© (C) 2008 Fox Ramiele Malubay performs in the Top Ten on AMERICAN IDOL - Season 7

Television:

Review: AMERICAN IDOL - SEASON SEVEN - THE TOP 10

The Idols pick songs from the year they were born, and the episode feels, oh, so, three weeks ago

Grade: B-
Stars: Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Ryan Seacrest
Release Date: March 25, 2008

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By CARL CORTEZ, Contributing Editor
Published 3/26/2008

First we got two weeks of Beatles tunes and this week we essentially get another ‘80s week as the Idols picked songs during the year they were born.

Aside from Michael Johns (born 1978) and David Archuleta (born in 1990), the song choices were certainly a bit better than the first ‘80s week, but aside from David Cook proving his dominance in the race to win AMERICAN IDOL with his wholly original take on Michael Jackson’s "Billie Jean," it was pretty much more of the same.

Ramielle struggled to find her voice, Syesha and Chickezie played it safe with middle-of-the-road R&B, Brooke proved she has one of the most unique female voices of the lot, Carly over-reached, Jason Castro under-reached (dude, put away the bong before you go on stage, dude), Kristy played the “patriot card” with her rendition of “God Bless the U.S.A.” hoping she’ll squeak by another week until Dolly Parton can mentor her and David Archuleta sucked ass on yet another up-tempo song that he had no connection to whatsoever.

Randy was pretty randy all night – ripping the singers and for once Simon was in agreement with him. And in a sudden reversal from when the competition began many weeks ago, it’s actually David Cook, not David Archuleta who is proving to be the one to beat.

That said, here comes the handicapping for this week’s episode.


(C) 2008 Fox
The Top Ten - Season Seven

RAMIELE MULABAY

(c) 2008 Fox

Song: “Fragile” as made famous by Sting
Date of Birth: March 25, 1987
Verdict: While there is no proof of this whatsoever, and this is merely an observation, an opinion, so please, put down your weapons, but damn, does Jason Castro every week, look like he’s smokin’ the bong minutes before he steps on stage. The guy is so super-laid back and the way he treats the competition is as if he’s been on a ten-day super-high and can’t seem to come down. His vocals are always smooth and this was certainly better than last week when he destroyed the Beatles “Michelle,” but really, dude, lay off the wacky weed and come out fighting for your right to party (and sing). You’re going to have to prove you’re bad-ass to stay in this game, and playing it safe yet again, is only going to get you a one-way ticket to the bottom three. Definite bottom three.
Grade: C

SYESHA MERCADO

Song: “If I Were Your Woman” as made famous by Stephanie Mills
Date of Birth: January 2, 1987
Verdict: Last week she proved she had a lot of moxie, and her video interview this week makes you fall in love with her times time over, but really girl, we know you can do the Whitney thing. Your voice is great and the judges loved you, but picking songs like this only hurts you more than it helps. We’ve had too many divas win on IDOL only to prove their a bust when it comes to album sales. You have the pipes, but you need better song selection. How many times can the judges say it: song selection, song selection, song selection!
Grade: C+

CHICKEZIE

Song: “If Only For One as made famous by Luther Vandross
Date of Birth: September 11, 1985
Verdict: What an unfortunate date to have your birthday on and what an unfortunate song. The judges called it old school, and it took Chickezie several steps backwards after coming alive the past two weeks by taking chances on the arrangements of the Beatles tunes. We like the guy. He’s got that “it” factor, but like Syesha, he needs to stay out of his crooning comfort zone and do more than belt out silky smooth rhythm and blues. We know you can sing, but we need to hear your true voice come out week after week or you’re toast. Definite bottom three this week.
Grade: C

BROOKE WHITE

Song: “Every Breath You Take” as made famous by The Police
Date of Birth: June 2, 1983
Verdict: Randy and Simon were dead-on when they knocked Brooke slightly for her arrangement which went from a great piano ballad to shifting gears into a full-on ‘80s synth band deal by mid-song. She sounded great throughout – and she possesses the one true original female voice of the lot this year. Now she needs to find the balance and cushion of sitting behind her piano, to branching out and really showcasing she can be Final Four star material. It’s obvious she’s pretty insecure, and she doesn’t take feedback from the judges too well, but we like her anyway.
Grade: B

MICHAEL JOHNS

Song: “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions” as made famous by Queen
Date of Birth: October 20, 1978
Verdict: The crowd ate this sh*t up tonight as Johns sailed easily into his star-making performance. Queen is tough to sing, but he did it with command and his own special swagger. While I’m quite frankly sick of Queen covers on these singing competition shows, Johns came through in a pinch and needs to build on what he did this week to stay in the competition.
Grade: B+

CARLY SMITHSON

Song: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” as made famous by Bonnie Tyler
Date of Birth: September 12, 1983
Verdict: The second week in a row that Carly didn’t impress the judges. I tend to agree. This is one mother of a hard song to sing, and Carly did it spot on, but that’s the problem – it’s a note-for-note recreation of Tyler’s classic version with little of that experimentation or vocal augmentation that made Carly stand-out in the first couple of weeks. She was pretty good, and knows her stuff, but now is not the time to play it safe. Definite bottom three this week.
Grade: C

DAVID ARCHULETA

Song: I have no idea, but vaguely heard they said it was from some dude from Australia (hey, maybe it’s Michael Johns!!!) The judges commented on how obscure the song was too, so screw mentioning it. [Editor's note: It's John Farnham singing "You're the Voice" -- gotta give those obscure singer-songwriters their props]
Date of Birth: December 28, 1990
Verdict: The kid can sing and has charisma, but he needs to tell whoever it is (I suspect his parents) from stop picking his damn songs. What WAS he thinking. An obscure song, and a bad obscure song at that, it proves my theory that Archuleta CANNOT sing up-tempo songs without drawing attention to his limited vocal techniques and pre-programmed charisma. You can’t knock the kid – he’s a kid for crying out loud, and he can sing, but the only time he shines is with ballads, and doing that week after week is no where near sustainable. He should be in the bottom three, but won’t, because of his fan base.
Grade: D

KRISTY LEE COOK

Song: “God Bless the U.S.A.” as made famous by Lee Greenwood
Date of Birth: January 18, 1984
Verdict: Okay, we get it – you’re a patriot Kristy. You sound good when you’re pimping for our country, and we know how desperate you want to have Dolly Parton mentor you in the forthcoming weeks, but damn this was a blatantly a ballsy move to appeal to middle America so they don’t vote your ass off. Even Simon called it. But then again, you also came up with one of your best vocal performances so far. You may be pretty middle-of-the-road, but you can sing, which means you  might just dodge the elimination bullet yet once again this week (even though you still may be in the bottom three, because America likes you there).
Grade: B-

DAVID COOK

Song: “Billie Jean” as made famous by Michael Jackson
Date of Birth: December 20, 1982
Verdict: Hands down, the best performance of the night. David Cook can do no wrong and after four straight weeks of taking songs made famous by others, and making them completely “David Cook” in tone and style, it’s enough to secure him a Top 4 slot. He’s etched an identity and to completely rework “Billie Jean” the way he did is ballsy beyond belief. He hit pay dirt with his rock reinterpretation of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” three weeks ago, but here, this AMERICAN IDOL made his permanent mark. If this guy isn’t in the final two, there is no justice.
Grade: A-

Reader Comments

Lisa from Hamilton sez....
Do your god damn homework, David Cook's BJ was NOT original he copied Chris Cornell's version from his solo album that came out last year! Plus Chris's version was far better anyway since he has a way better voice than Cook & ALL THE SONGS he has done so far are cover's of other artists so NO ORIGINALTY there!!
3/26/2008 7:23:55 PM

David from PA sez....
Um, Cook's original? That was Chris Cornell's version.. you know the guy from Soundgarden? Not saying it was bad but he didn't rework the song.
3/26/2008 1:06:40 PM

Julie Amedio from Latham NY sez....
I agree with most of the assessments here. However because I am a huge David Archuleta fan I wouldn't say his performance was horrible. I would say it was not as good as he has done in recent weeks. Still I know he will be in the final with a good chance to win the whole thing.
3/26/2008 9:39:59 AM

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