American Idol: Goodbye to David Hernandez. Kristy Lee Cook survives. Archuleta is beatable.
American Idol Season 7 is turning out to be the year of shocking final two. First, my not-so-secret crush Kady Malloy took out Alaina Whitaker. Then, Chikezie took out Danny Noriega in a final two showdown. Now this week, David Hernandez lost against Kristy Lee Cook, who sang the most horribly arranged song in the history of American Idol with her fast-country version of “8 Days a Week.”
Out of this week’s bottom three, the bottom line is that all three of the contestants, Syesha Mercado, David Hernandez, and Kristy Lee Cook were all missing that true star quality. Honestly, it would have been nice to see David Archuleta in the bottom three for forgetting the words to his song while on the Top 12 stage, something that should never, ever happen. However, David has the golden voice and the fanbase to follow, so he was safe this week.
Kristy Lee Cook did look beautiful with her flat-ironed ‘do and just unbelievably hot body, but it’s tough for anyone to even lie with anything close to a straight face and say that they don’t believe Kristy deserved to go home this week after what was truly the definition of a train wreck of a performance. Kristy Lee’s country take on what Idol fans are calling “Beatles Week,” sounded like one of those mashups that people used to upload on Napster back when it was actually cool to say that you paid for Jay-Z’s “Gray Album,” even though you know that it sounded worse than Jay-Z’s “Black Album” AND The Beatles’ “White Album.”
It was horrendous. Atrocious. Terrible. A mess. To quote Simon Cowell, “Sorry.”
But was it worse than David Archuleta forgetting the words not once, but TWICE over the course of his performance? Yes, it was still worse.
Now we’re into the Top 11 with plenty more group numbers and silly music videos to come before we crown our next American Idol. With ten eliminations left, who’s got a chance to win?
In my opinion, those with a legitimate shot at becoming the next American Idol at this point in the competition are:
David Cook: Haters will say that he “sounds the same” in every song. The fact of the matter is that David Cook is consistent, wins more people over every week, and a rocker has never won American Idol. Eventually, the rocker curse will end and Cook has everything it takes to do it. Top performance so far: “Hello”
David Archuleta: If David Archuleta wins, unfortunately it likely won’t be because he turned out the best performances, as he’s proven to be completely vulnerable the past couple weeks. With his fanatic fan base (hear the screams whenever he sings in the group numbers), the Arch Angels alone could take the nicest guy on the block all the way to the confetti falling on his head as he sings “Inside Your Heaven.” Top performance so far: “Imagine”
Carly Smithson: Has even won over the haters who kept harping on the fact that she once had a record deal with consistent performances and a genuine fire for performing. Taking a page from David Archuleta’s book, Carly pulled out the ace up her sleeve by singing “Come Together,” a song she’s been performing forever, much like Archuleta did with “Imagine.” Carly is still a long shot, but she has a good a shot as any of the girls (which isn’t good compared to the guys). Top performance so far: “Come Together”
Brooke White: Though something about her feels very cold to me, which I think comes from the fact that she didn’t mingle with any fans compared to the other Idols at the Top 12 party, Brooke knows how to utilize her vocal limitations with good song choices that don’t expose the fact that she cannot hit the “big notes” like some of the other big players. Top performance so far: “Love is a Battlefield”
Jason Castro: Like Brooke White, Jason chooses good songs to hide the fact that he doesn’t have the biggest voice in the competition, though that’s part of his appeal. Jason is just a really likable guy who would fit an interesting niche in the music industry. The Castronauts and Dreadheads are a big fan base, but I wonder if they have enough to over take the Arch Angels in terms of fanaticism and if Jason has enough good songs to stand out as the greater of the two between he and David Cook. Top performance so far: “Hallelujah”
David was great this year. I’m going to miss him. A group card has been started for David… stop by and leave a personal message!
http://www.squidnote.com/c/0o54OlGDAkR
What’s your take on Amanda Overmeyer?
I thought Amanda made it as far as she was going to make it. She had an appeal to her, but the theme weeks were tough for someone with her voice!