Ranking the ‘Idol’ Top 8
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- April
- 8
There was a commercial a few years ago for a hair product—I think it was made by Nice ‘n Easy—that had a random cut-away to a puppet proclaiming, “Eight is GREAT!”
I agree, Random Puppet That May Or May Not Have Existed. You see, this group of “American Idol” finalists represent the best Top 8 the show’s ever had, top to bottom.
Even the contestants who could be considered the worst of the bunch have had at least one week that impressed the judges and kept them out of the Bottom 3. Kristy Lee Cook earned raves for “God Bless The U.S.A.,” Brooke White nailed “You’re So Vain,” and Jason Castro’s “Hallelujah” did wonders for both himself and the Jeff Buckley track, which skyrocketed to the top of iTunes’ singles charts.
The next-best tier—Michael Johns and Syesha Mercado—are intriguing for opposite reasons. Johns, whose prowess seemed to be limited to Queen standards, broke out of the rut with an out-of-nowhere, soul-wrenching rendition of “It’s All Wrong, but It’s All Right.” Mercado, who has all the raw tools to win the competition, hasn’t really reached her potential but is among the group’s most naturally gifted vocalists, proving her worth on “Saving All My Love For You” and “Got To Get You Into My Life.”
And then there are the heavyweights: David Cook, David Archuleta and Carly Smithson, with each performing at least three songs worthy of water-cooler discussions for the right reasons. Cook (“Day Tripper,” “Billie Jean” and “Hello”) been the show’s best performer the last four weeks. Archuleta (“Imagine,” “Smoky Mountain Memories” and “You Better Shop Around”), despite a horrendous song choice (“You’re the Voice”) and Top 12 performance (“We Can Work It Out”), is way too good to ever dismiss outright. And it would be an outright shame if Smithson (“Crazy On You,” “Come Together” and “Here You Come Again”) weren’t the last woman standing.
So this group should do a pretty good job with inspirational material, which is the theme for both tonight and the week with the “Idol Gives Back” performance taped and prepped for Wednesday night. A rare Thursday results show this late in the season will close it out for “Idol” formalities.
Onto the rankings. Remember, these rankings are posted the morning before the performances.
1. David Cook—Proved he can be original and talented with his own arrangements on “Little Sparrow.”
2. David Archuleta—The last 30 seconds of “Smoky Mountain Memories” still floor me. But I can’t say I’m really rooting for him as hard as I am for Cook and Smithson, who might need the “Idol” win more.
3. Carly Smithson—The judges have to get off her back before she’s gone and they’re left with far inferior female contestants. While I probably like the performances of the Davids a little more at this point, I’m rooting for Smithson the most.
4. Syesha Mercado—If there were a theme week this side of soul made for Mercado, inspirational songs might be it.
5. Michael Johns—With “It’s All Wrong, but It’s All Right,” THERE’S the soul singer we haven’t heard from since his initial audition of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” Can he carry that swagger with him into the next round?
6. Brooke White—Doe eyes should work well in a week built around empathy and compassion.
7. Jason Castro—A make-or-break week for the Dreadlocked One. It’ll take something as powerful as “Hallelujah” to keep him out of the Bottom 3, which at this point looks like a given no matter what or how well he sings.
8. Kristy Lee Cook—Either she or Castro will head home this week unless someone else totally bombs.
(Photo by Michael Becker/FOX)
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 11:37 am by Chris Serico.
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You haven’t grabbed the truth that David Cook cheated multiple times from other artists’ versions. He changed songs pretending he did by himself. Have you heard a word ‘plagiarism’? Other contestants got voted off because they didn’t cheat trying so hard to create their own. To be fair, let’s bring all those voted off contestants and sing already-made versions four times in a row. Compare the popularity David Cook got from the copied songs and not copied. His built popularity thanks to his cheating still gives him a huge favor. His plan worked. People !! Where is the justice? Let a true artist win!
Totally disagree, Joseph. Ryan Seacrest announced that David Cook’s arrangements of “Day Tripper” and “Billie Jean” were by Whitesnake and Chris Cornell, respectively.
Besides, kick everyone off the show if that’s your complaint. Who isn’t doing someone else’s arrangement on the show?
It’s kind of sad that this is the best one ever, because all I’ve heard about it all season is how terrible or at least lackluster everyone is!
David Archuleta is clearly the favorite. David Cook is not going to amount to much now since he can’t sing his rock covers of pop songs (come on, Little Sparrow was not that good and nothing compared to his previous performances). That was his trick – that made the songs Hello, Eleanor Rigby, Day Tripper, and Billie Jean sound unique and innovative. I actually liked them until I found out what he was doing. David A. has the voice, the look, and the votes of a large cross section of the public (not just teens and grandmas – although having the teen vote is going to seal the deal).
Ronny and Joseph, it appears to me that you’re David A fans that refused to accept the fact that there are more frontrunners other than him. Stop with the “cheater” accusations because they have no merit.
I have Syesha in the bottom 2 with Kristy. If she doesn’t pull something special together, she could go this week. Jason is safe in the bottom 3 as long as he doesn’t offend Simon too much; he could try something with a little more range and up beat.
p.s. Cook is awesome and will make great records. He has not tried to take credit for those alternate renditions. He has simply chosen the right rendition for each song to match his style. Daughtry did the same, with a Walk the Line version from Live and it was awesome. Cook rocks and should be easy top 3 with a great CD to come out within a year!! Who wants to buy Archuletta’s music other than teens?
I think Archuleta will be good but needs time to mature. Having said that his music is just not my style. Personally, I just love David Cook. So charismatic around that mike and love his voice and musical style. David Cook is Simon’s favorite (as he said last night on Larry King ) although Simon admitted that Archuleta is the one to beat given the teen and “granny” vote (in his words)