American Idol Season 7 Top 20 - The Guys

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American Idol Season 7 Top 20 – The Guys

By PopSavant | February 26, 2008 | Email This Post

All right, here we are again with season seven of American Idol. Tonight features the top ten guys; hopefully we’ll see something a bit more impressive than last week’s top 12, which was nothing special.

Ryan Seacrest tells us all eyes are on American Idol tonight; a little depressing that the ratings for this will probably blow the Obama/Hillary debate out of the water, but then again we’re very near the end of time.

Good news fans of disco and polyester: tonight is 1970’s night on American Idol.

Michael Johns is first up, with Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way. Great song choice, but it starts off weak and gets weaker in the chorus… and now it’s even weaker after the chorus. His voice isn’t up to the highs. Randy says it was “a nice way to start off,” but “not your best. I liked it. You’re a good singer.” Paula thinks it was “consistent” (what, consistently bad?) Simon: “It was okay. By far your weakest performance,” and a bad choice of songs. Paula says it wasn’t weak from a woman’s point of view.

Jason Castro: tells us the downside of American Idol is all the “not music stuff” that he didn’t expect. But tonight IS about the “music stuff,” and Jason delivers with Andy Gibb’s I Just Wanna Be Your Everything. The song is okay; seventies sunshiny feel-good pop, but the kind that didn’t make the cut into modern nostalgia radio. But Jason comes through, playing acoustic guitar and getting all out of it he possible could. Randy thought it was “interesting” and “cool” with the guitar, but the vocals “just weren’t that great.” Paula thinks it was “not as bad” as Randy thinks. She thinks the song choice was “clever,” and so was the arrangement, but she would like to see him without the guitar next week and “more vulnerable as an artist.” Simon thought the song was “horrible” and “schmaltzy” and that Jason looked uncomfortable.

Luke Menard, who tells us he’s part of an a cappella group, goes about as far away as you could from a cappella by covering Queen, namely Killer Queen. He mispronounces “Chandon” right off the bat, and never recovers. The performance is downright anemic, even without comparison to the original, and Luke doesn’t come close to exuding the charisma and sexuality that Freddy Mercury did on his worst day. Randy thought it was “pretty good” with some pitch problems. Paula think it was a “perfect” song, and a good performance. Simon sarcastically says “Paula’s right, we owe a lot to you” and goes on to call the song a “mistake” because the original singer had “charisma and personality, and you didn’t.”

Robbie Carrico takes a note from Spinal Tap and says Simon has to understand “there are so many levels of rock.” To show us one of these levels, Robbie gives us Foreigner’s Hot Blooded, undeniably a classic, but not one I’d shed a tear over if I never heard again. Robbie does a great job with it, though, even though I think the rock thing is still an act. Randy says it IS one of his favorite songs, and thought Robbie was “pretty good” but “just okay.” Paula says it would drive her crazy having someone tell he she wasn’t being authentic – “how does anyone know who you are but you?” She thought he lost some personality trying to please everybody. Randy interrupts and says rock is an attitude, not something you have to prove. Robbie says “exactly, so why should I have to keep proving it?” Simon: “You don’t have to get so defensive… I thought the vocal was okay.” Simon’s right… he doesn’t have to get defensive; a real rock guy wouldn’t.

Danny “Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That” Noriega: assures us he has punk credentials, and then launches into the antithesis of punk, a song by the Carpenters… namely Superstar. Of course, the song can’t be done on American Idol without comparing it to Reuben’s version a few years ago, and Danny doesn’t really measure up. He goes for the steamy, sultry thing and fails miserably; his future on the show, if he has one, is in unrestrained goofiness. Paula thinks Danny has “amazing vocal skill,” but that he needs to “take a deep breath and forget about [the judges.]” She also thinks that his vibrato is “magical.” Simon thinks he was “over-concentrating,” “stands out in the crowd,” and “looks great on camera.

David Hernandez, who once won “like ten medals or something” as a gymnast, is next up with Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone, by the Temptations among others. He goes for a sort of combination tough-guy/funk thing; the tough guy stuff fails, but the funk thing is strong enough to carry the song through, and the vocal is the best of the night so far. Randy says “that’s how to put it down… that was hot, right there.” Paula says “your voice is so pure… perfect. Per-fect.” Simon says “that was the best vocal of the night so far” (There Simon is quoting me again.) “You’ve risen to the challenge.”

Paula insightfully tells us that the 1970’s was such a great decade for music because of the great songs.

Jason Yeager’s choice of songs is Long Train Runnin’, by the Doobie Brothers. Jason’s stage presence needs work, he just doesn’t look comfortable out there, and the song is just okay. Randy says that it wasn’t a “singer’s song,” and that it was “pitchy” and “karaoke.” Paula sad it was “fun,” but the song has “not many notes in it… doesn’t show your vocal range.” Simon says “the simple truth is, last week was boring, this week was awkward and ordinary.” Ryan tries to give Jason a boost with a very sympathetic interview afterwards… we’ll see if it works.

Chikezie: gives us I Believe To My Soul, by Donny Hathaway. He’s got a 1980’s fluorescent-polo and-jeans look going that doesn’t suit the song, but he’s otherwise all style and coolness. It may not be the best vocal we’ve heard – though it’s not bad – but it’s easily the best performance of the night. Randy says “Chikezie’s back” Paula says it was “brilliant” and “fun.” Simon says “it was a million times better than last week.”

David Cook ’s offering is All Right Now, by Free, complete with electric guitar. More lackluster stage presence – if you’re going to rock, you’ve got to flat-out rock – but the song is infectious, hard not to sing along with, and the vocal performance suits the song well. Randy says “you’re the real rocker.” Paula says “you’re the real deal. You’ve got it, you’ve got it, you’ve got it.” Simon says it was “solid,” but that he doesn’t have a lot of charisma. David tries to earn audience points by telling Simon “I don’t have to you over with my charisma,” which was unnecessary, because Simon was being complimentary; David clearly had that speech preloaded and was going to deliver it no matter what Simon said. Simon is irked by the whole thing. Ryan says “I don’t think he meant any disrespect,” which is flat-out a stupid thing to say; of course he did.

David Archuleta shows a clip where he sang for the original Idol finalists; he can sleep securely at night knowing even if he’s electrocuted on stage in the next ten seconds he’s still better off than Justin Guarini. He sings Imagine, by John Lennon. Tricky song; it’s been done a million times, and rarely notably. Lennon’s songs suited him best. David does a wise thing and doesn’t try do a cover version, but rather makes it his own with soaring vocals. It works. Well. Randy calls it “one of the best vocals I’ve ever heard on the show. Brill-iant.” Paula chokes up and says she wants to “squeeze his head off” (I crush your head!) and calls it one of the most moving performances she’s ever heard. “You’re headed for superstardom.” Simon calls it “risky” but says it worked, and that he’s now “the one to beat,” and that the other 19 finalists should be nervous.

Summary/Conclusion:

So, there you have it, that’s the show. Another night with no performances for the ages, but I’d say better than last week.

Best of the Night: David Hernandez, Chikezie, and David Archuleta.

Bottom Two: Jason Yeager and Michael Johns.

See you tomorrow night!

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