American Idol 7 - Boys3

It's eighties night on the Idol stage, and we're at the last 'double elimination' night for the guys. Two of the eight remaining dudes will be heading home in just a couple of days. Let's find out who it should be....

Luke Menard
"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"
This was not great. His pitch was mostly OK. He had nice pure tone on the high note. But other than that I found the whole performance deadly dull. There was no power and very little energy. Luke was definitely not "McSteamy" tonight. Randy's right - this was all just a little too corny.

David Archuleta
"Another Day in Paradise"
Great song choice for David. I liked his piano playing. He was surprising a little pitchy - but I think it was a lack of support for singing while he was sitting down. He'll need to work on that. Overall I think this was a very solid performance, but not as good as last week.

Danny Noriega
"Tainted Love"
Great song. Horrible singing. I hated the arrangement/interpretation. He had terrible stage presence. I think Danny has jumped the shark - he's getting ready to self destruct. Time for him to decide whether he wants to spend his career at Burger King or Wendy's. Vote for the Worst will love him tonight.

David Hernandez
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
David has a nice voice. The song started out very good, but got a little overblown later on. His biggest performing problem though is that he over-emotes. Much like Constantine from a couple seasons ago, he has way too many facial expressions. It makes him slightly cartoonish and weird.

Michael Johns
"Don't You Forget About Me"
He had a few minor pitch problems, but overall he's got a nice voice and some good power within his vocal range. His problem comes that his range is really too small to carry a song like this. Without a falsetto to draw on it really limits what he can do well. This particular performance was good but not fabulous.

David Cook
"Hello"
Completely different take on the classic Lionel Ritchie song. And it totally worked. I was a tiny bit concerned when he started because the opening phrase was funky on pitch, but he firmed it up quickly. This was the first really unique and entertaining performance of the night. Great job here.

Jason Castro
"Halleluja"
This was an overall very nice performance with the simple acoustic guitar backing. He had one bad vocal crack at the end, but I really don't think it killed him - especially since he acknowledged it with that crooked smile even as it happened. Jason is just plain likeable. He doesn't have the best voice in the bunch, but I think he stands out as unique because of it. He should definitely still be around for the top 12.

Chikezie
"She Fills Me Up"
This was by far the best performance he's had so far. Nice key change. Beautiful falsetto. Strong vocal overall. He's in the top 3 tonight as far as I'm concerned.


Tonight marks the first night I think the singers lived up to the hype. After a couple of weeks of good-but-not-great performances from most of the contestants, tonight showed that there really is quite a lot of talent in this group of guys. We might well be looking at an all male top 2 - or even top 3. Seriously.

Top Honors: Great week for those who were great. David Cook, David Archuleta, and Chikezie win top marks from me with a virtual dead heat. All three gave outstanding performances that prove they are worthy of the label Idol.

Pack Your Bags: This is a tough call for me tonight. There are a lot of factors to consider. I think it's obvious that Luke Menard has probably sung his last. But who will join him is the question. Hernandez might either be helped or hurt by the controversy that sprang up earlier today. Noriega's performance was truly abysmal. But I think who will probably be singing the swan song on Thursday is Aussie Michael Johns. He has a couple of problems that work against him - he's just OK overall, not fabu but not horrendous; he doesn't have an very distinctive voice despite the accent; and he's solidly in the middle of the pack as far as talent. But the factor that puts the nail in his coffin for me this week is the song he chose.... he sang a goodbye song which is so often the kiss of death on Idol. So, for poor song choice, I think we'll be waving buh-bye to Michael. And I think we will have forgotten him by next week.

Anyway - them's my picks.