American Idol Recap - Week 1

It's that time again boys and girls - American Idol Recap! YAY! OK, settle down.

Since this is the first recap I'll add my opinion of the performers as well as nicknames I've assigned to some of them, in addition to reviews of the specific performances. Also, this season I'm going to rate the performances on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being perfect.

First of all the Lennon-McCartney Songbook - we're talking musical gold, every singer's dream, enough stylistic variety so that everyone can shine, right? Apparently, not so much.

Let's get started...

Syesha (Poufy Girl) - I like her and I like her voice and she's a home-girl from South Florida, but she seems to be taking the safe route the way Melinda was doing last year. She can and should do more. She sang Got to Get You Into My Life - it was fine, but she could have chosen a better song; too much Whitney-style yelling for my taste and the low notes sort of disappeared; the arrangement was blah. Score: 5

Chikezie (no nickname necessary the man's name is Chikezie for heaven's sake!)- I've always thought he has a beautiful voice but was boring - until tonight! He sang She's a Woman, a song with which I'm barely familiar but he knocked it out of the ball park! It was awesome! I will download it from iTunes. It had elements of roots music, blues, rock and roll - excellent! Score: 8

Ramiele (Asian Chick) - What has happened to this child? When I first saw her at the top 24 show, I loved her. I thought she might win the whole thing but she is getting more and more boring. She sang one of my all-time favorite Beatles song In My Life, but she bored me to tears with it. This is an incredibly emotional, deep song and she just blah...Score: 4

Jason (Dread Boy) - Jason is my favorite this season by far. I think he's genuine, he has a beautiful voice, a beautiful face and a beautiful spirit to him. He looks like a really nice guy. He sang If I Fell. This is not one of my favorites of the selections but it's OK. He did a good job with it but he could have dome better. The arrangement was interesting but he had some rough patches in the vocals. Score: 7

Carly (Irish Girl) - She has a beautiful voice and I like her style. She sang Come Together and I think she did a fantastic job with it. Her voice was strong and it was just cool...Score: 9

David Cook - (Rocker Dude) - He's weird, but he can sing. He sang Eleanor Rigby, a difficult song and his voice was strong. I'm concerned he's going to fall into the Chris Daughtry trap (granted it's worked for Daughtry now) where he makes *everything* hard rock and that can get really old really fast. We'll see...Score: 8

Brooke (Goldilocks) - OK, I don't like this girl, she's too sweet - bad for my diabetes - and the whole "I haven't seen an R rated movie" thing makes my head hurt, but...she was great last night. She sang Let It Be beautifully. It's an amazing song to begin with, and she did the right thing, she didn't mess with it. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and she allowed for that rendering her performance genuine and heartfelt - perfect. Score: 10

David Hernandez (Stripper Dude - puh-leeze don't pretend you don't think it!) - What happened to him? He has a great voice and a great look but tonight he was awful! He sang I Saw Her Standing There and slaughtered it! He should have been able to handle it, but he was too over the top, really bad. Score: 4

Amanda (Scary Rocker Chick) - She had her ups and downs getting to the Top 12, but I think she'll be OK from now on. I still hate the hair, but I did lie the outfit and she seems to be getting more comfortable on stage. She sang You Can't Do That and it was awesome. Her voice was great, the arrangement was great, she totally channelled Janis Joplin! Score: 9

Michael (Australian Dude) - You know, his voice is good, he's good looking, but I just don't "feel him, dawg". There's nothing particularly wrong with him, he just hasn't clicked for me. He sang Across the Universe, an unusual but IMO great song - yet I found his performance boring. Score: 6

Kristy (Horse Chick) - I haven't liked her all along, her voice is fine but I think she's boring. However, last night she sang 8 Days a Week *country style*! OHMYGOD! NO, NO, NO! (did y'all hear someone screaming NO, NO, NO last night? That was me.) You do not *countrify* the frickin' frackin' Beatles. Just NO. Score: 2

David Archuleta (Annoying Kid) - OK, I know, I know, *everybody* loves "Little David". Everyone except me. So there, I said it. Yes, he absolutely has a great voice, among the best in the competition, but the whole "golly, gee, do you really like me?" schtick bugs me to no end. Sorry people I didn't drink the Archuleta kool aid! Last night, however, America got the opportunity to notice that the emperor has no clothes. In other words, he ain't all that. He butchered We Can Work It Out. He killed it, it's dead. And HE MESSED UP THE WORDS!!! He's in the Top 12 singing The Beatles (and puh-leeze, he doesn't know The Beatles - stop it!) and he messed up the words. You *know* that if he weren't America's Sweetheart, Simon would have sliced him up, put him between two slices of bread and had him for a snack. But nooooo, they were nice to him! ACK! Score: 2

Wishes and Predictions:

Who do I want to see leave? Can you guess? Kristy and David Archuleta

Who do I think is going to leave? Kristy and David Hernandez

So - what are your thoughts?