Idol Thoughts: Top 10 Preview.....

Now it's crunch time...The Top 10...they all get to go on Tour from this point on. Lets hope that Jason Castro's performances don't cater to the 4 year olds anymore (Michelle)....As far as who's at risk and this season's coaches, Neil Diamond and Dolly Parton are two of them...both legends and both, at times kinda sleepy to hear...For more check out the podcast!!

and don't forget you can interact now with me LIVE during the week right here..Meebo messenger is located on the site!

--JP

Idol Thoughts: Beatles Two: Train Wrecks and Boredom...Oh Wait, that was Yesterday...

Last nights show was filled with confusion. We'll find out tonight who America is going to send home...It could be David Cooke, or Michael, or Kristi Lee Cook, possibly Amanda, Jason or Chikezie. This is where having a fan base counts for everything. We pretty much know who is going to be safe.
As far as my Thoughts on who's headed home check out the podcast.
We may all be surprised tonight with the choice.

don't forget to let me know Your Thoughts on the show. Drop me a 'Comment' below.

JP

Idol Thoughts: Top 11, No Sun, More Fun, and Yesteday's Gone....

As we head toward the Top 10 of this season, I must say last night had a breakout performance for Syesha, some were decent and a few weren't worthy of continuing on to next week.
Here's the rundown.....

Kicking off the night, the WRONG way was Amanda(Back in the USSR), her performance wasn't bad, but we've seen it before. She conversed with the judges that she did a performance that she would do on her 'Tour'. Paula told her she should have slowed it down, which I said in the podcast earlier this week. She may be safe however because there were a few worse performances than hers.

2nd, Oregon girl Kristi Lee Cook...(You've Got to Hide Your Love Away), her showmanship wasn't there, but her vocals were..it was as Randy would say, "Kinda weird for me." She reminds me of a young Shania Twain with her vocal style. Her fanbase should keep her in check so she can "knock Simon's socks off" next week.

3rd, David has a nice rebound from last week, had a great performance(Long and Winding Road), his vocals were pretty impeccable.

4th, Michael tries to tackle a song that seems bigger than him(A Day in the Life), it was a mess. His vocals were everywhere and it was a hard song to cut into a minute and a half. He may be at risk for heading home this week. He gets props for taking a huge risk though.

5th, Brooke(Here Comes the Sun), it wasn't bad, but it didn't seem like a good song choice for her. The 'Whoo" after the first verse almost seemed it was in frustration, but she managed to be herself with the song, however it was a little too much 'yellow' for me.

6th, David Cooke(Day Tripper), it was a surprise for me to see him up there with two microphones, not a big fan of the vocoder, but his performance has been solid for two weeks now. His voice when he gets to his upper range screams emotion. As was said last night, he's ready to sell CD's now.

7th, Carly(Black Bird), her performance was almost Stevie Nicks-like. Her vocals were good and the arrangement was pretty solid, but the judges didn't love it and I enjoyed her performance. I liked it even more after her explanation of "the contestants feeling like birds with broken wings" and she was singing for all the contestants.

8th, Jason(Michelle), Wow was I bored. He didn't seem like he was even 'into' the song while he was trying to sell it. Jason is at risk for heading home for sheer performance 'boredom'. I like the guy but he has lost his 'guy that plays the guitar coolness'...that now goes to David Cooke.

9th, Syesha(Yesterday). the best performance of the night, her vocals were solid and she seems to be in a different league than 2/3 of the other contestants. It was simple, but she pulled it off.

10th, Chikezie, probably not the best song choice(I've Just Seen a Face), but he totally enjoyed performing the song and was having fun. I wasn't much for the 'Countryified' second half of the song, but it worked for him.

11th, Ramiele, (I Should Have Known Better), loved the look she had on stage for the performance and her vocals were good. I don't think it was the best performance of the night, but it wasn't the worst.

YOUR Idol Thoughts: Chikezie Should Be Gone??

First off, thanks to those who commented this week. You think Chikezie should be gone?
I've answered your reason as to why he's not, and we head into another week of the Lennon/McCartney song book coming up.

Check out the podcast --->

Who do you think should be next to go? Let me know your 'Idol Thoughts' by clicking 'Comment' Below.

Idol Thoughts: Top 12...Cooke, Chikeze and Carly Rock, Archuletta Stumbles and Simon Cowell's....

Overall last night’s performances were good, this week one goes home. As strong as some performances were it was easy to pick out the bad ones last night. Ramiele had by far the weakest performance of the night. If she manages to stick around another week it’s in thanks to her fan base. She has a solid voice and showed it last night, but I was bored with the song and I think America was as well. Another possibility is Michael, he’s almost too ordinary right now. I’ll give one more possibility, Amanda..as I said in the rundown, how much screaming can one nation take. If she doesn’t go this week, her’s may be numbered.

As far as who’s going it’s pretty clear. More on the podcast about last night, including Chikeze, the new set and look, plus the ‘bad’ of the night….

Top 12: McCartney and Lennon and Simon....

Last night’s performances were the first nice breath of fresh air on a very young American Idol season. The theme was Lennon and McCartney and all of the contestants did a great job with their respective songs. I was a little surprised by the comments given to Kristi Lee and to David Archuletta after their performances, but more on that in a few minutes. Here is the full breakdown of last night. One goes home tonight…….

The night started with Syesha, introduced by one name by Ryan, starting off the night with a nice uptempo number (Got to Get You Into My Life.) It may not have been her strongest performance, but it was one of the better performances of the evening. Her vocals were fantastic. Syesha is one of the girls in the competition who can sing the phone book and be a star. (the others are Carly and Brooke.

The second performance of the night was from Chikeze (She’s a Woman.) The start of it was interesting and different, and I had no idea the guy had ‘pipes’ like that. He had one of the best performance of the night for the guys, aside from David Cooke who was also incredible.

Thirdly was Ramiele who played it WAY to safe (In My Life) and may be headed home tonight. The performance wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t attention grabbing in any sense.

Fourth, with a nice bounce back from Ramielle was Jason Castro, with his guitar. (If I Fell), his vocal was great and he made it a nice relatively upbeat song. He should be safe this week.

Next(fifth) was the new ‘rocker’ Carly performing (Come Together), which was another great performance. I see Carly getting pretty far in the competition, she may go all the way barring a song choice or sickness disaster.

At this point in the evening there were three breaks, but the blog rolls on.

Sixth up was David Cook, (Elanor) who was the clear winner for the guys, no guitar, just straight vocal which was right on. He is now the frontrunner for the guys in this competition. This ‘frontrunner’ position always changes as we head toward May, but you can pretty much guarantee he won’t be headed home this week.

Seventh was the most emotional performance, possibly ever on the show. Brooke did a phenomenal rendition of (Let it Be) with piano. It was touching and she sang it with emotion.

Eighth, was David Hernandez, whose performance I thought was pretty solid, but the judges saw otherwise, they thought his tempo was to high, I thought he did good, not great, he brought energy to the song.

Ninth, Amanda O and (You Can’t Do That), aside from the fact that her vocal wasn’t great the whole raspy voice vocal on EVERY song is getting old. I realize she is the ‘rocker’ in the competition, but if she lasts another week I would like to see her performing something slow.

Tenth, as we head into the home stretch, Michael (Across the Universe), was an okay performance, it didn’t do much for me, I don’t see Michael lasting much longer in this competition, unless he pulls a ‘Chikeze.’

Eleventh, Kristi Lee’s rendition of (8 Days a Week) the countryified version, didn’t do much for me. It was winey and loud, her vocal was pretty good, but the arrangement was a little off. There were performances that were worse than hers, and here’s hoping her fan base will bail her out this week.

And last but not least, David Archuletta (We Can Work It Out), but he didn’t and he stumbled for the first time in this competition. He’ll be safe however.

The review of the overall and who’s headed home on the way shortly…

Idol Thoughts: Looking at the Top 12...

a new podcast is up for the Top 12....it all starts now...do the wrong song, and you may be gone....
we're taking a look (left to right) -- from AmericanIdol.com at the Top 12...it's the good, the bad and the ugly...check out the podcast and let me know your 'Idol' Thoughts....in the comment section below this post.
We'll be blogging with the show tomorrow night as the performances begin....

--JP