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Spicy and sensitive, rather like a chicken wing
It was a good night for the top eight guys tonight on American Idol. It’s almost too bad that two of them have to leave the competition this week, but if I have to pick who goes, one of them would be the first performer of the night. The other? Take your pick. The rundown:

Can we all agree that Luke Menard butchered “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”? Well then, can we all agree that I think he did? He was off key and the vocal was weak, and Simon is right: he shouldn’t make the top twelve.

I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a massive Archuleta backlash going on somewhere, because you can’t be the presumptive front runner without having people take pot shots at you. Young David was impressive again this week, but he’s obviously a little more earnest than a 17-year-old needs to be.

One thing you’re always going to get from Danny Noriega is a performance, and a whole bunch of attitude. I totally understand that some people are put off by him, but I feel as if he’s someone who belongs on a stage in front of an audience. I think the competition would be much less interesting without him (which is why I voted for him tonight).

Last week, I didn’t get David Hernandez, despite the lavish love the judges poured all over him. Tonight he picked a great song and totally delivered on the vocal. This is the kind of big song and big performance that looks awfully good in an American Idol finale. He hasn’t made it yet, but he should get one step closer after this week.

Michael Johns always delivers, and he always seems to be comfortable on stage. Tonight, as always, he sang as if he had been performing that song that well for years. The only problem is that he’s so smooth and polished that I don’t get particularly excited when he performs.

On the other hand, I thought David Cook was outstanding last week, but this week I thought he got kind of lost in the song, so that neither the performance nor the vocal stood out. Obviously, the judges were more impressed than I was. They thought he was brave to do Lionel Richie and make “Hello” his own, but I didn’t have the strong reaction to it they did.

To me, the brave one was Jason Castro, who came out and tackled a song that requires such investment and emotion that not only did his version of “Hallelujah” bring tears to my eyes, but so did the judges’ praise for the performance. It’s one of the best songs ever written, and I’d love to hear Jason do the whole five minutes, after hearing him do a minute and a half of it tonight.

Chikezie can also be cited for bravery, because he tried on a song that didn’t quite fit, and the performance was a little strained. It was pleasant enough, but not particularly compelling, and definitely not as soulful as he seemed to think it was.

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