Idol: Rank ‘Em 1-to-8
1) Jason Castro
2) David Archuleta
3) Brooke White
4) Michael Johns
5) Syesha Mercado
6) David Cook
7) Kristy Lee Cook
8 ) Carly Smithson
Only two performances were great: Castro and Archuleta. Brooke was nice, like the judges said, as well as Michael Johns. It was hard to rank the bottom four in any kind of an order because they were all pretty bad. Syesha won’t last much longer. David Cook’s performance made me second-guess his past performances. I was surprised at the judges reaction to Kristy Lee Cook. And Carly was just bad.
April 09, 2008 in Uncategorized | Comments (34)
Loved Jason’s song choice and performance. And once again, yuo do an updated version of an older song and the judges will think you’re brilliant. That version of Rainbow has been around for years and its astounding Simon just recently heard it.
David is reminding me of Daughtry. They both seemed to get a little over confident after a stretch of great performances. I do think David came around towards the end of the song.
Castro
Archuleta
Michael Johns
Cook
Brooke
KLC
Syesha
Carly
Comment by Tim J. — April 9, 2008 @ 7:04 am
1) Michael Johns
2) Jason Castro
3) Brooke White
4) Carly Smithson / David Cook
6) David Archuleta
7) Kristy Lee Cook
8 ) Syesha Mercado
If we were voting off this week, it’d be syesha or carly going. We’ll see after next week if that holds true.
Comment by gabby — April 9, 2008 @ 8:02 am
Ryan said they’d do a results show Thurs, so I think they are voting off this week, just not tonight.
Am I the only one who thought most of the song choices were not very inspirational-sounding songs? “Dream On” is a *very* melancholy song. A lot of them chose really dark sounding songs. “The Show Must Go On” is about Freddie dying of AIDS.
Comment by Susan M — April 9, 2008 @ 8:24 am
Oh, and David cook was horrible. It’s cool he wanted to do a song by his favorite band (and can I just say, the fact that his favorite band is Our Lady Peace just shows how lame he is), but rather self-indulgent. Since he sounded horrible. And Michael Johns, when he hit those high notes (or tried to), I actually put my hand over my eyes.
Comment by Susan M — April 9, 2008 @ 8:28 am
Rusty, I basically agree but don’t think Cook’s performance was that bad.
Basically, my No. 1 this week is Castro and my bottom three are Kristy Lee (I don’t think anyone really likes her), Carly (awful song choice and even worse performance) and Brooke (blah).
BTW, does anyone else think that Brooke is actually about 10 years older than she states (site says 24yo)?
Comment by CWeingarten — April 9, 2008 @ 8:53 am
Based on last night alone:
1) Jason Castro
2) David Archuleta
3) Michael Johns
4) Brooke White
5) Syesha Mercado
6) Kristy Lee Cook
7) David Cook
8 ) Carly Smithson
I largely agree with you Rusty. I actually liked Archuleta about as much as Castro. The kid has a good voice and doea his thing well. I agreed with Simon that Johns sounded like an impersonator rather than an artist (though a pretty good impersonator at least) and I agree with Susan that Cook blew chunks on his song (only to make it worse with the pompous performance and hand scribbles). I was disappointed that Brooke didn’t do better — seemed like her busting out a Carole King classic was going to be a home run but is was more like a double.
I would guess Syesha, Carly, or Kristy go buh-bye this week.
Comment by Geoff J — April 9, 2008 @ 10:11 am
I cringe every time I hear Michael Johns sing. It is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Very uninspiring. David Cook really has the most star quality of the lot, even though he looks like a space alien. Frankly, I liked this week’s performance. The ever-earnest Brooke was struck with the dilemma of performing a laid-back classic for a singing competition, and seemed compelled to over-sing. Somehow, Castro unconsciously pulls it off. Did he even get the lyrics right? Kristy Lee is no Martina Mcbride. But with more experience and her natural good looks, she might be able to launch a Country Music career.
Comment by Steven B — April 9, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
I get the feeling Castro isn’t in it to win it. In fact after he sang I told my husband I thought he was trying to throw the whole competition.
Comment by Susan M — April 9, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
Last year they didn’t vote anyone off during Idol Gives Back week. They might try repeating that. But if I had to guess, I’d say Smithson is toast.
Does Archuleta’s inhale bug anyone else besides me? I can’t move past it.
Cook’s was surprisingly lame, given his past performances. I knew he’d come around. And Castro’s was only cool if you haven’t heard that re-make before. Incidentally, he looked/sounded clumsy on the ukulele. Syesha needs to lay off trying to sound like the person she’s covering if she wants to survive.
Comment by David J — April 9, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
I certainly don’t understand the Castro adulation. You can barely hear him, even with the microphone. He has no breath control, no understanding of musical phrasing, forgets the words – any amateur with a goofy smile and mediocre guitar technique could do as well.
Comment by Bill — April 9, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
Castro was doing a song by a recently deceased Hawaiian slack-key guitar singer, Iz. If you haven’t heard it, you wouldn’t understand the style, but he nailed it. The words on that version are different from the Judy Garland version of the song, and the style is markedly different. Don’t criticize him for failing to be Judy or Mandy Patinkin, because that’s not what he was going for.
I think you are all on crack re Kristy Lee Cook. She totally ruled last night for the first time. I’m no country fan, and I agree she’s not Martina, but I thought she was the best she’s ever been and had one of the top three performances of the night. If you judge her based solely on last night, there’s no way she can be in the bottom three. Those of you who put her there are basing it on past stuff, not last night.
Carly was terrible. David Cook was uncharacteristically bad. Archuletta was good but not great. Based on the night’s performances alone, here’s my ranking:
1. Jason Castro
2. Kristy Lee Cook
3. David Archuleta
4. Syesha Mercado
5. David Cook
6. Michael Johns
7. Brooke White
8. Carly Smithson
Carly should be gone next, or based on cumulative scores, Michael Johns.
Comment by MCQ — April 9, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
“I think you are all on crack re Kristy Lee Cook. She totally ruled last night for the first time. I’m no country fan, and I agree she’s not Martina, but I thought she was the best she’s ever been and had one of the top three performances of the night. If you judge her based solely on last night, there’s no way she can be in the bottom three. Those of you who put her there are basing it on past stuff, not last night.”
Um, I’m pretty sure you were just hypnotized by her golden thrusting boobs…
Comment by gabby — April 9, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
gabby, whoa. That wasn’t it, but I have to thank you for that comment. It may be the first time anyone has typed that particular phrase on this blog and it’s certain to get us a lot of great traffic from google searches.
BTW, you raise an interesting point. Does the appearance of the contestants on AI matter? Simon said that Kristy looked like a star last night. I agree (golden thrusting boobs aside) that it’s the best she has looked in the competition. Should she get points for that or should it be irrelevant?
Comment by MCQ — April 10, 2008 @ 1:28 am
Interesting that we should talk about looks/appearance and whether it should matter.
I recently read the book “Blink” and it deals very specifically with this problem – using the example of violin auditions. They found that the results were much more objective if violinists were auditioned from behind screens. Also, this was absolutely necessary as a step to introduce women into orchestras.
Obviously from a singing voice we will usually know if someone is male or female – but judging the sound purely on its own and not the performer’s appearance might lead to very different results than what happens if the voters are seeing the performers as well as hearing them.
Comment by danithew — April 10, 2008 @ 8:54 am
That’s why I was closing my eyes last week during Ramiele’s and Carly’s performances. It improved Rami’s and didn’t improve Carly’s.
But it wasn’t how they were dressed or what they look like that I was aware of—it was Carly’s big smile during a sad song and Rami’s awkward stage presence that I was trying to get away from.
Comment by Susan M — April 10, 2008 @ 9:07 am
BTW, Carrie Underwood doing George Michael’s “Praying For Time” on Idol Gives Back was brilliant. Not that she sang it brilliantly (I thought she sang too loudly for most of it), but the song choice was brilliant. It’s my favorite song by him and one of my favorite songs of all time.
Comment by Susan M — April 10, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Oh, I think looks totally matter. I can’t find a woman who likes Kristy Lee while many a man I know are hypnotized by her & think she’s great. I don’t think it’s coincidence.
(and I was mostly being sarcastic with my first comment, but not totally. I think Simon’s “you look great” comment to her illustrated my point perfectly. She didn’t look different, just perkier.)
Comment by gabby — April 10, 2008 @ 11:34 am
Hmm. I thought she did look different. It looked like someone had given her some style help on both her hair and her clothes. I thought she looked a lot better than before and Simon was acknowledging that. On a show like AI, I think looks do matter, and I think they should. The show is not just about singing talent, it’s about finding someone who will be a star.
Comment by MCQ — April 10, 2008 @ 11:51 am
MCQ’s right, they’re looking for someone who will be a star. Someone that appeals to the masses. Which IMO requires one to be “easy on the eyes”. It would be an interesting twist if next season they had the final contestants sing behind curtains (#14) and I suspect pure talent would win.
Comment by Abby — April 10, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
gabby: Perkier? Is that referring to her boobs again? I think you have a thing about her boobs. That’s ok, a lot of women have boob envy. If you like, you can get push-up bras here. Hope that helps, but remember, we love you just the way you are.
Comment by MCQ — April 10, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Well, now. That was an annoyingly sad elimination tonight!
(and MCQ? I laugh at your last comment. Truly funny. It wasn’t referring again; it was clarifying my earlier statement. Boob envy. Ha!)
Comment by gabby — April 10, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
That was a pathetic outcome (not the first) from America’s voters. None of these contestants has really shown much originality this year, but Johns was the closest thing among them to an artist. So many of those still in contention are of the here today, gone tomorrow variety.
Comment by Bill — April 10, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
That was a big surprise, but not as pathetic as you suggest, Bill. It was inevitable. He wasn’t ever going to win it, it was just a matter of time and this was his week I guess. I’m sure it makes everyone on the show much more nervous though. They’re probably all thinking that if Michael Johns can go so early so can I.
Comment by Rusty — April 10, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
Daughtry got voted off early too.
Why do so many give their best performance after they’ve been voted off? I guess at that point the nerves aren’t there.
Comment by Susan M — April 11, 2008 @ 8:55 am
Susan – I said the same thing…if he had performed like that the night before, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere.
I’m sad for the hottness, but I have no doubt he’ll last past the show. Unlike some.
Comment by gabby — April 11, 2008 @ 9:03 am
I think the neckerchief/scarf he was wearing the last few weeks must have done him in… Was he trying to look like Scooby’s buddy Fred or like Thurston Howell III?
Comment by Geoff J — April 11, 2008 @ 10:14 am
My wife LOVES the scarves, actually referring to him as “The Scarf Guy.”
Ryan’s dismissal was downright wrong.
I was sure we’d have 2 or 3 of the gals go home before the next guy.
Comment by Tim J. — April 11, 2008 @ 10:26 am
Ratings for Idol are down this year. I wonder if the other networks might smell blood and will go after some share next year instead of putting their crappiest shows against it.
Comment by Tim J. — April 11, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Nope, Geoff, he was just looking hot. I don’t think it was the scarves…
Comment by gabby — April 11, 2008 @ 10:54 am
I hear lots of girls thought Fred was hot too Gabby so I am not surprised the Mystery Machine look works in the new millennium too…
Comment by Geoff J — April 11, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Fred wasn’t hot?
Comment by Susan M — April 11, 2008 @ 11:58 am
The problem with Michael Johns was that he was nothing more than a fantastic Karaoke singer. His best performances were ones that he did straight up (both Queen songs) while his worst ones where the songs that he tried to add a bit of spin on (“A Day in the Life” being a perfect example).
Comment by CWeingarten — April 11, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Johns wouldn’t have won it, so he got what was coming to him, but I would have liked to see more of him before the day arrived. I seriously thought Carly was toast.
Looks aren’t everything, but they do matter. I think that might be what got Melinda last year (a better singer than Jordin, IMO). It’s also what kept Hailey in the game last year too (show a little leg, get a little love). I’m all in favor of more thrusting glistening golden boobage.
And seeing Heart on Idol Gives Back night was a real treat – especially since they played my favorite Heart song.
Comment by David J — April 11, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
I thought it would be Carly to go too, but I thought Michael was a real possibility as well. He had similar indifferent performances, but Carly has the better voice. I think Carly’s next, unless something changes a lot.
Comment by MCQ — April 11, 2008 @ 3:31 pm