American Idol - Death Race 2008

Top 12 - Performance Night - Theme: The songbook of Paul McCartney

This is going to be quicker than I planned because I was out watching some talented veteran singers in a show called 3 Mo' Divas (hopefully I'll manage to put up a review tomorrow night) so I'm watching American Idol's Top 12 (or when they finally get to the big starship enterprise stage (I wonder how many jokes will be made about that tomorrow? Or how high Ryan Seacrest must have been last night?)) on fast forward (which is usually the best way to watch anyways, and cuts the 2 hour bloated show into about 40 minutes). Or you can just watch all the performance video clips after the jump at the end of this post.

The other reason is because, well, is there really anything to talk about other than the fight for 2nd or 3rd place? Will it be Brooke? David or David? Not to confuse them with David Archuleta, which the LA Times defends against the already-backlash. (Okay maybe there now that I've finished watching the episode, and the post ended up being longer than I thought I could produce. So much for sleep.)

So, Syesha Mercado was pretty good, but maybe because of the divas I saw live on stage tonight, I wasn't that impressed and kinda bored.

If I had to name the first person I want off the Top 12 without looking at the full list, I would name Chikezie, but I had to admit, I didn't hate his performance tonight. It was good. Not great. But not bad.

Ramiele Malubay was sweet. And then she sang. Apparently all the sugar wasn't enough to keep me awake.

I know there's a whole fanbase for Jason Castro. There was also a fanbase for Clay Aiken. There was also a fanbase for Taylor Hicks. There was also a fanbase for Anthony Federov, John Stevens, Jon Peter Lewis, George Huff, Anwar Robinson, and Phil Stacey. I'm just saying. (Um, I already totally forgot about Phil and he was only last year!)

Carly Smithson was FINALLY GREAT! (Oh, and Simon just said it too, finally picking the right song). Of the two rocker chicks, the other being she-of-incredibly-bad-hair-choices-Amanda Overmyer, I've always sort of bought into Carly but never into Amanda as a potential real deal rocker.

The first of the David's is finally up. (Saving the best for the later parts of the show to keep us tuned? Sneaky).

David Cook is looking more like the love child between Gossip Girl's Nate (Chace Crawford) and Chuck (Ed Westwick). No?

Cook was great! He's not GREAT (I think Chris Daughtry was better) but great, though I'm not sure I'm buying the judges praise for anybody that was remotely energetic to keep the race interesting. David Archuleta wasn't just popular because he's adorable. He's popular because he rocked his first 3 songs. Then again, there's still lots more weeks to come (but whatever, he's still by far my favorite).

Brooke White's "Let It Be" wasn't my favorite but at this point, I'm going to give it faint praise mainly because I think she's still the most interesting female remaining and has the most potential to actually cut a great album that could border on popularity and artistic vision. Plus, she's real purty. Here's a video clip:



David Hernandez. Looks good. That's all I got this week. It was a bit too smooth operator for me.

Now it's time to eat my words. I totally didn't hate Amanda Overmyer. I thought she fell apart in the middle but then regained her momentum that she started with by the end. I still prefer Carly, but that was pretty good! Now just fix that hair please. PLEASE.

Michael Johns sounded really good and while he has the handsome face, was it me or did he look constipated the whole time? Defeating the purpose of looking at his face?

I keep forgetting that Kristy Lee Cook is still in this competition but now I will remember the yodeling. Forever. I didn't hate it as much as the judges but I was probably distracted by her shiny top (and I'm not even into that type of thing).

David Archuleta. Oh David David David. Whatever. You're 17. You're allowed to make mistakes. I still think you're awesome. (And even though he choked, it still wasn't the worst of the night, by far).

Best of the night: David Cook or Carly Smithson

Worst of the night: Ramiele Malubay or Kristy Lee Cook

Most forgetable: Ramiele Malubay or Syesha

Here are all the video clips of the performances from the Top 12 of American Idol- Season 7:

Syesha Mercado - "Got To Get You Into My Life":




Ramiele Malubay "In My Life":




Chikizie - "She's A Woman":




Jason Castro - "If I Fell":




Carly Smithson - "Come Together":




David Cook - "Eleanor Rigby":




David Hernandez - "I Saw Her Standing There":




Amanda Overmyer - "You Can't Do That":




Michael Johns - "Across the Universe":




Kristy Lee Cook - "Eight Days A Week":




David Archuleta - "We Can Work It Out":



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Thanks to Rickey for the photos.