Mariah Carey, the female leading entertainer that has been in her own category forever, gracefully coached the Idollites this week, where, let’s face it, we just wanted to see “hot and workin’ it!” Mariah and had zero expectations for anyone to soar. And overall, this week Idol birthed a star in David Cook.
David Archuleta, who I’m starting to feel sorry for because in no way did he actually choose to wear leather pants for his “When You Believe” performance, tackled it well as I expected as he would, and he made it cute while being faced with the daring task of starting first. Of course, this meant that throughout the rest of the show, the singers had to raise their game by default since Archuleta is expected to at least be in the top three. And Mariah’s not mad at him.
My dear Carly Smithson was in serious trouble this week. She has the chops to hold her own, vocally, on the show, yet she has yet to reach for that golden moment, as failing to do so could have really cost her this week. Nothing special about her performance of “Without You”, as she wasn’t relaxed, and needs to go back to the weeks where she tapped into her relaxed, carefree energy. Right now, just like Simon said, she’s overthinking everything.
Syesha took on the unfamiliar Mariah song, “Vanishing”, and as I suspected, this is one of her best performances of the competition. She has the talent to go Mariah Lite, and I couldn’t find any flaws like Randy did. If she’s in the bottom three, it would be tragic because this is one week she doesn’t deserve it. When Syesha has confidence in her performances and goes for it, she has grace that the other women on the show have yet to find.
Brooke White went after the signature Mariah inspiring ballad, “Hero”, and turned it into a stripped-down piano version. I was pretty excited at first, but she ended up looking nervous and cracking under the pressure of performing one of the biggest Mariah songs, changing the tempo and mood of the song entirely. Brooke was visibly shaking and the fact that she wasn’t finding the strength of the song and letting it come out naturally, has hurt her this week where she had a chance for the David Cook Moment.
I’m starting to think Kristy Lee Cook is the smartest woman on this show, giving us another solid performance where she takes a song into Kristy Lee Country and making it work. She’s somehow gotten me to tone down on not liking her and I thought this week she was convincingly able to make an unknown Mariah hit her own. I could see “Forever” really working out for her as a top hit.
David Cook stole the show with his arrangement of “Always Be My Baby” as a rock hit that could be his first single—that one would really climb the charts. He should be proud, as he did the one thing an Idol is supposed to do—stand out on originality. Idol found the Daughtry Star truly tonight, and David Cook’s the one to beat right now.
Poor Jason Castro had to follow David with his beach-reggae rendition of “I Don’t Wanna Cry”; it was also original in its own way but paled in comparison to the previous performance. No one should underestimate Jason right now, though, as he brings certain element to this show and if Carly could do this, she might still be around in two weeks.
As it turned out, Kristy Lee Cook was sent packing, and I’m still really surprised by this. Granted, yes, she should have gone weeks ago, but has really improved, and I do think she has a strong country career ahead of her. She has a lot of guts to sing in front of Simon with their playful love/hate relationship. Let’s just say that both Brooke and especially Carly are damn lucky to be as popular as they are. Next week, with the theme being Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, is going to be something else.
YouTube Video of the Week:
Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” video
Mariah will no doubt be owning the charts and battling it out with powerhouse Leona Lewis.
Thank you for reading; make your moment your breakthrough.
