Carey On, Wayward Idols

Ah, yes. Mariah Carey night on Idol. Unfortunately, this means more ballads. Fortunately, it means better ones than we've had before. Tonight's the night everybody gets sent home for violating the Mariah Carey rule, right? Next week's theme: Songs about going home. Just kidding. I hope it's actually something that forces the kids to do upbeat songs. Anyway, on with the show.

In the cursed leadoff slot: David Archuleta singing "I Believe". David gives his usual performance, and I don't understand a single word he sang. Either the sound man's fault or David's, I can't tell, but he got swallowed up by the backup singers on the choruses. Let's not kid ourselves, though - the kid's not going anywhere even if he decides to rap the f-word over the bridge.

Second is our girl Carly, with "I Can't Live". Carly's still got the same problem as always: She has zero edge to her voice when the song needs it. For once, however, she wears a dress with sleeves, covering that dreadful shoulder tattoo. I'm beginning to think it's the sound man after all, because she gets swallowed up by the background singers, too. Bottom line: Carly's in danger again.

Third is Syesha, singing "Vanishing". At the time, I thought she did a pretty good job, however, after a couple more singers, I could hardly remember the performance - something that's been a characteristic of her act all season. She'll be in the bottom 3 again.

Then we have Brooke White, performing my second favorite Mariah song, "Hero", unplugged, at the piano. Unfortunately, this is the weakest performance of the night by far. Mistake #1 was playing the piano on this song. Mistake #2 was not using the band to generate some emotion. She made mistakes on the piano that distracted her and ruined her focus on the vocals. You could see the panic in her eyes, and she started rushing the tempo. The bridge, which is the part where the vocals should hit new heights, just fell apart, and she sped up even more and it was a complete train wreck by the end. Unless she's got a "get out of jail free" card from her fans, she's bottom 3 and probably gone tomorrow.

Next is Kristy Lee Cook with "Forever". Brace yourselves, because Kristy Lee had the best female vocal performance of the night, and a very nice reinterpretation of the song into the country genre. Her upward trend continues for a fifth straight week, and she's got all the momentum. Safe again!

Then came the David Cook show, performing "Always Be My Baby". The whiny crybabies that go on the E! site and others and complain that he uses other artists' covers won't be able to do that tomorrow, because this version was all his own and it was fantastic. Paula mentioned it being perfect for a movie soundtrack, and I was thinking the same thing. During rehearsal, Mariah really seemed impressed with the re-arrangement of the song. DC is moving back into the top slot this week.

Ending the show was Jason Castro with his version of "I Don't Wanna Cry". Changing it up minimally by not playing the guitar for once, he reinterpreted this song into a Latin groove and it worked nicely. He misses a lot of notes, but his style covers it up. I think he'll be safe again. Simon loves it, which is a bit of a surprise.

My humble opinion on ranking the performances:
1. David Cook
2. Kristy Lee Cook
3. David Archuleta
4. Jason Castro
5. Carly
6. Syesha
7. Brooke

How the voting is going to go:
1. David Cook
2. David Archuleta
3. Jason Castro
4. Kristy Lee Cook
5. Carly
6. Syesha
7. Brooke

Predicted to go home:
Brooke