Top 12 - 11Mar08 Lennon & McCartney

Well, tough night. Great venue – huge band, wonderful audience, pressure must be even more. I thought all of the performances were acceptable, but only a few really shone out. No one totally blew me away, though.

Here's how I rated them, from top to bottom:

CARLY SMITHSON (Come Together)
Strong vocal. I thought the back-up singers overshadowed her more than once, could be they were settling into the sound set-up but this stuff should ironed out before they go live. Best of the night, IMO.

CHIKEZIE (She’s a Woman)
Hey, he rocked it up, he proved he has the vocals to do it, he had fun with it, he didn’t look like he was trying too hard. I thought he did great.

AMANDA OVERMEYER (You Can’t Do That)
I thought she engaged more with the audience, vocal was strong, she rocked it up well.

DAVID COOK (Eleanor Rigby)
I thought he performed well, rocked it up nicely… even his hair looked a little better this week.

MICHAEL JOHNS (Across the Universe)
Nice tone. Still waiting for him to really take me somewhere, but he was not bad.

REMIELE MERCATO (In My Life)
Very sweet performance, lovely tone, nicely sung song. You can hear the potential of where she could go. I don’t know if she’s just too young to get there yet, or if it’s that she’s playing it safe, or if it’s that she’s nervous. I think she could sing much more powerfully in time. When that will be… is kinda up to her, and up to nature as well.

DAVID HERNANDEZ (I Saw Her Standing There)
Nice clean tone. He doesn’t seem to have a big range, but that could be a function of how he sings. I still think he tends to sing in the throat & then tries to push it out to be ‘big’. This actually works against the voice.

DAVID ARCHULETA (We Can Work It Out)
Not that great this week. He made the mistake of saying on his tape that he wasn’t sure about the song. I don’t think put him, or the audience, in a positive mind frame. Then he came out and stumbled on the words… and the rest is history, really. He was already defeated before he began. Still, I think he has a fair bit of agility. I would like to hear him sing with a more solid tone. Some training would help with that. He finds it up higher but he sings too breathy in the middle voice and he loses a lot of energy because of that – makes him sound asthmatic. And we also lose energy when we sing big wide vowels.

SYESHA MERCADO (Gotta Get You Into My Life)
Good tone, lose her a little in the low notes. I thought the phrasing was funny in the verses. The last note was great, but the rest didn’t grab ahold of me.

JASON CASTRO (If I Fell)
I thought it was a weird arrangement that didn’t suit his voice. Towards the end it got better but it was still pitchy. Perhaps sitting down with the guitar made him lose his support, but I’m not a fan of this breathy singing that shows little agility or range. He’ll have to do more to convince me he deserves to be in the top 12.

BROOKE WHITE (Let It Be)
Sitting at the piano, playing & singing. I expected her to get up and take the song somewhere, but she didn’t. It took a long time to even lift into a chorus. I wondered if she was ill. The voice was pitchy, and the voice sounded tight at the end. I thought perhaps she was distracted by having to play as well as sing, or perhaps she was overwhelmed by the whole experience (which I can understand). Anyway, I have to say she didn’t do anything for me.

KRISTY LEE COOK (8 Days a Week)
Poor Kristy. It was a horrendous arrangement, the whole thing was weird. I know she tried, but I don’t think she gets how to be herself and bring herself into the music. She could have sung a standard pop arrangement and made it her own. Unfortunately, she may not make it to next week.