AI7: Carey On

I'll be honest I wasn't looking forward to Mariah Carey night...

I was a bit surprised that Ryan brought up the fact that contestants are often criticized for taking on and more often than failing when taking on the likes of  the likes of Mariah Carey (or Whitney)... so it only makes sense to do a whole night of it, right?!   

And while I love my divas (it's certainly not a recessive gene in my gay DNA), I have never been a huge fan of Mariah.  Maybe a bit in the beginning of her career, but the whole Mimi thing lost me (though I did forgive Madonna for her Madge and Esther phases) and the direction her music has taken more recently just isn't my style.  So it was going to be a rocky night...

She did seem nice enough, though I'm not too sure about her advice.  Her suggestions to some of the contestants ended up being my least favorite part of their performance... unless she was just screwing with them, then I might have to reassess my whole opinion of her.

Nobody knocked me out, but oddly enough... given the female "songbook"... the guys rose to the top of my rankings this week.

After his most off week since the "big" show began, I really had no doubts that David Cook would come back with something pretty decent this week.  As with many of the song choices of the night, can't say I was all that familiar with "Always Be My Baby" but it did sound like something that could be a hit song today.  Again, nothing that I was overly impressed or wow'd by... but the freshest sound of the night.

(UPDATE:  Okay, okay... I went over to iTunes and the 30-second preview of Mariah's "Always Be My Baby" and I do remember it.  As I say with Jason below, DC made it unrecognizable (in a good way)... so I'll give the dawg extra props (insert Randy impression: yeah, yeah, yeah!)... but heck he still made my top spot, even with out the vocal reminder.)

No surprise that David A went the inspirational route with "When You Believe."  It was a typically good performance from the tween Idol, though I thought he was a bit drowned out by the band for a good portion of the song.  Perhaps a bit of sexism is in play, but if any outfit (leather pants??!) this season deserved a dressing down it was one... but it escaped any notice (well, until now).

Jason caps off my Top 3... with a -- surprise, surprise -- coffeehouse take on Mariah.  While "I Don't Wanna Cry" was one of the songs I did recognize, it was pretty unrecognizable... but in a good way.  I think it was his best showing sans the safety of a musical instrument.   

The Gals
I am going to cut Syesha a break this week and give her the top spot among the ladies.  If there is any week I can forgive a bit of vocal gymnastics, it would be for Mariah night.  Sure her big notes hurt my ears just a bit, but Mariah has done that too and that's pretty much her proverbial bread and butter.  And it also helped her out a bit to go with a not well-known song to avoid comparisons... though given her precarious position with the voting public, will "Vanishing" prove to be too ominous of song title/choice.

About a month ago I would have never thought I would be saying this, but I think Kristy Lee might just end up being the last woman standing.  Again, no surprise that she "country-fied" Mariah with "Forever," but it was a quite competent performance and she continues to show a good deal of wisdom in song choice and, like Syesha, avoiding vocal comparisons to the R&B diva.

Yes, I feel very bad that Brooke missed her sister's wedding... but with each passing week my kinda hometown girl is just getting more and more whiny... and it's starting to get old.   While we knew this was going to be a tough week for the singer-songwriter (is she a songwriter... or is that just her "vibe"?), others above figured out a way to get around it... but Brooke version of "Hero," one of Mariah's biggest songs... seemed way too watered-down than simply unplugged.

Carly gets my "cop out" award the night.  If you have to sing the song of a certain artist, unless it has become the definitive version of it, there should be some rule against singing a song that that artist covered.  While decent (as always), her take on "Without You" highlighted all of Carly's mental weaknesses... as Simon said, over-thinking (I'm not going to over-sing, I'm not going to over-sing) and, after yet another Bottom 3 showing, the desperation that she needs to do something special.   

Ok, I totally goofed on last week's predictions.  I ended up naming 5 of the 8 remaining contestants and, as you may recall, Michael was not part of that quintet.   This week, I can not imagine that any of the guys will land in the Bottom 3... and it was the odd week, where I don't think my usual bottom dwellers, Syesha and Kristy, deserve to go.  Brooke certainly earned a "stool" this week, but I'm guessing it's Carly's week to go.

Comments

[jen maiser]

If you have a minute, you should check out the original of "Always be my baby". I think knowing how dang pop-py that song is makes David Cook's feat even more great.

Loved David Cook last night.

[Scott-O-Rama]

I'm no Mariah fan, but seriously, you didn't recognize "Always Be My Baby"?!?!?!?

Did you avoid radio altogether in the late 90's?

[Scott-O-Rama]

P.S. Who is that Burton Roberts guy in your sidebar? Yum!