The Birth Year Schtick Again

The idols had to do a song from their birth year, in what's gotten to be a common theme each season. I personally thought it was going to be disco night, so this caught me off guard.

David Cook ended the show and it's a good thing he went last because he stole the whole show. Using his power to change any song into a angst-ridden rock ballad, he took "Billie Jean", rode the razor edge of cheesiness vs. brilliance, with the band cranking out power chords all the way, and really put it into the classic category by ending the song with a low "remember to always think twice", which earns anti-teen-pregnancy-public-service-announcement brownie points. If Cook wins the prize at the end of the season, he'll have done it with his brain rather than his voice. I kinda like that.

Ramiele needed to hit a home run tonight, and she didn't. It turns out she was sick and lost her voice this week. She did an admirable job overcoming it but the accuracy on the notes wasn't there. I'd probably put her in the bottom three.

Kristy Lee dipped into the cheese pot tonight and pulled out Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA". I buried my face in my hands when they announced the song, but she actually did a nice job on it. For once, the key of the song wasn't too low for her. Will pandering to the redneck demographic earn her some votes? She's been saved by luck twice in a row.

Michael Johns' performance convinced me that the judges are shilling for him. Also dipping out a double handful of cheese, he did a medley of "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions". It stank to high heaven. Between Michael's missed notes, non-attempted notes, microphone-jerked-away-before-it-could-sound-bad notes, and general cringiness of his fake stage presence, the band completely failed to fill in the spaces between the lyrics. The buildup and chorus of Champions should have huge descending chords behind the singer's voice, and it failed to happen. The backup singers were so weak, it was nearly like an unplugged version of the song. I still blame the sound engineers on the show for this junk. Of course, the judges gushed about how good this was, showing that they have some hidden agenda to advance this guy.

Brooke was OK, not great, doing an unplugged "Every Breath You Take" on piano. I pretty much agreed with the judges that the buildup at the bridge of the song should have left out the band. She could have done it herself by hitting big chords on the piano and it would have fit better.

Carly was also just OK, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart". She didn't have enough edge to her voice and overdid the big notes. Again, the band failed to build up the chorus enough to make it convincing.

Syesha was probably a top three performer tonight, continuing her string of improvement. Jason Castro did a Sting song I haven't heard before but it was very good, albeit safe. No change from him - he'll be eliminated from the voters becoming bored eventually. Chikeze was OK, not memorable, probably not enough to keep out of the bottom three, maybe boring enough to be eliminated.

Archuleta picked the most boring song I've ever heard, no one other than Simon had heard of it, and he didn't juice it up at all. His vocal wasn't great, either. I'd call it a bottom three performance. Of course, the teenage girl demographic is going to put him in first place again, so why does it matter?

My predicted bottom three: Chikeze, Carly, Kristy. Maybe Ramiele.
Eliminated: I can't call it. All four were better than Michael and David A., but not good enough to be safe. My (considerable) gut says Ramiele may be gone, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

David Cook might be able to wrest the trophy from David Archuleta eventually, but right now Archuleta looks like he'll get the votes no matter how bad he is. I bet Cook is #2 on dialidol this week, though.