Wow – a very interesting night and one of the strongest all season (first Beatles week is the top so far).
In order of appearance:
Ramiele Malubay, “Alone”: Poor thing. As Denis said, it’s almost like she has just given up. She has a strong voice, but it didn’t show last night. Her performance was completely forgettable and she’s almost definitely in the bottom three tonight.
Jason Castro, “Fragile”: It wasn’t until the chorus that I realized I knew the song. *lol* Jason did a great job (as always save for “Michelle” last week). He may have thought his guitar playing was sloppy, but I thought it was fine.
Syesha Mercade, “If I Were Your Woman”: I’m not a huge fan of the song, but she did a’ight. Is definitely safe this week (I’d be very surprised if she’s in the bottom three, but stranger things have happened).
Chikezie, “If Only For One Night”: I fast forwarded right through this one. I’m only a fan of Chikezie when he DOESN’T do R&B. He just might end up in the bottom three.
Brooke White, “Every Breath You Take”: I thought it was a fine performance, band coming in halfway through notwithstanding. She’s a decent singer – very Sheryl Crow on piano rather than guitar. And she was much better about not interrupting the judges this week, or trying to make excuses. I agree that it would have been better without the band coming in, but I still thought her vocals were strong.
Michael Johns, “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions”: I was a little worried when Ryan announced what Michael was going to sing. But he did a GREAT job. It’s the first time I’ve REALLY liked him all season.
Carly Smithson, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”: Okay, so I liked her performance. Up until the last few notes. It would have been MUCH better if she ended on a soft note rather than going soft only to bring it back up to a loud screech. Not good at all. However, she was technically perfect and did a great job.
David Archuleta, “You’re the Voice”: Such a pity. I LOVED that song when it was released (I even have it on tape somewhere). But David ruined it. I’m almost positive that Simon’s dig was directed at David’s awful stagefather. “I’d be surprised if you picked that song out yourself.” I loved that. Perhaps this means David’s dad will be forced to take a backseat and NOT attend all of David’s AI sessions. But he’ll be safe – his legion of tweeners will make sure of that.
Kristy Lee Cook, “God Bless the USA”: I started laughing when the song started. But mainly because it reminded me of a dude in college who sang this for a talent show complete with a huge American flag unfurling behind him at the climax of the song. Despite that awesome memory, I thought Kristy did a great job and she sounded great.
David Cook, “Billie Jean”: I love Chris Cornell and hadn’t ever heard his cover of “Billie Jean” (which is the version David Cook sang). So it was new to me and I LOVED IT. David wasn’t smirking through the whole thing, which definitely helped. His vocals were spot on and the arrangement was fabulous. This is the one I’ll download tonight after the results show.
Who’s in the bottom three? Ramiele, Chikezie and Kristy, with Kristy safe FIRST, and Ramiele going home.
I pretty much agree with your assessment.
I didn’t realize he was doing someone else’s cover of Billy Jean, but I should have assumed it. This guy doesn’t have a ounce of originality in his body. Unlike Chirs Daughtry who was a true original. This guy is a phoney. A wanna be. A copy artist.
How is Daughtry a true original when he too covered a different version of a Johnny Cash song during his season (one that Live did). At least this time they were on the up and up – Ryan said before Cook sang that he was doing the Chris Cornell version of the song.