Donk @ Life

I have a confession to make. This is almost too embarrassing to post. However, if I don't get it out of my system, it might drive me crazy. Here goes nothing...

I watched American Idol last night and enjoyed the shit out of it.

The top 10 guys were singing last night and there was some real talent. The guys got to take on 70's music. BOOM! Some of the greatest music of all time was created in the 70's. I might not like the typical hippy's politics, but damn they can make some awesome music.

Last night, I felt there were 3 standout performances.

Performance #1: Chikezie. Last week, I caught his performance only because I walked past the Tv and my eyes started bleeding from the suit he was wearing. The song he sang was horrible. I stuck around to hear what Simon had to say about the suit.

This week, I was expecting more of the same. I heard Ryan plug his performance of a David Hathaway song and all I could think of was "Who the fuck is David Hathaway?". All these great 70's songs and you pick shit I've never heard of? Well, I was shocked when came out and nailed it. It was like I was watching a completely different guy from last week. He was having a good time and he knew he was nailing the song.

The song choice was great in my opinion. It was clever with the title, but I wasn't aware it was clever until they let me in on the name story. Anyway, Chikezie has a very good voice with a lot of "soul" to it. His charisma is unmatched in this competition. I feel he will do well just because of his name and his charisma. His talent will catapult him into the top 3-4 guys but I think that's limit. His "old" style will end up being his demise.

I loved Chikeze's performance and in the solitary comfort of my living room, I applauded his performance. He nailed it.

Performance #2: David Hernandez. Another "soul" song caught my ear as well. David sang "Papa was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations. His voice is probably the best of the competition with the exception of David Archuletta. The guy has some charisma, but not a whole lot. I think he felt the song and just moved with it, making his performance one of the best of the night. It was a great song, and a really good performance.

Bottom line is that this dude can sing and can do different things with his voice without being annoying. Some people just over-do it in the voice department. David's sounds so natural, effortless, and it comes out very full and rich. I suspect, he will be around for a little while, but probably fizzle out around the top 5 or 6 overall.

Performance #3: David Archuleta. He sang John Lennon's "Imagine". I hate this song and he just came out and made it awesome. Bottom line is that this dude can sing. He's young and has the look about him. To sum it up, he's an American Idol producer's wet dream. The only thing I hate about David is that he's destined to get put in a Boy Band or become a Boy Band type singer. He's too good for that. Hopefully he has some taste to go with the talent.

David is hands down the best singer and performer in the season 7 lineup. You can tell he's been groomed for this. I'm sure his parents realized his talents at an early age and have been guiding him along this path for many years. You can tell this ain't his first rodeo.

He does play the shy routine a bit too much though. Just go out there, be yourself and freakin' sing! David is my pick to win American Idol.

Disappointments for the night: Robbie Carrico: I wanted to see him shed this "you're not authentic" projection that the judges put on him. They opened the door for him to come out and be a rocker. He failed miserably IMO. He took the softball they threw him and got defensive and pretty much proved the judges right. I was pulling for David early because his parents are actually from my area. So he's close to being a local boy. After last night, he should definitely be in the bottom 3.

David Cook: The other rocker. This guy is much better than Robbie Carrico. He's got the rock sound. This will only get him so far. I thought his guitar playing was horrible last night. The tone was awful and his timing was terrible. I think David should save the guitar for something acoustic. He will be around for a while, but with Robbie going down in flames, he needs to do a lot better than he did last night to take over the "Rocker" title and grab the "rock vote". Even still...this guy's got nothing on Archuleta.