Idol Thoughts

Note: Denise is on vacation. This week’s Idol commentary is provided by guest blogger Monica.

Was it just me or did this show go on…and on…and on? I am a Beatles fan, and will even admit I am old enough to remember watching their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. So I don’t much like the melodies being reworked. And I didn’t like much of what I saw tonight, including Simon in his too-tight muscle shirt. That may explain why he seemed grumpier than usual.

If I had to name a best performance, I would have to go with Carly Smithson. And as you all know she is not a favorite of mine, so you know how disappointed I was in the show tonight. For once she sang something but loud, at least at first, although she reverted to loud at the end. My second favorite was the hottie in disguise, David Cook. I didn’t get that voice box thing in the middle. I thought his microphone went out! But otherwise, I liked his version of Daytripper. My tie for third will go to Brooke and Jason. Both of them seemed too self-conscious of their performance for the first time, and to me that took away a lot of the charm and grace they had in earlier performances. Still, I was smiling all through both of their songs and not just waiting for them to end.

And no, I’m not forgetting David the golden boy. A sweet kid and he sings beautifully, but talk about a one trick pony. The minute he gets away from “really sensitive” songs, he has problems. His song had too many “oh oh oh” trill notes in it for me to call it, as Simon did, masterful. To me, he is as predictable as Amanda. I thought she did fine too, but not an earthshaking performance. It was interesting to see her show a bit more personality in interacting with the judges. And if Simon is as consistent as he has been this season, the minute she does sing a ballad, he will tell her to stick with what she does best.

The judges seemed taken by Syesha Mercado. With Randy and Simon, I suspect it was her decision to take advantage of her other gift, the cleavage. I can only think her low cut top was an effort to get more votes from men. She was fine singing Yesterday, but why did I think she was thinking as she sang: “Why did I have to blow my last performance so bad when the day before yesterday I was really hot stuff?” With that I finally realized why I don’t like her. She just thinks she is so hot!

I thought both Michael Johns’ and Chikezie’s arrangements were disjointed messes. I want Michael and Chikezie to do well but somehow (except for Chikezie last week) they always disappoint. I must agree though, that when Chikezie can get some energy into an arrangement he is at his best. Ramiele tried to liven it up for a change from last week. She was cute and hit some good strong notes, but I have to agree with Simon that her song choice was not good and it was a bit high school musical theater. I kept expecting her to have a cane in hand and bounce her little hat off of it.

And finally, will Kristy Lee Cook just hide her voice away? She kept her eye popping and nose scrunching to a minimum tonight, but once again that heavy, off key, twangy arrangement coupled with her rocking on one foot was just too painful to watch. Paula summed it up perfectly when she said, “You look gorgeous tonight”.

So I can only hope that Kristy will be sent home this week and that my favorites, David Cook, Brooke White and Jason Castro come back strong next week.

Denise, I hope you are having a great vacation, and thank you for letting me be your understudy this week.

Now I must get to my not pink cell phone and start voting!