Top 10 Men

Oy, I dunno if I'm gonna keep on with these posts about Idol. '70s Week, huh?

Michael Johns - Shocker, he's "a bit of a jock". Anyway... he strains on the high notes, and I personally thought it was a whole bunch of shouting. But he's a ringer, so he's not in danger. And it wasn't terrible.

Jason Castro - Note to Idol: if Jason wins, there's going to have to be a lot of media coaching. He busts out the guitar again, and again he delivers a stripped down, simple performance. I don't think there's any "wow" in it, though it's pretty consistent with last week (so in that I disagree with Randy and Simon). Since I think he's going to make it to the Top 12, he's going to need to figure out how to work the big stage and to bust out the show-stopping vocals.

Luke Menard - He's in an a capella group. Zzzzz. Once you're out of college, a capella is, frankly, a dead art. Boy, this guy is really hanging his hat on the cute factor, because he has very little stage presence (most a capella groups I remember were made up of people who stood still and sang, with soloists occasionally stepping forward). I'm "eh" on the performance. I get that it had a high degree of difficulty, but I didn't think it was that amazing. Simon is completely correct that Luke suffers by comparison to the original. Ryan calling Luke "Dawson's Creek" cracks me up on a few too many levels.

Robbie Carrico: Did he gain weight form last week? Robbie, PLEASE lose the long hair. His attitude it waaaay cocky in his pre-performance interview and the performance does not hold up (the camerawork was pretty lazy, too).

Danny Noriega: Hahah, I'm actually really amused by his 9th grade punk rock band story. And then he performs a ballad. Nice...? Man, this kid reminds me way too much of L Word's Shane (Katherine Moennig). Oh, god, am I going to have to get used to this kid's sass the way I quickly grew accustomed to and fell in love with Christian's sass on Project Runway?

David Hernandez: Gymnastics, now that's a fun character piece! It actually does help with the lack of personality we've been allowed to see (unlike Jason Castro and his "I hate interviews and suck at them" piece, IMHO). Well played, David H. When he's not belting, his voice is really breathy. Much more memorable than last week. Does anyone know what Paula means when she compliments singers by telling them "you told a story from beginning to end"?

Jason Yeager: He plays instruments (and is self-taught on the guitar, we're told... twice) but is waiting to find the right song to bust them out. This was not it. And I don't think he's going to get another chance. Fittingly, my DVR experienced a lot of glitches during the recording of the performance.

Chikezie: Hey, look, last week's a**hole! He's definitely dressed better this week. And his performance is better. By a mile. I don't think I heard a false note. And this week his repartee with Simon is AMUSING, not a**holic.

David Cook: He's a "word nerd". Okay... not so endearing. Although I guess every people in America who can't go to sleep on a Sunday night if they haven't finished the NY Times crossword puzzle can relate. He totally schools Robbie Carrico on what it means to have a "rock" voice. There's an edge there. Liked that he brought out the electric guitar... but he didn't play it that much. Good that he focused on his vocals, because they were out of sorts during bits. Did you see Simon gape when David was like "I don't have to convince you, I have to convince America that I have charisma". Lulz. Simon's ego = teh broozd.

David Archuleta: OMG look at Kelly Clarkson gape at 11 year old David Archuleta belt out "I'm Not Telling You". I hope he busts that out during the competition. Meanwhile, he's awesome tonight as well. More than awesome. He'll be singing that in the finals (with all the verses). And he's still so PRECIOUS on stage when he gets complimented by the judges (will it get annoying like Melinda last season? I don't know... he's 17...) Meanwhile, Paula says, "David, you are ridiculous. I wanted to squish you, squeeze your head off, and dangle you from my rearview mirror." Her makeup is running, so I assume he was crying (or leaking coolant) and means this as a high compliment. But, uh... awkward... Meanwhile, I'm still questioning David A's sexuality (the Dreamgirls song didn't help... not that it matters one way or the other) and wondering if any of the thirteen year old girls who have his picture in their junior high lockers case.

Cough.

Anyway.

Bottom 2: Gotta be Jason Yeager. I'd also go with Luke Menard, but it might be Robbie Carrico. All three Davids were too strong, Chikezie redeemed himself, Michael is a ringer, Jason will coast by, and Danny improved.