American Idol ~ Top 7

Tonight was Cinema night. So, basically, the contestants could pick any song as long as it was used on a movie soundtrack. And even though that's an extensive list of songs, with a couple exceptions, we still were treated to SEVERAL Overdone-On-Idol tunes.

Quentin Tarantino was the celebrity mentor tonight and at first I thought "WHAT? Why?" But he had some REALLY good suggestions for several of the contestants. Unfortunately, most of his suggestions were blown off once they hit the stage but it was still interesting to see his take on how they could make their performances really shine.

Another interesting twist is that only 2 judges will comment per contestant. So... what's the point of having all 4 then? This is supposed to be so that the show will end on time, within 1 hour, which = 60 minutes. This did not happen, it still ran almost a full 5 minutes over, but at least this week, the only thing the DVR-watchers missed was Lil gettin' mouthy.

Kicking things off is Allison Iraheta with "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing". I thought tonight was probably her worst performance ever. I am a HUGE Allison fan but her pitch was all over the place, she was rushing the melody, and she rearranged the order of the lyrics so that the song felt a little dijointed to me. The judges completely disagree with me though. Paula thinks Allison's gotthe special sauce, and Simon calls her the only hope left of a female winning the competition. Since she's 1 of only 2 girls left on the show, and we all know what's wrong with the other girl, I'd say Simon is dead on there. I votedfor Allison because everyone has an off week, this must have been hers. Since the judges were so positive in their feedback I'm hoping American voted likewise and she doesn't end up in the bottom, but based on her performance, it's possible she could be in trouble.

Anoop Desai sings 2nd. He sings "Everything I Do". It was SO great!! I voted several times for him. He seems to have found his mojo and I hope he can stick with this. His vocals were spot on and he sounded amazing! I'm so glad he's hung around because I think THIS is the Anoop that everyone saw the potential in when he made it through to Hwood and then into that 13th spot. Randy & Kara take the commentating reigns on this performance with Randy telling Anoop that he's found his zone and Kara complimenting his ability to take a pop song and add some soul.

Adam Lambert is up next and he's got the eyeliner and black nailpolish back on! I kind of liked "cleaned up" Adam better than "Glambert" Adam but that's okay, he rocked out and sang his butt off with that performance. He busts out the loud high notes again (some might even call it screaming or screetching, I'll refrain for the Adam fans) to remind us of his crazy vocal range and takes total control of the entire building. Paula admires his bravery and Simon tells him that parts of it were brilliant but other parts were like watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Adam is fine with that, he "love(s) that musical!" Simon agrees, "It's a great musical." I voted for Adam, he's growing on me!

Matt Giraud is up next. He sings "Have You Every Really Loved A Woman". It was a pretty rough vocal performance for Matt. He seems to be slipping up so much recently. I don't know where the Matt from the couple of weeks has gone but I miss him and would like him back. His pitch was all over and his voice cracked during one of his higher notes near the end. The few good things I liked about this performance were that he didn't overdo the growling vibrato this week and he hit some pretty notes when he hit his falsetto. The piano playing was good, too. I think Matt could be in trouble though. Kara is still pushing him to pick between a rock or soul genre, and Randy thinks Matt added too many riffs and runs to the melody, which shouldn't have been messed around with that much. I voted for Matt, too, because I'm hoping he'll make a comeback like Anoop has managed but I'm not sure.

Danny Gokey takes the stage with "Endless Love". I liked Quentin Tarantino's advice to Danny to stop waving his hands all over and to sing with his eyes open but Danny forgets to do that and still sings the whole song with his eyes closed and waving his hands. He starts out a little rough and offkey but hits his stride mid-song and gives a really pretty performance. Paula questioned his starting key but then gave him lots of love and praise, Simon calls him "brilliant". Danny is one of the most popular contestants, it's clear he has talent, I don't think he could really do anything at this point to be in danger of leaving.

Kris Allen sings "Falling Slowly" as his song (one of my FAVORITE Jazzercise stretching routines btw) and I think he sang it perfectly. I loved it, I loved the softness of it all I loved the way he sang it. I wasn't crazy about his strange facial expressions but that's how it goes sometimes! Randy thought it was pitchy, Kara thought it was Kris's best moment. I definitely voted for him but he is one of those middle of the pack type guys that could be in trouble from week to week depending on America's mood and what they think of the judge's critiques.

Lil is up last to frustrate the crap out of me for ANOTHER straight week because she decides to sing "The Rose". I don't GET this girl. The judges are telling her - no, BEGGING her - to sing big vocal songs for the top of her range and she comes out with "The Rose". She lacks strength in her lower register and that's where 75% of this song is sung from, except for the part she decided to "gospel up" which didn't go so well at all. Paula doesn't say anything about her singing but tries to boost her spirits with a metaphor aboutwalking on a long road, but Simon tells it like it is and says there's no more time for excuses and that we've lost the artist we had 7 or 8 weeks ago.

So, I'm thinking Matt will definitely be in the bottom this week. Joining him, most likely will be Lil, and the 3rd spot is a toss up between Kris, Allison or maybe Anoop if not enough people are buying into the comeback. That's all for now! Thanks for reading!