American Idol: Top 4 Week – 5/6/2008

It appears that I was partially right, partially wrong about this week’s performances. David Cook did rock out, but only on his second song. Syesha did her stuff, sang her songs, shook her booty, and I think she’s going to stay alive.

Then there’s Jason Castro. His first song was… boring. His second song was… a disaster. He pulled a Crash Test Dummies impersonation and “MMM mmm MMM’d” about 10 words, which Randy Jackson politely made clear by asking Jason what he thought of his own performance. Simon simply told him, “Pack your bags.” I told my wife that his fans probably didn’t notice, though, because they’re all stoned. He may be safe, if only for the stoners.

David Archuletta was simply stunning with his first performance, and while his second song was not as entertaining for me, it was still up to his expected level of vocal brilliance. I am going to download his first song when it pops up on iTunes.

Bottom Two: Jason Castro, Jason Castro (Sorry, dude)

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It’s Time for the Top 4 American Idol Show

It’s rock and roll night tonight on American Idol. Look out for David Cook to rock your world. I’m definitely going to be watching in full surround sound today. The competition is going to come down to who can pick the best songs, best clothes, and NOT screw up. (Hey, Brooke, I’m talking to you.)

My pre-show predictions for the Top 2 performance predictions are David Cook and Syesha Mercado. I say performance predictions, though, because Syesha will be in the bottom two, as always.

American Idol: Top 5 Week – 4/29/2008

It was a pretty mundane night on Idol, except for the judging. The singing was pretty blah, but the judging was spectacular. This was the first week of double songs, so it was jam-packed with 5 singers singing 10 songs in an hour. First, the judging issue:

After the singers sang their first songs, they stood in a row for a quick rundown of their performances. Randy made it really quick with 2-5 words per singer, and then the fun started with Paula.

She started with Jason Castro and said, “Your first song… blah blah, but your second song left me feeling empty.” The guys leaned in toward her and informed her that he’d only sung one song. She had this “deer in the headlights look” and started stammering that she thought he’d already done two songs. Them she made a lame excuse that she was looking at David Cook’s feedback and thought they were both for Jason.

It didn’t fly with me. Here’s what I think happened: Paula was smashed. A producer who sat in on the dress rehearsals gave her what to say so she could read them and make sense of things with the busy timetable. She got caught with her dress up or some clothing metaphor for a washed out pop singer.

On with my reviews, speed-style, just like the judges:

Jason Castro: Sucked. Doesn’t seem to care. Go home. 7.4

David Cook: Fabulous as usual. I didn’t like the songs, so I won’t be to iTunes, but he was great. 9.8

Brooke White: The first song was sooooo karioke, I can’t describe it. I really liked the second song. My average: 8.8

David Archuleta: Well, he is a prodigy. Neil Diamond said so himself. 9.8

Syesha Mercado: First song was so-so. I really liked her showmanship for the second. 9.5

Bottom Three: Jason Castro, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado

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American Idol: Top 6 Week – 4/22/2008

As I mentioned yesterday afternoon, last night’s show was Andrew Lloyd Weber Night on American Idol and it was HAWT! I knew it had the potential for being a big night for everyone with a big, Broadway voice, and I was not disappointed. In fact, someone’s screw up made me as giddy as a schoolboy, much to my wife’s dislike about my cheery disposition and rewinding the DVR twice to watch it again. /sigh… It’s the small things in life, I tell you. On with the review!

Syesha Mercado started the show off with some steam with a cherry red dress on top of the grand piano. She walked her way across the stage and generally acted like she owned the stage, the building, and the town and was letting you know she was the star of the night. Oh, and the singing wasn’t bad, either. She set the bar pretty high for the night. Let’s see how I think the others did following her act. I gave her a 10.0 for the night.

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