This list comes amazingly close to how I would rank them.
I would switch Jason Castro and David Cook’s positions, and would rank David A. lower.
Despite his huge popularity (among the judges, the general public, and the SDMB), I don’t find David A. enjoyable to listen to.
[Finally, enough actual opinion for a post. And I’m surprised it didn’t take longer.]
It’s far too early to be making predictions, of course, but I can honestly say that I was really impressed by David Archuleta. He sounded like a professional, and even his vocal embellishments (which I usually hate) were right on. I do agree with Simon Cowell that he’ll eventually have to kick it up a bit, but for now, it’s looking like a straight cruise to the top 10. The only other person who’s really stood out for me so far is Danny Noriega, the rare contestant who knows his limits and isn’t afraid to have fun out there. That aimless Cowell tirade will only make him more popular. If he survives this week, don’t be surprised if he becomes a naggingly diehard spoiler who drives the prognostigators nuts, a la Sanjaya Malakar and Jasmine Trias.
Speaking of Cowell…ugh. Look, I know the guy is good for ratings, but there are a number of things he does that I cannot stand. The worst, by far, is the harrumphing about a contestant who is absolutely not going to last two more weeks or who has almost no chance of making the final 12. News flash, there are four people eliminated every week! If there was a chance of nobody being eliminated, or only the very worst ever being eliminated, that statement would have a lot more bite. As it is, it means nothing. Yeah, that guy didn’t make it…was he that bad, did too many voters assume he was safe (remember how my term “Bo Bice scare” came to be?), or was he just the victim of a tight race where it could’ve been one of five people? Who the hell knows?
(Not a fan of Jackson or Abdul either, but at least they’re not incredibly pretentious about it. Cowell is the kind of person who would claim credit for making Brittney Spears a superstar and predicting her demise.)
As for Vote For The Worst…eh, I don’t agree with what they’re doing, but as long as AI clings to a last-man-standing elimination system decided by raw votes, their perspective is as valid as anyone else’s. And let’s face it; it’s not a fair fight and it never will be. If a significant number of viewers enjoy watching a silver-haired lounge performer hop all over the front rows and pose for the camera, well, who am I to judge?
atomicbadgerrace - Welcome to the world of Rock Bottom Plus One, my friend. Where first place means nothing, the favorite is usually in the greatest danger (Bo Bice!), and sarcastic websites with warped, hopelessly outdated philosophies have all the power in the world.
What these contestants are doing is pacing themselves. Just as a boxer doesn’t lead with a haymaker, an AI contestant doesn’t bring out the big numbers in the 4-a-week stage. More than a few contestants have gone down in bitter, teary defeat simply because they went to the whip too soon. Future contestants remember these things, and none of them wants to be the one who blew the roof off 7 weeks from the final.
When tepid mediocrity is no longer sufficient, the favorites will move on to the good stuff.
It’s pretty clear that David A will win the competition, by the way.
I happened to be browsing the American Idol “iTunes Essentials”, where they list the songs sung last week, as well as the user reviews for each song, and I saw the following
(List ranked by number of reviews each contestant got)
Name reviews stars
Jason Y. : 28 3.0
Robbie C. : 28 4.0
Syesha M. : 30 5.0
Chikezie : 31 4.5
Asia'h E. : 37 3.8
Kristy L.C. : 43 4.0
David H. : 43 5.0
David C. : 53 4.8
Michael J. : 54 4.5
Kady M. : 57 3.0
Ramiele M. : 60 5.0
Alexandrea L. : 62 4.8
Carly S. : 63 4.8
Luke M. : 70 3.0
Jason C. : 78 4.8
Brooke W. : 103 5.0
Alaina W : 111 5.0
Danny N. : 171 3.8
Amanda O. : 222 2.0
David A. : **964** 5.0
Obviously, David A. is getting a hugely disproportionate portion of the votes. If all these people are voting, then it’s pretty clear who the final winner will be, unless he manages to screw up in a major way in the coming weeks, which I think is unlikely.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to rank them using some combo score that took into account both the number of reviews and the star rating. The ranked list looks like
Name reviews stars combo score
Amanda O. : 222 2.0 -497
Luke M. : 70 3.0 -87
Danny N. : 171 3.8 -75
Kady M. : 57 3.0 -71
Jason Y. : 28 3.0 -35
Asia'h E. : 37 3.8 -16
Kristy L.C. : 43 4.0 -10
Robbie C. : 28 4.0 -7
Chikezie : 31 4.5 8
Michael J. : 54 4.5 14
Syesha M. : 30 5.0 23
David C. : 53 4.8 30
David H. : 43 5.0 33
Alexandrea L. : 62 4.8 35
Carly S. : 63 4.8 35
Jason C. : 78 4.8 44
Ramiele M. : 60 5.0 46
Brooke W. : 103 5.0 78
Alaina W : 111 5.0 84
David A. : 964 5.0 733
(FYI: The combo score is equal to: reviews x (stars - average_stars), where average_stars is the average over the star rating for all the contestants.)
This list looks very close to how I would rate them myself.
The one interesting disparity between the above list and what happened on the show is that Alaina is ranked quite high here, but got voted out last week.
Nevertheless, David A.'s score is so high (733 vs 84 for Alaina) that we can consider him safe from any “quantization noise”.
My local Clear Channel radio station was all abuzz about Simon’s off mic comment (that wasn’t off mic) to Paula after David H’s song. Something like “Now that’s a good song to strip to.”
I’m in NY so I get the real live version of the show and I didn’t hear it. Did any of you?
I think I missed a lot of the singing because I was totally distracted by Paula’s rambling and her weird cleavage well. She was a hot mess last night.
I heard Simon say something like, “Now that was good” but didn’t hear anything else.
I’ve played it over and over. It’s practically inaudible, but it sounds to me like “Share that with James Pickett.” […shrug…]
I thought the same thing, but after rewinding, it sounded like “I like the way that was scripted.”
That’s what sets him apart. That was the only time I’ve liked him all season. He gayed that through the gay roof.
Then, Ryan says to Paula, “did you say that was ‘spicy and sensitive’?” (yes, she did)
Ryan also slipped in a crack to Simon, “we won’t ask what you did with the carrots” and he made one more joke that I can’t recall perfectly right now, but it was funny. . .one of the contestants said something like, “I was introduced to it by an old pro”, and Ryan says something like, “yeah, me too” but it was a complete non-sequitur unless he was making a sex joke.
I’m not obsessed by the gay thing, really, but I think that Ryan is dropping it in liberally, and it’s just slipping right past people. Maybe I’m wrong, but through my filter, I’m finding Seacrest totally hilarious.
I really loved David Cook again this week. I hated him at first but now he’s one of my favorites. My other favorite, David Hernandez, did not deliver for me last night. I thought he was just OK. I also really liked Jason Castro, but thought he flubbed the ending. Liberal, are you sure this isn’t the flub and cringe you were talking about in reference to David C. and the falsetto? I don’t remember David C. screwing up (or any falsetto) but I do remember it from Jason. I actually liked David A. a little better than I did last week. Luke and Danny should go on Thursday.
I also came in here to post my enthusiasm for David Cook. That was hands down the best Idol performance I’ve ever seen, although it’s true I’m not a consistent watcher. I hadn’t heard him sing before and had written him off solely for the bad hair. But that arrangement was amazing!
FWIW, I agree with yellowval that it was Jason with the screwed up falsetto.
You’re right, yellowval. My apologies to David C.
I’m revising his grade to a B+.
David C was the best for me last night. I loved the rockin’ version of Hello!
Luke and Gay Danny can go. Or at least Luke.
No problem. David C. definitely deserves the B+. 
For me David Cook was easily the best last night. Luke must go and I think Chikeze is gone. I get the love for Jason Castro, but for he doesn 't really make it for me personally.
But what I really wanted to say is that Paula was incredibly incredibly annoying last night with her rambling. Sometimes her drunken comments are funny, sometimes she is right on, but last night she was practically incomprehensible. She kept doing this thing where she would start a comment then interruprt herself to make another and keep repeating this until at the ned she wouls say something like, “I thought you were great!” Bah!
BTW, I agree that David A. already has this thing sewn up.
It’s like she believes that if she just keeps talking, something that makes sense will eventually come out. I cannot for the life of me understand why producers think she is necessary. I’d much rather have a sassy, opinionated woman who can speak on a level above George W Bush.
The rest are just vying for second place
(which, BTW, is not such a bad deal, and gets them lots of free facetime during the entire season)
Paula, please pick one sentence and finish it. Seriously.
Otherwise…I liked many of the performances from the guys. Chik was quite good, better than before. I didn’t recognize “Hello” at first but I really liked it once I figured it out.
I didn't think Castro sang "Hallelujah" all that well; he seemed afraid of the notes at times. And Luke is just not memorable. I think he and Danny will be leaving. RE Danny: Nothing against Soft Cell, but "Tainted Love" is not melodic enough to really showcase a singer's skills. It was quite unpleasant.Oh, and I could have lived my whole life without listening to David H’s ginormous bogey story. Yeesh.
David A.: stop with the nervous giggling already.
Okay, I’m done.
Paula’s brain embodies the infinite monkeys - infinite typewriters approach to musical criticism. If she opens her mouth and says enough words, eventually something relevant will fall out.
With regard to Paula, everyone’s commenting on her rambling but no one yet has mentioned that awkward moment near the end of the show where Paula stood up as if to leave, Simon guided her back down to her seat (with a seriously concerned face on), and Randy looked at her uncomfortably as she rambled. It looked really awkward.
As for the boys, my favourites pleased me as usual. Archuleta wasn’t as good as the last couple of weeks, but I attribute it to nervousness with performing on TV with an instrument and perhaps the pressure of the alleged “hostility” towards him by fellow contestants. (I think he may be getting fed up with the judges’ showering of praise on him.) Jason Castro was charming as usual and you could tell he wasn’t happy with the end of the song and was surprised to receive such positive feedback, kind of like when Archuleta stumbled on his last note on “Shop Around.” David Cook has only been a favourite of mine since last week, and this week I like him even more. I think a slight disadvantage he has is that because he sings rock, it is harder for people to recognize that he does actually have a good voice.