American Idol-Help Please!!

It's early in the competition for American Idol, but we've learned some lessons so far. Let's hope some of the contestants have learned some lessons too. First and foremost, we've learned the value of a good producer. SO many of the contestants have chosen the absolute WORST songs for themselves. A good producer would have nixed these poor choices immediately.

The women made horrific choices for the most part. The only singer who came close to choosing the right song was Brooke White, although in her case, I didn't think she quite pulled off the song itself. The rest chose songs which just didn't fit their individual talents. I know it was 70s night, but they might as well have chosen "Billy, Don't Be A Hero," "The Night Chicago Died" and "Seasons in the Sun." Even though I think this season's worth of female talent pales in comparison to last season's female talent (Melinda Doolittle, Jordan Sparks, LaKisha Jones), there is some talent there: Karly Smithson, Kady Malloy and Ramiele Malubay. All three chose horrible songs to sing Wednesday night.

Carly is one of the "retreads" this season. Someone who had a record deal a while back, but lost it. She was even chosen for Idol Hollywood last time around, but had visa problems and had to back out. She and Kady both chose Heart songs and both efforts were so far beneath Ann Wilson's talent, it stuck out like a sore thumb. It's kinda like an earlier blog, when I mentioned that NO ONE should try to sing "You Can't Make Me Love You" after Bonnie Raitt. Ramiele made the same mistake tonight. Amanda has potential to stand out, IF she stays more in the Blues-Rock genre. Randy mirrored my comments following her performance tonight.

On the men's side, more bad choices. The mens' "retread," Robbie Carrico, a former member of a boy-band which had lukewarm success before losing their record deal has some talent, but to me, has always looked like he was "trying" to look like a rock singer, more than actually BEING one, in other words, the dreaded "poser."

David Cook, the bar-band singer from Blue Springs, Missouri looks and sounds like.....a bar-band singer from Missouri. Not bad, but he's not on the Critter Club circuit anymore (Eagles Lodge, Moose Lodge, Elks Club, etc)

I actually like, Jason Yeager, but the one guy singer who stands head and shoulders above the rest is David Archuleta, the 17-year-old kid from Utah. Those who know how much I deplore "child prodigies" know: 1. How much it must pain me to admit this and 2. This kid must really be good. (I'm not a big fan of child prodigies because they haven't matured enough to really feel the depth of emotion they're portraying in song, and because.....they're taking money from us older artists who have a mortgage payment due.) The kid is really good though. I don't know if he's got a "silent producer" in the background, or getting some help, but he's made great choices so far. I always thought Sundance Head would have at least made the top 10 last season if he hadn't made such bad song choices. On the other hand, Melinda Doolittle, who had a world of talent last year, helped herself by making great song choices. I think she also did indeed have an "advisor" (producer) who helped her with her song choices.

So who should go? Well if it were my vote and my vote only: Danny ( 2 snaps), Luke, Alaina and Alexandrea.


We'll see who's left standing Thursday....