The Top 7 take the stage this week. Mariah Carey mentors, but I do not know if they have to sing a Mariah song or not. (Hopefully not). They have had mentors that allowed for a particular style or decade in the past. If you have info on this, let us know.

Top 7:


Syesha


Kristi


David Cook


David Archuleta


Carly


Brooke


Jason

Rumor has it they will be singing Mariah Carey songs :wtf: and these are the songs they're supposedly singing, in no particular order:

Syesha - Vanishing
David Cook - Always Be My Baby
Carly Smithson - Without You
Brooke White - Hero
Jason Castro - I Don't Wanna Cry
Kristy Lee Cook - Forever
David Archuleta - When You Believe

ehhhhhhhh, I dont care. :angry:

Aw - T - :wub: :cheekkiss: :hug:

Top 7 Mariah Carey night.

I was not able to watch the show until very late last night and I was beat. I looked at what I noted about the performances and it wasn't what I expected so I thought it was prudent to listen again this morning after a night's sleep. I will give my critique as I originally meant to and then add what I observed this AM with a second listen.

First up - David A - "When You Believe" - Very good performance. He was emotionally connected, and he added some sounds new to him, like a brief falsetto which was adequate though not great. He had a part at the end when he went from very low to high and it sounded really good. He added interest to his performance that some people feel he is lacking. Everyone's style is subjective to individual taste, and some people do not like his style, but he is undeniably uber-talented.

I appreciated his nuanced performance even more this AM.

Next up - Carly - "Without You" - The phrasing at the opening section was odd to me - constrained? Over-ennunciating maybe? IDK It was beautifully sung, but I have to admit to parallelling this performance with Clay Aiken's which he sang the crap out of. I thought Simon was too harsh on her in his critique.

I liked it better this AM. The opening didn't seem quite so strange but I am still not sure how I felt about it. And back to Simon's comments: They sounded at first like he was trying to get her gone -- then he added comments that seemed more like he was challenging her to do better because he was afraid she would be eliminated. I should also add that I am not a fan of Carly's - I can't seem to connect with her and I think this is a general problem for her.

Then - Syesha - "Vanishing" - It sounded good. I am not familiar with the song. I also felt very detached from this performance. She had some small vocal problems but it was minor compared to the overall quality. I did agree with Simon about the pitfalls of choosing a little-known song.

I felt mostly the same about her performance this AM. I was completely bored and didn't want to listen to the end. Every year Idol has singers who are great vocalists who also bore us and don't connect. This year, Syesha is one of those, at least for me.

Going 4th - Brooke - "Hero" It was another "pleasant" Brooke performance. She had some vocal gaffes which frankly she usually does. But she has a unique voice that I enjoy listening to. Towards the end, she appeared to be visibly shaking. Am I that tired?

Felt the same this AM. And I wasn't just tired - she was shaking. The competition may be getting to be too much for her. As a side note, she looks very cute when she pouts. :)

Next up - Kristy - "Forever" - her lower register wasn't good, and she was slightly off-key here and there. Her power notes were nice, but all-in-all, this wasn't as good as most of the others.

Listening again I felt the performance def had great moments but still say that many of her notes were almost there and that stood out. That said, her studio version just might be awesome. I will also add that she bugged me in the judging - when Randy got booed she played that up like "see?? - I was better than that" and later pushing the "Mariah got chills from me" thing. I was glad that Simon responded to that - he didn't get chills and I didn't either.

Then - David C. - "Always Be My Baby" - A very original interpretation. The low notes in the beginning were not very solid while the second half of the song was much stronger. I liked it but didn't love it. I thought Randy in particular was overboard in his praise.

I did feel at least somewhat differently this AM on David C's performance. Maybe I was doubly tired by the time I got to the 6th performance. I still think his low notes were poor but I liked it much better overall. A person who was already an avid fan of his probably went nuts over this. I still think Randy went overboard, but I also believe they knew his brother was there (he has brain cancer and was sitting in the audience after being Medivac'd in from Indiana because he is so ill) and heaped some extra praise on David in support. Simon's praise was more logical because he was lauding his body of work and future possibilities more than just this one performance.

Pimp spot goes to - Jason - "I Don't Wanna Cry" - A typical Jason performance and interpretation, and since I like his style, I loved it. It was very cool and quite listenable. Jason is another who often has some vocal gaffes but he is so natural, it's easy to overlook them.

Adding - I felt mostly the same today. Randy had a strange reaction (last week he loved the ukelele and Hawaiian bent on OTR; this week he felt like he was at a weird luau in a coconut bra - ??). Jason is unique as Mariah Carey noted. For a kid who has only been singing for 2 years, and only to an audience perhaps 5 times prior to Idol - he has tremendous potential. I don't expect him to have a shot at winning, but he sounds fantastic in the studio recordings and I can't wait to buy his future CD.

So that's the week's performances. I would put all 3 guys as safe this week - just a matter of which 3 of the girls will be in the bottom. I was thinking of Carly as the one to go, but Idol chose to talk to her about Michael Johns during her stool time, and I do not think this was an accident. She waxed on wistfully about missing him, and I believe it to be a calculated attempt to attract the MJ voters to her. We'll see if it works.

Top 7 Elimination

Bottom 3:

Syesha
Brooke
Kristy

Syesha sent to safety first.

Kristy eliminated.

It was laid out to be the usual Top 7 "split the singers up into 2 groups of 3 and make some poor kid pick the top group" deal. They placed David C, Kristy, and Brooke in one group and Syesha, Carly and Jason in another, and brought out young David A to do the choosing. I told my friend that something was wrong with this setup. I told her that I'll bet they shuffle up those groups like a deck of cards because this setup is too predictable. I was partially right - they swapped Syesha and David C and then asked David A to choose. David A. was understandably upset about that and ended up sitting on the stage so he didn't have to walk to either group. (I knew they would pick David A to do this and that he would be upset by it. Idol continues their cruelty from last week). Ryan basically urged David A toward the top group to no avail and finally dragged the group to him. David C promptly sat down next to David A in support. So the top group was David A, David C, Carly, and Jason, leaving Syesha, Brooke, and Kristy in the bottom group.

Its about damn time!