In the course of just over a few weeks, David Cook has gone from middle-of-the-pack to top-dog for me. That Billie Jean was fucking stellar, and I love the original. He's got the poise as well.

Also, I think Michael Johns is obviously in his best form when imitating Freddie Mercury, and that is a huge compliment considering the comparison.

I hope David Cook does eventually throw it, because I'd rather see him end up with a Daughtry career than a Jordin Sparks career. :)

That Archuleta song was so bad. There were several solid performances tonight, and he's just not on the same level with the real competition on this show, performance-wise. He can sing, but the problem is that most of the others sing and perform like adults, and he's stuck in kiddieland. Simon's criticism applies to every performance he's given on this show so far. His vocal was solid, but that song choice was beyond terrible. Never heard the song before, never want to hear it again. Apparently Foster wrote that for the Australian version of Peter Cetera? That might have been worse than This Is My Now.

David Cook pulling out all the stops. What's next? Fountain of Wayne's cover of Britney's Baby One More Time? Unfortunately for him, unlike Daughtry, they're giving away his secrets before he performs these songs. Daughtry got the credit for RHCP and Live versions of songs he did, until it came out later; this year they're telling everyone beforehand. I didn't really like the original or this one because it didn't go anywhere, but the performance was very good.

KLC wasn't as bad as I thought she could be, but damn if that song isn't the complete package of everything I hate about country music.

Ramiele got the kiss of death with having to sing first, and then she butchered it. She's going home. Only competition she has is Chikezie, who was just plain boring.

Syesha was excellent for her, but she should have just dueted with Chikezie and saved me from listening to 2 boring crap songs.

Brooke...I'm afraid I can't be rational about her. I like her about as much as I hate Archuleta.

Carly was shouting at me, just like she did last week. Make her stop, please.

Michael Johns was good, but I don't know...I realize what has been bugging me about him. He looks way too much like a young Robert Palmer. I dare him to try to Addicted to Love one week.

Castro...I just sat here for 5 minutes trying to figure out who I forgot, and finally had to scroll up to my spoilers to remember him. He is what he is, and it ain't impressing me.

David Cook is interesting to me. Yes his music rules but I don't think it is necessarily his performances. The arrangements are what is shining so strongly. I have no idea who is creating these arrangements, but if it is him, he needs to win ASAP because he is the most talented contestant they've had on the show yet. If it is someone else, then I'm not sure he deserves as much credit as he is getting from some of you. He is doing a good job at least selecting the arrangements and making a good showing of them. It is a good trick to consistently pick out the arrangements that work as well as these are, though, so that is something.

That said, his *performance* tonight was better than usual for him on top of a fucking rad arrangement.

Yeah I think I have to put him at the top right now considering everything.

Overall rankings as of now:

1. David Cook
2. Carly Smithson
3. David Archuleta
4. Brooke White
5-whatever: who cares? Those are the only 4 that should have a chance, but ok let me even try to remember them:
5. Michael Johns
6. Jason Castro
7. Syesha Mercado
8. Chikezie Cheesey*
9. Ramiele Malubay
10. Kristy Lee Cook


*patent pending

Those are not David Cook's arrangements. Like Daughtry, He's picking songs that rock bands have previously covered. Honestly, even though I don't enjoy his style, Blake was the one true "original" performer on this show. He created the arrangements to the songs he did. It wasn't like he picked that You Give Love A Bad Name arrangement off a shelf from someone 10 years earlier. Cook and Daughtry are both taking advantage of the fact that very few AI watchers listen to rock music and are unfamiliar with their remakes.

I still remember Simon going gaga over Daughtry's cover of Higher Ground, completely oblivious to the fact that RHCP had recorded it 15 years earlier, and even made a video for it (it was fairly well known).

Did you just use the word "rad"?

Thought the best were David Cook, Syesha, Michael Johns, and dare I say Kristy Lee Cook. I thought the rest were all ho-hum. I really thought Carly blew it. Her whole performance seemed forced on a song she should have nailed. Brooke White, who I love, blew it when she went fast tempo. Jason Castro is just the same old thing every week. Chikezie wasn't hateful but he has such a variance in performances.

Am I missing something with Syesha? She doesn't seem to get a lot of love from anyone and I think she's in the top 4 overall.

Can't say I completely agree...his Lionel Richie cover wasn't a copy was it?

What about the Beatles song he rocked out on...can't remember which one but I thought that was an original too..

Syesha just can't seem to control her voice. Tonight was clearly excellent, but really the first time she's kept her voice from going wild.

I think Brooke added the band to that song because she felt like she needed to do something a little different within what she usually does. If she's going to sit behind a piano or guitar every week, she can't just keep giving sparse, minimalist acoustic versions, or else she'll be...well, Jason Castro. I could easily see her doing that the way they said she should have, and then criticizing her for doing the same type of performance she's done 2-3 times already. But it doesn't matter, because she's not going to make it past top 4 or 5 anyway.

No, there's a rock version of ER surprisingly similar to Cook's out there. I didn't even know he covered Lionel Ritchie - that was the week I was in SD and didn't see or read about any of the performances. I don't know what it sounded like, so I can't say.

I'm pretty much with you on these ratings, although I would put them into tiers.

I think Chikezie, Ramiele, and Kristy Lee are significantly worse than the top 7 and will be the next three to go.

I would bump Michael up with your first four and say that those are the five contenders to win it all.

And then, put Syesha and Castro in limbo between those two groups. I could also see Archuleta fatiguing/flaking out and dropping out of the top tier, as well.

That version of Billie JEan is the first American Idol version of any song that I would buy right now

Following Cook's lead, perhaps Brooke should dust off Tori Amos' version of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

A visual representation of my likely uncontrollable reaction if I ever met David Archuleta:

OK if those are not his arrangements, then he gets knocked down a significant peg. I will still narrowly put him above Carly for now simply because his performance tonight was pretty much spot on. Picking the arrangements and being that solid on them is good enough for first here, I think. If he reverts back to his great arrangements+mediocre to decent performance then I think Carly will probably take over first spot on my list. David A., if he can be more consistent, is not far behind.

We have had the Chris Cornell version for a while...it is so efffing good.

Tonight's ratings are posted.

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=242

Overall: An even night, with far less separating the good from the bad than we’re used to seeing at this stage of the competition. David Cook is starting to look like he might be able to challenge David Archuleta for the minds, if not the hearts, of the rapid dialers down the road.

First, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but enough hammering Cook for not "inventing" all these arrangements. Every setup he has done so far has been done by someone else, but he has knocked them all out of the park. I am a fan of the Cornell Billy Jean and the uptempo ER (I personally like the Godhead version the best), but Cook was better, IMO. To this point, he is doing significantly better than Daughtry did at this stage - yet everyone is killing him because he's not some arrangement inventor. There has never been one American Idol performer who has not atleast partly ripped a version of their song from someone else. Cook's just doing it with crazy consistency and extreme talent in his performance/voice. Give him what Daughtry landed after AI and Cook will be a star.

That said, here's the list from my view
1. David Cook - as stated above, he's simply a class above as a performer.
2. Michael Johns - nice job with a high degree of difficulty. No one has had his moxy when it comes to challenging ranges on songs.
3. Syesha Mercado - While she is becoming a bit of a "Whitney-Lite", she's been consistent and had a strong performance tonight.
4. Brooke White - I think her style of "Carly Simon sings your favorite songs" is starting to wear on me. She's talented and has a nice voice, but I'm losing interest quickly.
5a. Carly Smithson
5b. David Archuleta- I group both of these together as they were clearly "bar/talent show" songs that both had sung numerous times to different crowds. Carly was better, but she looked like she was passing a kidney stone in the performance. David's brooding look on every note makes me want to punch the screen and I agree with Simon. He is certainly the top candidate for the Disney Cruise ship, but it's not what I'm interested in (although, maybe that's what the show is now).
7. Kristy - This is one of the first times I actually could listen to her. Good song choice, pretty easy melody, so no real difficult points. Still, I was able to somewhat enjoy the whole performance so that saves her from my bottom 3.
8. Chikezie - Much like Syesha, he's basically "Vandross-Lite". Of course, it's much tougher to be Whitney than Luther. I would say that he needs to take on a more difficult song, but I don't think he can.
9. Jason Castro - Fragile by sting is an alltime fav, but he did it no justice. I'm almost hoping he leaves so I don't have to watch the uncomfortable interviews he gives that look like a combo between Sling Blade and Forrest Gump.
10. Ramiele Malubay - Boring, not very good and kind of a waste at this point. She doesn't really do anything all that well and seems pretty close to what you would find in a strong talent competition or padgent somewhere. She should go.

I would award her my first and only 110 out of 100 just for thinking of it. I love that cover, and she could nail it.

I think I have a completely different taste in music from the rest of you. I hated David Cook's cover tonight, and I actually haven't heard a good song from him yet that I liked.

I liked Michael John's performance tonight for the first time in a while though.

I'm not "hammering" him at all, and I like him quite a bit. I just don't think he should be getting points for originality from people mistakenly thinking he's choosing songs and coming up with these arrangements all on his own. There was more true arrangement of songs in one week of Rock Star than we'll ever see on AI. I'm suggesting that we put what he's doing in perspective.

Also, I bet he'll do well, but he's kinda ugly, and I think that will hurt his overall appeal, post-AI. Even my wife, who thinks all babies are adorable, turned to me during Cook's pre-sing video and said, "He was even ugly as a baby!"

I think Brooke, Castro, and David Cook are, more than any AI contestants before them, willing to just stick with what they do and are content to showcase their strengths and not really care if they win. Simon's challenge to Castro tonight about "taking the competition seriously" was essentially his way of trying to coax Castro out of sitting on a stool strumming an acoustic guitar every performance. But Castro probably knows he isn't going to win and would rather play to his strength to develop a fan base and for a possible record deal, rather than take on something he could get embarrassed by (ala Amanda, who - makeover aside - stuck true to what she does (with horrible results, but still...)). Brooke is in the same boat, although she should make it farther than Castro. Cook, obviously, may go much farther. I wonder if he'll make it to the finals based partly on the voters' guilt over knocking Daughtry out so early.

Heavens. You didn't think I was hammering him for not doing his own arrangements, did you? The entire point of what I was saying is that I think a lot of people are being wowed by the arrangements more than they are being wowed by his performance. I'm just saying exercise caution in what you are praising and don't give him credit for what someone else is doing.

I do not think he has performed every one of those arrangements at as high a level as he could. There have been some pretty apparent technical flaws in some of his previous performances (not really last night, though--much better). That is my point. If anything, I'm trying to pick on things that are him and not the arrangement.

I also said he is a pretty clear #1 on my list right now.

My random thoughts:

1) I listened to the 30 second clip of Cornell on iTunes and based on that I thought David Cook's was a ton better than Cornell's.
2) I did not think of the "strategery" of KLC's pick. AI voters are mainly from the south. Southern voters mark out to that song. Not a bad thought for her. I'm a country fan and despise that song, but I see the strategery.
3) Simon's description of David A's performance is spot-on. He's made for Disney Radio, which isn't bad for the record company.

You know, after thinking of that last night, I pulled out the EP that song is on and took it in the car with me this morning, and I think I like her version of Angie even more. THAT would be another fantastic song for Brooke to do. Are Stones songs off-limits on this show?

Haven't we been saying this for weeks? He's the male Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus wouldn't be credible at this stage of her career singing a Celine Dion song, yet everyone went nuts over Archuleta's version of Imagine. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now. What Simon said last night applied then, too. Why is it taking everyone so long to figure this out?

Dial Idol Discussion:

Well, to be fair, I'm the first one that said I wanted to punch Archuletta in the face - so we're even ;).

Anyway - yeah, I guess I'm saying it's nice to see the judges finally pointing on it. They've been slobbering over him way too much with some of his performances.

DialIdol results discussion:

I was just looking for an excuse to post that picture.

Oh, I'll also again comment on Castro:

I think I would probably buy a Castro CD. He fits a style that I like, has a nice voice, and is generally appealing to me.

But, I think he brings very little to American Idol at this point.

Whatever pic you're talking about must be blocked at my work, so I missed the joke I guess ;).

Last night's performances:

1. David Cook - I don't care that it wasn't originally arranged by him, it was amazing.

2. Syesha - That was her best performance.

3. Carly - Still has a great voice, but that dress was hideous on her.

4. Michael Johns - Very solid.

5. Kristy - Her best vocal. Even Mrs. E liked it.

6. Brooke - The beginning was good, but it fell apart in the middle.

7. David A - I think that was his worst performance except for the night he forgot the lyrics.

8. Jason Castro - I didn't like his performance at all.

9. Ramiele - She looked very cute, but the vocal wasn't up to par.

10. Chikeze - Boring performance, his vocal sounded poor. I think it's between him and Ramiele on who goes home.

BOOYEAH!

Simon: "You absolutely nailed it."

Regarding KLC, I actually liked her performance for the first time I think the entire season, it wasn't a top 3 or 4 for me last night, but it wasn't horrible for me. Of course, I am from the south and I love that song.. so maybe I fall into that trap :)

The one that pretty much has to go this week in my mind is Ramiele. I don't think she was the worst one last night, but she wasn't great... and so far the only week she's been any good in was the 70s week when she did that discoish type number. She's not looked good in any week since then and likely has to go.

I'd argue that David A. is the same. He just seems so freakin' dreary to me and seems that if he gets into any song that is a little more up tempo he doesn't handle it as well as slower songs.

I don't think David A. is consciously doing that, though. I think that's all he can do, and he's trying other things, but they aren't working.

he's crossed over into that 'we all know what type of song he'll do, get it over with and let's move on' realm.

whereas I look forward to brook and cook and what they will bring.

BTW, I just read from someone who attended last night that Brooke had to re-do her song during rehearsal because the band messed it up. Sounds like whoever thought that arrangement was a good idea in planning, it didn't work out so well in reality. I wonder if that contributed to some nerves at the beginning of the real performance, where she stopped and started again.

I've learned to never underestimate the power of the Filipino voting community. :)

I think Ramielle is going to reach the Top 5, maybe even Top 3.

she looks like urkel with the pants pulled up so high

David A tricked me with his Imagine performance. We fast forwarded through his performance last night after the first 10 seconds. I also predicted "theme park" about 2 seconds before Simon said it. I have witnesses.

Ramiele could be saved tonight and Chikezie could go, but I don't think there's any way she makes it to top 3. Top 5 is even pushing it. Unlike Jasmine Trias, there really hasn't been a big deal made of her heritage, after the initial discussion. But you're right, they can be a huge influence if they want to be.

Offshore betting on Idol winner before yesterday's performance:

Re David Cook's cover of Hello, I missed that week and was curious about it after someone mentioned it last night so I checked it out a few minutes ago. That's basically the Incubus version, although I'm not sure they actually recorded it (I'm only familiar with their live version of it), so Cook's version is a bit more "produced" than the Incubus version I've heard. At this point, you can find a rock band's cover of pretty much any song you want if you look hard enough.

Yeah be she is cute as hell. She needs a good stylist. Or a queer makeover.

she should pass as a cute nubile boy, sure

I didn't see the whole show last night, but just going by the recaps at the end, I've come to a few realizations. I'm sick of Brooke White. David Archuleta is turning into a comedy act. Michael Johns sang the kind of song that's perfect for him.

I loved David Cook's performance, but I hated that version of the song. I mean, I absolutely despised it. I had never heard Chris Cornell's (I actually thought Seacret said "Chris Parnell" at first, which would've been more interesting) version before, and I hope I never hear it. I admit that it's probably because it's so different from how I'm used to hearing "Billie Jean" but damn. I get that the song isn't about a particularly happy theme, but that version just sucked all of the life out of it. I'm just not a fan of that style of music, I suppose.

I actually don't like it when the AI singers do covers of songs like that. If the theme is that you're supposed to pick a song from your birth year, I think you should do the version from that year. Obviously, the rules say that they can pick a newer cover, but it just kinda goes against the spirit of the theme to me, not that it really matters what I think.

I completely missed it live, but it was pointed out out on a different board that Seacrest said Cook was singing Chris Cornell's version of the song, and sure enough...




Nope. Gina memorably butchered "Paint it Black" last season...

Yeah you can die all sorts of deaths pumpy. Sick of Brooke White huh.

Select one
[ ] die in a grease fire
[ ] die in a hotel fire
[ ] die by rabid dog attack
[ ] die by helicopter blade