AI7 recap, Finalists x 7 (04/15)

Ah, Mariah Carey week. My initial thoughts were that this was going to be a tough night. Mariah has such a great voice (and five-octave range) that it would be hard to duplicate her songs. Obviously the contestants will have to change it up so that they won’t pale in comparison. And she’s got 18 #1 singles, which pushed her past Elvis Presley as the #1 solo artist with the most #1s, and only second to The Beatles who hold 21 #1s.

I really enjoyed her first album “Mariah Carey” as “Vision of Love” is one of my personal favorites of hers. I think her public image took a hit in the late ‘90s. And did she get a boob job? I mean, she’s huge. And she’s not shy about dressing to let you know she’s huge. Didn’t she date Derek Jeter at some point awhile back?

Back to the show. What’s going on with Seacrest’s hair? He’s got a double part, almost mohawk like. Actually, he looks like Jack Jack from The Incredibles.

01 – David Archuleta, When You Believe

So this was a duet with Whitney Houston for the movie “The Prince of Egypt.” It’s funny because my wife Kristin and I thought this was from “The Preacher’s Wife,” but that song was “I Believe in You and Me.” Then we realized that this song is on our wedding video. We love this song. And we actually saw “The Prince of Egypt” in the theaters, kind of. We went to see it at an 11pm showing on a weekend that we came back from Chicago and ended up both falling asleep during it. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the complete movie. Anyway, my wife Kristin liked David’s performance a lot, as did I. Randy was worried about this week for the guys, but he gave his standard, “if you can sing, you can sing anything” line. Paula said it must’ve felt great for Mariah to hear David’s interpretation of the song (thanks for putting words into her mouth, Paula). Simon said it was very, very good and that he performed it very well. The USA Today guy thought David’s performance was 5^th or 6^th out of the 7. I don’t know how I can read his blog anymore after that blatant hating of David. He must drink Haterade and root for the Florida Hators. David should be safe tomorrow night and should battle the other David (Cook) in the finale.

02 – Carly Hennessy, Without You

So there’s stuff around the net professing that it would be interesting to see how Carly handles “meeting” Mariah because supposedly they met 7 years ago when Carly was making her album that sold 378 copies. In the intro, Carly says, “nice to meet you” and Mariah responds with, “I’ve been wanting to meet you.” Now I can understand Mariah not remembering Carly, but how can Carly make like it was the first time they ever met? Okay enough of this stuff. Carly made the song her own, which was a good thing because there is no way she could outsing Mariah. She reminds me of Heart up there sometimes when she’s belting out the big notes. Randy said she was pretty good. Paula liked that she showed vocal restraint. Simon said she didn’t pull it off. He claims she’s capable, but she’s still wound up and it was an okay version. I think Carly will be in the bottom 3 again this week. Hopefully we can stick a fork in her tomorrow night.

03 – Syesha Mercado, Fantasy

I admit that I didn’t really know this song, but Syesha really let go tonight. And she looked like Diana Ross in that gold dress. I think this is what they’ve been waiting to see in her and probably what they thought they’d have seen in Carly the song before. Randy called it the toughest song to sing of the night but she did a good job. Paula thought it was extremely smart to pick a song that not many people knew (I guess so that there wouldn’t be a comparison to the original). Simon called it very good technically, but thought that at this point in the competition she shouldn’t have picked a song that no one knows. It’s like a red flag goes up when Paula says something and he refutes it right away. Regardless of her performance tonight, I still think she’s in the bottom 3 tomorrow.

04 – Brooke White, Hero

The way that Brooke always sings with a piano or guitar I half expect her to sing “Smelly Cat” one of these nights. She changed this song up a bit (smartly), but she started losing it at the end. All in all though, my wife Kristin thinks she’s got a nice tone to her voice. Randy liked the whole singer/songwriter vibe. Paula said every ounce of her is totally authentic. Simon said her voice wasn’t strong enough to carry that song. Then he tried to make some analogy of a hamburger without meat. I think the analogy would’ve been better by saying the performance was like a plain hamburger with no condiments. By process of elimination, Brooke could be on the bubble for the bottom 3 tomorrow night.

05 – Kristy Lee Cook, Forever

Why is it that every time I hear Kristy sing, I feel like I should be standing in the audience at a county fair? Or watching a beauty pageant on TV? I didn’t really know this song, but she picked the right one. She country-ed it up a bit and pulled it off (for her). Randy said it wasn’t amazing, but she hit the note at the end. Paula was blown away. Simon said she managed with what she could and called it whiny at times. My wife Kristin thinks it boils down to the fact that he’s just not a fan of country music. I thought she was fine, but she’ll probably be in the bottom 3 tomorrow. And this is the point in the competition where Seacrest will put the contestants in two groups of three and say the 7^th person is safe. He’ll then proceed to ask the 7^th person to go to the group of 3 that are also safe. The top 3 will be who the crowd thinks is the bottom 3 and there will be shock and audible displeasure when the bottom 3 is revealed. George Huff was the first person he did this to and he went over to LaToya, Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia, thinking Jasmine, Diana DiGarmo and John Stephens were the bottom 3. The following year, Bo Bice simply sat down in the middle of the stage, refusing to make a choice. I hope that happens again tomorrow night.

06 – David Cook, Always Be My Baby

Every time David changes a song up like this it reminds me of the DWTS band because they always do songs but you can’t tell right away what the song is. That’s part of the fun in watching DWTS (along with all the hot female celebrity and pro dancers wearing next to nothing with spray on tans and glitter), trying to figure out what the song is. There usually comes a point where you say to yourself, “hey, I know that song.” My wife Kristin thinks David has a very contemporary voice. I would buy a CD of his if he just did rocked up covers of ‘80s songs. And he bugged me last week, but he totally redeemed himself in my eyes this week. I still liked “Hello” better, but this one was pretty “out of the box” creative. Randy said he’s ready to make an album right now, stood up and said it was the most brilliant performance yet. Paula said that could be on a movie soundtrack right now (which is great because I’m sure David wants to be the sellout Kenny Loggins/Smash Mouth of this era). Simon said that it was a breath of fresh air after being trapped in karaoke hell. It was original, daring and stood out by a mile. David’s back and is David Archuleta’s only competition, in my humble opinion.

07 – Jason Castro, I Don’t Wanna Cry

I’m not a fan of Jason’s and would never want to listen to a complete CD of his, but he does have a nice voice for Hawaiian music. My wife Kristin thinks that he restrains his voice too much. Randy didn’t really love it and likened it to being at a luau with Jason singing in the background. Paula said she’d love to be at that luau and Simon said it wasn’t the best vocal of the night but it was a cool version. I think Jason’s okay for tomorrow night, but don’t think he’ll make it past 3^rd, if he even gets that far.

Bottom 3 – Carly, Brooke, Syesha

Top 2 – David A., David C.

Now, on to the DWTS semi-recap (this format took way too long, so it’s back to bullet points next week):

Mario – He looks a lot like Chris Webber (my mom pointed that out). He danced the Samba last night and got some inspiration from Stevie Wonder, who looks like Barry Bonds now. His partner Karina called him “Poopie” in their rehearsals. Karina wore this yellow dress that looked like the end result of the chicken guy at the graduation party in “Say Anything…” which was played by Eric Stoltz, by the way. (Score, with Carrie Ann’s score first, Len’s second and Bruno’s third) 9-9-9=27

Priscilla Presley – She and her partner Louis van Amstel danced the Rumba last night. Louis (prounounced “Louie”) looks like an odd mix of Harry Hamlin and Craig Sheffer (“A River Runs Through It,” “The Program,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” Keith Scott on “One Tree Hill”). Priscilla (at age 62) did the splits during this routine. That was amazing. This dance was so slow though that it reminded me of an act out of Cirque du Soleil, one where two guys were balancing each other. I forgot the name of the act, but they used to perform at Bulls games back in the day. 7-7-7=21

Marissa – Her partner Tony bugs me. Don’t know why. Maybe because he looks like a character out of “Good Fellas?” Marissa reminds me of the girl on “Bosom Buddies.” Wendie Jo Sperber was her name, I think. Can you believe Tom Hanks was on that show? How often do you think Peter Scolari looks back at that show and says, “it could’ve been me with those back to back Oscars?” They did the Samba and got 8-8-8=24.

Cristian – He bugs me too. He’s always got this cheesy smile on his face and he thinks that he’s better than he is. Did an okay Rumba with his partner (and 2 time champ, Cheryl Burke) and got 7-8-8=23.

Marlee Matlin – Did the Samba with her partner that looks like Lou Diamond Phillips (LDP to his close friends). She was really off last night though, which stands to reason because of her lack of hearing. She lost her timing a bit and had a few stumbles. The judges criticized her but also commended her for doing so well. I don’t think she took that very well because, although they don’t mean to do it, I think Marlee finds it patronizing when they give her an out because of her deafness. 7-7-8=22. I hope she doesn’t go home.

Kristi Yamaguchi – She did an elegant Rumba with her partner Mark Ballas. And we finally saw her 2 cute Hapa daughters (and her husband, hockey player Bret Hedican). I guess it was okay doing the sensual Rumba because after witnessing the practice, Bret didn’t highstick Mark into the boards! 9-10-10=29. She’s the obvious front runner in this competition and the only thing that will do her in is if people don’t vote for her.

Shannon Elizabeth – Her poor partner Derek got hospitalized with a neck injury last week and this week he went to the hospital for food poisoning! Another dancer (Jonathan who had the unrhythmic Monica Seles earlier this season) would’ve stepping in had Derek not been able to dance. They did a Samba and Shannon is really out of shape. They panned her though saying she didn’t have enough hip action. 8-8-7=22. I think there might be something going on between these two.

Jason Taylor – He did a graceful Rumba with his partner Edyta. He is amazingly graceful for such a manly athlete. His “lines” are unbelievable. They were a bit disappointed that they didn’t get any 10s this week, but I think it was a bit of a make up call for last week when they got two 10s, but he slipped a few times. I hope that Jason incorporates some of his ballroom dancing into his sack dance next season. 9-9-9=27. He’s Kristi’s main competition based on ability and fan voting.