American Idol 10 - Top 7

If you ask me when I started really watching American Idol, I'd say Season 7: the Davids, Carly and Syesha, that idiot Jason Castro. I remember having watched an episode of Season 3 (Fantasia singing "I believe the children are the future...") and then the finals of seasons 5 and 6 (Taylor Hicks; McPhee's Over the Rainbow and My Destiny; Jordin Sparks singing This is My Now; Blake Lewis getting squashed by Jordin). But it was during Season 7 that I actually developed a sort of attachment to the show and its contestants, actually rooting for some of them to be in the finals. Season 8's even closer to my heart: I watched it from the Top 13 all the way to the Finals, where I secretly wanted Kris Allen to win after Danny Gokey came in third the previous episode.

So this week, I'm starting my American Idol Season 10 review and forecast, though I've actually been watching since the Top 9 (the same time I began Season 7, where they did Dolly Parton). Unfortunately, I found myself too lazy to summon my thoughts into a single organized body the past two weeks. So, for history's sake, here's my forecast for the past two episodes.

Pia's last number in competition, River Deep, Mountain High.

TOP 9: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Bests of the night: JAMES (It reminded me of Adam Lambert's live performance of The Tracks of My Tears: perfectly toned down, emotionally powerful, beautifully sung); then PIA (Some problems with diction and with her awkward stand-dance, but otherwise a powerhouse number); then CASEY (He has this really, to channel Steven Tyler, beautiful non-mainstream voice, and he shimmers with creativity).

Who should go: PAUL (totally forgettable); STEFANO (incomprehensible belting and over-the-place vocals); or HALEY (I thought it was just shouty).

Who went: PIA. That was a moment when America deserved one big (expletive).

Paul's suit was glaring; his Top 8 performance was messy.

TOP 8: Songs from the Movies

Best of the night: CASEY (There was 'artistry' boldly spelled across his performance, and he perfectly sang it like he was telling a story, which is, in cases like this, an undeniable mark of good singing).

Who should go: PAUL (All the world's a stage, and he was all over it like pieces of trash scattered in a dump site).

Who went: PAUL. Told ya'.

TOP 7: Songs from the 21st Century

SCOTTY: Vocally, it was nice (I like that deep, rolling quality of his voice), and the diction wasn't half-bad either. His performance, however, was a double-edged sword: It was very, very Scotty (if you know what I mean) that no doubt got his fans all jumping up and down in their seats; it also said something else: This may all be nice, but it's just a Scotty performance, nothing more. It's like what Joe of MasterChef said to that girl who made a mandarin orange salad during the Chinese-themed challenge in Season 1: It's blah blah blah, but it's still just a salad.

JAMES: I totally agreed with Jennifer: theatrically, the best of the night. Those notes were simply insane. But, to every high-note streak that you pull off, there's always the danger of your diction going down the drain. That's what happened to him. For the first time in three episodes, I actually had a problem understanding what he was singing. Of course, as if that caused him any trouble.

HALEY: I actually liked Haley for the first time. Liked - not loved. The song was a perfect fit to her voice, thus vocally, she was more than okay. However, it seems, as she has shown these past three episodes, that she has trouble connecting with lyrics in general, with putting songs in their proper contexts. She did sort of project the unhappy world of Rolling in the Deep, but it wasn't enough. She just can't help smiling when she sings a chorus, can she? And please work on the diction.

JACOB: I disagreed with the judges. I thought it was sung as it should have been sung, because I would've been totally turned off if he turned Dance with My Father into another diva-ish, belty piece. Emotionally, it was the best of the night (although it was already an emotional song for him to begin with). And I still have a problem with his diction.  

CASEY: If I'd just watched him for the first time, I'd say he's a madman. But no, Casey's a genius indeed. It was, again, so original, so creative that I'd hand it to him based on those two grounds alone.

Stefano did Ne-yo's Closer and indeed got closer - to home.

STEFANO: Like Haley, this was actually the first time that I liked a Stefano performance. The past weeks had been a whirling dervish of unintelligible lyrics from him; last night, he actually did a satisfactory job. The latter half of his number, though, came off jerky and unstable. But - this was his best, so far.

LAUREN: She has the voice. But that performance was just lame. Lame, lame, lame.

Bests of the night: CASEY, followed not-so-closely by HALEY, then JAMES.

Who should go: SCOTTY, then LAUREN.

Who went: STEFANO. Well I can't say I'll miss him, and he's been in the bottom something for quite sometime now, so that was bound to happen. It's just sad that he got booted out for his best performance since I began watching. 

Happy Easter in advance, dear reader!