Anyway, on Wednesday night Idol once again proved that you never really know what’s going to happen when America starts voting.  If you missed the performance show on Tuesday night you can always watch the performance videos and read our recaps right here:

• American Idol 2008 - Top 10 Performance (3/25/08) Recaps

I didn’t really do well in picking my bottom three this week as I only correctly chose one of the three who were in the bottom three.  If you’ll recall, I placed the Top 10 performances in this order:

1. David Cook - Billie Jean
2. Michael Johns - We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions
3. Syesha Mercado - If I Were Your Woman
4. David Archuleta - You’re The Voice
5. Brooke White - Every Breath You Take
6. Kristy Lee Cook - God Bless The USA
7. Jason Castro - Fragile
8. Carly Smithson - Total Eclipse of the Heart
9. Chikezie - If Only For One Night
10. Ramiele Malubay - Alone

I went ahead and picked my bottom three, Carly, Chikezie, and Ramiele to actually be in the bottom three this week.  I’d been burned by choosing Ramiele to be voted out before so I wasn’t brave enough to pick her again.  I was tempted to choose Carly, but I thought that her previous solid performances would carry her.

My pick to be voted out was Chikezie.  As it turned out, the bottom three turned out like this:

• Chikezie
• Syesha Mercado
• Jason Castro

I really didn’t think Syesha deserved to be in the bottom three this week.  I did think her song was slightly boring, but her vocals were very good.  I was afraid for Jason because I knew that his song choice and performance was pretty uninspired.  I really thought he’d have enough fans to keep him out of the bottom, though.  I expected Chikezie to be in the bottom, and I correctly surmised that he would be the one that went home.

Why Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro Made The Bottom Three

• Syesha Mercado - Syesha isn’t connecting with audiences for some reason.  She doesn’t have the big personality that some of the other contestants have and we don’t seem to know as much about her life story as we do on some of the others either.  Vocally, she’s one of the better contestants, but she hasn’t had a great track record picking songs.  Her performance this week was another example of that.  Last week she picked a great song and did very well with it.  She was safe.  This week she picked a mediocre song and did well with it, but ended up in the bottom three.  It’s all about song choice for Syesha right now.
• Jason Castro - The same thing can be said for Jason.  It’s all about song choice.  He’s got loads of talent and tons of charm, but he keeps picking songs that don’t showcase his talent, and, in many cases, fans can’t really connect with.  He’s got to show he wants to stay in this competition.  He has to take some chances.  He may fail badly if the chance he takes doesn’t work, but he’s going to lose if he doesn’t step out of his comfort zone and find a way to really do something impressive.

Why Chikezie Lost American Idol

Chikezie has tremendous talent but he also suffered from poor song choices.  Just two weeks ago he blew us away when he took a huge chance with a Beatles song and did something different with it.  He tried to repeat the magic last week, but it came off as desperate.  This week he scaled back and no one noticed him.  He has a big voice, but he never really captured his niche or even really defined what his niche was.  Had he been able to use his great voice to modernize some of the songs he was singing I think he could have stayed in the competition a lot longer.

The American Idol Top 9

• David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
• Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX
• David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
• Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR
• Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA
• Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL
• Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
• Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA
• Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
• Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (Top 10)
• Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (Top 11)
• David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (Top 12)

If you’re keeping score with the little side contest Jeff (from Static ThinkBox) and I have going…  Jeff foolishly chose Carly Smithson to be eliminated this week while I correctly chose Chikezie.  The current score is below.

For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by Static ThinkBox and see what Jeff has to say about the ousted contestants.

Music, Television
Amanda Overmyer, American Idol, American Idol 2008, American Idol Season 7, American Idol Top 12, Brooke White, Carly Smithson, Chikezie Eze, David Archuleta, David Cook, David Hernandez, Jason Castro, Kristy Lee Cook, Michael Johns, Ramiele Malubay, Syesha Mercado

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