Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Ranking the American Idol Top 12: Chekezie Shines While Archuleta Falters

Well, color me pleasantly surprised.

True, the amount of standout performances from the American Idol Top 12 were minimal, but all in all, the finalists proved themselves to be worthy of the fancy new stage. I had been concerned that the Lennon/McCartney catalogue, while offering undeniably great songs, was not going to translate into the Idol arena, but several of the finalists managed to shine, and only a couple were total trainwrecks.

Speaking of trainwrecks -- what the hell happened to Archuleta? Has all this frontrunner talk gone to his head? He was horrible tonight!

Conversely, Chekezie stepped it up about a thousand notches, giving a totally charismatic and soulful performance. Well done, Chekezie!

Also on the 'impressive list': Carly Smithson (love her!), David Cook (two weeks running!), and Amanda Overmyer (if she keeps this up, she's got a shot at going far). Not so impressive? Ramiele Malubay and Syesha Mercado (booooooring), David Hernandez (cheesy!) and Kristy Lee Cook (ummmmmm, no. just no.)

It's late, so I'm going to wait to give my full thoughts on each of the contestants, along with who I think will get the boot, until tomorrow, but for now, here's my rankings of the Top 12. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how they match up with yours.

1. Carly Smithson
2. Chekezie
3. David Cook
4. Amanda Overmyer
5. Michael Johns
6. Brooke White
7. Syesha Mercado
8. Jason Castro
9. David Archuleta
10. David Hernandez
11. Ramiele Malubay
12. Kristy Lee Cook

POLL: Which of the Top 12 was your favorite? Who's Going Home? VOTE NOW!

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Sorry, I would put Archuleta tied for 12th with Kristy. He was TERRIBLE. I don't care how good he's been in weeks prior, he was very very bad this week.

Anonymous said...

I think the winner will be someone who is consistent every week and who people can trust to be consistent. I don't think people want surprises. Right now, to me, Brooke White fills that role the best. Amanda will get tiring. Carly will not be consistent. Chekezie will be inconsistent as well. At this stage, Brooke and David Cook are top two. My opinion and prediction for this week!

Anonymous said...

havent really been paying attention until last night but holy moly Chekezie rocked my world last night. It sounded great, was fun to watch, he obviously enjoyed the hell out of singing it and to top it off... a black man in argyle? Oh hells yeah, outfreakingstanding.

Anonymous said...

My list is just a little different:

1. David Cook
2. Carly Smithson
3. Chekezie
4. Michael Johns
5. Amanda Overmyer
6. Brooke White
7. Jason Castro
8. Syesha Mercado
9. David Archuleta
10. David Hernandez
11. Ramiele Malubay
12. Kristy Lee Cook