Season 7 Redux – Top 9

Simon was really ornery that week, wasn’t he? Or more than normal I should say.

Haha, MJ –

And another thing. WTF is up with FOX and the relentless à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“male enhancementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  commercials?

I was thinking the same thing! Do they not have any other sponsors on that channel?!

LOL on the male enhancement ads. Here’s my theory, fwiw. Nearly every male at Fox (particularly the News) is brain dead, and we all know where most men house their brains. LOL j/k. Couldn’t resist. :innocent1_tb:

I know it wasn’t popular with most of the audience and I’d argue the new season does need to go in a much younger direction, but this was one of my favorite weeks from last season.

It was one of my favorite weeks too houstonrufus. I thought most of them had a pretty strong week.

I agree it was a fantastic week for nearly everyone, in my view. Particularly Michael Johns. Cook and Carly too, I thought, but Johns’ song was absolutely perfect for him and he killed it!

Little Sparrow was and still is one of my favorite Cook performances. Live and studio. Beautiful.

Ryan was actually getting mad at Simon. I hadn’t noticed that the first time through. It’s neat to see how much Ryan cares about the contestants.

Ha ha mj, I just started watching online (sans male enhancement commercials thank God), and perhaps Simon didn’t like Ryan’s April Fools opening to the show…

comments brought over from my top 10 obsevations:

Okay, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m late to the party as usual. I even watched this online earlier today so I could comment earlier. It didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t work out though and by now peeps are watching and getting ready to comment on a Little Sparrow, A Mountain, An evil J-woman, Traveling through life and a singer whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s best when he sings R&B. I guess I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t remember the others so wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

So, I’m off to watch more online and perhaps comment in a timely manner…perhaps…

Simon says he loves country but he’s lying through his teeth. Watch every season of AI and he’s ALWAYS cranky, out of sorts and hyper-critical when there’s a country theme. There’s no other way to explain his reaction to Carly’s amazing “Here You Come Again”, probably one of her best performances. Of course, by then, Simon was done with Carly and she couldn’t do anything right. Her reaction to his criticism of her clothes was awful to watch again. Uncalled for and embarrassing.

Most everyone did a great job with Dolly’s music and it turned out to be one of the better theme nights of that season. Either Dolly was a great mentor or it was her music. Little of both, I think.

This was the week America got it perfectly right (IMNSHO):

From best to worst:
Michael Johns–He should have been singing in this vein all along (sans the freaking ascot which was all too Charles Nelson Reilly on Match Game for me).
David Archuleta–that was lovely.
David Cook–loved it. Loved it even moreso after hearing the original. I think this week was when I realized how truly talented the man was.
Carly–I loved everything about this (yep even had no problem with her clothes).
Jason–This is the first song of his I downloaded. I loved it.
Syesha–I liked it. I liked the beginning part before she went and got all diva on us much more than the end. But I thought it was really good.
Brooke–Wrong emotion for that song. Didn’t work for me. I have no problem with the violin player though.
Kristy–I think she should have done better being that country is supposed to be her thing. I don’t think she could have done better because for me Emmylou Harris owns that song. For me, Emmylou is much like Whitney is for Simon and Randy.
Ramiele–Time to go oh pouty itty bitty one. I still love you though.

A few more thoughts. Who pissed in Simon’s Cheerios this week? The Clark Brothers were almost as wtf as Fantasia. Dolly Parton is so many levels of awesome although I truly didn’t like her new song at all. I think we had about half of the contestants crying that night. I cried too during the Africa segment…

I thought it was a great night too. It was a bit of a weird feeling to see Michael Johns have that fantastic performance and know how soon he was going home…

I love David C’s Little Sparrow performance, it’s one of the ones that lives in my iPod.

I didn’t remember that snarky little comment by KLC to Simon after Ryan gave out her numbers. “thank you Simon, I love you” and then she blew him the kiss and then laughed (in a very irritating manner). UGH. Just reconfirmed why I couldn’t stand her.

And another thing. WTF is up with FOX and the relentless à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“male enhancementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  commercials?

Is that who they really think their target audience is for these reruns? Geesh. I don’t really consider myself a prude, but those commercials really offend me. What if a lot of little kids are watching these shows? Put these with the Howard Stern show or something, not American Idol. I can just see all the little kids asking their Mommies about the commercials…”Mommy, why does that man want to…..(fill in the rest) “

I did sort of agree with Simon on Brooke though. I love her and I love her studio version of Jolene. I also thought her performance was decent, but I was put off a little bit by the fact she was smiling through the song like it was a happy song. If you’re smiling through it, then there is a disconnect.

Travelin Thru wasn’t Jason’s strongest live performance, though it was a solid performance, but it did spawn my favorite studio version of the season. I love that song way more than a Jewish girl should.

Definitely MJ’s best performance of the entire show. By far.

I liked Carly this week too. I like her when she’s reigned in. Stupid Simon.

I don’t know how many songs the Idols had to choose from this week, but I just think that Dolly had songs in her songbook that worked for everyone. We never really saw Dolly mentoring anybody in the clips though. She loved everyone.

Jason’s Travelin’ Thru is so underrated. And the studio version is so amazing. Most of the studio versions from this night are amazing.

As an avid David A fan I must say, I was very impressed with Cook’s performance of Little Sparrow (It was my fave of all his performances). Parton’s album of the same name is, quite frankly, an underappreciated masterpiece. And Cook’s version of this song, in my very humble opinion, was one of his best of the season–far better than some of his more celebrated performances.

I love Brooke. Really I do. But Jolene is one of the best songs ever written. And I was surprised by Brooke’s lack of understanding of this song. I expected her to nail this, but she was way off.

edit: sorry, totally the wrong thread. Post it in headlines.

And David A’s performance, well, it was transcendent. One of his top 3 from the whole season. He GOT this song. And I felt that.

I have to say honestly that I think they all did pretty good. I think Rami even did ok but I think honestly it was just her week. As far as Simon’s attitude towards the contestants, I know that he is spot on with comments most of the time, but his attitude towards them just irked me. I think all in all it was a great show.

I must echo the sentiments concerning the male enhancement commercials. I complained about that somewhere else earlier today and in fact I wasn’t the only one. Mac, you hit the nail on the head with your comment. If the want to run the commercials fine, but not during this type of show. I thought Idol was a family show because if you have kids watching with you, naturally they will ask questions.

I just say, enough already! lol

Missed the first 3 performances, and the last one.

-Jason Castro- I was never a big fan of Jason … well not at all really…. but I will admit that at the time I did think this performance was a little underrated. I liked the performance. Watching it back tonight, wow, pitchy! But is that surprising? He’s not a very good singer anyway so… but I still liked the performance.

-Carly Smithson I thought this was a really good performance for her. She sang it nicely and it was really good I thought…Simon didn’t seem to get it, but I do believe he was just in a bad mood and only wanted good things for the guys…it was mean what he said about her outfit, but in a way, he helped her… because after that she looked great.

-Kristy Lee Cook – Her performance was pretty much in tune. But it was underwhelming and boring. She looked good.

-Syesha Mercado- Her and Michael Johns, IMO, had the best performances of the night. I loved Syesha that week because she was in the bottom 3 the week prior and fought back. Sure it was not as good as Whitney, yadda yadda. But that’s not what she was trying to be! It was good in its own. memorable. Loved the beginning– made me listen.. unfortunately from now on we have to see her in the bottom each week- except top 5! I still reserve my own right in saying she was not in the bottom 2 that night!

peace!

Ah, the haircut heard around the world. I remember some people weren’t liking it (TM Danny) at first and wanted the old haircut back. I wonder if anyone will come forth and admit to that now, though. (-;

Little Sparrow is one of my favorite studio versions by David. To this day, it never fails to make me cry. As good as I found the live performance to be, that studio version is a masterpiece – the acapella part in particular slays me each and every time. Guh.

Also – this was the night I knew I was way over my head when the news of DC being taken to the hospital for heart palpitations and blood pressure caused me to stay up half the night and wait for good news. At the time it was truly scary.

Brooke’s performance this week made me go track down the live version by the White Stripes (which I like far better, BTW). I was listening to that song when I had to pick a screen name.
Heh.

I know that this is probably not the right the place but I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know where else to post it. David Cook vlogged.

Posted this in the Headlines thread too. All I have to say is: Puppy!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Simon took too many of those male enhancement products! Geez. WhatEVAH, Simon. If you’re uncomfortable, adjust. heh. Dolly Parton week was one of my favorites in S7 for 2 reasons: DAVID COOK and MICHAEL FREAKIN’ JOHNS. Cook’s studio version of Little Sparrow is just incredible, especially the acappella at the end. Breaks. My. Heart. Still.

And Mr. Johns was SMOKIN’! Tell him sexy lovin’ lies INDEED. Totally believable. Sweet, hot, honest, vulnerable, sexy.

Both these lovely men were in a whole ‘nother class than the other contestants that night, for sure.

And I should also say that I LIKED Syesha’s rendition of I Will Always Love You. She didn’t have to be Whitney or Dolly. It was really good, she sounded great, I liked the contrasts and the extremely abbreviated version was as good as it could be.

So there.

Re-watching this week reminded me of how amazing Carly’s “Here You Come Again” was. I can’t believe I’m going to quote Paula but it really was glorious. It’s such a shame that she didn’t get the proper credit she deserved for that beautiful arrangement and stunning performance.

I thought the version she performed on Mike and Juliet after she was eliminated was also wonderful. I was so glad she brought that song back for her post-boot appearances because it was, IMO, her best performance.

Jasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Travelinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Thru is so underrated. And the studio version is so amazing. Most of the studio versions from this night are amazing.

ITA, hardkandy. I thought the last part of Jason’s performance was especially strong.

Nobody’s commented on the fantabulous dork dancing in this episode either. I love them all. I swear KLC and Jason did a do-si-do at one point.

This was one of my favorite Cook performances too. Again, I’ll say they were all pretty on this week. Even Rami wasn’t horrible. Just forgettable as always.

Sy was pretty good, but I liked the first part better before she went all Whitney.

I loved both Michael and Carly’s performances on Dolly week. I think Michael’s was his best ever and he looked really hot in that outfit. The song just fit is voice so well-I loved the soulful sound of it. Carly’s Here You Come Again is one of my favorite performances by her. She sang it so beautifully and the high note at the end gives me chills. Simon didn’t give her the credit she deserved and she should have punched him for being so rude about her outfit. He sure was in a nasty mood-I think he just doesn’t like country music.

curlyQ23 and hardkandy, ITA. I think Jason’s performance was outstanding and this is one of my favorites. hgcaj, I don’t hear the pitchiness. I don’t know where Simon was coming from, because this is so Jason. He definitely was my favorite.
I also liked Carly’s “Here You Come Again”.
Cook did okay, but he really just isn’t my thing.
This was probably MJ’s best night, he just always seems so karaoke to me. I totally understand why he was voted off when he was. This was his only truely remarkable performance.
David Archuletta impressed me with “Imagine” and then bored me the rest of the season, tonight included.

I thought that this was a really good week for several of the contestants. Dolly has some great songs, and for the most part it seemed like they picked well. No real trainwrecks. My faves:

Michael – Hot, hot, hot! Blazing molten hot! His best performance of the season for me, by MILES. Yummy.

DC – At first I wasn’t over the moon about this song choice for him. Until a) I rewatched it and b) I downloaded the full version. This studio recording is hauntingly beautiful, and this was a really great live performance too. Oh and the fact that it also took me a little while to get used to the haircut might have factored into my not being over the moon about the performance on first watch. I totally wasn’t feeling that haircut at first lol. It took me a day or two.

Carly – I think this is one of her most underappreciated performances. I actually downloaded the studio version of the song, and it is gorgeous. I like Carly a lot, and this is one of my favorite performances from her.

Jason – Loved it! I thought he sounded great and that the song really fit him. One of my faves from him too.

DA – I appreciated him a lot more this time around. By this time during the season, I was completely over his “message” songs and would just completely zone out during his performances. It was all the same to me, and I just didn’t care. But I acknowledge that he has a great voice, even if he’s not my style, and this was one of his best performances, I think.

Syesha would have been better if she had stayed with the Dolly version instead of morphing into the Whitney version at the end. The judges were right on that point – it just paled in comparison.

I thought the bottom 3 was pretty much right. Brooke was lackluster, Rami was out of her league, and Kristy should have been better, considering that this is supposed to be her “thing.” Plus, her reaction to Simon at the end of her performance was just ugh.

Carly: One of the most beautiful studio recordings from the season–I listen to it constantly. While I thought her wardrobe needed some fixing, in retrospect, I don’t think Simon should have pointed it out in such a mean manner.

Jason: His quirky vocals were back, and the song (the lyrics, especially) was perfect for him. He really sang it like he meant it! I think I picked this song for him in the “What Dolly Song Should the Idols Sing” post. Another one of my favorite studio recordings.

MJ: One word: HOT.

Archie: I especially loved this when he sang it to Dolly in the pre-performance clip.

I love me some Dolly and I have several of these videos and studio versions on my iPod still, but I really had forgotten how strong this night really was.

The men especially were just on fire. For whatever reason the guys always seemed to kill it when a female mentor was in town. But we shall discuss this phenomenon further when Mariah week comes around.

From first to worst (and there’s very little room between most of these):

Micheal Johns. Best performance of the night, and his best the entire season by a country mile (Heh. See what I did there?). He just smoldered up that stage, even with the purple cravat. And I don’t think his voice ever sounded better. A fine legacy for MJ, but ah…what might have been.

David Cook. The night he fully showed his face and his range. The poignancy of this performance was the perfect counter-balance to the anger and angst of last week’s. I absolutely adore this one.

Carly Smithson. Her warmest, richest vocal, and she was so happy up there for a moment until Simon crushed her under the heel of his Italian loafers. I mean, c’mon Simon. I agree that Stacy and Clinton would have some issues with that outfit and how it cut her off at the widest part of her hips. But the girl really looked and sounded gorgeous up there. So let’s focus on what’s important shall we? And man…the look on her face when she realized what he was saying. Heartbreaking.

David Archuleta. Truly the perfect song for him. This was just lovely and heartfelt and believable. He and Dolly were totally cute together, and I’m just glad Simon didn’t make any cracks about animatronic animals at Dollywood this week. Damnnit Simon. I actually usually like you but this week you have my hackles up about things you didn’t even say.

Jason Castro. I feel like this should be higher on my list because I loved it then and love it now. One of the great un-heralded performances of S7. Awesome song and a perfect vibe for Jason (though I do still wonder if he knew when choosing it that it was written for a movie about a transgender man…). He was so joyful up there singing it. I thought it was fantastic.

Syesha. Picked one of the great untouchable songs, and actually kinda nailed it. Predictable, but very well-sung.

KLC. The dress and hair were kind of hippie-dippy, but the song suited her pretty well I think. Kristy’s on the rise…

Ramiele. Randy wasn’t mad at you but I sure was, for tainting one of my all-time favorite Dolly songs with your pouty-lips baby-face. Actually, I like Rami OK but was pretty much just done with her at this point. And she really didn’t do that saucy little song justice.

And finally….

Brooke. Sorry. From the sailor pants to the fleurshons all over her top (Project Runway fans? Anyone? And didn’t Carly wear a coral version of this same thing two weeks ago?), this was just a mess for me. Brooke’s frantic, bouncy, take on ‘Jolene’ was annoying. But that perky smile all the way through it was just all kinds of wrong. This bitch is stealing your man, Brooke. Don’t be so happy about it.

Really, some people didn’t like the haircut at first? Everyone I knew IRL loved the haircut, and yeah, we’re shallow, but it was the first time we thought he could actually win, cuz we couldn’t see a guy with weird hair as the AI.

Brooke: I liked it at the time, saw some nerves, but liked her so didn’t care. I agree with the smiling created a disconnect– it was unfortunate though, because it happened near the end, and only for a bit, but made a lasting impression on the audience. It was like she glanced at something/someone and smiled back and drew me out of the performance completely.

DC: I loved this because I love his voice and the studio version is beautiful, but rewatching now, I don’t think it was a blow me a way performance outside the context of what his body of work on AI. But within the context of the show, it was a brilliant strategic move because it showed his range, versatility, and shut up some doubters who thought he was a one-trick pony, and only capable of angsting at them or rocking up songs, or “stealing” arrangements.

Rami: Competent but way out of her league compared to the others

Jason: Loved it then, love it now. Agree 100% with what Paula said. Great song.

Carly: I liked it, but agree with MJ that her song choices confused me as to what her musical identity was, so it was hard for me to be a fan.

Archie: Hated it at the time, think I zzzz’d (Archie was losing me more and more each week), and wondered why they were dressing him like a grandpa. But rewatching this time, he did amazing, and it’s a pretty good song. Go Dolly. Noticed the ear monitors again… heh, now I’m watching for which week they snatch them.

KLC: Competent, but only marginally better than Rami’s. I did not think she connected with the lyrics of the song either. She smiled as much as Brooke. I thought she was trying a bit hard to play up the “sassy” persona in response to Simon’s critiques (so as to make herself more interesting?) and this week, it felt more contrived. I was starting to hate her.

Syesha: Again, she did fine, but not her best, but couldn’t get me to care either way.

Michael: Loved it then and now. I dug the ascot, heh. The weird bouncing thing MJ does suits this performance.

Group performance was hilarious. Getting organized was a really bad answer to the question about any talent, DC! I loved Brooke’s tearful explanation of why she was so emotional because that’s when I realized she really is that sweet and innocent and genuine and transparent and fragile. Was already a fan, but I could no longer bring myself to get annoyed when she interrupted the judges, or asked Simon to apologize to the violinist, etc. She. is. Brooke. White! (tm Pauler).

MJ and I are pretty much in synch with this week’s performances. I personally think that they should give Simon a week off for country week. He plainly doesn’t like the genre, and it makes him nasty. Also, I hope that they paid the male enhancement people a lot of money, because they really come across as utterly ridiculous.

BW: Her voice was more off than I’d recalled. Jolene is an awesome song, and she just whiffed on its meaning. Way too smiley. Sigh.

DC: Little Sparrow was simply lovely. DC was one of the contestants who could actually give some variety in his performances and yet still have it make sense in his line of performances. And yeah, he looked great.

RM: Did not get this song at all. See if you can find the Joan Osborne version—this is really a lovely, bittersweet song. RM needed to go.

JC: I liked this a lot better than Simon did. Good energy—much more than I recall seeing since Daydreaming Boy.

CS: I liked this performance, especially the restrained parts. Stoopid Simon. You could just watch her deflate during his wardrobe speech. And I actually liked her clothes this week.

DA: Not my style, but I had to give him props this week. I’d put MJ and DC ahead of the rest, but CS and DA were in the next tier for me for sure.

KLC: Merely okay on a truly classic song.

SM: Love the Dolly Parton version. Hate the Whitney Houston version, although I have to give her credit for the vocal power. So, loved the first half of the song as done by SM, hated the second half, and also thought that she paled compared to Whitney’s vocal performance. Sigh.

MJ: My favorite MJ performance by a mile.

This is my favorite David Cook performance ever. Like mj said, it’s truly underrated and is probably not as appreciated for the wonderful performance that it is, what with the 1-2 punch of covergate rearing its ugly head and The Haircut Heard Around The World. Plus the added OMG of Cookie being rushed to the hospital.

In retrospect, this was probably one of the strongest night (if not the strongest one) where almost everyone stepped up gave it their best shot. I mean, MJ, Jason, both Davids, Carly. It’s interesting to note that it came from Dolly/Country night; I would’ve expected it to be a more open theme, like birthyear or something. I appreciated Dolly more after this week.

Okay, I just watched the performance part online and I have to comment before reading others because it’s fresh and I’ll have to admit I’m sometimes influenced by what others say:

Wow! What a great night! Dolly was soooo encouraging to everyone!

BW- She sang this very well and I loved the band members up there with her. However, I don’t think she connected with the song as emotionally as possible.

DC- He was sick this night, yet he pulled off a great performance! This song was beautiful and he showed such amazing tenderness. I loved how he covered his face with his hand when Paula said she liked his hair.

RM – Cute! This went through my mind even before Simon said anything. Really it wasn’t too bad at all, but many others were much better and it was simply her.time.to. go.

JC – awww to the postcard thing. I think he is so very soothing as a singer. I loved this the first time and this time too. I didn’t get Simon’s comments at all, esp. saying the music didn’t suit him. He sang this with heart! I don’t get why Randy had such a hard time saying it was good…

CS- The ONLY part of this performance I didn’t like was the ooooh on the end note on “Go”. I really believe this is up there with one of her best! Simon, Simon, Simon…one of her greatest and he ruins it with the dressing comment.

After this, Ryan said Simon didn’t like country and I think he hit the nail on the head with this comment. I have to say, it’s too bad Paula’s not more believable in what she says, because if she were she would be more encouraging in her comments.

DA – He needs to be older. He’s really an old soul – and I don’t mean this as a bad thing. His song was stunningly beautiful. I’m sure I’ll buy a DA album someday.

KLC – I have to laugh because she just says it like it is. Dolly said her mother would be proud (and I believe she meant this in a good way), but Kristie simply wanted Dolly to be more impressed than her mother. Great job Kristie!

Another Ryan comment here: he knows how to fill every moment of the show, i.e. telling Vanna right before they cut to Syesha’s opening tape that he needed a vowel. I was just amused by this…

SM – Maybe she should have stayed soft throughout the entire song, but I think the real problem was her anticipation of the big part coming at the end. If this anticipation didn’t show in the transition, she probably would have knocked it out of the park.

MJ – I jotted down notes throughout most of the other performances. For this one I just sat back and enjoyed. Having said that, I hope most of his album is R&B.

One last comment: I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but if anyone on the show pimped DC, it was Ryan. I think he was a big fan from the beginning.

mj, thanks for running this thread. So much fun!!!

EtA: edited for grammar

LOL, I was one of those who wasn’t feeling The Haircut at first. Of course now watching it I realize he’s looked exactly the same ever since then and god knows the swooning I’ve done, so it was just a matter of getting used to it.

I said last night that I was worried how he could ever follow up on BJ, and he did absolutely the right thing – did his ~own arrangement~ to address Covergate (and lol at the segment where he credited every. single. arrangement he’d borrowed from to date), and he a song that was unusual and showed off a different side of his voice. and he didn’t try to top BJ, which would have been impossible anyway.

I really liked that they went with Dolly week instead of country week. Her songwriting is really high caliber, which surprised me cause till this ep all I knew of Dolly was 9 To 5 and Dollywood She was very sweet and cute as a mentor too.

Liked better on rewatching: Brooke, Carly. I “get” Brooke’s charm better now for some reason. The first time around I didn’t and she sort of annoyed me. Carly – this was one of the weeks I felt the warmth and prettiness of her voice, most of the time her singing was just a little OTT and in your face for my taste.

eta: also, this was one of the eps where I noticed just how great Ryan is at keeping the show running. Biggest show in America, live, and RPS to wrassle and he always keeps things running smoothly and (almost) always gets it in on time.

LOL on the male enhancement ads. Hereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s my theory, fwiw. Nearly every male at Fox (particularly the News) is brain dead, and we all know where most men house their brains. LOL j/k. Couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t resist.

OMG, I laughed so hard… thanks for the laughs.

Jasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Travelinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Thru is so underrated. And the studio version is so amazing. Most of the studio versions from this night are amazing.

That’s what I have on his CD and he sounds so comfortable singing the song. Loved it.

I was disappointed in Kristy’s performance as I thought this would be her week. Maybe I just find her boring? I loved Dolly as Guest Mentor. This theme was a favorite although Simon acted like a jerk. He just doesn’t understand Country Music.

Simon, Simon, Simonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦one of her greatest and he ruins it with the dressing comment.

I know it. Carly’s husband was in the audience and he should have gotten up and punched Simon for being so nasty. What a grump!!!

Order of ratings by judges comments.

Archie: beautiful. status quo for Archie.

Michael: His best performance. After he got sacked the next week I was a little disappointed, because the Mariah song he had been working on was supposedly bluesy like this one.

Cookie: Amazing. I was worried when he hit a bit of a clinker in the video, and Dolly did her thing about saying nice things about the contestant, but not the performance (this coupled with the fact that when I heard he was singing that I looked it up on you tube and the first result was the song put to a ballet). But it was beautiful. I love it. He takes his turn in the performing while ill series, and does brilliantly with it.

Carly: Crap, I’ve already forgotten it. I can never for the life of me remember the girl’s performances. Well, I remember it was great.

Kristy: Our resident evil genius pulls off another amazing feat (or is it feet?), she manages to play up the feel of the song to it’s fullest (dress of many colors, bare feet, etc) without making it gimmicky.

Ramiele: I think After last week she was afraid to go for broke, I think it ended up breaking her.

Syesha: It was on pitch and everything. If you like Syesha and Whitney you like it. I like Syesha, but I do not like Whitney.

Brooke: She did a good job, but I had one major problem with it. She is WAY too pretty to sing that song. There was a serious cognitive dissonance problem hearing her claim some girl is so much prettier than her that she could take Brooke’s man. (I liked her sticking up for the violin player, though)

Jason: I thought it was great. It fit him well, and, to quote Paula “it felt right”

Ah the famous haircut, I used to kid it was the total shock of having that haircut that gave David the heart palpitations. TMZ was my close friend on this night waiting to hear news on DC. I love Lil Sparrow & it is one of my fave of DC’s (yes I have many) but this one is like many have said, wayyyy underrated. Hauntingly beautiful. I still play the vid/mp3.

Loved Jason & Archie. Syesha I could have done without, thank you.

MJ, this is one of my favorites by him. I thought it was great and it was his best performance IMHO on the tour. This is where MJ shines.

Just a few more comments after reading some of the other comments and before heading to bed.

I didn’t own an ipod until the very end of AI7 and was too selective in what I downloaded. After reading some comments, I am so kicking myself for not downloading the studio versions of Little Sparrow and MJ’s, IAWBIAR. Possibly some others too. The only one I downloaded was Travelin’ Thru. Argghh!

Jolene, LOL, I had no idea this wasn’t your real name! Saw the Dublin pup! What a sweetie!

Michael, you can use me for awhile or for as long as you want…um, yes…… (damn, that was HAWT!)…..alrighty, then…..let’s continue, shall we. This was one of the best performance nights of the whole season; no one actually sucked!

From Bestest to Worestest:

Three-way (get your minds out of the gutter) tie for 1st place on this night, starting with:

1) Michael “Hot-Damn” Johns – It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right…..Tell me sexy lovin’ lies (indeed!)…..if sex could sing, it would sound like this. Enuff said.

1) Carly – “Here You Come Again”; This was her best vocal performance of the whole season. She has an AMAZING lower register, with velvet undertones (TM Paula), and she killed this song (in a really good way). This was her Moment and Douchebag Simon has to go and rag on her lack of fashion sense…Stop being an Ass, Simon, it is not becoming of you.

1) Archie – “Smokey Mountain Memories”; I’m totally Cookie’s Beyotch, but, I have to give props to Archie’s vocals on this song. I was listening from my kitchen and he absolutely nailed this song….not an out of tune note during his whole performance, and boy, those notes went up, down, then up again, as well as lasting an eternity. Good On Ya, Archie!

2) My Chewie Oatmeal-Rainsin Cookie – “Little Sparrow”; I LOVE this man’s voice, especially his ass-kicking falsetto (OT: can a falsetto kick ass? Discuss). I totally agree with the “haircut heard around the world” comment.
[RANT: Really, this totally spotlights how shallow alot of America has become, when week after effen' week, David has shown us great musicality, given us water-cooler amazingperformances(Day sTripper, Hello, Billie Jean), but nnnoooo, his talent is not enough; it takes a friggin HAIRCUT, and the loss of a few pounds, before the other half (the shallow half) can board the gosh-darn bandwagon! Sheesh!....Rant over.]

3) Jason – “Travelin Thru”; STFU Randy & Simon (Douchebags!). Jason sang this song with lots of emotion and I felt he really connected with this song. For me, it is one of his better performances of the season.

4) Syesha; I thought she sounded beautiful during the first 30 seconds of her song. If she would have continued singing this song as she started out, this would have been her second Moment of the season (Please, Syesha, just say “NO” to the Whitney).

5, 6 and 7) Brooke, KLC and Rami; All three didn’t bring it this week and either one could have been sent home, but I think the right one was sent home. (If you ask me, I think Cookie rubbing his but on Rami’s back during the Pointy Pose Dance Off sent Rami home…you hear that everyone…rubbing Cookie’s but is bad luck, so DON’T DO IT!)

The second awesomely dorky and oft times hilarious Pointy Pose Dance Off, to “9 to 5″ noless, was our gift from the Hamsters the next night. Notice how the cameras try not to focus too long on Michael or DC? I think the camera crew were notified by TPTB of the shennangins likely to be pulled on camera by these two “Dance Machines”. Dang, I’m going to miss the Dance Machine.

—————————–
Peace Out & POKE SMOT :smoke_tb:

Jason–I liked him here, but I LOVED the studio recording of this. It’s one of my favorite songs on my ipod. I thought that they should have turned his mic up a bit more for the tv performance.

David C–Wow. White shirt and haircut. He got way better looking in one short week. And I loved Little Sparrow. And I thought Simon apparently never studied metaphors in English class. (Or whatever they call it over there.)

David A–A gorgeous voice, a good performance. But this was the week I was starting to feel let down. I felt like he really needed to put some gas under it this week and instead he fell back to lovely ballads.

Michael–kind of a turn on, eh? Honestly–the only week I thought he was anything more than a cover king.

Funniest–Brooke. Smiling when that hussy was a-stealin’ her man! She didn’t commit to the song really, eh?

KLC–hated it. she did okay I guess, and I understand that the song was a country hit, but it was schmaltzy to me.

Carly–I was surprised that she picked this song because I thought it was kind of the most obvious choice for her. And her delivery was super intense–too intense.

Syesha–what a mistake. And when they do those flashing lights behind her right at the key change–they might as well have flashed “whitney wanna be”. The whole show I was chanting–”not I will always love you” and then there it was. The only people who I thought could do that song were Michael Johns or Brooke because neither of them would (or could) do the big key change/Whitney arrangement, so it would have been just an acoustic arrangement and that’s it.

Ramiele–almost forgot her. I guess she barely crossed my mind.

MJ – It’s all Wrong but It’s all right is his best and probably his sexiest performance. All you needed were a fork and a spoon and you were ready to eat him up. :wub_tb:

I loved Jasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s “Travelinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Thru” and think that the song was perfect for him. The words were perfect for what he was going through at the time.

When Simon made his remarks, it was clear that he really had no idea who Jason was as a person and probably didn’t care. I guess he doesn’t really have time to care about any of the contestants until he’s at the stage where he will make money off of them.

Top 9 week results night had some of the best dork dancing of the season. LOL. They all seemed to be having a blast dancing around on stage singing Dolly’s song. Jason and Kristy were a lot of fun to watch.

Where do you watch online? My family turned the channel about halfway through the results. They didn’t feel sorry a bit considering I had already watched it once.

I am one of the few Clark Brothers’ fans on here I think and misssed their performance last night. All I remember is thinking that they were not properly introduced and chose the wrong song to sing in front of the AI audience, coupled with their nervousness, I felt badly for them. They needed a more soulful song like Michael Johns sang – because Ashley has the same kind of angst, soul with a little sexiness (which he is totally lacking in self-awareness)

This was also my favorite week. I think they all did a great job – I downloaded several songs that night. Hearing Rami again, I think she did better than I thought the first time, same with Syesha. The guys were just on their game!

Ok, finally a night when my man Michael Johns can’t face “karaoke” criticism. Honestly, this was by far the hottest/sexiest performance of the season. The best performance of the night without a doubt and obviously Michael’s best performance all season. I don’t care if he was wearing an ascot…if anyone can pull it off it’s MJ. I just wish that Michael had more time to show what he could do on the show…alas no.

Most people did well, but the only other performance I loved was Carly’s. She completely turned the song around just as Michael did, and unfortunately she didn’t get the right credit for it.

DCook was good and finally started looking like a hottie, unfortunately I just didn’t love this song, but clearly he was already on his way to the finals by this night.

idolbeat, I just saw your question. Hubby liked the Clark brothers too, but couldn’t remember their name.

Try this:

or
http://www.dailymotion.com/igrecman/27

You’ll have to go back a few pages for top 9.

I’m not very familiar with country music, and I only knew one of the songs (guess which one? ) so I wasn’t that excited for this week. But it ended up beeing one of teh best of the season, which was good.

I think the only performance I didn’t enjoy was Kristy’s, it was her theme but she just wasn’t interesting at all. Looked beautiful though.

I actually enjoyed Ramiele for like the first time. She was fun and didn’t bother me, and at that point that was the only thing I’d ask from her. I liked the song and all.

Simon’s commenst were indeed WTF. I didn’t understand why he criticized Brooke’s “band” and Carly’s outfit (I nopticed last night that Michael Kors wa sin the audience… maybe his fault). Once again he showed he doesn’t know what’s a metaphor. Plus, he tells Jason that it’s like he’ singing the same song as before, but DA does exactly what he had done 3 times before (top 11,16 and 20) and Simon loves it.
I think this was one of Jason’s best nights.

My favorites of the night were Carly, Cook and Michael Johns.
Of course MJ went back to karaoke mode the week after, but it was good to be surprised by him if only once. Carly’s rendition was truly beautiful, best of the night for me. Cook showed a new side and work really well. Lovely performance. At the time I thoguht it was awesome how he seemed so vulnerable and fragile for that song, which is something the song asked. Yay, great for him that he could show the vulnerability, but then I found out he was sick… so maybe it was a mix of intention and a tough night. I love the last part of the studio version.

Syesha and Brooke were pretty good, imo, just not as memorable as some of the others.

By this time I was a Big! Archuleta! FAN! so of course I loved his performance (and the clip with Dolly) — but I must say that the studio version of Smokey Mountain Memories is one that I’ve kept on my iPod and still replay often. Almost makes me cry, missing my childhood home. As with houstonrufus, this is in my top 3.

Loved Jason this week (and most weeks.) He and Brooke were tied for my second all season, although I somehow wound up with more of Jason’s songs on my iPod. Wasn’t convinced by Brooke’s version of “Jolene” and I’m not in love with the song, anyway. But I must say that when the family saw the tour in Kansas City, we had a BLAST during Brooke’s set. I’m excited to hear her songwriting.

Loved Michael this week more than most.

Loved the dorky group performance.

Loved the Clark brothers. Loved seeing David A. enjoying the Clark brothers. Always loved it when the camera panned to him during any other person’s performance, because he always seemed to be ‘diggin’ it.’

My issues with the Clark Brothers that night was, one yes their nervousness made it uncomfortable for me, but more than that, fast doesn’t equal good unless you’re drag racing. I’m never impressed to see how fast somebody can play unless it’s musically pleasant. This just wasn’t for me. I found it to be a bit of an abortion actually. I was, however, directed to some of the stuff they did on their reality show (can’t remember what it was, sorry) and that stuff was so very much better than this night.

Loved the dorky group performance.

There was such chemistry with this group. What fun they seem to be having! Will AI find that again? Just would be nice to have all contestants be good singers, not just look pretty.

“It’s all wrong but it’s all right….”

My favorite Michael Johns performance to date. That song, for him, was just…right.

Yes, I love “Little Sparrow” and the haircut, and stuff.

I did have to LOL at Syesha’s predictability. Everyone had been calling it all day long. “Oh, a Whitney song! I’m Whitney!!!”

Overall, I think this was a pretty decent night for everyone, Simon behaving like a petulant child aside. Ugh…

I rather thought that it was mean that they didn’t bring DC out sooner to send him to the safety of the couches. They knew that he was not feeling well, and making him hang out in the room of stress for half of the time was pretty crappy on their part. I mean, I know that they want to build suspense and such, and yes, LS was enough of a departure for him that they may have thought that people would say, hmm, he’s not automatically safe. But not well done on their part.

This was kind of the beginning of the end for Brooke. She just seemed more and more like she was having a breakdown as time went on, so even though I liked her voice and her style of music, I ended up wanting her gone anyway. Plus, as news got out about her essentially sobbing her eyes out throughout the end of this episode, and needing to be comforted by a fleet of people, including DC, whom everyone knew was ill and trying to hide it, it kind of hurt her in terms of people’s perception of her.

I don’t know if it hurt Brooke in the eyes of the general public so much as I’m not sure the average at home viewer follows the show enough to read all the behind the scenes accounts and what not. But I love Brooke and she’s overall just a genuine emotional person, but this was around the time when I started getting annoyed with her as well.

Looking back I realize she’s just a person who will always act exactly as they are feeling, but I just had a hard time in general with people who acted like they were being sent to their death everytime they were in the B3. Even though KLC and Syesha weren’t my favorite people, I could respect them for the fact that they managed to hold themselves together as many times as they were in the bottom grouping.

This night was the biggest disappointment of all for me. All of the incredible Dolly Parton songs and only two of the contestants picked the right ones.

Michael Johns stole the night and this is still my favorite performance of the whole season. What I truly appreciatiated about Michael Johns is he chose music all over the spectrum and did not sound the same week after week.

Jason Castro, contrary to the judges’ opinions, also picked the perfect song.

David Cook — emos up a song again. My favorite performance of David Cook’s is coming up soon — Music of the Night.

I was really hoping that Carly would sing Jolene, but it was not to be.

And can we just send Kristy Lee home already.

“And another thing. WTF is up with FOX and the relentless à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“male enhancementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  commercials?”

LMAO. And last night there were two different competitor brands featured. Seriously, WTF?!

“David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  emos up a song again.”

LOL^^ Not sure how you define emo, but maybe emo means something different for you. Randy Jackson’s definition perhaps? LMAO. Cuz I don’t know how anyone could describe that performance as emo, especially if you listen to the studio version of LilSparrow.

Anyhow, what lovely performances from the Davids – first time that both brought tears to my eyes on the same night. Archie sang one of my all time favorite Dolly songs. And the beauty and sensitivity that DC sang LilSparrow was just awesome. The others were just too karoake or just okay for me.

By now, the Davids are so clearly head and shoulders above the competition that I could understand why people were getting frustrated about Season 7. I mean, who other than the Davids were even in contention as a possible winner by the end of Top 9 results show? It really was the inevitable march of the Davids to the top 2.

David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  emos up a song again.

How was that emo? I have a hard time picturing any punk band singing Little Sparrow in that style. It actually seemed kind of folk to me.

Sma11ie wrote:

I have a hard time picturing any punk band singing Little Sparrow in that style. It actually seemed kind of folk to me.

Sma11ie, thanks for the laugh today, because I actually did try to picture the punk/emo approach to “Little Sparrow”. Mercy!

I have to agree, that wasn’t even ‘Country’, it was ‘Folk’, and one more genre that the general audience would never have imagined DC singing in…WTF!Cook, again…kinda sorta like next week will be.

ETA: I guess Ford wasn’t paying again for another round of their commercials to be shown…but please? Couldn’t AI have found a different sponsor for the rerun of their ‘Family’ show? All kinds of awkward.

Since “save comment failed”

here’s the ETA:

ETA: I guess Ford wasn’t paying again for another round of their commercials to be shown…but please? Couldn’t AI have found a different sponsor for the rerun of their ‘Family’ show? All kinds of awkward.

This was my favorite of all the theme nights. As many have said, nearly everyone performed well. Dolly is an amazing, versatile songwriter, and everyone seemed to choose pretty well.

Archie sang one of my all time favorite Dolly songs.

This song is so beautiful. When I heard David was singing it my first thought was, PERFECT! My second thought was, oh no. No one can sing it like Dolly (her version will break.your.heart). I just loved David’s performance. It was clear during the intro package and through his performance that he must have been feeling really homesick that week, and the emotion came through – AND his vocals were virtually impeccable. One of my favorite Archie performances, for sure.

This was one of my favorite weeks and itunes got my moolah that week as well. I loved David A, Smokey Mountain Memories is probably when he solidified it for me. I mean I had loved him all along, but this song still just makes me feel the sentiment of the song. The way he enunciates, and emotes the word snowflakes, had me actually seeing the damn things. That’s some serious emoting. I loved it.

Carly and Michael were on the next rung for me. Michael hit it out of the park and made me feel that he had squandered so
many opportunities because Papa Johns did not know what to sing, this night he nailed it. Carly did it as well. This was one night that she should have been incredible proud. I know Syesha was feeling that she might as well just come on stage and break wind through her armpits because she never got any credit for the good singer she was. It must have been hard.

Frankly the only person who truly sucked was KLC, but then it goes beyond saying. When the best Miss Dolly can say is that your grandma would be proud, read between the lines. This could have been her night and she wiffed it big time.

Think I am going to go and revisit these songs on the old youtubby.

I won’t be around to watch tonight, but again, it’s weird how well the Idols all did Dolly week. Especially when so many of them dropped the ball on Idol Gives Back week, despite the fact that they had a much wider songbook to choose from. Not only were the song choices really odd for Idol Gives Back week, but the performances weren’t even all that great. Off the top of my head Carly and Cook were in particular off their game. MJ too. If anything the only ones I remember really hitting it out of the park were Jason and Archuletta. SOTR and Angels were the highlights of the night. Though maybe all the demands on the Idols for the big show were partly to blame for lackluster Idols the night before.

This was def. a Michael Johns night….WOW…. he did hit it out of the ball park, with his sexy soulful voice. After listening to Michael..everyone else was….mmmmm…. forgetable….. You would have to tell me who sang what …..and do believe me ..I love them all.

Michael Johns soared that night, along with Carly. Neither one
hardly got a mention of how they re-worked the song. To me
both their performances were perfect. I still listen to the
studio versions of them both and get chills. I always thought
they were held to a different standard, when it came to judging.

know Syesha was feeling that she might as well just come on stage and break wind through her armpits because she never got any credit for the good singer she was.

This made me chuckle, because my first thought was…Cook totally could have armpit farted and people would have dug it. Thanks to BWE, we have proof.

I admit I was not looking forward to Dolly week. I’m not a huge fan of the narrow “songs from Artist X only” themes to begin with (unless artist X is the Beatles or U2), and country week is usually another that I don’t dig, and this was a combo of both. Color me surprised when I enjoyed it. Dolly was adorably supportive of everyone, and there were quite a few good performances.

My favorites….

1) Michael… To put it simply, I always thought his voice was the sex, and it was nice that he FINALLY found a song to back that up. Loved. it. :smoke_tb: STILL can’t believe he’s going to get the boot one week later. Really, America? Really? After he’s proven he can bring the sexy? Why you do me that way?

2) Cook…Hello, Acoustic Dave. How you doin? And haircut, hey, glad you made it to the party, though I wish you were a wee bit longer. This performance clued me into Cook’s strategy in regards to song selection. Most everyone else went for either songs they loved or songs that could possibly be big moment songs. Cook, OTOH, started crafting a set list week by week, song by song, to show what he was made of, and what we could expect from a David Cook record and concert. It’s a philosophy he carried through to the end with this final three performances, much to Simon’s chagrin, and I think it was brills. Also, the studio recording of his Little Sparrow cover is so so purdy.

3) Jason…STFU, Simon. For reals. I really liked this performance, it was gorg, and you are such a tool this week.

4) Carly….see Jason.

5) Archie finally makes my top five. I’m not ever going to be gaga over his voice, but I liked this performance quite a bit.

As for the rest…. Much like Jolene, Brooke’s happy shiny-ness finally did her wrong, Rami was just lost, Syesha sang one of my least favorite songs ever, and I was so over KLC at this point. That hasn’t changed. I kind of wish Chikeze would have made it this far. CHikeze plus Dolly would have been a trip.

Favorite. Group. Performance. Ever. The Dolly shirt, the line dancing, Michael’s ass slapping and pointy pose at the end, Jason’s goofy whateverness, and the lolz of Cook serenading Paula with “you think about it, don’t you?” (cougar much?) are all made of ginormous cheesy win.

It’s okay MJ, we have all said things that in retrospect don’t seem as accurate as they did at the time to us. I remember as reader of your blog before I was a poster here, I would cringe at some of the comments you gave Archie due my inherent bias of loving his voice. But I respect different opinions. I too believe that this was a great week for Archie. Old-fashioned song, yeah, but it was one of the times we really started seeing him come alive emotionally on the stage. You could hear the cry in his voice and it brought tears to my eyes. This was a huge standout week for him IMO. I also LOVED Carly’s Here You Come Again and Jason’s Travelin’ Through, both gave me chills. Lovely.