The bottom three on the night of 4/16/08:Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, Kristy Cook
Sent home:Kristy Cook
Immediately after the conclusion of the elimination show, around 10pm in the eve, 4/16/08, this Blog post will go up with the name of which of the remaining 7 would-be Idols got sent packing, along with a review of the performance show aired Tuesday, 4/15/08.
All with pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.
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Mariah Carey Night on American Idol 2008
NOTE...This review written BEFORE the elimination round.
Mariah Carey has never been one of my fave singers. Couple of things here…first, if I were to be honest I’d have to say that I don’t think she sings all that well, she’s not especially attractive, her schtick is mostly costumes and illusions. Second, I think every one of those final seven finalists in American Idol 2008 did a better job singing Mariah’s songs than Mariah did.
David Archuleta began the night and first thing I noticed that David left his fashion safety zone and donned a pair of leather pants, bad boy. I didn’t like his T-shirt, leather-panted look and I wonder if some fashion guru didn’t whisper in David’s ear that he needs to start looking tougher. David’s allure, besides that spectacular voice which will carry him through no matter what he wears, is his cute loveable youth. I think David’s former attire of a casual sports jacket over a clean T-shirt to have been perfect for his age.
David sang a tune I didn’t know titled “When You Believe”. He did a wonderful job with the tune. Simon commented that he knew that David would pick that song. I could never have predicted such a thing as I’d never heard of the song.
Carly Smithson sang one of the few Carey tunes I recognize, “I Can’t Live”. This is a beautiful song and perfect for Carly’s great big voice.
Except for a reason I can’t put a verbal finger on, Carly didn’t quite do it for me. If ever a song would push Carly over the top it would be this one. I felt the performance was one hue under the expectation.
Simon expressed a similar sentiment in that he said she didn’t quite pull it off. Although, to be fair, Carly gave a great performance. It’s just that at this point in the competition the criticism is harsher and the expectations much higher.
Carly could be in the bottom three tonight but she’s not one of my three I predict for this danger. I won’t be surprised, however, if she’s at the bottom but I sure don’t expect her to be sent packing just yet.
It’s time, really, for Syesha Mercado to get rid of that modified afrocentric hairdo of hers. I’d love to see Syesha get a smoothed down look for her hair because the wild woman of Borneo look distracts from her beauty. Syesha is a very pretty girl with good fashion sense.
Syesha sang a tune I did not know, “Vanishing”.
Syesha continually picks great big songs and this was one such song. And perhaps it was because I was not at all familiar with this song but I didn’t like what I consider a performance of big long notes and not much more. Carly at least attempted some nuance in her performance of a great big tune. Syesha’s song seem to be one big, long song of big notes.
The judges, however, totally disagreed with my assessment but I stick by my impression. I figure I am way more an average American viewer than Simon, Randy or Paula. In fact, in the middle of Syesha’s wailing even my husband, the musical guru of the two of us, grimaced and asked if that was supposed to be singing.
I’m predicting Syesha to be in the bottom three this week and possibly sent home although she’s not my first choice to be sent packing.
Brooke White sang a perfect tune for her singing style, and a song the American public would know and like. Brooke sang “A Hero Comes Along”. I would note that Brooke, who tends to wear dowdy sort of boring clothes, looked great in a black, shiny dress and with a head full of beautiful hair.
I felt very sad that Brooke had to miss her sister’s wedding. I must suppose that the wedding date was set a long time ago and that Brooke didn’t expect to be in the contest this long.
Brooke did a great job with this song but there’s one caveat. This song is a kind of great big song and Brooke is not a great big voiced singer like Carly or Syesha. Brooke brings a husky soft female voice to the table and as such the song tended to sound weak.
Which it wasn’t if the critic could bear in mind Brooke’s singing style. But I suspect that it was this sense of vocal meekness that caused Simon to remark that the song came across as a hamburger with just the bun, no meat.
I think that analogy is a bit overstated. Somewhere in the performance, which had Brooke on the piano, she evidently made some mistake. I didn’t notice anything amiss but Brooke did what I’ve said right along that American Idol contenders should never do…which is to admit her mistake.
One of the judges made some remark about an error in the chorus or some such and Brooke eagerly shook her head and admitted what most of the American viewers likely did not notice.
She’s a sweet girl, Brooke, very religious as I understand it. I hope she goes on to musical success when her time to go home comes. Which could be tonight as I think Brooke might be in the final three. She’s not my first choice to be sent packing however.
Kristy Cook hangs in this contest even surrounded by a versatile musician like Brooke, a big voice like Carly and the hard-working Syesha. Kristy’s success is due to excellent song choices, a pleasant personality, and a perfectly fine voice but not quite in the same league as the other female contenders.
Kristy sang a tune I did not know, “Forever”. I thought she did a great job, it was a good song choice and Kristy was wearing the prettiest dress of the night.
Simon said the song as performed by Kristy didn’t give him chills which means not much because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Simon say a song or performance gave him chills for God’s sake.
David Cook sang another Mariah tune I didn’t know, “Always Be My Baby”.
Hey, David Cook and Mariah Carey are miles apart in terms of singing style and song choices. But David did a great job with a song so out of his genre and this fellow has my admiration all over the place.
Randy gave David a standing ovation.
On another tragic note, David’s brother has brain cancer and it has spread to his spine. It’s enough to bring tears, this man with two small children, struggling so to live through his treatment and making the enormous effort to get there to see his brother perform on American Idol.
Bad things sure do happen to good people it seems.
Finally Jason Castro of the dreadlocks sang one more tune I was not familiar with “I Don’t Want to Cry”.
Hey, not for me, not at all, the song, the performance, paled to almost everyone else on that night. I think Randy summed it best with his comparison to Jason’s performance as like being at a beach luau with someone singing at a distance.
I think Jason will get sent home on the night of 4/16/08.
In summary, I predict the bottom three will be Brooke, Jason and Syesha.
I think Jason will get the boot.
Below a short video remix of David Cook, Syesha’s wailing and David Archuleta.
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