American Idol: Chikezie goes home, but Jason Castro in Bottom 3??
While the story tonight was supposed to be Chikezie Eze heading home, turning the Top 10 into a Top 9, the real story was seeing one of the front runners, Jason Castro, in the Bottom 3 tonight – a la Alaina Whitaker.
Jacuzzi was an early favorite of mine. I felt like he was part Luther Vandross, part Clay Aiken in terms of his voice. A pleasant surprise, he turned out to be a really great performer in spurts. While Chikezie is definitely a good singer, he, like Amanda Overmyer, really made it just about to where he should have in the competition. I could see Chikezie making it to the Top 7, but anything beyond that would have just felt like borrowed time. He’s a fantastic singer and had some fabulous moments on the show, but just didn’t seem to carry that “WOW” factor that David Cook and Brooke White (my “Dream Finale”) are bringing by the backpack lately.
While most will say that Chikezie’s performance of “She’s a Woman” was his best moment on Idol, I would have to say that Chikezie really shined at his audition, where he performed this song, just as he did during Top 16 week.
Jason Castro knew that he had an off-week this week and I agree with the judges in saying that it looks like he is taking the competition a little too lightly.
Jason’s performance of “Fragile” was uninspired at best and perhaps being in the Bottom 3 was the kick in the pants that he needed to regain that magic that he had when he performed “Hallelujah,” in what feels like forever ago.
Being in the Bottom 3 tonight proves that the Dreadheads aren’t nearly big enough to carry Jason through the competition on the memory of “Hallelujah” alone. Castro is truly a breath of fresh air in the competition and I hope that he steps it up because he really brings something unique to the stage.
Even as David Archuleta continues to drift down the Idol Power Rankings (to maybe…spot 1.5 by now), competitors like Carly Smithson
and even Michael Johns have been stepping up their game to try and get to that Tier 1 level where David Cook, Brooke White, and David Archuleta have firmly staked their claims.
With nine contestants left in the competition, I believe that there are three tiers that are quickly starting to form week to week:
Tier 1
David Cook, David Archuleta, Brooke White
Tier 2
Carly Smithson, Jason Castro, Michael Johns
Tier 3
Syesha Mercado, Ramiele Malubay, Kristy Lee Cook
But let’s be real here, guys.
Yet again, the performance story of the week was rocker David Cook, who is proving to be everything that Blake Lewis was last year and more – originality, stage presence, mixed in with a little over confidence, and memorable performances that leave you wondering what he’ll do the next week.
This week, Cook’s take on “Billie Jean” was not only risky, as Simon Cowell recognized, but incredible. If I would get out of the mid-2000’s, I would purchase an iPod Video and buy that performance. Much like his performance of “Hello” and “Eleanor Rigby,” Cook absolutely won over the in-studio crowd during his performance and generated more excitement than any of the other nine contestants could on their own (yes, even David Archuleta).
It’s interesting because while Archuleta gets the big cheers when his name is called, it is David Cook that electrifies the studio audience with his performances week in and week out. At this point, I can’t imagine cheering for anyone else to win American Idol, despite the fact that EVERYONE is playing underdog to David Archuleta.
My vote count this week was as follows:
David Cook: 2
Syesha Mercado: 1
of course jason’s in the bottom 3, he’s boring.
Jason perhaps, as well as his fans suffered from a level of over confidence. I think he’s coasted for two weeks and might have been built up by family and friends to think the screaming tweens would keep him on indefinitely.
I like him, enjoy what he brings to Idol but as a Dallasite, know he’s capable of much more than we’ve seen the past two weeks.
Your tier assessment spot-on.
I’m glad we both liked the same performaces by Chikezie. I think watching them both really shows how versatile he was.
Also, it took me WAY too long to realize that Fox would hunt down and kill YouTube links eventually. I’d rather embed the video…but I guess I’ll have to settle for a link until Red Lasso lets me in.
[...] down the Idol Power … I guess I??ll have to settle for a link until red lasso lets me in. …http://www.davechung.com/index.php/2008/03/american-idol-chikezie-goes-home-but-jason-castro-in-bott…java-girl.org – American Idol Junkie and Middle-aged Fangirl on TechnoratiI love red Lasso! Part 1. [...]