I have a beef with America right now. David Cook performs Chris Cornell’s version of Billie Jean and the judges call it original and he gets heat for it? I don’t get it. Aren’t all these performances covers? Wasn’t Ruben Studdard’s Superstar just a cover of Luther’s version of the Carpenters’ track? What is the difference? Is it just because the American Idol audience didn’t really know the Cornell song? Well, guess what? I knew of the song, but I’d never heard it before, and I’d call Billie Jean one of my favorite songs of all time. I’m going to guess that at least 95% of the audience had never heard of the Cornell version.

I don’t have as much of a beef with Chikezie leaving because he wasn’t going to win anyway. But what’s up with Syesha being in the bottom three after such a great performance? As it is, Kristy Lee Cook is a lucky dog. Maybe she should come out in her MMA gear and sing. That would be far more interesting.

My guest judge tonight is Shantel who is a big Idol fan and one of my most frequent commenters on these posts.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook – He’s the front runner.
2. Carly Smithson – Quit talking about bathroom humor and you’ll be ok.
3. David Archuleta – Big Dave is back in the game.
4. Brooke White – Curly or straight tonight?
5. Michael Johns – It doesn’t take long to get on my good side.
6. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks – Which way did he go, which way did he go?
7. Syesha Mercado – I’m going to be sad when she gets kicked out.
8. Ramiele Malubay – Stop being so sad and show some confidence.
9. Kristy Lee Cook – Playing with house money.

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie

Tonight, it’s Dolly Parton night. I’m not sure why Dolly Parton is on this show in the year 2008, but oh well. And Shantel says she’s been dreading this one. That’s not a good sign.

Brooke White is up first tonight. Brooke says that Dolly is a little woman, but she’s huge. I think she’s been hanging out with Paula. She’s singing Jolene tonight and is letting the curls flow. I’m all for the curls. That guitar looks so out of place in her hands, but I think it definitely helped her tonight. The song is fairly simple, and she played it that way. Shantel says that she likes her, likes her voice and that she did the best she could with what was handed to her to choose from. Randall says it was alright. Paula tells her that she’s Brooke White. Simon says she lacked emotion.

David Cook is next with his own arrangement of Little Sparrow. This is a little different in that the song doesn’t hit that hard, so he actually doesn’t stand out much based on performance. The song is a little boring, but his vocal is fine. He’s not going anywhere. Shantel thinks that the performance was great as usual, but it might be the worst of his great performances. Randall says it was another hot and consistent performance. Paula thought it was fantastic. Simon says it wasn’t as good as last week, but liked it.

Ramiele Malubay is doing Do I Ever Cross Your Mind. It’s a cute little song that gives her a chance to dance a little bit, but you can tell she doesn’t know the song well, and whenever she starts moving, her pitch changes when it’s not supposed to. Shantel didn’t like it at all.

She has a nice voice but she is a horrible performer, she picks horrible songs and she is just way out of her league on this show.

She also thinks she’s got a good chance at going home. Poor Ramiele. Randall says he wasn’t mad at her. Paula says she really connected with the audience. Simon says it was cute, but forgettable.

Jason Castro’s Dread Locks steps up to the plate with Travellin’ Through. He’s not handling those P’s very well and popped like three of them in a row. He and Jack Johnson should just hang out, puff on the hookah pipe, and record music together while Matthew McConaughey plays the naked bongos. Shantel thinks the varying song genres hurt him, but she likes his voice, though wishes he would get a haircut. Randall says it started rough, but he picked it up. Paula says it was one of his strongest performances. Simon says he didn’t like it at all.

 

Shantel And I In Atlanta

Carly Smithson is singing Here You Come Again and I like it from note one. And she looks about 100 times better than she did last week. She just put Brooke and Ramiele in the dust. Shantel on the other hand is not a fan.

I didn’t enjoy her performance at all.  Got. To. Go. I see her in the bottom 3 again.  I don’t think she’s going to be around much longer even if she survives this week.

Randall says it will be one of the better performances of the night. Paula says it was glorious. Simon says it was good, but not great and he thinks she needs to dress more like a star.

Big Dave Archuleta is singing Smokey Mountain Memories. Very consistent performance for him. He’s been on point now for three weeks in a row. Shantel says he is just the type of singer/performer that captures her attention and refuses to let go until he’s finished. She thinks he’s going to be in the final two. Randall says that was better than Carley’s. Paula says he’s glorious as well. I think she’s running out of adjectives. Simon says it was absolutely on the money.

Kristy Lee Cook is up with Coat of Many Colors. You’d think that Dolly night would suit her best, but she’s too average of a singer to stand out. Absolutely nothing wrong with her performance, but nothing special about it either. Shantel says she sees her in the bottom 3 this week, but thinks she’ll get lucky and survive. Randall says it fits her. Paula says she looks stunning and it was her best performance. Simon says it was pleasant but forgettable.

If you had to guess who would sing I Will Always Love You, who would you guess? If you said Syesha Mercado, you’d be correct. I hope she doesn’t try to Whitney it. I guessed wrong. The girl has such a nice voice and gets so little respect. Vote for Syesha! Make it happen! Shantel says she did a good job with it as far as what she is capable of, but she didn’t even come close to comparing to Whitney. Randall says she took on the biggest tiger of the night and she did it ok. Paula says she’s growing and connecting with the audience so much more. Simon says it was good, but not fantastic and wonders if it even helped her that much to sing it.

Michael Johns says that he went to a Dolly Parton concert in 1986. He’s singing It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right. Other than looking hokey with the scarf underneath his shirt and jacket, he was on point. He did this smokey bluesy version of the song that completely worked. Shantel says she enjoyed hearing him branch out vocally for a change and thought he really pulled off what could’ve been a disaster week for him, considering the genre. Randall says he keeps bringing it up and notch and it was blazing hot. Paula says he’s a star, and before I can get to Simon’s comment, my DVR cuts out.

Shantel thinks Ramiele will go home but if Kristy goes, she’ll be ecstatic. I kind of agree, but am at this point, so up in the air about Jason Castro’s Dread Locks, I wouldn’t mind seeing him go. But he’s probably good until at least the top 6.

And Then There Were 12
And Then There Were 11
And Then There Were 10