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American Idol 7, March 26 Recap: Proud to Be an American (Idol)
by Jenn Brasler — 03/27/2008
Most would agree that Kristy (right) has overstayed her welcome. But her diabolical strategy (or strategery, if you will) in choosing a song all about loving America may have done the work for her and ensured her another week or two in the competition. Has Kristy’s overwhelming love for America and manipulation let her live to annoy another day?
Instead of starting two minutes early each week, so that I miss the end of America’s Next Top Model, can’t we just cut out the music video? They’re always dumb anyway. I doubt the Idols will mind either.
Ryan tries to give us some gravity, but I don’t think Syesha is taking it seriously enough for his liking. Good for you, Syesha. Ryan tells us last night’s episode received the highest number of votes so far this season. I’m not sure why, but okay. Ryan’s still stuck on Randy being tough. Paula is dressed like a pretty, pretty princess. Simon is wearing white! Cue plug for the songwriting contest. I still don’t care.
Group sing! No medley tonight, just “Right Back Where We Started From.” Ramiele gets the first solo, followed by Carly. The dancing leaves something to be desired, especially Jason’s. Kristy warbles, Brooke is wearing a vest with turquoise pants, Syesha gets a nice descant, I play a round of Scrabulous with another RNO writer, and everyone does a weird pose at the end. And then three minutes in, we go to commercials. Sigh.
Ryan tells us about the Idols’ songs being available on iTunes, which leads us to a montage of the Idols telling us about recording the songs, which are full-length versions. Ramiele tells us she’s downloaded David Cook, Jason, and Michael’s songs. David Cook says he uses iTunes as a reference when he’s picking a song. Brooke still gets nervous when she’s recording, and she’s warned to watch her pitch. Michael screws up. Carly says there’s a lot of different slang involved in recording, and the sound boards have a ton of buttons of them. David Archuleta covers one ear to hear what’s being recorded and leaves one ear uncovered to hear how he sounds. Michael and Syesha gives iTunes some plugs. Carly freaks out over seeing her own name on her iPod.
Time for the recap of last night’s show. Michael brought the stadium rock with “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions,” and I’m still not impressed with him. Ramiele should not have tried to show up Carrie Underwood with “Alone.” Carly’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” shows that she keeps doing the same stuff over and over. Syesha saved herself again, I think, with “If I Were Your Woman.” Jason went bilingual with “Fragile,” and I thought Chikezie was going to go off on Simon again after “If Only For One Night.”
David Archuleta sang “You’re the Voice,” a song that I seriously thought was some sort of “We Are the World” recording. Brooke sang “Every Bre,” then “Every Breath You Take.” Kristy played dirty with “God Bless the USA,” because who’s not going to vote for her after that? The terrorists, that’s who. And to top it all off, David Cook is my new fake boyfriend.
Results time. Ryan tells us that the contestants who make it to the couch are safe, but those sent to the stools are in danger. Really, Ryan? Thanks for telling us. We have all been living under a rock for the past six years. (A giant rock, obviously.) Chikezie is up first, and he’s in the bottom three. Next up, Brooke looks worried and explains that she did the arrangement she did because she didn’t want to seem self-indulgent by performing without the band. It doesn’t matter, since she’s safe and can just be awesome next week. (Please, Brooke.) Carly was surprisingly in the bottom three last week, and addresses the rumor circulating that she’s pregnant. She’s safe this week and can continue not being pregnant.
The commercial is an exercise in green-screen technology and the destruction of “I Want You to Want Me.” Next!
David Archuleta should, if we’re being honest, be in the bottom three this week, because this is not High School Musical, but since the majority of the voters actually want this to be High School Musical, he’s safe. Also safe is David Cook, who got praise from Chris Cornell for covering his version of “Billie Jean.” Syesha did not wind up saving herself after all, and she’s back in the bottom three. I would not miss Michael at all if he went away, but I’m out of luck and he’s sticking around for at least another week. Next week, by the way, is country week, and Dolly Parton will be dropping by. Yay! I love her.
Sigh. It’s time for - ack, Constantine! Okay, I’m ready to go on. It’s time for that annoying call-in part of the show. Sarah wants to know if Chikezie is single. He is. Ryan pretends to give out his phone number. Ryan’s just jealous that people aren’t gushing over him. Nicole wants to know why David Archuleta chose to sing “You’re the Voice.” He says it’s one of his favorite songs. He assures Simon that he picked it.
Ari wants to know what she needs to do to get Ryan’s job. “You don’t need a lot of talent,” Simon tells her. The audience boos. “I’m aiming to be tolerable,” Ryan replies. Yeah, keep working on that. Caitlin wants to know who Brooke would like to duet with. She says John Mayer. Vanessa asks Simon if he thinks he’s the most attractive person on the show. Honey, look who his competition is. Simon says it’s about what other people say. Heh. I’m pretty sure Amy Davis (remember her?) is sitting right behind the judges, but I’m not really sure because I can’t really remember what she looked like.
Special guest Kimberley Locke tells us a little about her decision to audition for the second season of American Idol instead of going to law school. Her goal was to have a record deal before the end of the tour, and she accomplished that. She was happy with the success of her first single, “Eighth World Wonder,” but about a year ago she and some partners opened a restaurant in New York called Croton Creek. Kimberley has also lost 40 pounds over the last year and is happy with the way she looks and feels. The show put her in a good position to do what she wants to do.
On stage, Kimberley wears a very unflattering dress (rumored to be designed by Project Runway winner Christian Siriano) to sing “Fall.” I don’t have much to say about it. It’s not much different from every other song you hear on the radio nowadays. And I’m totally distracted by how she’s spilling out of the dress. At the end, Kimberley agrees to let Paula and Randy critique her, and they both have favorable things to say. Of course, Paula thinks she looks great, but Paula’s taste is, as always, questionable, so take that with a grain of salt.
Hey, did you know Idol Gives Back will be on April 9th? Because I don’t think they’ve mentioned that yet. The rumor is that it’s going to be two-and-a-half hours, and that part of the episode will be devoted to letting the eliminated contestants battle it out for a spot on the tour. Two-and-a-half hours is the length of a really long movie, y’all. I’m going to need coffee to get through it. Miley Cyrus, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Snoop Dogg, Fergie, Forrest Whitaker, and John Legend will be there.
We see a montage of the kids who were helped last year, some of them hanging out with Ruben. 120 million meals were served, and some new mobile medical units gave out much-needed immunizations. Kids are developing their reading skills thanks to books the money bought, and after the California wildfires and tornados and Tennessee, shelter and support were provided to those who needed it. Cute kids say “thank you.” Awww, I’m a sucker for cute kids being polite.
Back to the results. I was worried about Ramiele, but since she’s called next, that means she’s safe, right? Right. This leaves Jason and Kristy. I’m so torn - I want Kristy gone, but if she goes, doesn’t that mean the terrorists win? Feel safe, America, for Kristy is not in the bottom three, and will be around to annoy us for country week (which means she’ll probably be around to annoy us again the week after that).
Our bottom three - Jason, Syesha, and Chikezie - join Ryan at center stage. Paula says someone has to go, obviously, and everyone here is talented, but only one person will be the winner. Jason admits that he thought something might be going on because he’s never called out this late. Ryan quickly tells him he’s safe, so he doesn’t need to worry about that anymore.
Simon says that Chikezie’s biggest hurdle is that he’s not the best performer in the competition. Hey, David Hernandez and Danjaya are in the audience! Simon adds that we can’t underestimate the audience. Randy isn’t sure why Syesha is in the bottom three, but Simon is, of course, not at all surprised she’s there.
Syesha, still smiling, is safe, and Chikezie is on his way out. I think Syesha thought it was her, and she just kept smiling because what else can you do? Carly gives Chikezie a one-woman standing ovation. He’s smiling, too, even though you can tell he’s sad.
Over Chikezie’s funeral video, he says that succeeding on the show would be great for his parents because they’ve done so much for him and gotten so little back. Awww, that’s sweet. I’m sad to see him go, because I think he’s a good singer, but he had an uphill battle after “She’s a Woman,” and he was never going to top that. But he made the tour, and who knows what could happen after that? Chikezie sings us out, and I finally remember to mention that just going off his facial expressions, I think he looks like Omar Epps. Anyone else agree?
Next week, country! Please, please, please, will someone sing “Sin Wagon”? Is that so much to ask? Betsy Wasser will once again be your guide on Tuesday, and I’ll be back for the results on Wednesday. Adios!
Source : www.foxesonidol.com
Tags: american idol, american idol march 25, american idol results march 26, american idol tonight, who got kicked off american idol
