With Dolly Parton as guest mentor, the “American Idol” Top 9 turned out one of their most emotional weeks to date, pulling from her own songbook.
Brooke White was the first to take the stage on Tuesday and tackled “Jolene.” And though the song has been covered by other acts including the White Stripes, Brooke stuck to a fairly traditional version of the man-stealer tune.
Unfortunately for Brooke, while it got the thumbs up from female judge Paula Abdul, it didn’t work its magic on the male judges.
“What I think was lacking on that song was any emotion,” Simon Cowell said. “You were busking your way through that song.”
Things went better for rocker David Cook, who turned up with a new hair cut that showed more of his face.
He took on “Little Sparrow,” and though he’s received criticism in the past for using other people’s versions of classic songs, the one he performed on Tuesday was all his own.
“You’re a rocker, but I like how you’ve been showing you’ve got this unbelievable range,” Randy Jackson said. “You made your own arrangement which was very cool. And once again, another hot, consistent performance.”
Pint-sized chanteuse Ramiele Malubay took the stage next, performing a simple version of “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” which left the judges with little to say.
“I wasn’t jumping up and down, but I wasn’t mad at you either,” Randy said. “I would say it’s a pretty good performance, 6 ½ out of 10.”
Dread locked Jason Castro managed to fair slightly better with “Travellin’ Through,” which received praise from Paula Abdul and Randy, but not from Simon.
“This is the point where I lose my season pass to Dollywood because I didn’t like that at all,” Simon said, slamming Jason, who he previously championed.
“It sounded like the same song from before. I didn’t think you sang it particularly well, I didn’t think the music suits you particularly well.”
Irish-born-yet-San Diego-dwelling Carly Smithson took the stage next with “one of the better performances of the night,” as Randy dubbed it, choosing “Here You Come Again.” Simon, however, slammed her not for her vocals, but for her choice of clothing.
“At this stage you’ve got to start looking like a star and you’re not progressing at the moment,” he said.
He stuck to commenting about the music though when 17-year-old David Archuleta tried out “Smoky Mountain Memories.”
“David, you know I had issues with your choice of song last week. This week, absolutely on the money,” Simon raved; a comment Randy also echoed.
“David Archuleta is back! And I stand corrected,” Randy said, referring to his words about Carly, “That was the best performance of the night, right there.”
Kristy Lee Cook, who managed to stay out of the bottom three for the first time last week, put in another good performance, taking on the Dolly classic, “Coat of Many Colors.”
“You just gave a beautiful performance. I think this was your best performance,” Paula said.
Syesha Mercado then made the bold move of choosing Dolly’s “I Will Always Love You,” famously covered by Whitney Houston, an artist Randy has had plenty of experience with.
“So you took on the biggest tiger of the night and I think you did pretty good,” Randy said. “It’s still hard for me to hear anyone else take on that song, but you did alright.”
Simon, however, wasn’t as forgiving.
“The first part was good, the second part, as I had a feeling, paled by comparison to the Whitney version,” he said as Syesha stood looking shocked. “It was good, it wasn’t a fantastic version of the song.”
Finally, Aussie Michael Johns took the stage for “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right.”
“You keep bringing it up every week,” Randy enthused. “That was a blazing performance dude. Nice job!”
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