Season 7 Top iTunes Performances are UP!

I absolutely love David’s studio recording of “Innocent.” I especially like how he sounds like a human being on the low parts. Heh.

I could do without the choir of 13 year old girls on the choruses. What do they have against male backup singers? It’s a small point, though. I just love this song. It speaks to my inner insecure 15 year old girl. : )

JC and DC always sound so darn marketable. I hope they both get their chance.

ETA: I can’t believe I just downloaded the studio version of Shout to the Lord (now with more Jesus – they didn’t change the lyrics). It’s very pretty. I have no idea which girl is which without the video though. Except for Brooke. Unless I’m mistaken, the very highest note is brought to you by the letters DC.

ETAA: “Don’t Stop the Music” is live, but there are more solos at the beginning. Weird.

I absolutely adore David Cook’s studio version. WOW! He sounds really good on the low parts, the second verse is full of anger and gritty vocals – love how he changed it up just a tiny bit. Beautiful. And of course the bridge and the chorus….

I really think this song didn’t lend itself to the 1min30sec Idol treatment. It is great in its full length.

I had hoped that DC’s studio version of Innocent would be astounding, and it is.

I hope he had tons of text message votes. Has DialIdol predicted the one at the bottom who has truly been the one going home yet? I can’t remember…but I know it has been one of the ones in the bottom three. I know he’s okay…I know it…(thinking really positive thoughts here).

Off to buy Jason’s studio performance for my daughter…as for the the rest, I’ll take your word on them.

Screw it! I have to wait until later today (or tomorrow, possibly…oh the horror) until I can get the studio versions, and I’ve been dying since Tuesday to get my hands on Cookie’s and Jason’s recordings. This is mildly irritating. Impatience has never been one of my strong points. Agh. I’m getting jumpy, damn this.

I’m rewatching their Shout to the Lord performance. And my GOSH, was Cookie amazing! Those money notes got my mom to finally fall for him last night. LOL.

CJ, both Rami and Chickezie were listed last on DialIdol the weeks they went home.

I posted something similar to this in the other thread but:

I loooooove “Innocent” recorded. I knew it would be great, and it is. Very very nice.

And “Shout to the Lord” really is beautiful. It may be one of the best versions I’ve heard of that song. DC is incredible on that song… he has quite a belter’s voice when he wants to.

For some reason when I try to download Jason’s song, it tells me “this song is not available in the US store”??????

ETA: CJ, I really, truly think we have nothing to worry about. Top 12 and top 11, the person 2nd to last on DI went home. Top 10 and top 9 as Bobbi said, the person last on DI went home. I don’t think he’ll even hit bottom 3. He doesn’t need a “wake up call” because it was OBVIOUS by his expression during and after his critiques that he knew he blew it.

Did you notice the the Hawaiian guy’s song made the top 10 on iTunes yesterday?!

Jason’s version is gonna do phenomenally, I’m thinking.

Sarah, I had the same problem with Jason’ song. So I just went and bought it again by clicking the “buy” button at the itunes store. It let me download it that way. I just won’t bother ever downloading the pre-order.

Holy Mother of Pearl! Michael sure doesn’t shy away from a challenge. Dream On is one difficult song to sing and the iTunes version of this song is incredible. I didn’t even know he could hit some of those notes. And there is a beautiful build to the final crescendo of the song.

Randy/Simon — take note — this is true rock (which is built on blues…yeesh)

This week, for the first time since the start of the season, several of the studio recordings are categorized in genres other than Pop. Perhaps the producers want to see how the Idols compare to artists in their respective genres.

Pop:
Brooke, Carly, David A., Michael

Rock:
David C.

Folk:
Jason

Country:
Kristy Lee

R&B/Soul:
Syesha

I noticed that Jason’s song was categorized as folk, too, PM. I was wondering about that. That’s an interesting theory that you came up with. Categorizing it that way, I think that Jason has the easiest road to travel to get to the top.

I wouldn’t put Brooke in the pop genre. What’s up with that? So, they added Jason in the folk category. Wouldn’t that be along the lines of John Denver?

I just googled John, and, answered my own question. LOL He is categorized as an American folk singer-songwriter.

Michael Johns recording really is amazing. His voice sounds great.

Husky strong vocals, Wow! And the judges are telling him not to rock, well if this doesn’t sound believable, I don’t get it.

I can’t wait for a full album from Michael. He is very very good.
He can do both soul AND yes, rock well. I can’t stop listening to it.

sky … I’ve found Itunes genre descriptions to be kinda arbitrary and sometimes downright wacky. I’m anal and it bugs me, so I recategorize stuff in my library after I download it. So most stuff just ends up Alternative and I have no idea what they were originally! OK rambling now.

MJ – I agree with your assessment of the studio versions this week. David Cook’s Innocent is to die for. My new favorite.

Jason’s is really good — and, yes, the background singers could quietly go away.

Let’s hope they’re safe to sing to us another week!

:guns_tb:

I can’t wait to get home and download my pre-orders! Thanks for the reviews, MJ!

The Top 20 songs from the Songwriting competition have been posted. If it’s even possible, the ones I listened to are worse than last year’s. If anyone finds one that DCook could do, please share. Thanks!

I had trouble with both of my pre-orders this week although Michaels finally downloaded and I had to cancel Jason’s so I could buy it.

Michael’s was better than his performance even though I liked that too. I’m wondering if he didn’t have enough time to get the soft parts in which might have made the judges happier. I loved it!

Jason’s was exactly like his performance and sounds very nice. I’m glad I got it. It’s catchy.

I did notice that on the video times that Michael and David C only had 1:45 mins but everyone else had 2 mins or more other than Jason at 1:55. Brooke had 2:24. I guess it depends on the songs and arrangements so probably not a Grassy Knoll theory. :laugh_tb:

I have seriously been scaring my cats singing along with “Innocent” this morning. “Why iz she tell me I am innosint?”

Jason’s “Over the Rainbow” is sooo pretty. Love it.

Am I the only one in love with Cookie’s falsetto/head voice? Awesome stuff!!

I love Jason’s studio version! It may be my favorite Jason recording to date. It certainly is my favorite of this week’s batch, distracting background vocals notwithstanding.

I have always liked Michael’s recordings and this one is no exception. I also really love the texture of Michael’s voice. Sigh.

David’s recorded version of Innocent is really good. Today, I found myself listening again to his other recordings in succession and really liking them. I think I may be growing into a Cookie fangirl, too…heh. :p

I lurve David Cook’s studio version of Innocent. So far the iTunes rankings are (using search song = “american idol studio version”)
Jason – Over the Rainbow (6 bars)
David A – Angels (5 bars)
David C – Innocent (2 bars)
Michael – Dream On (2 bars)
Kristy – Anyway (2 bars)
Brooke – You’ve got a friend (2 bars)
Carly – Show must go on (1.5 bars)
Syesha – I Believe (1.5 bars)

@Bobbi and Sarah – Thanks for clearing that up for me, and for trying to ease my pain and suffering contemplating possibilities too awful to comprehend!

@neonorange – I think those bars on iTunes may be more revealing of the bottom 3 than DI.

Thanks neonorange.

After looking at those stats, Brooke seems even more likely a candidate for the boot tonight. She’s consistently sold well on iTunes even when she’s had off weeks, leading me to think that her iTunes sales either predict or overpredict her vote totals (but never underpredict). It’s all speculation, of course, but I think people who buy her songs usually have another favorite for whom they vote. Her ranking so close to the bottom in sales could mean that her voting rank suffered an even worse drop.

I have bought Shout to the Lord
the video of Please Don’t Stop the Music (awesome with SYTYCD)
David A’s Angels
KLC’s Anyway so far, next will be Jason – waiting for my kids to get home to pick their favorites!

I bet Anyway will be Kristy’s highest charting song! It really is good – listened to Martina’s – she has a higher soprano voice – crazy but I like Kristy’s lower range better!

Okay….”Shout to the Lord”…. Is that really high note at the end David Cook?

Okayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Shout to the Lordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦. Is that really high note at the end David Cook?

There is an otherworldly, dog-whistle like note he does about 35 seconds from the end. You can tell it’s him because he brings it back down at the end. Otherwise, I would have assumed it was one of the girls.

Oh. My. Gosh. If he stands there and does that for 90 seconds next week….I’m a goner.

i bought over the rainbow and innocent this morning. they are both wonderful. now i am going to have to get the studio version of shout to the lord just to hear that DC high note everyone is talking about!

wait, i only see the IGB performance of shout to the lord. is there another one somewhere, or is this the one everyone has been talking about? play time on this track is 4:46

Yeah, David Cook is flippin’ amazing in Shout to the Lord. He’s flippin amazing. Period.

Great Studio Recordings:
David C, Jason, Michael, Kristy

Yawwwnnn:
David A, Brooke

I didn’t get Syesha’s or Carly’s.

I’m not able to download ITunes, so, was wondering if Jason’s SOTR, has the medley in it, including WAWW?

Steph, that is the one. It is great!
Kristy is the highest selling girl so far, inching up on Brooke’s Let it Be too!
I like Angels also.

Travelling Thru is still my favorite!

Iz’s SOTR moved up one more spot: it’s now at #7.

My gosh. Cookie’s studio recording is just amazing, and I’ve fallen in love with the hike he took in the second verse along with that falsetto of his. I’m liking his version so much more than the original, heh.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not able to download ITunes, so, was wondering if Jasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s SOTR, has the medley in it, including WAWW?

No Wonderful World, just SOTR.

Ahhh, I am listening to Jason’s version of SOTR now. Love it. His voice is so very pretty. Hate the background singers, though.

Randy, you are an idiot. Have you not heard any of Jason’s recordings?

I d/l’ed Cookie’s too. Haven’t gotten to it yet.

ETA: Got to Cook’s recorded version. OMG, miles better than the performance.

I wish I had a studio version of Hallelujah.

I wish I had a studio version of Hallelujah.

I went and re-watched Hallelujah after Jason did SOTR the other night. I didn’t like the performance when he did it at first, but I’m loving it now (aside from that one bum note at the end that the judges chose to ignore). I wish I had a studio version, too. In fact, I’ve been wishing for studio recordings of a small number of the songs performed from Top 16 week. *sigh*

I can’t get the overall chart to work for me since I have Albums to complete so I had to use logic instead. I used the relative rankings for SOTR by Iz vs Jason to get overall rankings for the AI chart. Each bar in the song = ‘American Idol’ chart is equivalent to .409 bars in the overall chart. So….

Contestant / Song / AI Chart Bars / Equiv Overall Bars / iTunes Chart
David C / Billie Jean / 36 / 14.73 / #11
Jason C / SOTR / 28 / 11.46 / #15
David A / Angels / 17.5 / 7.16 / #29
Jason C / Hallelujah / 16 / 6.55 / #32
David A / Imagine / 15.5 / 6.34 / #34
David C / Little Sparrow / 15 / 6.14 / #35
Michael J / It’s All Wrong / 15 / 6.14 / #36
Brooke W / Let it Be / 14.5 / 5.93 / #40