American Idol 7, February 28: The End of the Line

The competition is fierce! There are eliminations! There’s drama! Ryan, stop being so pushy. We’re already watching. Tonight four singers go home.

Ryan asks Randy why they’ve been having themes for the top 24. Randy says it’s nice to listen to music that was a little better than it is now. The judges want to see if the singers can sing those kinds of tunes. Ryan asks Paula if it’s tougher now that the decisions are out of the judges’ hands. Paula says it’s out of Simon’s hands. The judges put the singers here, and it’s the singers’ responsibilities to connect with the audience. Ryan says his mom told him Simon was “doing something” during the show - namely, he had his hand by his head. Simon says it’s a code. In Sign Language, it’s “father.” Simon says there’s a gesture he could give Ryan, but he won’t. I bet it’s the OK sign. Is it the OK sign?

The top 20 singers give us a ‘70s medley, starting with Michael singing “I Saw the Light.” Davids Cook and Archuleta both get solos. Kristy and Carly starts the girls off with “It’s a Heartache.” Alexandrea gets a solo and proves what I said last night, that she’s in over her head. Amanda has a solo, too, and this really isn’t the song for her. Chikezie, Ramiele, and Asia’h team up for “The Things We Do For Love.” Brooke and Jason Yeager duet on “I Feel the Earth Move,” followed by two other boring people. (No, wait, Brooke isn’t boring to me anymore.) Eh, I’m not that excited. And yes, I had to Google all those songs except the last one.

As usual, the guys are up first for results. We get the highlights from their shot at ‘70s songs. Chikezie rocked the house, the barn, and the chicken coop with “I Believe to My Soul.” Robbie tried to rock all three but I don’t think he succeeded that well. David Cook had me and then lost me. He also needs to watch his tone with Simon. Michael was off-key on “Go Your Own Way”, Luke was bad on “Killer Queen,” Jason Yeager was also bad on “Long Train Running,” and Jason Castro is still a cutie. Danny confuses me. David Hernandez has yet to accept my marriage proposal, but I think it’s only a matter of time. A halo appeared over David Archuleta’s head and he was preemptively crowned the winner.

Ryan asks Luke if it’s easier this week. Probably not for him, since he’s probably going home. Ryan goes back to his “back row” thing - the back row contains the Jasons, Danny, Michael, and Chikezie. Michael is safe and gets to sit. Chikezie is also safe. Ryan has bad news for Jason Castro… but just that he’s going to have to have more interviews next week, which we know he hates. That leaves Danny and Jason Yeager. American teen girls loves Danny, so that means Jason Yeager is outta here, and we can officially call Jason Castro just Jason.

Ryan says he could tell it was tough for Jason to hear the judges’ criticisms after his performance. Fighting back tears, Jason says he wasn’t surprised to be in the bottom this week but wanted to give it another good shot next week. Ryan asks what was the best advice he got. Jason says he put everything out there but couldn’t find the perfect song, as the judges kept telling everyone to do. Simon tells Jason he needs more experience and to learn how to stand out. He adds that Jason isn’t a bad singer. Jason tries to prove this by singing “Long Train Running” again. He’s at least able to pretend he’s not sad, but it’s still not anything special. Sorry, buddy.

Next up we get the girls’ recap. Carly sang Heart, and apparently she really likes them? I think I heard that somewhere? Syesha sang “Me and Mrs. Mr. Jones.” Kristy was apparently better than I thought. Ramiele is still awesome, even though she wasn’t too great. Brooke was even more awesome, and can we stop teasing that she was singing “You’re So Vain” to Simon? Kady is in a lot of trouble. Amanda tried to pull Sanjaya’s weird-hair-will-keep-me-here move, and it might not work. Alaina was definitely 17 years old. Alexandrea is also in trouble. Asia’h tried to overcome “All By Myself” and got mixed reviews.

Back row (Kristy, Brooke, Alexandrea, Amanda, and Asia’h), you may now face your doom. Kristy is safe. Rats! Asia’h is safe, but wearing way too many plastic bracelets. Brooke is obviously safe. Amanda and Alexandrea are both nervous, as they should be. Of the two, Amanda is safe, and my second prediction comes true. Alexandrea is rocking a peace-sign bandanna and peace-sign earrings at the same time. That’s bold. Randy isn’t thrilled about this but blames song choice. Paula notes that this isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.

Alexandrea says she enjoyed her Idol experience (until tonight, obviously). Ryan still loves Alexandrea’s great-grandmother, and she yells at him for not bringing her out to California. She sings us out with “If You Leave Me Now,” but shouldn’t the other girls be singing that to her? David Archuleta is really upset, and as soon as Alexandrea is done, she jumps down to hug him. Aww, that was sweet!

Back to the girls for more drama. That would be Carly, Alaina, Syesha, Kady, and Ramiele, for those of you not keeping track. Carly is unsurprisingly safe, as are Ramiele (who’s clinging to Alaina) and Syesha. Both Alaina and Kady are in the bottom three, Ryan tells us, and one will be leaving us. I think Kady thinks it’s her. Guess what? She’s wrong. No way! Ramiele is shocked. Alaina’s mom is TICKED, y’all. Wait, there are two women there. Does Alaina have two mommies? Well, whoever they are, they’re both ticked. Alaina is embarrassed to cry on TV, but Ryan tells her that no matter how good you are, someone has to go every week. Yeah, I think she gets how this works, Ryan.

Paula tells Alaina that she’s a gifted singer and repeats that this is just the beginning. Ryan tells Alaina she should be proud of herself and not embarrassed. Danny is upset. Ryan tells Alaina she doesn’t have to do her sing-out, and she doesn’t want to because she’s sure she’ll sound horrible, but the other singers encourage her. The girls join her onstage and sway behind her, some (like Brooke) singing along. Alaina does pretty well singing through her tears, but I hate the idea of her having to go back to high school next week knowing that she could still be here. The camera guys keep showing Ramiele, hoping to catch her breaking down like last week, but she covers her face to thwart them. Ha! Take that, camera guys!

Ryan tells us that on March 11th, we’ll see our top 12 for the first time, and they’ll be on a new set with new graphics. Ruben will be this season’s exit-song performer (awesome), and the Lennon/McCartney songbook will be on tap. The producers have been trying to make that happen for a while, and they finally did. Ryan adds that Idol Gives Back will air on Wednesday, April 9th. We see some clips from last year’s show, but I’m not going to recap them again. Ryan teases that Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, Reese Witherspoon, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, Daughtry, and Carrie Underwood will all be part of the show this year.

Moving right along, we head back to the boys. The Davids, Luke, and Robbie are left. The Davids are quickly all deemed safe, so Luke and Robbie are sent to the center of the stage. Shockingly, Robbie is the one going home. Okay, what? Does America just like really boring singers or something? He thinks he chose a bad song, and Simon thinks that the viewers saw through Robbie’s façade. So… I guess that’s it. Cue the funeral video! Then Robbie sings us out, but I’ve stopped paying attention and started getting excited for Lost

Next week we’re on the same schedules - Betsy Wasser is your guide to the guys on Tuesday, and I’ll bring you the girls on Wednesday and the results on Thursday. See you there!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent American Idol 7 articles on FoxesOnIdol:

Jenn Brasler is an Associate Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, Virginia. By day she works for a court reporting firm, and by night she’s a spy for a covert branch of the CIA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. Jenn hopes both Kristy and Kady leave next week, and not just because she sometimes has trouble remembering which is which.

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