Tonight’s Big Winner

American Idol got access to the John Lennon / Paul McCartney song catalog for the twelve finalists to use this week on the show. Overall they did a pretty good job with a couple of exceptions.

Here is what I seemed to think of tonight’s contestants.

My winners tonight: Chikezie, Amanda Overmyer, Brooke White and Carly Smithson

Lost in the middle: Jason Castro, David Cook, David Archuleta, Michael Johns

Those in most trouble: Syesha Mercado, David Hernandez, Ramiele Malubay and Kristy Lee Cook.

Syesha Mercado - “Gotta Get You Into My Life” - I hated the arrangement. There is no doubt Syesha can sing. She is a very beautiful woman and probably did well enough to return next week. Grade: C-

Chikezie - “She’s A Woman” - WOW! That was amazing. He did a rendition of this song that was a bit country that turned into a bluesy upbeat country number that was hot. He took a huge risk and it really worked well. He will be hard this week. Grade: A+

Ramiele Malubay - “In My Life” - I think my problem with Ramiele is that she reminds me too much of Tila Tequilia and all the bad associations that go with her. Rammy can sing and is attractive but her song selections tend to always be a bit on the Disney side. She needs to take a few gambles in a similar way that Chikezie did earlier. Grade: C+

Jason Castro - “If I Fell” - Fidel chose a song right up his alley. If it was 1968 Jason would win season 7 going away. He has a great melodic voice. He will easily be back next week. He has a voice you could easily hear on the radio. It doesn’t mean you would go to his concert though. Grade: B-

Carly Smithson - “Come Together” - I have heard so many good versions of this song that it makes it really hard to fairly judge Carly. I think she would have been better off going with a more obscure Beatles song. She seemed to be a bit all over the place with her screams and rollercoaster vocal range on this one. But many will love it. Grade: A-

David Cook - “Eleanor Rigby” - Dave continued to rock on this classic Beatles tune. He is growing in confidence by leaps and bounds. He will easily be back next week rocking once again. He is one good makeover from winning it all. Grade: B+

Brooke White - “Let It Be” - Brooke is so darn likable. A very smooth, near flawless performance. Not too exciting and not too many chances taken by Brooke. She has had better performances but she will be safe to next week. Her deer in the headlights look when waiting for the judges to speak is priceless. There is truly several contestants that can win this year. Grade: A

David Hernandez - “I Saw Her Standing There” - Finally an upbeat song from the early era of the Beatles. As excited as I was with the song selection, I found the actually performance to be rather boring. I think Dave could be on the brink of getting eliminated this week. Grade: D

Amanda Overmyer - “You Can’t Do That” - I always feel slightly dirty and like I just left a party put on that very questionable sorority on campus (E.Brown would understand). After a quick mental shower, I found her performance to be pretty darn good. She took a classic, updated it, and then made sure she splashed her black Sharpie all over it. Her performance is one of the top five so far. Grade: A+

Michael Johns - “Across The Universe” - Another strong and passionate performance. I would put him in the middle of the pack tonight. He is very popular and has that ‘look’. However, he could have done a lot more with this song. It was probably his 3rd or 4th best song he has performed so far in the competition. Grade: C+

Kristy Lee Cook - “8 Days A Week” - One of the top seven performances of the night. Kristy countrified this song with a very fast, upbeat version of “8 Days”. Her performance really stood out to me and for sure is one of her more memorable to date. The judges were really hard on KLC, but I kinda liked it. She could be in trouble after the pounding she took but she is hot and America likes hotness. Grade: B

David Archuleta - “We Can Work It Out” - David took Simon’s advice from last week to go with something more upbeat and less gloomy. The song seemed a bit too mature for him as he seemed like a young kid trying to sing about things he just simply as yet to experience in his life. He forgot the lyrics at one point and did a bad job of covering it up. Unfortunately Archuleta’s version of this song wasn’t very good. He has been so good in prior weeks that he will make it back next week. Grade: C-