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American Idol Top 10 – Season 7, March 25 2008
By PopSavant | March 25, 2008 | 
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Hello again everyone, and welcome to the liveblog of the American Idol top ten contestant performance show from season seven, airing on March 25, 2008.
I had to miss last week because of family obligations; it figures I’d miss the night America finally put the stake in Amanda. Not so fast, though, rumors are we’re going to get treated to a wildcard-style bakeoff, wherein all the contestants America didn’t like get a chance to compete for a spot on the American Idol tour. She may not be finished yet.
It’s 8pm, the show is starting. We get an hour and a half of songs from the year of the contestants birth. Michael Johns is the oldest at 29, just crossing the edge of the line for the disco era. If the fates are kind he’ll go with the Smashing Pumpkins 1979 instead.
Ryan tells us “the countdown to the finale” has begun, and the crowd does seem excited to be there. Randy’s wearing a shirt much like the one I have – hopefully his is a slightly bigger size – and Paula’s flirting with the 1980s Madonna look with some weird fingerless gloves that cover her forearm.
Ramiele Malubay tells us that she used to bite people when she was three years old, but gave up the habit. Sorry Ramiele, but some of us think you still bite. Her song is Heart’s Alone – this is darn near turning into a season of Heart’s greatest hits. Ramiele’s putting a lot of heavy breathing into the intro, then misses the big note going into the chorus; her voice is shaky thereafter. Props for the boots, though, I dig them, but not so much the Princess Leia lip gloss. She ends by wailing “Alooooone! ALL-OWNNNNN!” Randy calls it pitchy and thinks it was a bad song choice. Paula croaks out a comment about how Ramiele is suffering from voice problems tonight because she’s sick; Paula sounds like she’s got a touch of it herself. Simon says it “was not as bad as Randy said” but that it was shrieky in the middle. Nevertheless, Simon predicts she’ll make it through. During the after interview, Ramiele again does the dumb-cute thing that makes me want to take a cheese grater to her face.
It’s Jason Castro’s birthday, and he gives us a bit of his personal history with the keytar, perhaps the silliest instrument ever made. His song choice is Sting’s Fragile; it’s a decent song choice. I’d forgotten about it, but it’s both a curve ball and yet familiar at the same time. His performance is not exactly bad, but I’m a bit tired of the mellow thing from Jason. Randy thought it was “all right… nice and pleasant.” Paula compliments him for “staying true to who you are.” Neither Randy nor Paula have seen a “wow” moment from Jason yet. Simon things Jason has “had two bad weeks…. It’s time you start taking this more seriously” and compares the performance to someone outside a subway station. Afterwards, Jason allows that perhaps he could spend a bit more time practicing.
Syesha Mercado comes to us from the year 1987; she’s somehow maintained her baby cry to this very day. She criticizes the “corny” outfits she wore as a member of a youth dance team, and then comes out in perhaps the most boring outfit to ever grace an American Idol stage, jeans and a sloppy beige sweater. She sings If I Were Your Woman, by Gladys Knight. We can forgive her clothes, though, because she delivers the first standout performance of the night, all soaring highs and really solid midtones. This is the first time I’ve been really impressed with her all season… it’s easily one of the best performances of the year so far. Randy says it’s “the best you’ve ever sounded to us… stellar, unbelievable, blazing hot.” Paula says that we will look back on this as the night Syesha “flipped it” and became a dark horse to win. Simon calls it “definitely the best so far… of course we’re only three in” and tells Syesha that there’s a limit to her vocals.
Chikezie tells us he’s going to “pick a song that really resonates with him.” His birth year is 1985 – a year well-known to be the high point of human culture. What gem will he dig out of the vault to give to us tonight? We Built This City? The Heat Is On? Oh Sheila? Nope, none of those. It’s If Only For One Night, by Luther Vandross. Chikezie does doing a reasonable job as a soul singer, blue lights giving the stage a bit of smoky atmosphere. Unfortunately, as one contestant proves every week, song choice is everything… and this one is not good for American Idol; the performance was okay, but there was nothing for people to really grab on to; no catchy chorus, no big note. Randy said it was “just boring for me, dog.” Paula thought “you did an amazing job with the textures of your vocals.” Simon “thought you sang it well… but the performance was very cheesy.” Chikezie and Simon get in an argument over who the song is for; Chikezie says it’s for the audience, Simon claims he did that song for himself.
Brooke White is up next, all the way from June 2, 1983. She learned to play on her great-grandmother’s piano; this is the first video interview piece tonight that I found at all interesting. She’ll be singing Every Breath You Take, by the Police. She flubs the first few words and starts again, but recovers well. I don’t like the piano arrangement very much. I enjoy the opening verses, but I don’t like the bridge at all, and the song is never the same after the band takes over. Brooke looked amazing tonight, by the way, a black dress and what looks like hair that’s been straightened a bit. Randy says damn near the exact same thing I did: he admired her recovery, liked the opening, stopped liking it during the bridge, and hated the arrangement. Paula thinks “you’re consistent … this was great.” Simon “totally agrees with Randy” and says if she had stayed with the piano arrangement it “would have been cool” but believes it was good enough to earn another week.
Michael Johns was born in 1978; I’d guessed 1979 earlier, but I’ll leave it because that’s a great song. He had once hoped to be a tennis player, but music found him and “he ain’t sad.” He delivers We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions. by Queen. This is an ambitious thing to do, because pretty much nobody but Freddie Mercury can sing Queen. Michael goes on to prove me wrong; vocally he does quite a good job, not doing a Freddie impression but making the song his own. Stage presence, too; he wisely doesn’t try to out-strut Freddie, but stands , feet planted center stage in the strobes and commands the crowd. We may have just seen an all-time great Idol performance. Randy calls it “the best performance, for me, since you’ve been on the show.” Paula says “this was your shining moment… I’m so proud of you.” Simon calls it “the first time with you… that I’ve seen star potential” and calls it the only memorable song of the night so far.
Carly Smithson’s mom (Mary Murray; how Irish is that?!) named her after Carly Simon, because that’s who was playing on the radio on the way to the hospital. Ryan announces she’ll be doing Total Eclipse of the Heart, by Bonnie Tyler. As soon as I hear the choice, I’m immediately thinking good things, and I’m not disappointed. Carly does a lower version than Bonnie did, but it’s spot on for the most part. It’s good going into the chorus (which she messes up; she says “living like a power keg” instead of “living in a powder keg”) but the way she drives the song you can forget all about that. She doesn’t go for a particularly big-note ending, which is weird. Carly again looks amazing, black dress with gold piping on top of black stockings and black boots. Randy “liked it… didn’t love it” and goes on to say he doesn’t “like the whole rock thing” (um, WTF Randy?) He later says the run at the end was not in tune. Paula says Carly could make her go buy any song that she doesn’t ordinarily like. Simon thinks “something didn’t quite work” and says it’s because she seemed nervous. Maybe because she was almost voted off last week? Again, I’m considering starting a religion around Carly-worship.
So, what’s up with all the judges hating Total Eclipse, anyway? I don’t know that it will get Bonnie Tyler in the Hall of Fame, but in its time and place, it rocked. The Nikki French dance version wasn’t bad, either.
David Archuleta shows a clp of him dancing as a little kid, eliciting hoots and cheers from the girls in the audience. His song is John Farnham’s The Voice. Speaking of voices, David’s voice isn’t right tonight; he’s reaching too low or something. He’s all right in the middle, but loses it on the highs as well. I don’t know that this was an advisable song choice, either, it’s not particularly memorable. Still, it won’t matter to David’s fan base. Randy says “it was a strange song choice for me, but if you can sing, sing whatever.” Paula provincially says “you couldn’t have picked an American composer?” and then tries to back off of it and says “you could sing the phone book” and we would listen. Simon “didn’t like the performance at all. I thought it was reminiscent of a theme park performance. It’s like one of those ghastly songs that you sing when you’re surrounded by animated creatures and everyone joins in.” This is perhaps the most insightful comment Simon has made in a long time; as a veteran of many a Disney vacation, he’s exactly right, and I’m rather annoyed that I didn’t make the comparison first. I’m more annoyed that it reminds me of a very specific theme park show that I can’t quite put my finger on… stay tuned, it’ll come to me.
Kristy Lee Cook claims to have come out of the womb smiling; we’ll see if she makes us smile tonight. She’ll use Lee Greenwood’s God Bless The USA in an attempt to do so. As a trivia note, I once ate in a restaurant Lee Greenwood owned, so I think I’m quite enough of an authority to judge this performance. Kristy has the right vibe for the song, all fresh-scrubbed American girl earnestness; I think she really believes in the lyrics, which give a certain weight to her version that this song frequently lacks when covered at local barbequeues and so forth. It’s a good, solid, nothing-out-of-place performance; more importantly it’ll be a definite crowd-pleaser, almost guaranteeing she’ll be around another week. Randy says “great song choice… a very nice performance from you.” Paula calls is a “poignant and respectful song…. you’re growing.” Simon calls it “your best performance by a mile… that was the most clever song choice I’ve heard in years.” If nothing else, Kristy has assured herself a career at minor league baseball games and county fairs around the country for the next couple of seasons.
David Cook comes to us from the last-but-not-least category tonight. He’s going to sing Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean - my first reaction is “geez, this guy doesn’t do anything wrong, does he?” His gives us a very downtempo, moody version that rocks out in the chorus; at one point, I think my TV may explode. Near the middle I think he’s going to tear it, but he pulls back just in time. It’s fantastic; my only complaint with David is that he might be in danger of becoming a one-trick pony, but that trick is very, very, VERY good. I like David Cook a lot, week in and week out. I’ll buy his album someday, and this was yet another one for Idol’s greatest hits reel. Randy says “Dude. You might be the one to win the whole lot.” Paula calls him “smart, brave, and willing to stretch the boundaries. I think you’re brilliant.” Simon says “that was brave… it could either have been insane or amazing, and I have to tell you that that was amazing.”
Best of the Night: David Cook and Michael Johns.
Worst of the Night: Ramiele, Chikezie, David Archuleta, and Jason Castro. Bottom three? Tough one. I’m afraid David’s block vote will still carry him, so I’ll go with Ramiele, Chikezie, and Jason. Who leaves? I want it Ramiele to be gone so badly that it’s clouding my judgment, so I’ll go with Chikezie.
We’ll know tomorrow night. See you then!
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