Season 7 - Best talent?

The current Season 7 of American Idol is being touted as the best yet with the most talented top contestants in the history of the show? Is this really so, and if yes, why?



Well it's not too difficult to determine the veracity of the assertion. We know season 2 with Clay Aiken was better than season 1. We also know that no other season since has compared with the second. Let's check it.


Season 3 where Fantasia won was ridiculous. It did have Jennifer Hudson, Latoya London, Amy Adams and George Huff. But even with these, it couldn't come close to a cast with Clay Aiken, Trenyce and Carmen Rasmusen.


Season 4 was another joke. Bo Bice?? Please. While Carrie Underwood is ok, she is highly overrated. Fortunately for her there is a strong country fan base in the south. Still this season did star Anthony Fedorov, and Vonzell Solomon who should have rightly gone further than Carrie. Yet we must agree that Clay and his co-stars outshadowed this set of talent.


Season 5 had Elliot Yamin. I have no special love for Daughtry, but he is quite talented. Taylor Hicks winning that year was most unfortunate. There were however talents such as Mandisa and Paris Bennett. This season was not too bad talent-wise, but I think we can agree that it still trailed behind Clay and company.

Season 6 was surely the most attrocious. Who could forget Sanjaya Malakar, the worst top 12 contestant ever, maybe even the worst ever of the top 24! Then there's that Blake Lewis character with his side-kick Chris Richardson. If you don't think Blake is all that bad, just review his guest appearance performance earlier in this season 7. It was horrible! The best of this season no doubt were Melinda, Jordin, Lakisha and the Lovely Haley Scarnato who was most underrated. Anyway, season 6 was nothing to talk about.

Now Season 7 we actually have an assortment of real talent. First and foremost must be David Hernandez. Of course there are David Archuleta and David Cook too. Brooke is also decent, and Carly is talented, even if she hasn't learnt how to be appealing yet. So objectively speaking, this season does seem to edge out the good ole' days of season 2. I doubt any talent on this season surpasses that of Clay, but in terms of the variety and quality of talented folks, I must agree that this season tops them all.

So what happened this year? How did AI manage to go from worst (season 6) to best in just one year? That's quite a swing. Well naturally I have my theory and I invite you to post yours too. But I think mine is correct. Here goes...

Recall that last season was a massive disaster with Sanjaya Malakar. There were also other notable misfits too, such as Antonella Barba. The top 12 for the most part was just plain lame. The votefortheworst crowd were in candy land with such a wide variety of assortments. They could easily pick a candidate that everyone would agree was out of place, even if not necessarily the worst.

With the advance of Malakar so far into the competition, votefortheworst got more out of hand than the AI producers would care to admit. Naturally AI guys hate votefortheworst and truly want to see its demise. Well they certainly did some questionable things last season to undermine their nemesis, in their attempt to do damage control. However, the real solution is to nip the problem in the bud.

This season they acted early and crippled the votefortheworst regime from the start, by ensuring to send only talented folks through to the top 24. Even Amanda who seemed somewhat out of place, had some decent moments. Who would blame the AI governors for not wanting a repeat Sanjaya Malakar phenomenon? They realised their mistake last season and did the right thing. They realised that sending musical weaklings in the ring with the big boys doesn't pay off in the long term, even if it is entertaining for a while. Votefortheworst is left with no real contestant to pick, and so their support has gone down the drain. But the upside is, we end up with a cast that is above par.

The AI producers realised they did a crap job last season in selecting contestants, and they decided that a repeat blunder was out of the question. No doubt votefortheworst helped them to see the light.

Recap Top 9 Results Show

Kicking off the top 9 results show was the group singing 9 to 5.


After some highlights of the previous night, Ryan gets right down to business when he points to the empty sofa. It seems this has become standard procedure now, though Ryan tends to change things up as the number of contestants decreases.

First to be given news is Michaels Johns. Safe.

David Archuleta up next. I don't think anyone had any doubts of his position in the top 8. So no surprise here.

Carly, as Ryan said, is no stranger to the bottom 3, but she is safe this time.

At this stage it is time to take some calls. I'm not sure what I think of this added segment. Seems more like a waste of time so far. Pretty much most if not all the questions were boring and elicited like manner responses. The only question which had some entertainment value really, was the last one for Simon, where he was asked why he feels the need to apologise after giving negative critique. Simon apologised and said he'd never do it again. Yeah right! Can a leopard change its spots? But in fact, when Simon says he's sorry after giving brutal feedback, he is really saying he's not sorry at all.

There was a performance by some Clark brothers at this stage. What crap! Who paid to get these guys on the show? Good grief!

Ford music video followed.

Back to results. David Cook called. Ryan mentions that David was taken to the hospital just after the performance show. David explained that he had high blood pressure. Other news reports say he had some anxiety problems. Well thankfully he seemed ok tonight and even more so after being declared safe.

Ramiele up next. It was inevitable for her to be sent to the bottom 3 seats. After all, 4 contestants were already called before, and each one in succession declared safe. Just based on probability, it would be too much to hope she could escape being in the bottom. But she had a lot more going against her too, as I've made clear on this site.

Kristy's turn. A keen mind could accurately predict she'd be chosen to keep Ramiele company. I won't go into it here, but it has nothing to do with her performance.

At this point we got to catch up with Buckeye, Phil Stacey and Bo Bice. The former two are happy doing Country music. Bo explained he had intestinal surgery, and took a year off. But he's now doing Southern Rock.

As it pertains to the results, we have Syesha, Brooke and Jason remaining to hear their news. Since only one must be in the bottom 3, it was obvious that Syesha whose turn was next would be safe. And so it came to pass.

So either Brooke or Jason is safe. It wasn't too long before we knew that Brooke is indeed in the so called bottom 3. If you ask me, Jason was really in the bottom 2.

(Ramiele is really short!)

Ryan asks Simon what he thinks of the bottom dwellers. Simon said he totally agrees. Simon is so full of it. Without doubt, Jason deserved to be in that group, in place of someone else.

We get an interlude here to promote the Idol Gives back week which is to come. This time they highlighted some work they have done in Ethiopia. A touching story was told of a young girl seeking to be reunited with her sister, and ending happily when the Idol team found her.

Dolly Parton graced the American Idol stage, and surprisingly sounded really bad. I am tempted to say "horrendous", but I will restrain myself. After her unfortunate performance, in her little chatter with Ryan, she said Simon tells the truth. What does that say about what Dolly really thought about the "bottom 3"?

Ok, now back to serious business. Ryan asks Randy who he thinks will go home. Randy forthrightly proclaims Ramiele as the one. Simon is asked the same question, but perhaps trying to be more tactful, or maybe just trying not to be wrong, just says the obvious, that Brooke would not be going home.

And surely, Brooke is safe.

Kristy stands next to Ramiele. Anyway, as I predicted, Ramiele takes the plunge. Don't be too sad folks, if they went solely by votes, she'd have gone from last week. So be thankful that you got her for another week.

Recap Top 10 Results Show

It's that time of week again when another contestant must leave the show. It is unfortunate that they drag it on for a whole hour. Well I'll cut to the chase (to some extent) and skip over the regular features such as the group song, which wasn't anything to talk about anyway, and the Ford video.


Again, Ryan re-uses the new process of identifying the bottom 3. The regular seats are empty, all contestants off stage, and then they are called in one by one and given the news. Recall that in my recap of last week's results show, I pointed out that you can tell certain people are safe once the first 2 of the bottom 3 are revealed. The rule to keep in mind is that Ryan will not select this 3 before going through the rundown of each contestant. Therefore all who are called after the first two are known, but before the last two overall, must be safe.

Chickezie is called first and is sent to sit on the scary stool. This is not really surprising, even though he sang well. Most of the other contestants simply were more memorable.

Brooke -safe. That is expected.

Carly -not pregnant! Apparently there was some rumour floating around that she was. Hopefully that should nip that in the bud. She also confessed that Simon was on to something when he noticed she was tense the night before. She was wearing something to try to make her look a little thinner. Anyway, she is safe.

David Archuleta, David Cook both safe.

Syesha -bottom 3! At this moment it became clear that more tricks were to come, for we know Syesha was not in the bottom 3. Also note that the next two contestants called must be safe, based on the analysis explained a little earlier.

Well even without our theorizing, we would know Michael Johns was safe, based on the mad reviews he got from the judges the night before. What was surprising though, was that Ramiele was called out next. Surely she got the lowest votes overall, yet she must be declared safe. As predicted by my theory, she is indeed. Now this is important. For based on another theory that they sometimes just select a gender and send the one with the lowest votes of that gender home, even if that person was not the lowest overall, this must mean that a guy is going home.

Before we get to proceed to the rest of the results, we are interrupted by some callers. The first one asked Chickezie if he is single. Yes he is. The next person asked David Archuleta why the hell (not her word choice) he chose that song, out of all the options. Well, he just loves it, and sorry Simon, but he really did select it himself. Next caller seems to have been put up to it by Simon. She asked him what it would take to get Ryan's job. Simon said the good thing is that his job doesn't require much talent. Another of Simon's little helpers asked him if he considers himself the most attractive on the show. He replied that it's not what he says, but what others say.

At this point Kimberly Locke is introduced. Recall that she came in 3rd place on Season 2, behind Ruben and Clay. Some things we learn about her -she opened a restaurant, and she lost some weight. She then graces the show with a performance. It was ok. Nothing spectacular. Certainly better than Blake's fiasco appearance earlier in the season. One thing -I hope she didn't pay for that hairdo. It didn't do much for her.

Finally we can get back to business. Jason and Kristy were called out. Since my theory said a guy would be going home, I was pretty sure Jason would appear in the bottom 3. Correct I was. Kristy must be feeling great, having been in the bottom 2 or 3 for what seems to be forever now.

Ryan talks to Jason, and Jason explains he had a feeling this would happen to him, but while he is mumbling on, Ryan announces that he is safe.

So it's down to Chickezie and Syesha. Well we know Syesha wasn't really in the bottom 3 at all, and given the above analysis, a guy was selected to go home. That means it's bye bye Chicki. And so it came to pass, Chickezie sang one last time before taking his exit. He sounded much better the previous night, which is understandable.

Chickezie should be pleased with himself. He lasted longer than he probably should have. He was certainly fortunate to outlast David Hernandez.

Recap Top 10

Finally the Beatles theme weeks are over and the show can go on. Things were getting a bit dull with such limited song choices. This week the contestants got to choose a song from the year in which they were born.

Up first was little Ramiele Malubay. In the childhood flashback we learn the somewhat amusing tidbit that she used to bite kids her age when she was around 3. I'm sure a number of guys would love to get a bite from her now (and maybe some girls too, especially since her racy pics would indicate that she might be willing to go that way).

Singing Alone, by Heart Ramiele sounded like she had potential. Unfortunately she kinda screwed things up pitch-wise as the song progressed. It was later revealed by the judges that she has not been well, so hopefully that's the reason. Randy thought it was the wrong song choice. Paula sympathised with the fact that she wasn't feeling well. Simon didn't think it was as bad as Randy made out, and that it was better than last week. He said she started out decently but was off in the middle, which is quite true. He expects her to be around next week. Well kind of a silly thing to say when this is the first contestant of the night. I think Ramiele is in serious danger of exiting after this.

Next contestant was Jason Castro. This guy is a complete enigma to me. I just don't understand the craze. True to form, he performed another dud. Back with the guitar again, but still nothing to get excited about. Randy thought it was nice, but said there was nothing vocally different about it. Paula said he played it safe, was in his niche, and stayed true to himself. Simon remarked that he now has two bad weeks, the guitar playing was clumsy and that he is just too laid back. While I am in general agreement with the judges, I find it strange that they felt this way, seeing that they had such high praise for him in other rounds when he did just as well/bad as he did tonight.

Syesha --She actually sang quite well. This girl is standing out more and more. I thought the song itself was a bit boring, but I commend Syesha for a lovely performance. Randy thought it was the best he ever heard from her. Paula told her it was pitch perfect and that she is now the dark horse. Simon said it was the best so far of the 3. However, he didn't like it as much as Randy. He said that she has a limit to her vocals, and that song stretched it.

Chickezie --Not bad. I am not a fan of this dude because he sounds too typical for my use. Randy thought it too old school, and boring. Paula disagreed and thought he did a great job. Simon said he sang it well, but the performance was cheesy, and lacked originality.

Brooke White --Oops! False start from Brooke. Nevertheless she was able to quickly compose herself and try again. It must have taken some skill to avoid complete disaster, and that she did. The first part of the song was great, but it somehow deteriorated later on. Randy didn't like the arrangement, but thought the first part was ok. Paula enjoyed this more than last week. Simon agreed with Randy that it probably would have been better without the band. He thought the first part was fantastic despite the mistake at the start, and concluded that she did enough to stick around another week.

Michael Johns --At first I was like, "what the hell?" But it turned out better than I expected. There were a number of parts I didn't like, but there were some pretty cool moments too. Randy felt this was his best performance since being on the show. I'm not so sure about that; I think one of his hollywood auditions was probably better. Paula thought he picked the right song, felt proud of him, and said it was fantastic. Simon said it was the first he has seen star potential in him, and up to this point of the night, thought it the only memorable performance.

Carly --When I knew she was doing Total Eclipse of the Heart, I was expecting some great things from her. Unfortunately I felt let down. There were parts to it that I thought were well done, but I find she tends to shout too much. Also, the last note seemed really off. She has a great voice and really doesn't need to try so hard. Randy didn't love it, just liked it and wasn't sure if this was the right song for her. He agreed with me about the last note. Paula differed, and believes Carly can sing any song and make her like it. Simon said something didn't quite work and thought she was too tense. He did say though that some parts were sung well. Carly later told Ryan that she had to go to the bathroom just before her turn and so she had to run back. So I guess she is saying that that could explain what appeared to be tenseness. (Ryan asked her if she flushed. lol!)

David Archuleta --I never heard this song he sang before, and apparently Randy and Paula were not familiar with it either. Nevertheless, he sang well. Randy said it was very nice. Paula said he can sing the phone book and we'd still love it. Simon felt it was good in parts but confessed that he didn't like the performance. He said it reminded him of a theme park performance, and that he would be shocked if David really chose that song for himself, as it doesn't seem to match him.

Kristy Lee Cook --This girl has been on the verge of going home a number of times now. It was imperative that she do something special this week to have any hope of surviving any longer. Well it seems she might have pulled it off. Singing God Bless The USA, was truly a smart thing to do, as Simon also later commented. This will certainly elicit the votes of the many sentimental and overly patriotic folks especially considering the debate on the Iraq war, and the fact that the USA seems on the verge of total collapse economically and otherwise. Kristy sang fairly well, so couple that with the song choice, and she should have a place secured for next week. Randy said that other than some pitch problems, it was a very good performance from her. Paula said she heard better from her before and warned her to watch the pitchiness. Simon said it was her best performance ever by a wide margin, and emphasised how clever the song selection was.

David Cook --Last, but certainly not least. This chap did the song Billy Jean, made so popular by Michael Jackson. But this version was VERY different. Amazingly, it sounded quite good. Normally when people change such well known songs around, it takes a while to get used to. But I felt drawn to this version from the start. Randy exclaimed that this was the most original, and that David might just be the one to win the whole thing. Paula was thrilled. She said he was smart, brave and willing to stretch the boundaries. Simon agreed he was brave. He said it could have turned out to be insane, or amazing, and for him, it was amazing!

All in all a pretty decent night. I would say David Cook took the show this round. Ramiele looks like she'll be going home. It is hard to tell who will stand with her in the bottom 3. But fighting for those positions will be Carly, Chickezie, Brooke and surely Jason Castro. Unfortunately Michael Johns got too much praise tonight to make it among this crowd. He needs to go soon though.

Season 7 Recap Top 11 Results Show

The show begins with the announcing of the mentors for the upcoming programmes. Andrew LLoyd Weber is among them.

The idols did the traditional group performance live. Starting it off on a good note was the Achuleta kid. It took a dip when Jason and David Cook sang together. Jason brought down the quality, making it sound scratchy. When they showed Brooke and Ramiele, I was wondering if Rami was lip synching, because I could only hear Brooke.

Seems like Chicken Little was in the audience.

Recaps were next shown.

Time to start picking out the bottom 3. However there is new routine tonight. No contestants on stage, none seated. instead 3 empty seats on the left, and seats for everyone else on the right. The procedure tonight is to call each contestant out, remind audience of how things went, then declare whether the person is safe.

It is easy to understand why they are doing this. If you look around on this site, you'll see a theory about the seating arrangement. The fact is, you can pick out the likely candidates in the bottom 3 based on the seating, and the order Ryan calls them. So to make things a little less predictable, they use this format. It still has a blatant weakness though. Why/How? Well Ryan is not going to pick the bottom 3 before going through all the contestants. Therefore, once we have 2 of the bottom 3 identified, we know that all contestants after that up until the last two, are definitely safe.

Ok so the nervous Brooke is called first. But she is soon relieved when she learns she can take one of the good seats.

Carly is up next. Surely everyone is shocked when Ryan tells her she is in the bottom 3, and rightly so. Without doubt her true vote count did not put her in the bottom 3. The producers are messing with us again this year.

David A is in the top 10. Somewhat surprisingly, so is Michael Johns.

After a break we return to a scene of the idols making the ford video.

But getting back to business, David Cook is safe.

Kristy is called next, and we all know she is in the bottom 3. So it was painful listening to Ryan ask her about how she thinks she did the previous night. She actually thought her performance was her best on the show so far. But inevitably, she must take a seat beside Carly. No doubt Carly feeling a little more confident at this stage.

As I explained, everyone from here on must be safe until we get to the last two. So naturally Jason who is called next is safe. Ramiele who follows must also get good news.

We go to the new aspect of the show where Ryan takes calls from the public. The first caller asks Simon why he spends fo much money on cars but so little on clothes. Simon thought the question was rude since it implies that he looks terrible. (I thought he knew that). But his answer was basically that he doesn't have an ego, and doesn't put too much thought into what he's going to wear. That's reasonable.

The second caller asked Simon if he'd consider doing a sequel to the season 2 kiss he did with Paula. He said yes since to him Paula is a good kisser. Maybe Paula is not so eager to repeat it though.

After a couple more calls, we get some entertainment from Kellie Pickler. Surprisingly, she sounded quite good. That was a relief to me, as I was expecting it to be embarrassing, considering the calibre of talent this season.

We are then shown clips of Fantasia and Elliot Yamin in Africa.


Returning to why we are here tonight, Sayesha is called out, and it is no surprise that she gets her ticket to tour.

So we come down to Chickezie and Amanda. Ryan calls them on to the stage together. It's not long though before we are told that Chickezi is safe. Carly must be feeling pretty good at this stage seeing the company she is in. Surely she is not the worst of them. When Ryan tells one to take a seat, she knows she'll be the one.

Three are standing now.

Carly -safe! (duh!)

2 remain

Kristy, safe for another week! Ok, I correctly predicted the bottom 2, but was wrong on who would go. I don't mind though.

So Amanda is leaving -finally! Unfortunately we have to hear her sing the song again.