OurStory

eeeee, they used "break anotha" in the opening montage! \o/ that's clive davis power for you. sweet. it worked really well as the background music for it, too. LOL.David Hernandez - i really love this guy's voice. like, really a lot. and this was a terrific song choice for him. but he really did look terrified and stiff up there, which is odd because he looked so comfortable onstage in hollywood. [side note - is that sharlotte? hi sharlotte! i got massive summer flashbacks the minute she showed up on the screen.] he fell apart a little at the end, but boy, was the beginning great. i hope he gets to stick around for a while, because i think he could be a sleeper.Chikezie Eze - hmmm. i liked the suit, personally. LOL. and i still like his voice a lot. but i didn't love the song at all. i thought he was just a'ight. and then he argued - at length - with simon, and i was just cringing. i think all of that, plus the fact that he went second, could put him in jeopardy. which i think would be a shame, because i like the flavor he brings to the competition. David Cook - now that's how you make an old song contemporary. i love him. i love his wit and his intelligence and his voice. and i loved the performance he gave tonight. it was a great take on the song, and he looks so comfortable up there. he was one of the only guys all night who didn't stand completely still. the only thing that worries me for him is that he could come across to some people as smug and detached. to me it looks like he's hiding his nerves, but i know not everyone will see it that way. but i loved him tonight. i don't love the handkerchief-hanging-out-of-the-back-pocket thing he seems to always have going on. LOL.Jason Yeager - oh no, no, no. the kid is cute, but the rest of the package - no. he 100% came across as a cheesy lounge singer to me. ugh. he can sing, but either that was just an awful song choice or he's not in the same league with most of his competition. if (and this is a big if) he survives this week, i think next week will be his last. simon's dog analogy was taking it a bit too far, though.Robbie Carrico - i like him, but i didn't love this song on him. it was ok, just not terrific. and i totally agree with simon about not quite buying the rocker thing. not so much that he's faking it - i believe him when he says that's what he's into. but his voice is so much more pop than rock... there's just not that grit to it that great rock singers have. i would have liked to have heard more than five seconds of him singing "hemorrhage" in hollywood.David Archuleta - is this kid for real? no, seriously, is he? how can a kid who has done so much already really be this goofy and aw-shucks? pardon my cynical nature, but i just have to wonder. assuming it's not an act (and i'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now), he's the cutest thing ever on the planet. goodness. and i am normally immune to the cute of the young'uns, but this kid... and, unlike some of the cuties in past seasons, he can flat out sing. that was a perfect song for him, thematically, but it is also a deceptively difficult one, and he just sailed through it, for the most part. really impressive. and as a bonus, he cracks ryan up, which we all know is a recipe for good television. two thumbs up on this one.Danny Noriega - ok, he had me at the beginning. for the length of the video package and then his little stroll down the stairs, i was almost sucked in. (as a bonus, did anyone else see colton go bopping by at the top of the stairs? hilarious.) but when he hit the chorus, it started to fall apart. i do really like his voice, no matter how much he gets on my nerves, so i wanted to hear him blow me away tonight. hopefully he'll pick a better song next week, because i know he's not going away. i could have reeeeally done without the judges' battle at the end. i was calling for ryan to come and rescue us, because oy.Luke Menard - boy, is he pretty. he's like a cross between luke perry and james van der beek, with hints of patrick dempsey. and i heard hints of a really nice voice in there. but what a bad song choice. sometimes i just don't know what these contestants are thinking. i think his prettiness and the weakness of some of his competitors might keep him around another week, but he's going to have to bring it next time.Colton Berry - he has some great hair. and i thought his vocals were actually quite good. but "suspicious minds" isn't really a grin-at-the-audience kind of song. LOL. he might want to watch that. i thought he was definitely pretty good, but not great. i will say this - i love simon and i agree with him much of the time, but sometimes he crosses the line, and telling this kid that he wasn't relevant and that it was a "waste of time" was too harsh. ryan did a nice job defusing things with his crack about simon's box-cut, though. and colton has an adorable laugh.Garrett Haley - ok, now he's cannon fodder. what is this kid doing in the top 24?? he seems like a sweet kid, but no. just no. even his fellow contestants were falling asleep standing up while he was singing. hopefully this is all we'll see of him, but i have a bad feeling that he's a VFTW project waiting to happen.Jason Castro - does anyone else think he looks like lisa edelstein (cuddy on house)?? it's freaking me out. his vibe isn't really my cup of tea, but i thought he did a really good job tonight. as simon said, it was the perfect song choice, and he just has a ton of natural charisma. it'll be interesting to see how far he gets. i think 60's week suits him, but i don't know how some of the other theme weeks are going to go.Michael Johns - i'm really not a fan of the song, because the repetition in the lyrics gets on my nerves. i wasn't thrilled the first time he did it, so i was doubly un-thrilled that he chose to do it again. however, he was still one of the best of the night. i listen to him, and it's like he's just in a different league than most of the others, in terms of sounding like he's already a rock star. but then he's such a dork when he talks, which sometimes is cute and sometimes makes me cringe. LOL. but he's a tennis player and a michael hutchence fan, so i'll let the other stuff slide for now. i would seriously kill to hear him cover an INXS song, but i don't think they've ever cleared their music for the show. at least i can't remember ever hearing anyone do one of their songs. ah well, a girl can dream.good show tonight, overall. even the worst performances were still pretty good. i know there are some strong girls, too (which, btw, where was carly tonight?), but i will be shocked if a guy doesn't win this year. with such a mix of older, polished guys and young, adorable ones, i think one of them will be standing at the end.