American Idol 2008 - Top 10 Men Performances

American Idol entered week two last night. There are 20 contestants remaining. Last night’s show was the Top 10 men. I must say, I was somewhat disappointed by last night’s performances. Last week gave me a lot of hope for this season’s batch of young men, but in last night’s show they failed to live up to my expectations for the most part.

Once again there were three contestants who I felt performed better than all the rest. And I think you’ll be surprised by who they were.

• David Archuleta - Once again David impressed the audience and the judges with his incredible talent and strong vocal control. Forget about this kid only being 16 years old. Barring some sort of catastrophic misstep, he’s going all the way to the finals. Yeah, I can say that after only two shows.
  
  

  David Archuleta - Imagine

  [youtube KvKh-yN9pz4]
  

• David Hernandez - David had a poor showing last week but he more than made up for it this week. I never was a fan of the song he sang, but I actually thought I could like it if I was listening to him singing it. The judges thought he was good too. Second best of the night.
  
  

  David Hernandez - Papa Was A Rolling Stone

  [youtube k4isrq3sZvg]
  

• Chikezie - We knew Chikezie had it in him from his earlier auditions but he didn’t show it last week with his awful performance and outfit. He looked much better this week and blew us out of the water with his vocal talent. I can’t say I like the song, but I thought he did a great job singing it. He saved himself from almost certain elimination this week.
  
  

  Chikezie - I Believe To My Soul

  [youtube ILoYmJyrMxA]
  


I think all three of these performers will be safe based upon last night’s performance (and David from every performance he’s done on the show).

Some of the stronger performers from last week didn’t look as strong this week which was disappointing for those of us who were already becoming fans. However, I must pick who I think were the weakest performers and this week there were three who were definitely weak.

• Luke Menard - I didn’t get this song at all. I guess it was meant to show Luke’s range. All it showed was how Luke should be in a musical and not signing a contract to record an album. Huge misstep that will cost him a spot in the Sweet 16.
  
  

  Luke Menard - Killer Queen

  [youtube Lz3MkpkesB4]
  

• Jason Yeager - Two weak and/or corny performances in a row spell almost certain elimination for Jason. I wanted to like him, but he made it pretty much impossible. His song choice, with its limited range of notes, really did him in.
  
  

  Jason Yeager - Without Love

  [youtube 516RfFyno_c]
  

• Robbie Carrico - I think Robbie did okay. The problem is, there’s too many rockers this year. There’s no way they aren’t going to split the votes and hurt each other at some point. I think, right now, Robbie is the weakest of bunch and is the most likely to be the first to go. He’ll probably squeak by this week, but he better bring it next week if he gets another chance.
  
  

  Robbie Carrico - Hot Blooded

  [youtube G6JRFaYIBuE]
  


Out of these three I would say that Luke Menard and Jason Yeager are the two who are the most likely to be voted off, although Robbie could certainly take the place of one of them if the rocker votes are split enough.

As I mentioned, there were some disappointing performances from a couple of my favorites from last week. Although I don’t think they are really in danger of leaving this week, they should certainly listen carefully to what Simon is saying and try harder to improve whatever they’re doing wrong. In the case of Jason Castro, he needs to work on his interview skills a bit…


Michael Johns - You Can Go Your Own Way

[youtube Yi0_krRjbmI]

Jason Castro- I Just Want to be Your Everything

[youtube M8wzYCg5INI]



These two should still be safe this week, but you never really know. They were strong last week, but were they strong enough to win over fans loyal enough to vote for them this week?

I didn’t mention David Cook because I didn’t think he was one of the strongest nor one of the weakest this week. I thought he did a good job, but, again, he’s a rocker which is going to hurt him at some point when the votes start getting split. He also did a bit of backtalking to Simon which, historically, hasn’t helped contestants win many votes.





David Cook - All Right Now

[youtube -F_ARgI0weo]

Last, and certainly least, we have the one, the only, Danny Noriega. Did Danny do a good job singing? Sure. He sings well. It’s everything else he does that gets on my last nerve. I already know how this is going to turn out. This kid is going to keep acting like a complete schmutz week after week and America is going to grow more and more tired of his antics but he’ll keep getting enough votes to stay in the competition no matter how obvious it becomes he doesn’t deserve to be there. It happens every year. This year, that person will be Danny Noriega. He’ll eventually get kicked off the show, of course, they always do. I just hope I have the stomach to keep watching that long.





Danny Noriega - Superstar

[youtube RJ1plq-laf4]

The American Idol Top 10 Men

• David Archuleta, 17, Murray, Utah
• Robbie Carrico, 26, Melbourne, Fla.
• Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, Texas
• David Cook, 25, Tulsa, Okla.
• Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, Calif.
• David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, Ariz.
• Luke Menard, 29, Crawfordsville, Ind.
• Danny Noriega, 18, Azusa, Calif.
• Jason Yeager, 28, Branson, Mo.
• Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles by way of Australia

For a quick recap of each contestant from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol Season 7: Top 10 Guys Performances - ThinkBox Style and see what Jeff has to say about last night’s episode.