American Idol Top 5: A Diamond in the Rough?

The American Idol competition lost a surprising contestant last week in Carly. I just do not understand how the tween-tards could see such bad performances as Jason and Brooke last week and still don't put either in the bottom 2 (especially when Carly, Dave, Dave, and Syesha are just better singers most weeks). Well whatever, it's a crapshoot and I've hit 3 out of 6 going home...so that's worth something. This week is Neil Diamond week, which should be very interesting. How we got Dolly, Mariah, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Neil Diamond in the same season is mind-boggling. Well, each remaining contestant gets two chances to redeem themselves or mess it all up this week.

ROUND ONE

1. Jason Castro - "Forever in Blue Jeans" - And after the most uncomfortable week in Jason's run during theater week, he's back to the guitar crutch. At least he's standing. Nothing to say about the nice shirt and blue jeans, although it fits the song. This performance was pretty solid, but nothing strong vocally to show. But this was a good song choice. Kind of boring. The death slot might come back to bite him for last week's escape though.
GRADE: C

2. David Cook - "I'm Alive" - I don't know what "AC" means, but DC is pimpin it on the guitar and the jacket (half an AC/DC logo means we should think DC is missing...no it's David Cook...whatever). I love the rocking black outfit nevertheless and his guitar doesn't seem like so much of a crutch. This song was completely unrecognizable, but it seems to fit him. Nothing as stellar as last week, but a solid safe performance.
GRADE: B

3. Brooke White - "I'm A Believer" - Oh boy two different instruments tonight! Guitar is a little different for her, so I'm happy to see her show off talent after a poor showing last week. This arrangement was a lot like the Shrek version, which is a pretty good version. Boring blue outfit tonight. an improvement from usual. She's definitely playing the safe card by doing such a popular song. Still more jamming than usual for her. I think she could've done more vocally with the song, but nothing real bad or good here.
GRADE: D

4. David Archuleta - "Sweet Caroline" - I swear the Archulator has picked two of everyone's most favorite karaoke hits tonight just because he can get away with such cheesiness (and it's probably a plus to the tween-tards...sigh). All the Idols have nothing to make fun of outfit-wise this week, so sad that they are learning. This song was nothing special. Nothing bad, but wow we need these second performances to split the idols tonight.
GRADE: C

5. Syesha Mercado - "Hello Again" - Beautiful dress out of the suddenly best-dressed idol contestant. Finally a song to show off some pipes, but I guess without Carly everything is going to be toned down to normal again. No real pitch problems by my ear, and the only problem is that the song was so soft and slow that it might have bored America. At least it's a better song choice than Sweet Caroline...BAH BAH BAH!
Grade: B

Paula is so far out in left field...and clearly the comments are scripted for her as she thought each person had sung twice after just one go round. Is it really hard to pay that much attention? What a classic Idol moment for the cracked-out middle judge. As usual, Simon is the only one with sense to say...HEY EVERYONE please step up now after those mediocre performances.

ROUND TWO

1. Jason Castro - "September Morn" - What, no double crutch tonight? Wow he hit a bad note at the end of this song, you think Neil would have fixed that. This second song was even more slow and boring than the first, with no awesome show-off vocals. It appears Paula was dead-on in her criticism before it happened. What kind of excuse is "I kind of started choking before the song." No, you started choking last week and haven't stopped this week. Uh-oh again Mr. Castro.
GRADE: D

2. David Cook - "All I Really Need Is You" - We've traded the electric guitar for the acoustic now, and this does feel a little like a DC concert. He's now one week past where Daughtery went home, the most successful rocker to date (in and out of the competition combined). The faster part of this song was OK, the rest was pretty unexciting. DC playing it safe, and who knows what comes of that. This was a good pair of songs though.
GRADE: B

3. Brooke White - "I Am I Said" - Nice, now we have to write the first lyrics on our wrist and be "caught" by Seacrest to not mess up for the third time this season. This is actually a pretty tough song when you are trying to show off your voice, which I felt like she was doing. On further review, her shirt has ruffles and the reflective pants are too much to handle. Nevertheless, she did a better job for her voice than I'm A Believer.
GRADE: B


4. David Archuleta - "America" - And the karaoke battle starts again. The Archulator is clearly saving up his raspy voice for the finale when he'll be up against DC if the tween-tards don't screw us over. This is the stereotypical glory note ending patriotic BS song that somehow is popular on Idol. He did a nice job with it, but man do I hate the song choices. What a d-bag. It would be interesting to see Simon tear into him for Sweet Caroline, but I guess we'll have to live with him hating Brooke.
GRADE: B


5. Syesha Mercado - "Thank The Lord For The Nighttime" - Thank God for the end of Neil Diamond week. I think her song choice order was wise because she saved her memorable upbeat song for the money spot at the end of the show. I don't know if her bottom 2 placing was because she led the show last week or if the tween-tards are out to prove me wrong about her. Not a ton of vocal range on this one, but it was exciting and better than most other performances. Randy is spot-on in saying Syesha has found out where she shines the most just in time to perhaps compete for the finale.
GRADE: B+ (because this was the best of the night, but that's not saying much)

Well not quite a train wreck, but this season is dragging on my last bored nerve. We'll give it a shot on predictions again, but other than DC...nobody is safe. See you next week for the Final 4, because it certainly won't be the fabulous four.

Top Performer - Syesha Mercado (which means she'll be in the bottom two again)

Bottom Two - Brooke White and Jason Castro, for real this time

Going Home - Good riddance hippie. Jason goes home.