Chikeze Steps it Up on Idol Lennon-McCartney Night

Yes, Kristy Lee was truly awful last night. But I kind of want to give her points for trying something new, for taking a risk. I'd hate to see her kicked off for that performance because I liked what she did last week with the Journey song.

My thoughts exactly. At least she took a chance. Also, she's had some good performances in the past. I've never liked anything David Archuleta has done. I just can't imagine ever *wanting* to listen to him sing.

I hope David Cook isn't the next Chris Daughtry. I hope he's better than Daughtry. I don't like Daughtry's stuff at all. Too Nickelback-y. I think Cook can do a much better album than that.

I dunno, a rocker (and even more so an R&B singer) needs really good original material to succeed in the real world. I'm quite impressed with Daughtrey's success. doesn't he write his own stuff? Rockers kind of have to, there's something about authenticity that's more important to that genre than any other of the pop peripherals.

goo goo doll is good, I like what he does with covers, I don't think he's any better a vocalist than Daughtrey though. We'll see if he has any decent original stuff next year I guess.

the one I think I wasn't going to like but has impressed me twice in a row is angel of the morning. She's picked really good honest sounding music that is both heartfelt and not stupid or sappy even though she kind of is with that "never seen an R rated movie" bit. I don't think she's the best vocalist, but she's the most authentic out there apart from Bride of Chucky. who, by the way, still makes me smile every time she performs.

Kristy doesn't get a nickname, there's just not enough to grab onto there, I'm really disappointed that she's not more interesting, cause on paper, she should be every guy's fantasy girl.
She does mixed martial arts, she's a tomboy and a wicked hottie, she can sing, and somehow she manages to make all of that really boring.

I think she's leaving this week

"I dunno, a rocker (and even more so an R&B singer) needs really good original material to succeed in the real world. I'm quite impressed with Daughtrey's success. doesn't he write his own stuff? Rockers kind of have to, there's something about authenticity that's more important to that genre than any other of the pop peripherals."

Sorry... I don't know how to do quotes on this board. :(
But, Daughtry only wrote 3 of his songs by himself. The rest had at least one cowriter. So, who knows how much of those songs he actually wrote. He has been amazingly successful... obviously, I'm not disputing that. I'm just not a huge fan.
Cook has been the frontman for a couple bands, so he can probably write an ok song. Once he's hooked up with a couple cowriters, he'll most likely produce an album I'm going to like.

Oh, and I guess I was wrong about Kristy. Oh well.

Maybe they should do a Lenin-McCarthy night.

Watching past performances again on YouTube, I think Jason Castro would have the best chance if he stuck more to songs like "What A Day For A Daydream" from his performance during the top 12 guys round. It's still simple and guy and his guitar based, but it's more upbeat and up tempo, and allows him to have fun and explore his vocal range a lot better than the more overly sensitive ballad type song.

I've never watched this show before, but after watching half the Lennon/McCartney show this week, and then obsessively going back and watching as many previous songs as possible on YouTube, I'm addicted.

In years past I've never really wanted to watch it because it always seemed to pop-ish. But this year with allowing instruments, and the themes they've chosen, it's been pretty rocking.

I don't really consider it a reality show because first off, it's not reality, and second their's none of that whining to the camera in the "confessional" or making alliances or any of that crap. It's more like a game show, but really just a talent show.

That said, I'm learning that Randy and Paula contribute almost nothing to the show. They seem to be far more interested in boosting the egos and confidence of the performers than actually giving them constructive advice/criticism. I think Simon some times can be hardest on the best contestants because he knows their the best and he wants them to reach their potential. That's why he'll say things like he really likes them, and their talented but then he'll go a criticize their song choice, or performance that day, because he wants them to learn and do better. He's the only judge who actually seems to know what he's doing. It would be nice if they could get rid of one of Paula or Randy so they'd be that one fun, ego-boosting judge and then get another judge who could give actual constructive criticism to play off of Simon.

I just rewatched Chikeze's performance, and wow. I'm blow away. I still like David better, but Chikeze is the real deal, I think he's also shown that he can pick the right songs, arrange them right, and work the stage and crowd. If both David and he give their best throughout, I think Chikeze might win just because I think his vocals give him more range and allow him to do more. David is basically stuck with rock, it's a good rock voice, but I'm not sure if it can handle much more. Chikeze's voice can.

I think the only thing that can hold these two back from the final two is if they pick the wrong song or arrangement. The key for David will be to make sure that even though he sticks with rock, that he still needs to vary the details up. So far he's been good at that, but he has to make sure that he doesn't do the same type of thing twice and bore the judges. David would also face the pitfall of a weekly theme that wouldn't agree with his rockingness. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that at his best doing rock, I like David best, but that also limits him. Chikeze is still damn good, though at his best I like him slightly less that David, but he has more margin for error because his voice gives him more opportunity.

I didn't watch the show at the time, but I caught it on YouTube. That shows why David is so good. He's stuck to rock the whole time, but he hasn't been redundant. He takes the songs and makes them his. He also treats each song individually. Like what he said about "Eleanor Rigby" already being such a powerful song that his playing guitar on that would be overkill. He was absolutely right. Too many of the other contestants don't think like that, and that's why they haven't connected despite great voices.

I just rewatched Brook White's and she has a great voice and strong heart, but she's gonna have the same problem as Jason Castro in that they are really good at their niche of sentimental songs, but that gets old fast. Either by choice or ability, they just aren't able to branch out.

Again, this similar typecasting could hurt David Cook in the end, but so far he's shown that he can take pop songs like "Hello" and still making them his and utterly own them. So if he can keep that up, he's golden.

That's also why Michael John's is the poor man's David Cook. He nailed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and he had at least one other song that he killed, but he doesn't have David's ability to own non-rock songs, as shown by coming up short on "Across the Universe". He also doesn't have David's ability to command the stage or the crowd. He's good, just not special.

That same thing goes for Brook and Jason. They're great, but just not special. They lack that something extra (though Jason hinted at it "What A Day For A Daydream", but then lost it again).

The four contestants who are special are David, Chikeze, Carly Smithson and Amanda Overmyer. I just think that at this point David and Chikeze are a couple of bars ahead of Carly, who's a bar ahead of Amanda.