In honor of the three-night, ratings-busting “Idol Gives Back” charitypalooza, last night’s American Idol forced the eight remaining singers to choose selections from the “inspirational” well. What this meant for the singers varied widely–while Jason Castro stretched the term “inspirational” to include “inspired covers of Idol chestnuts,” other hopefuls played a much more straight-and-narrow path. Or chose power ballads. Rankings and reactions after the jump.
1. Jason Castro. Went back to the “unexpected covers” well, singing a sweet ukulele-accompanied version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” that was arranged originally by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and popularized “on the Internet,” as Simon put it. (”Popularized through repeated use in movies and films” would probably be more accurate, but it’s always fun to hear Simon get salty about online culture–especially now that said online culture is demanding that the Idol hopefuls fess up about the inspiration for their arrangements. )
Somehow the judges all refrained from comparing Jason to Katharine McPhee. Restraint!
2. Brooke White. Her performance of “You’ve Got A Friend” was technically fine, and it put her rich voice to good use. But in her after-song judging it seemed like she was starting to lose it, continuing the gabfest that she gave to Ryan last week before she was eliminated. “Her eyes look crazy,” my viewing companion said, and I had to agree.
3. Michael Johns. There were times during his wailing of “Dream On” that he sounded like a dead ringer for debut-album-era Steven Tyler. No, really.
4. Syesha Mercado. Turned in a passable version of Fantasia’s semi-drecky “I Believe,” although I have to question just who is giving the “diva” singers song-choice advice during inspirational-song week–Lakisha Jones pulled the same trick during “Idol Gives Back” week last year, and the judges’ “you can never live up to our season two WINNAH!!!” issues were similar. Syesha’s performance > Lakisha’s, although the army of backup singers definitely lifted the whole thing’s caliber.
5. Kristy Lee Cook. Speaking of people bringing back songs that were performed last year, Kristy Lee somehow didn’t sing “Amazing Grace” this week and instead went for Martina McBride’s “Anyway.” It was a snoozer, but it’ll probably get the “God Bless The USA” demographic voting.
6. David Archuleta. I want to hear David sing “Angels” in 20 years, after his teen-idol fame has faded and he’s reduced to stripping off his skin and muscles in music videos for the sake of getting press. Will the judges ever point out his pitch problems or overall inertness? Probably not, since the producers are so keen on getting him into the winners’ circle that they’re now giving airtime to signs that approvingly note his lip-licking.
7. Carly Smithson. A poor song choice in Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” a performance that ranged from manic to possessed, and the admittance that looking at Simon while she was singing made her nervous would have all added up to the worst performance of the night, had it not been for…
8. David Cook. His favorite band is Our Lady Peace! His performance of their hoary “Innocent” was lacking everything that made his previous performances compelling and had the added bonus of a weak opening 30 seconds, an overpowering choir backup, a leap into the crowd (while wearing a white jacket!) and showing the world that he’d written “Give Back” on his palm in black Sharpie:
Eddie Vedder he ain’t.
WHO’S GOING HOME: The use of the word “angry” in the critique of her performance leads me to believe that Carly’s week has come. At least she can think about the show going on during her exit song.
PAULA ABDUL OUT-OF-IT SCALE: 9/10.
PAULA ABDUL FALLING-OUT-OF-HER-DRESS SCALE: Whoa, mama! Who squeezed her into that tube? Perhaps whoever was styling everyone this week should have focused less on covering the girls in glitter and more on Paula’s actual chest size.
Archuleta didn’t look right playing piano to me, and it seemed to distract him from his vocals a little bit. Honestly, he kind of reminded of Nora awkwardly pawing at the keys:
+ Watch video
@Al Shipley: A+
There should be an ‘AI’ just for pets.
Kristy Lee “Bottom 3″ Cook may not have played to the die-hard Americans as hard this week, but wearing a shirt with a prominent crucifix on it during her pre-tape sure won’t hurt the religious right vote, will it?
I’ve been a big Brooke fan all season, but now I’m pretty sick of seeing her every week. I wouldn’t mind her going home this week if all she’s going to do is talk endlessly, cry and pick boring songs to sing. I’ll buy her eventual album if there is one, but I want her off my tv.
No one was great last night, but Syesha was the best of a middling round.
Until I YouTubed it and realized my error, I was pretty shocked that the Toy Story soundtrack was deemed “Inspiration”, even with Brooke’s melodrama.
Why did no one go the literal route and sing the Chicago song? Cetera FTW!
Holy crap! I forgot he was wearing a ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ t-shirt in the video:
After all these weeks I think there’s still something strangely in-authentic about Syesha. Her interview segments are “blah” and she sings everything like a Broadway singer, which is kind of been-there-done-that for AmIdol. Besides all that, she sang a cheesy Idol coronation song when she didn’t even have to. Isn’t that grounds for elimination by itself?
Re: “David Cook is king douche.” +1
I’ll never understand the appeal of either David, beyond the dollar signs in Simon Cowell’s eyes.
@Thierry: I started laughing as soon as the singing on you video started. Maybe he can add this:
@Thierry: I meant:
“Somewhere over the Rainbow” : ukelele players :: “Stairway to Heaven” : guitar players
Yeah, I liked both of the Davids’ song choices and thought neither of them did their tunes justice.
It was a weak night overall, but there’s no way Michael Johns was in the top 3.
I think I had a revelation last nite about what’s “bothering me” about Idol this year, and you touched on it directly or indirectly several times in this very write-up alone.
Two of Simon’s chestnuts of criticism are that a performance “sounds like karaoke” or “sounds like something I’d hear on a cruise ship”. But it seems that this year, the Idols, fearing both the “karaoke” and “cruise ship” tags, are simply just doing covers, and covers of covers, and covers that don’t even bother to change the arrangement to sound original. They’re not “making the song their own”, as Paula might say. No one is. Not David A., not Jason, not David C. certainly, not Syesha, not Michael, and on and on.
I feel like Carly has the ability to do something truly original up there, but she always seems so terrified of screwing up that it keeps her in her lane. I hope she gets the courage to really open our eyes, but she may have just lost her last chance to do that.
Sigh.
I officially despise David Cook now. His “give back” hand graffiti rang more hollow than Kristy Lee Cook singing “Amazing Grace.”
Why is it that every time I see Jason Castro I imagine him performing this at a campfire:
Also, I didn’t think Carly was as bad as they said - that song is just not very happy (after all, Freddy Mercury was just about on his deathbed), and at least didn’t sound like she was trying to channel Mercury, unlike Michael Johns with his Tyler impersonation. I would put her at 5 above Archie (who loses points for taking a sweet song about Robbie Williams’ nan and making it - once again - about God) and Kirsty Lee, who sounded awful and brought back the wide stance.
And Brooke finally looked convincingly stalker-like or even angry - unfortunately, she was singing “You’ve Got A Friend”…
Not a very good night overall.
this was a very forgettable week of idol for me. i don’t care about idol gives back particularly, so i won’t be watching tonight, and i was so bored last night that i don’t even care who gets voted off this week.
brooke looks more desperate than crazy, as if she craves the approval of the judges and is just HOPING for something positive.
@extracrispy: You don’t think he made his cover “Chris Martin writes stuff on his hand” his own?
If you know OLP or, more accurately, their frontman Raine Maida, then David Cook’s performance was nowhere near pompous. Was anyone else a bit cynical about the fact that he chose to use the “cancer” lyric? I may be wrong but that’s not in the first verse of the song.
Syesha is going home imo. Her sass talk was bratty and the judges had a very good point.
@Rob Murphy: totally agree. i do think it’s carly’s week, though. unfortunately. dialidol seems to agree.
If one of the finalists would write “PRO-CHOICE” on his/her arm during a performance (preferably while standing on a stool), I would actually vote in this thing.
How in heaven’s name is “Dream On” an inspiring song? Did you hear Michael’s total misinterpretation of the lyrics in his intro? “Yeah, it’s like, he’s saying that if you keep dreaming, your dreams can come true.”
Dude… Steven Tyler was a 19 year old alcoholic wallowing in despair. It’s bitter. Seriously.
By the way, how did Carly watch Freddy Mercury at Live Aid when she was a little girl (as she claimed on last night’s show)? Live Aid was in 1985, and Carly was born in 1983. Either (a) Carly’s family had a VHS or betamax copy of the show laying around the house, (b) Carly had a remarkable memory for a child not yet 2 years old, (c) Carly is fibbing about her age or (d) she simply lied about the whole thing.
@Garanimal Logic: If Carly was born in 1983, then so was I (I was born in ‘78).
Is it me or does Michael Johns sometimes move like Jim Kerr of Simple Minds? In fact, Johns seems to pull from Kerr, Jim Morrison and Michael Hutchence all at once. I want to like him more, but I cannot. He comes off as false to me. Last week I liked, this week not so much.
David Cook is king douche.
Good eye pointing out Brooke White’s craziness. Her post-performance miniature episodes show more personality than her remarkably bland Muzak, though I prefer weeks when she rambles incoherently.
I agree with Simon that “Angels” is a great song that has yet to receive its due. Twenty years hence, it might be similar to “Hallelujah.” That said, Archuleta sang it only slightly better than Jessica Simpson, and Simon seemed more impressed with the choice than the performance. “Angels” would’ve worked better perhaps in the hands of Syesha or Michael Johns, or hell, even Chikezie.
Also, I have a hunch Brooke goes home tonight.
Agreed on Cook as worst of the night, bar none, and that Carly is probably a goner (did you notice the relative lack of booing when Randy and Simon let her have it? Oh! And Paula turned on her too).
Now for the disagreements…
1. Al’s right - M. Johns was polished karaoke, nothing more. I actually also thought you overrated Brooke slightly, and I’m a fan of hers.
2. Kristy Lee’s performance was smart (for her) and her best all season. That still puts her in the middle of the pack, and yeah, the song’s not my taste, but: her career as a solid Kellie Pickler MOR-country type starts here.
3. I have been a loud Carly hater all season, and ironically, I thought this week she was half-good. It was the chorus of that Queen song that killed her, when she pulled out her Ex-Lax voice again. I think this explains why any Queen cover is fraught - Mercury didn’t just have a powerful voice/presence, he could take bombastic crap and make it believable in a way others can’t. I wouldn’t rank her much higher than you did, but…if ever there were a week she deserves to survive in my book, it’s this one.
4. I have been an even louder Archuleta hater, and um…um…[hides under desk] I thought the “Angels” performance was his best all season.
I thought he outsang the Robbie W. original (not that hard…), and until the last note, with his patented melisma overkill, the whole song was a model of restraint for him. He should try singing behind a piano more often - it ages him a bit and reins in some of his worst impulses.
Honest, don’t throw tomatoes, but I thought it was top-two for the night. Really. Believe me, I didn’t want to like it.
Last season, it was embarrassingly obvious that the producers had decided beforehand that Jordin Sparks, that pony!, was going to be the winner. This is why the judges fawned over her after every performance (except the Bon Jovi one).
The same thing is happening with JonBenet Pimpchuleta. His performance last night was as bland as a mashed potato, yet the judges, in a Jordin remake, were all over him.
@Manola: And he’s ONLY 17!!!
I probably shouldn’t have said that, as now the universe will spin it back so that the judges spout it every 15 seconds. Oh well.
That’s a scary-looking picture of Jason in that video!
By the way, I’m doing a survey on digital music for a class at MIT. I’m giving $5 free credit on Amie Street to anyone who fills it. Check it out at: [www.surveymonkey.com]