The final 12 were announced tonight. I think everyone including me thought David Archuleta had it all sewed up from the get-go but this week there were at least two who made many of us realize he has some stiff competition. Jason's "Hallelujah" was fantastic - so well sung and so moving that Simon even said he liked it as much or better than the original (really?!). David Cook sang an original and well-phrased version of a "Hello" which is horribly bland in the original and was wonderful in his hands, er voice. They're both much more interesting than David A. who is adorable and has a stupendous voice but is awfully young and, I'm afraid, oh-so-profound in that young/innocent way. It would be much more exciting to have a complex singer win.

The women, admittedly less exciting than the men this year as everyone has been pointing out, have a couple of potential super dupers. Brooke did a terrific rendition of "Love is a battlefield" that highlighted the intense and very sad lyrics instead of the tune. And I like Kristy Lee Cook, especially her "Faithfully," even if she seems a bit half-hearted at this point. As in politics this year, America's votes show that what seems to be written in stone isn't necessarily there at all. Carly Smithson is the judges' darling but I can't stand her one-tone yelling and, by the way, if she's so gosh darn wonderful, how come her CD (made under contract to Randy's production company, incidentally) sold a mere 360 copies?

Here are my current quick takes on The Twelve of 2008:
David Archuleta - wonderful voice, tho horrible airy breath; maybe too bland and wide-eyed innocent
Jason Castro - don't like his hair but c'est la vie; adore his voice and song choices
David Cook - hate his hair and scarves, love his voice and interpretations
Kristy Cook - adorable to look at, not bad country-ish singer
Chikezie Eze - way too full of himself and hate his voice
David Hernandez - the strip club alum, too pretty for me, not interesting voice to me
Michael Johns - the Aussie; nice to watch but booorrrriinng to me
Ramiele Malubuy - cute, seems phony-sweet, big voice sometimes, bad song choices often
Syesha Mercado - bright-eyed and cute but boring as heck to me
Amanda Overmyer - could've been terrific but wastes time focusing on being too-cool-for-this-competition
Carly Smithson - just too unremittingly screechy angry and loud, and uninteresting
Brooke White - very blonde, a bit too ditzy for my taste, gorgeous voice and terrific interpretations

I'm going to assume that Overmyer will burn out soon and both Johns and Smithson bore us all to smithereens. So I'll predict the final four is Archuleta, boy Cook, Castro and White.

Labels: a.i., a.i.7, reflections, silliness, tv