutch (and when he becomes a rock star, he will be playing it every night). The voicebox solo was incredible in all honesty, have to disagree with Simon there. It was different, it was rocking, and it was a quality performance. Misses the A grade just barely.
GRADE: B

7. Carly Smithson, "Blackbird" – Has there been a week where Carly has not shown off her tattoo with the shirt/dress she wears? I don't think so. This was a solid song choice, seems safe at first but opened up enough for Carly to show her usual vocal prowess. The outfit was a little loud for the song, but it's better than Brooke by a mile. Simon is rough on the contestants tonight, and perhaps he needs a nap. On a night where everybody outside the Daves are sort of stinking it up, this performance is more than good enough. On a final note, does anybody doubt when looking at Carly's guests and her new finger tattoos that before the end of her careers, her body will become a nasty pallet covered by tatts? Her friends scare me. I only bring it up because she draws attention to it…
GRADE: B

8. Jason Castro, "Michelle" – I think Ryan ruined the whole romance of the song by speaking French in the lead-in that way. On the bright side, nobody can tell when you mess up those lyrics (the pronunciation was merely OK on the French). The outfit was typical Jason, nothing fancy but not too hippy either. The performance was a little too happy for the song, as Jason's cheesy smile doesn’t sell the vibe at all. When Paula said Jason gets uncomfortable without the guitar, she couldn't have been speaking the truth more…but encouraging him to lean on the crutch is totally against my theory. As for tonight, the performance was not great but I liked his different song choice.
GRADE: C

9. Syesha Mercado, "Yesterday" – Ricky Minor (and his guitarist Paul) has the best gig in the world, playing cheesy favorites for American Idol and Don't Forget The Lyrics, and Paul looked good beside Syesha on this song playing acoustic guitar. Syesha's timing was a hair off I thought, but she played it very safe by picking this song. Beautiful dress for her as well. Not up to the performance last week, but apparently I'm in the minority there. This was good enough, not much else to say because it was pretty boring.
GRADE: C

10. Chikeize, "I've Just Seen A Face" – Anybody remember when Easy Chikeize wore that terrible gangsta-style outfit and almost got voted out? Nothing but sweater vests and muted colors since then, which is good because the focus should be on his singing. Playing the harmonica either made him nervous or out of breath, because he had some voice issues right after that. I love me some Blues Traveler though, so good risk with the harmonica (and not played terrible for just picking it up). Not as good as last week, but we can tell these are definitely the leftover song choices from last week. Simon says gimmicky, but I think it's still good enough to stick around.
GRADE: C

11. Ramiele Malubay, "I Should've Known Better" – More harmonica, this time from a professional in the band. There's a lot of voice in that little cute kid-sized body, but she did not have enough high points to show it in the song. This song and the outfit with the silly hat made me think of Blake Lewis, not a positive connotation in my mind. Ramiele is just outclassed by the other competitors, and is probably down with Stripper Dave as far as Top 12 talent. Two weeks in a row the final competitor has really punted the money-spot closing the show. If you can make Ryan Secrest look tall, wow you are small. I'd like to see her stand next to Kevin George from UNCA, the 7'7" beast that just lost to the Buckeyes. That would be funny. Pretty ordinary performance, which is bad news…
GRADE: D

FINAL THOUGHTS – Overall a very poor week on American Idol. This just proves you should not do two theme weeks with the same song set right in a row. The contestants are lucky if they can find one good match of a song (even in the legendary Lennon-McCartney songbook), so asking for magic two weeks in a row is not going to happen. Don't know what they will turn to next week, but we still have such diverse contestants that 1-2 will be in their comfort zone no matter the genre. So…

TOP THREE – David Archuleta, David Cook, Carly Smithson (the frontrunners return…)

BOTTOM THREE – Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Malubay, Michael Johns

GOING HOME – Kristy Lee Cook