Top 5 - Performance Night

Well, my mother emailed to inform me that I had yet to post my blog for last night's performance and that I had better get on it. Ha! I've sucked her in! I love it!

So, it's almost 4pm on Wednesday and I'm just now watching the show. As I explained to mom, I opted to deep clean our master bedroom last night instead of watch. Here we go!

Yes, I already heard about Paula's... whatever you want to call it. Mental breakdown? Whoops-a-daisy? Stupidity? Ok, that was harsh. But, come on. I KNEW they were feeding her lines to her. Now I have proof.

Carrying on...

Paula actually looks... pretty tonight. I just wish she would get her bangs out of her eyes! Grrr.

I love Niel Diamond. That's who my husband sounds like when he tries to sing. We rented The Jazz Singer in our first year of marriage. I really liked it!

Jason goes first. Aw, he's so cute. I know some people think he's air-headed. I just think he's unpretentious. OK, he's singing. At first, my thought was "Uh, he's singing it too low." But then he took it up an octave and I really liked it! He has that lazy, folksy sound that goes well with the song.

Next is David Cook. His personality is weird tonight. A little cocky? Already, David? You're still a contestant. Still, I'm looking forward to him singing. Somehow when Neil said he got goosebumps and David said "Really?", I doubt that he was at all surprised. Wow, he sounds amazing on this song. [Ha, Lincoln just came up and told me to change this to something else for kids.] Really nice. I liked it - but man, does he look over-confident on this show.

Brooke - are you a hugger or a hand-shaker? Ha. "I'm a Believer" is first. Man, I gotta be honest - it's just boring me to death. This song? For the top 5? And she's doing something weird with her mouth that makes me wonder if the producers are staying away from closeups for that very reason. Eh. It was fine.

Little Archie is up next. Mr. Diamond calls him a prodigy. Ew - is it just me, or is he very pitchy throughout the first part of the song? I've never really heard him be this "off" except for when he forgot the words to the Stevie song. Ah, I didn't care for it. He seems a litle too young and innocent to be singing about such things! But the girls liked it, didn't they?

Syesha has improved the past few weeks. Neil looks really good for his age, whatever his age is. Hello, Again is such a beautiful song. Such beautiful melodies. She needs to commit to it a little more. Attack it, Syesha! Ok, here she goes. Pretty. Nothing spectacular, but very pretty.

OK, all of the contestants are coming out. Randy starts giving his opinion... man! While he's critiquing David Cook, David has his eyebrow cocked much like I imagine his attitude might be. Archulate, the bomb? No way. OH PAULA. Oh, oh oh. She tries to cover it, VERY badly. Oh, Paula. Just keep your quacky mouth shut. Oh, sickening. I completely agreed with Simon on almost everything, except (surprise) I liked Jason's performance better than Simon did.

How can Paula show her face after that? It's like someone woke her up from a dead sleep and she was trying to pretend like she knew what was going on. Sad.

Here we go with round 2...

Jason goes again with September Morn. I love the the tone of his voice when he starts out - despite the fact that he was a little out of tune. Honestly, this is one of my favorite songs of his. If he could stay in tune, this could be a hit for him. Does that make any sense at all? Ew, it ends badly, though. Oh, Randy, stop saying it's a singing competition. We all know it's not. Aw, poor Jason. He got clobbered. Here's the thing about Jason. He makes the kind of music that you want to pop into the cd player when you're going to be sitting out by the beach or in your backyard watching the clouds go by. He's not David Cook. He's just Jason and I like him. His style is needed, too.

David Cook - ugh, I wish he wasn't so good. I'd love to not like him. Ok, he hit a slightly sour note right at the beginning. Can they not hear tonight? I like his first song better. But this one is good, too. Good arrangement. Ooh, nice vocal fade out of hte big chorus. Nice. He's definitely the strongest of the night so far.

Brooke looks cute tonight - I really like her outfit. Well, the beginning of this song is the best I've heard her... but oh, my! When she gets to the chorus, it's some of the most awkward display of performing I've seen in a long time. Ack, my eyes! My eyes! Ok, as the song ended, I thought I heard someone say "She just... she hit a bad note" Huh? What was that all about??? Ugh, she is so spastic.

Little Archie is at it again - oh, gosh. He is just so B O R I N G to me. He just cracked. It's like he doesn't know what ad libs he wants to do. And his high notes are very thin and unsupported. Now, for most people I would still say it's amazing... but for him, it was not good. I agree with Paula - it was the perfect song for him to sing because no one will vote him off after singing that song. Remember Kristy Lee Cook singing God Bless the USA? Uh huh.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Ryan grabs that kid's head and the kid just looked at her mom like "Mommy save me."

Syesha closes out the show and she brings down the house. There are some pitchy places, but all in all I really enjoyed it! Oh, dear God, Paula just called her Brooke! She did! I ran it back several times, and she sure did. Simon is WAY off on this. Syesha had one of the better performances of the night. I loved this second song. If she goes before Brooke, it will PROVE that it's not a singing competition because she sings circles around Brooke. Puhleeze.

Ok, I'm all done. The Davids aren't going anywhere. Maybe Jason deserves to go, but I doubt he will. It will be between Brooke and Syesha... and I fear Syesha will be the one to bite the dust.

Top 6 - Performance Night

It's Earth Day. In honor of Earth Day, we had Daniel Wornicov come over and do our landscaping in our front yard, ha ha. He did an amazing job!!!! Just doing our part. Ha ha.

I was a Musical Theatre major, so Andrew Lloyd Webber is a hero of mine. I love his work. He's genius. This should either make or break people tonight...

Syesha gave me chills. She was REALLY good - musical theatre is def her genre! She was beautiful, cute, funny and her voice sounded great.

Jason is my man - I thought he was brilliant last week... but this week scares me. I'm just not sure his folky style will go with anything Sir Webber has written. Memory. Ok. It actually starts off good. I like it so far, but the low part is coming and... ew. But... then the unthinkable happens. He just is so adorable and sweet and I just ended up loving it!!! There was just something about it. No, Randy, I do NOT think it was a vocal trainwreck. Yes, Paula, I actually agree with you. It was different, but it wasn't bad. I just liked it. Nope, don't agree with Simon, either. I think he sold it, actually.

Oh, Brooke. Brooke, Brooke, Brooke. Why am I so NOT looking forward to this. Oh, MY! Did he really just say that??? Oh... well. He thinks she's a natural actress. WHAT???? Oh, my Lord. She just freaking started over on American Idol. Has that ever happened before on this show? This is just painful to me. I just want to fast-forward. The bridge wasn't too bad vocally... but she is so darn goofy. Wow, Paula seems really pissed that Brooke started over. That was some awkward silence right there. Now they are all fighting about whether she should've stopped or not. Blah. It reminds me of a funny moment I had in a musical one time. (Gosh, I feel like Randy right now) I was performing this REALLY wordy song and right in the middle of it, just before a key change, I lost my words. Once you got off, there was NO getting back on. So, I literally went "lah de dah de dah de dah... " and then pointed to the orchestra pit and yelled "KEY CHANGE!" Buzz, the pianist, actually fell off of the piano stool laughing. It was a fitting moment for the fun song that it was. Liza Minelli had made the song famous - it was called "Ring Those Bells" from the musical "And the World Goes 'Round". Ahh, the good ole days.

Hmmm, David Archuleta is next. Has he used up all of his cheesy inspiration moments? Wow, this is interesting. He has changed the vibe and feel of this song. Very different. He is really trying to keep his eyes open. I'm so used to him closing them that it actually seemed weird to me that he opened them. I wasn't in love with it, honestly. I could barely hear him through most of it, but it may be because I'm on the flat-panel TV. As usual, I liked his runs. :-) Andrew Lloyd Webber did NOT look happy - and Archie was apologizing when the song was done - did he mess up somewhere????

Carly is going Jesus Christ, Superstar. Awesome. I was actually in this musical and worked harder than I've ever worked "physically" in a show... until 2 years later when I broke my foot during Sweet Charity (I was Charity) and performed the whole musical in a leg cast. (Man, I AM Randy tonight!!! Dawg.) Anyway, I liked the performance and energy from Carly tonight. I have to add that when we performed JC Superstar, we changed A LOT of the musical to make it more reverent and true. Anyway... Jesus Christ IS my superstar.

I'm totally PUMPED about David Cook tonight. I think he has the perfect voice for a rock musical. David has had 3 bad weeks, so I'm counting on him to make a comeback this week. Pretend he's singing to a 17 year old? I hope not! He's in his 20's... oh, 25. Oooh, I'm so glad he's doing this song. Oh, my. His voice sounds like BUTTER!!!!!! It's GORGEOUS. I just gasped. This is so beautiful. Wow. Can I say enough? David Cook - RUN to Broadway. And quickly make an album so I can buy it. Awesome ending, too!!!!! Best ever!

Best of the night? Syesha and David Cook.

Worst? Brooke. Jason was a close second. Sorry! I still love you, Jason!

Top 7 - Performance Night

There is much I wanted to blog about for the Idol Gives Back night... I haven't done it yet, but might still in the next few days.

Jenni and Shelby both thought Jason had a strange look on his face after Michael Johns got voted off, so I just spent the past few minutes re-watching the last 5 minutes or so of last week's elimination night. Hmmm. I can't really say he looked strange - I think he was just a bit shocked. He kept looking out into the audience - perhaps at Johnsie's family? I don't know. But, I do know this - it made me sick all over again watching Johnsie get kicked off again. Blech. Hate it!

Ok, so tonight is Mariah Carey night. I don't quite know what to make of that. Will the boys stink? Will Brooke be able to pull it off? Will Syesha blow it? Well, let's get on with it and see!

It's midnight as I watch this, so it will definitely be knee-jerk reaction tonight. Ryan is getting a huge applause. Ah, his ex g'friend, Teri Hatcher, is out there.

Does it seem to anyone else that David Cook has on the same outfit each week?

I have to admit that Mariah was very much an idol of mine when she first came out. I loved her belty voice. Now, she's just strange to me. I won't deny that she is a huge talent, she is just a little slutty - as far as performance goes. Now, she seems like a very nice person as she's talking to the contestants.

Finally, David Archuleta is going first. Has he ever gone first? Cool - he's doing one of my favorite songs. When You Believe. However, it's a ballad, as usual. Ah, well - he rocks it. I like that he's doing a lot of runs, but he picked a weird place to do them - right at the beginning of the chorus. Wow, he has such great control on his runs. Honestly, this is one of my least favorite performances by little Davey A. But, it was really good. Maybe too many runs? I don't know.

Hmmm, Carly is going 2nd??? Notoriously, whoever goes 2nd ends up in the bottom 3. Simon is out to get her, I think. Why? Ok, now, this is the BEST she has looked! Nice dress! Without You - very good song choice, I think. Carly has such an amazing voice - I just wish she wouldn't furrow her brow so much. You know, it has been suggested that she had a bit of a crush on Johnsie. He's gone. And now she's singing "Without You". Coincidence? WHAT? What the heck is Simon whispering about in Paula's ear? Did he know that his mic was still on? Now, personally, I think this was one song where she could've just sung it as it was instead of playing around with the melody... but whatever. Simon was really hard on her - I thought it was ok.

Syesha is next - she looks really pretty. Ok, now I know this song because it's from the Emotions album and I was a big fan back then. But, the question is, will anyone else? And, this is one song that Mariah just kicked booty on - with her amazing pitch control. I am finding Syesha's rendition just irritating. mariah was so perfect on this song that it's hard not to compare. Yes, there were a couple of pitchy moments, Randy. No, Paula, it doesn't help me not compare... I know this song! I would listen to it over and over and try to emulate (to NO avail) Mariah. So, of course that's all I hear is Mariah in my head. Probably not many other people in America can say the same, though. That will definitely work in Syesha's favor, I think.

Oh, Lordy, Brooke is next. I have to say she is getting on my nerves lately. Her speaking voice kills me. Of course, she is singing Hero! She's going for sympathy votes. Mariah looked less than impressed. WHY is she playing piano on this song??? it's gonna be hard enough to sing a Mariah song without making it harder by playing along. MC writes her songs with some funky chords in them. Hang on, I gotta run this back and really listen. Oh, goodness, she is rushing the crap out of this song. Her rhythm is all off. She looks so nervous! Shaking. It just wasn't very good. Gag, here goes Paula with the "authentic" blubber again. Amen that Ryan and Brooke look great on stage together with their colors. I like her dress.

Kristy Lee is next - I had forgotten all about this song. Hmmm, this might be a good choice for little miss Kristy. Nah, the beginning is B A D. There is a 50's sound to this song that bodes well for Kristy. Aw, Lincoln just came stumbling into my room, dragging his blankie behind him. I might have to stop here. If I hit play again, he might wake up and want to watch. Let's see what happens. I have to say that Kristy is listening to someone - whoever has told her to show more emotion in her face. Her sweet spot is in the notes that she holds out up high. A much better sound for her. She is actually getting better each week. That's something. P.S. I do have one bit of constructive advice to give to Kristy - PLEASE stop wearing the glittery eyeshadow. Every week? Come on. It makes her look like she has pink eye.

Now it's time for David Cook and I am very excited. Considering what he did with "Hello" and "Billie Jean" and "Eleanor Rigby" (even if some WERE covers of covers), I think he's going to hit it out of the park with MC night. "Always Be my Baby"? Wow, this should be interesting. Geez - he is majorly out of tune at the beginning. David, what has happened to you??? Last week AND this week? David was the most solid singer of all up til now. Pitch-wise, anyway. Ok, I'm resuming... Ok, seriously? It COULD have been really great. It was in the totally wrong key for him. Raise that key, David Cook! But, who am I? The judges are singing his praises and I'm glad. He's crying???!! He's so Emo. I definitely want to go back and listen to it again when I can turn it up and not have someone snoring in my ear. Ha.

Lastly is Jason Castro, one of my faves. Have I mentioned that? Also, I really miss Johnsie. Ok, so here goes Jason. "I Don't Wanna Cry" is one of my favorite MC songs! yay! Go, Jason. Alright, you know, I really like this. It's so different. I love the vibe. This is the only contestant this year that Aaron ever comments on. He really likes Jason, too. And he hasn't watched any of this season.

Two things are clear to me after watching tonight's episode:

1) Mariah Carey was one of the best mentors they've had on the show. Seriously. She gave some really constructive advice. She helped them - and she wrote some great songs. That always helps.

2) I predict the bottom 3 to be as follows: Brooke, Carly and Syesha.

Good night!

Top 8 - Performance Night

Oh, my goodness! I haven't posted my blog in 3 weeks! How have my loyal fans been able to stand it? Ok, maybe just Shelby and Jenni... but still!!! I'm back. Rest easy.

Ha ha, Abbey walked in to tell me good night earlier when I had the show on and she saw Paula and said "What does she have on??? Her boobs are showing!" Now, personally I thought her dress was pretty, but I'm not 8 years old. (Abbey isn't, either, for a few more weeks)

Michael Johns starts things off and I gotta tell you - last week, he was SMOKIN' HOT. I mean, I was mesmerized last week... so I was really looking forward to his performance tonight. He did not disappoint!!! WOW. I thought it was amazing. I had to watch it twice, it was so good. The boy can sing. Randy! Are you on drugs? Randy must have a burr up his butt. Ridiculous. Johnsie was ON. Love him. He has improved every week. Whoo hoo!

Syesha is next. In my Fantasy American Idol Pre-performance picks, I picked Syesha to go bye bye. I just don't see her connecting with the audience. She is not a bad singer. Oh, no! She's trying to do Fantasia. Last week was Whitney and this week is Fantasia. Is she nuts? Ok, she is doing a great job FROM WHAT I CAN HEAR. They have the horns turned up WAY too loud. I can't even hear her vocals!!!! I think she nailed it... but I still think she will go home. Sorry. Ok, Abbey might have a point. Paula's boobs have a life of their own tonight!

Here's my man, Jason Castro. I just love this little guy. His hair gets on my nerves a little - I just want to smooth it down. Oooh, I LOVE this version of this song. I think he's doing a great job with it, but I would've LOVED to see him drop the uke and get up and sing it out just a little more. Just my opinion. But then again, that is not really his style and I do dig his style a lot. The TV audio mix is whacky tonight. In this song, the strings are really loud.

Kristy Lee is next and she has absolutely defied logic. It'a almost a joke now. Last week was Country music week - her GENRE, for heaven's sake - and she came in second to last. This week, she is actually singing the crap out of this song! I mean that in a great way. And she actually had EMOTION in her eyes. Amazing. Kristy Lee has sung for her supper tonight and might have saved herself from being in the bottom 3. She sang it well.

David Cook is next and he has won me over every week since being in the top 12. But everyone has their bad nights and I fear this one is David's. I heard a rumor about what song he was going to sing and was NOT excited. It's just not a great singer-song. So, here he goes. Ugh. He sounds like he's in the wrong the key. Then, he starts screaming. He sounds like he's rushing. Oh, my goodness! What is up with the mix on the TV audio tonight? I hear ONE of the 10 backup vocalists as though she's in my living room. Wow, he's getting into it like a worship leader. Aw, I like the little encouraging word written on his hand at the end. I agree that the song wasn't sung very well. But I thought he did ok with it as far as performance-wise.

Carly is singing The Show Must Go On. Hmmm, have I heard this song? Dunno, let's see. Yeah, I have. I think Paris Bennett did this song a few years ago. It's a bad tonight as it was then. The poor people on the front row kinda look shell-shocked. This was horrible. She was out of tune and screechy. Ok, and can I say - what is up with that outfit??? Simon said she looks good, but I don't. I thought he was very rude last week to her... but she should've taken his advice. She may have just saved Syesha Mercado.

David Archuleta is up next. I hear he's singing Angels. This should be good. Little David has a great instrument. When he finally hits puberty, he will be unstoppable. Ha ha ha. Anyway... ok, the beginning of the song is boring as can be. And then, when it gets to going, the crappy TV mix is KILLING ME!!!! I can't hear him for the strings and backup vocals!!! Is it just this TV? I'm going to go upstairs and re-listen to a few of them and see if it's any better. I have to agree with Randy - the last 5 seconds of the song were the best of the whole song. More runs! more runs!!! Get funky, David.

Brooke is closing the show? Hmmm, how crafty of them. She was in the bottom 3 last week and so they put her in the pimp spot tonight. I hear she's singing You've Got a Friend. That should be right up her alley. Of course, I thought that last week, too. Oooh, she starts out strong. Good move on not playing an instrument this week. And FINALLY, she is singing a song in the right key! Yay, Brooke. Jolene was too low. She can actually sing up higher than she thinks. There go those strings and BGVs again! Grrr. Nicely done, Brookie! Nicely done. Randy is being a turd tonight. What's wrong with him? I'm sure Brooke is safe this week. She MIGHT be in the bottom 3, but she won't go home this week. And most likely, she won't be in the bottom 3.

So, there! I did it! Yay!

Top 9 Performance Night

Since I obviously have missed a few weeks of posting, i wanted to AT LEAST include some thoughts I posted on my Fantasy American Idol comments page:

Wow, was I wrong in my PP Picks last night.

Brooke was awful. She was out of tune, rushed and sang the song in the wrong key for her. She should've taken it higher.

Ramiele has gotten progressively worse each week. It was so bad I almost felt bad for her.

Kristy Lee actually had moments of "betterness" (I know that's not a word) but all in all was just not good enough.

On the other hand, David Cook's vocals were so good that I picked up the phone and voted for the first time this season. Gasp. He was spot-on. Darn it!

I thought Jason gave one of his best vocal performances to date, but I don't know if anyone will appreciate it but me. Sorrow.

Carly was brilliant in her rendition of Here You Come Again. I LOVED it. It was the first time I was impressed with her all season.

Oh, and Johnsie. Whoo. I lost myself for a moment and felt completely mesmerized by his performance. It was hot. Sorry. :-)

Archie was good but whatever. I definitely wasn't hating Syesha, but there's no way someone can be remembered fondly for singing that song. Just... no.

Those were my quick ramblings!