American Idol: Top 10 - Songs from their birth years

This theme is also known as "Songs Guaranteed to Make You Feel Old." At least if you (like me) are older than these Idol contestants. If I was a contestant, I could sing Dancing Queen by Abba or Tonight's the Night by Rod Stewart. Given my own preferences and heritage, I'd be going with the Swedes. And since it is really difficult to sing four part harmony by yourself, I would probably be going down in a blaze of glory.

The show begins with Seacrest emerging from the opening doors like Bob Barker. Paula is super sparkly again, with strange demi-gloves. I'm sensing a theme here.

Top 10, Come on Down!!!!

Is it my imagination that Jason Castro's pants looked skin colored? I had to rewind to make sure he wasn't going sans pants. Thankfully, my eyes deceived me.


Ramiele Malubay (1987: Alone - Heart) Her outfit is highly unfortunate, the high waisted shorts were odd with the Flashdance inspired shirt. She was a little off key in places, and the back up singers out sung her on the chorus. I do think it was one of her better performances, but I don't know if it will be enough to save her. I think maybe she should have sung Shake Your Love by Debbie Gibson. That might have been fun. I am glad that Simon called out Randy for the weird intonation. Ramiele has been sick (apparently laryngitis), so maybe she'll get some sympathy.

Jason Castro (1987: Fragile - Sting) Jason was an adorable baby. My goodness. He's rocking the guitar again tonight (and thankfully, he's much better than he was as a kid). I have never heard this song before, and it's nice. He made some seriously weird facial movements while singing, but I can forgive him that for a wonderful performance. That fit him quite well, and he broke out the foreign language again. At least this time, it was Spanish. I think that Simon mistakes Jason's low key attitude for not caring. I liked it.

Syesha Mercado (1987: If I Were Your Woman - Stephanie Mills) Another 1987!! I wish that Syesha would never do the baby cry again, it's seriously creepy. I have never heard this song before, but it was good! Again, I thought that the back up singers tried to overpower the main act. This I think was possibly Syesha's best performance to date. She owned the stage, it was beautiful. I wanted her to go home a couple weeks ago, but I will remember this one.

Chikezie Ezie Listening (1985: If Only For One Night - Luther Vandross) Reclaiming the Ezie Listening title with ease, I am further convinced that Chikezie could have a career in Bluegrass. He has a great voice, his tone is nice, but I am constantly bored by this song. And then he was talking back to Simon. Never a good idea. He might as well have been singing We Are the World, that was from 1985. It would have been fun to hear him sing Raspberry Beret by Prince. He could have made that fun.

Brooke White (1983: Every Breath You Take - The Police) Whoah now, she f'd up the beginning. That's no good, but at least she fixed it. What is good is that Brooke is behind the piano again and is no longer flailing around. Her hair is pretty bad, I like her better with her waves. After the horribly botched beginning, she pulled it back and did a good job. She is, however, beginning to bore me. Paula's bejeweled gloves are distracting to me. I also think that Brooke with the piano alone would have been better, but can she do anything upbeat without looking drugged off her mind? I would have loved to hear her sing Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics. That would have been awesome.

Michael Johns (1979: We Are the Champions - Queen) Unfortunately, he sounded rather screechy in the beginning. Once he got into the song, he did much better. The thing about Freddy Mercury is that even when he was going full voice, he never sounded like he was screaming. If you are going to sing a Queen song, you have to do it without yelling. And of course, because I didn't love it, the judges do. I love Michael, but I like it better when he is singing, instead of hollering at me. He did own the stage, I'll give him that, but I think he could have done a more musical performance.

Carly Smithson (1983: Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler) Carly's mom looks a little like Lucy Lawless. (And therefore, Carly looks a little like her, too) She's gorgeous. Carly is much better off without the giant glasses she had as a young child. I think that this song is a superb choice by Carly. Again, though, the back up singers are trying their best to out sing her. Boo to them. I think this is my favorite Carly performance to date. It fits her voice wonderfully, and she did a great job with the transitions. I don't know that the last little run was necessary, but that song was what I was waiting for her to do. I really think that the biggest problem was the back up singers. Someone please turn down their microphones!

David Archuleta (1990: You're the Voice - John Farnham) What the heck kind of song is this? At least it's a little peppier, but it makes me want to vomit. He could choose any song from 1990 and he chose that piece of crap? Instead of slow and boring, he went for fast and boring. I think Simon was putting a dig in to David's reportedly overbearing father when he said he would be astounded if David A. picked the song himself. Heck, at least he didn't sing All I Want to Do is Make Love to You by Heart. Nothing like a song that says "I didn't want to pay for IVF, so I picked up a hitchhiker to be my Baby Daddy."

Kristy Lee Cook (1984: God Bless the USA - Lee Greenwood) The flat irons got a workout for tonight's show. Be gone, curls! Kristy was in good voice tonight, and her shirt was pretty. The producers got to bust out the American flag graphics for her background. Bet they've been waiting for that one. Vote for Kristy, America, or you just aren't patriotic. This was a HUGE improvement from the past couple of weeks. I am actually amazed that Simon liked it so much. I do think it was a much stronger improvement, and I know that the judges want to keep her around at least until Country week.

David Cook (1982: Billie Jean - Michael Jackson as covered by Chris Cornell) Dang, he was a funny looking baby. This was amazing. I went on YouTube to hear the Chris Cornell version to see how different David Cook did it, and it was definitely his take on this cover, but he did make it his own, adding some more edge to it. I adored this performance. He was just outstanding. He has shown that he can rock, he has shown that he can do a ballad type song (that was pretty much a power ballad). And there was no moonwalking in sight. He wins the night for me, easily. Captain Comb Over does indeed have super powers.

I'll be voting for David Cook (many times), and I'll throw a couple votes to Jason, a couple to Syesha (she was really quite good tonight), and to Carly. I'll throw a vote or two to Michael Johns, purely for the middle of the song, and his potential. Though Kristy Lee Cook was good, I am not voting for her. Same with Brooke, I am bored with her.

I think little Ramiele might be gone. I would not be surprised to see Chikezie Ezie Listening in the bottom with her. I hope that David A. goes in the bottom 3, because that was just an embarrassing song choice, and some one needs to pay for it. I don't think he has any chance of going home, though. Jason might be in the bottom, too, and maybe that would put some pep in his step.