the ai7 finale is just a few hours away and just fresh off the star world ai marathon, it’s a perfect take time to look back to what has been one of the most interesting (but at times frustrating) seasons of american idol. this season is both interesting and frustrating for a number of reasons:
- this is the first season that contestants were allowed to play musical instruments. this highly benefited two contestants, namely, brooke white and jason castro, both of whom would probably not even make it to the top 24 without instruments.
- this is the season where there were not once, not twice but multiple occasions wherein contestants forgot the lyrics. heck, for the first time, a contestant even had to re-start her performance… twice.
- shocker eliminations are a given every season. but this season, there were just too many of them. gone are the days when a contestant is automatically eliminated because of a poor performance. on the contrary, this season, it was when a contestant gave his/her best performance was the time he/she was eliminated. the worst performer? continues on. yes, like we blogged before, ai has turned into a popularity contest.
- paula abdul’s 2nd song comment on a song which has yet to be performed. we think this was a result of massive confusion and then was not handled very well. consequently, this incident only threw more fuel into the fire of the conspiracy theory that ai is rigged.
but this season should be be most remembered solely for the music. this year, there were the tons and tons of fantastic performances brought about by the deep depth of talent courtesy of the contestants. we thought of putting up all the best performances throughtout season 7 but we ended up with an extremely long list. sobrang dami. 🙂 so we trimmed it down a bit (yah, just a bit. 😀) and came up with a shorter list. so here are our most memorable performances of ai season 7, in no particular order:
michael johns
it’s all wrong but it’s all right
michael johns was one of the early front-runners for this season mainly due to his strong showing at hollywood week plus his effortless performances leading to the top 12. after an jaw-dropping rendition of the queen’s we will rock you and we are the champions just the week before, michael johns performed this song with so much passion and showcased his incredible vocal skills. it was so good that it might be even considered the best performance of the whole season. surprisingly, michael johns was eliminated the following week… one of the many shocker eliminations of the season.
(video courtesy of youtube by wookielover)
brooke white
i am i said
we are not fans of brooke white. she’s just a benificiary of a strong fan base. but we gotta give her credit for this performance. this was her best for the whole season but, ironically, it was also her last.
(video courtesy of youtube by bonk65)
kristy lee cook
anyway
we adore klc. she could’ve easily tanked out early on as she consistently was in the bottom 2. but she got her groove and showed her talent starting on week 10 with her rendition of God bless the USA. then it was one solid performance after another with this being our favorite amongst them. this was followed by another solid one the following week (forever by mariah carey) but just as we thought she already had momentum, she got eliminated.
(video courtesy of youtube by aifreak08)
syesha mercado
one rock and roll too many
syesha peaked at the right time during the competition and it was this performance that started off her string of strong performances leading to her top 3 finish. this showed how great a performer syesha is (checkout her theatrics) and disguised her weakness of not being able to connect to the audience.
(video courtesy of youtube by daeward725)
jason castro
hallelujah
jason castro was a prototypical singer/songwriter. we did not expect him to last long during the competition but he did. he had a few strong performances but this was his first and, some may say, his best.
(video courtesy of youtube by hippiegeekette)
carly smithson
i drove all night
carly was the female front runner going into the top 24. she had mad vocal skills. unfortunately, the pressure might have been too much for her as she, more often than not, was too tense during the performances. early on though there was still no pressure just like this top 24 performance. after this, only a couple of performances stood out with Jesus Christ superstar being the last. and yeah, she got voted off during that week. weird huh?
(video courtesy of youtube by jooshuaa)
chikezie eze
i believe to my soul
chikezie had talent plus personality. strangely, he didn’t have enough fans. this top 24 performance was a real wow-er. he then gave another solid one during the top 12 (she’s a woman) but then he got eliminated the following week. we told you it was a trend this season. perform really well and you’ll soon be eliminated.
(video courtesy of youtube by blahzooo)
david hernandez
papa was a rolling stone
this was one of the first real “ang GALING!” performances we saw this season. stellar performance. he could’ve gone deep into the competition with such talent but maybe there were just too many david’s already ruling the contest. 😉
(video courtesy of youtube by stipsrm)
ramiele malubay
you don’t have to say you love me
we honestly thought ramiele could’ve gone all the way to the finals and with this top 24 performance, we thought she was well on her way there. great control and, as randy said, she sang like a pro. unfortunately, poor song choices plus an ill-timed sickness did her in. but we can always look back at this performance to see how an incredibly talented singer she is.
(video courtesy of youtube by blahzooo)
david archuleta
you’re the voice
we had a difficult time of trying to remember what were david archuleta’s amazing performances. at first, we can’t think of any. there were a lot of good performances but we can’t think of any great ones until we thought of this one. interestingly enough, it was a non-ballad performance which stood out for us. yes, this was so disney-like but we enjoyed it. 🙂
(video courtesy of youtube by zuperarchie)
so there it is. for us, the ten (or more) most memorable performances of ai season 7. but wait, before any of you react, we did not forget about david cook. any “most memorable performances of ai7” list is not complete without dc. david cook was soooo good that we can make a separate list solely for him… and we did. 🙂 week after week was a molten hot lava bomb (ala randy jackson) performance from him. he was that good. we posted some of his smokin’ performances already on a previous blog post (hello, billie jean, always be my baby) but here are a few more notable standing ovation performances:
david cook
music of the night
this proved that david cook is more than just a rocker. flawless performance.
(video courtesy of youtube by razorfist20)
david cook
the first time i ever saw your face
this was simon’s song choice for david and it really upped the level of difficulty for dc. not surprisingly though, david cook smashed this one as he showed sensitivity and performed a heart-wrenching rendition of the song. simon was so satisfied that he clapped during and after the performance, the only time i can recall simon did that to any contestant.
(video courtesy of youtube by supervid98)
david cook
all i really need is you
as if he has not proven it already, david’s performance of this song only cements the fact that he is ready to be a recording artist. as simon said, this can be heard on the radio today and it would be a hit. perfect example of what the judges say of taking an old song and making it current.
(video courtesy of youtube by aifreak08)
this post is getting way too long already 😀 so just check out these other home run performances of david cook:
for us, david cook has shined the brightest during the whole season. in itunes, his recordings have been the most downloaded almost every week. but despite his dominance, he’s still not a shoo-in for the title of american idol. it’s all about popularity and david archuleta has the most rabid fans who will religiously vote for two hours just to see their idol win. america made some mistakes througout this season, we hope they get it right this time around.
david cook for the win! 🙂
selleANDdyoks 
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