We’re down to the final 11 performing this week and believe it or not, just like last week the performers must again pick from the Beatles catalog for their songs. The Beatles do have a lot of tunes mind you, but does it really warrant two weeks in a row?

Speaking of the Beatles catalog and tunes, we really thought we would hear something about the Beatles catalog coming to iTunes by the end of the show, but no such luck. There were plenty of MacBook Air commercials to tease us for a couple of hours, however. That being said lets jump into the performances from these top 11 and their second Beatles song choices.

Syesha Mercado did a better job of utilizing her assets this week with a better ‘do and some significant cleavage. Her rendition of “Yesterday” was so-so and unfortunately for her didn’t stand out near as much as her chest did for us. Randy, Paula and Simon however felt it was probably the best performance she’s had, but we certainly don’t think it was the best of the night.
Chikezie did an interesting Beatles song and incorporated a harmonica into his performance. It started out slow and “moving”, and then kicked up the pace into some bluegrass tempo and broke out the harmonica. It’s neat to see some of the talents with these performers and Chikezie does have some talents but we have to chalk this one up to being just a little bit weird. Sorry Chikezie, but it was.
Ramiele Malubay sang “I Should Have Known Better” and again brought out that big voice, but still nowhere near that Dusty Springfield she did earlier. Aside from some shyness this girl has the personality and is likable enough to be an American Idol. You just can’t help but like her.
Our favorite stoner Jason Castro learned some French for his rendition of “Michelle”, although he admittedly didn’t realize the song was French going in. It didn’t fit into the Jason Castro/Jack Johnson persona that we have come to like and probably wasn’t the best song for Jason. He did a good job with it but even though the Beatles did have a lot of hit songs, there really is a limited number that these guys can go with two weeks in a row.
Carly Smithson had an impressive performance tonight that was very calm and managed to not sound like Cher this time. She also did a great job of standing up to Simon who called her Blackbird performance “indulgent” and just plain didn’t like it. You also gotta’ like the finger tats for American Idol season 7.
David Cook sang “Day Tripper” and brought some White Snake sound into it along with a different mic at the end, maybe a vocoder. The true rockers ought to love this version of the song and David continues to keep up with the rock genre successfully, but we found it a little uneventful. David is going to have to do better to keep ahead in this game.
A good sign that you might be a little old for American Idol is when everyone refers to you as “that lady” instead of “girl” in internet comments and online message boards. Brooke White kept it safe with “Here Comes the Sun” and did another mediocre performance. She’s a good singer and has some real raw attractiveness but frankly we’re surprised she’s made it this far. I’m sure you’re a nice person Brooke, so we don’t want to hurt your feelings but we expect you to be voted out in the next couple of weeks.
Amanda Overmyer did “Back in the U.S.S.R.” for her second Beatles night performance which was a good choice for her, and especially better than last week. She was able to really “rock it out” like Amanda likes to do, but she has yet to show some versatility away from the tough-girl attitude.
“A Day In The Life” was Michael Johns second Beatles choice. This is one of the more popular Beatles songs performed tonight and could get some votes for that alone but Michael didn’t do the best job of it. Maybe not the best song choice but again, there are really only so many songs to choose from for the same group two weeks in a row for 11 people.
Kristy Lee Cook chose “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and even though it was better than that crazy version she did last week it still had more than its share of country twang. Simon really let her have it saying that she just isn’t a good performer but also acknowledged that it was better than last week, which really isn’t saying much. It’s a good thing that this is TV and not radio or she’d be long gone by now.
David Archuleta pulled off another slow one tonight with “The Long and Winding Road” and brought the audience to their feet with another outstanding performance that we’ve come to expect from this young singing prodigy. What we’d like to see is a little more action and fun from this kid, or are the slow songs all he’s got? He’s a great singer and all, but its hard to get into a slow, moving song about life from a 16 year old. Hopefully we’ll see some more fast-paced energy next week.

That’s it for the performances this week until tomorrow night where Ryan will use the power vested in him by nationwide voters to again cut down the number of Idol contestants for this week. Who’s going to go you might ask? Well, we’d like to see Amanda hit the bricks but we have a feeling its going to be poor Kristy Lee Cook that will get the fewest votes. Don’t worry though, if she goes we’ll still make a point to post pictures of her anyway.

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