David Archuleta back in key on ‘Idol’

Judges to America: Send Kristy home
Four singers left themselves in more danger than the rest.

Amanda Overmyer led off the show with “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” intending to add a southern rock kick to it. She continues to do one thing — sing power rock as loud as she can — but she worked the stage well enough to get the audience involved.

She got some blowback from the judges, who complained about pitchiness and predictability. Both Paula and Simon suggested she try a ballad to change things up.

“Ballads are boring,” Amanda said. “I have a minute and a half to show America what they would see if they bought a ticket to my show.” The fact that those 90 seconds came at the start of the show won’t help her.

Speaking of boring, Ramiele Malubay had the judges yawning a week ago and hoped that picking the uptempo “I Should Have Known Better” would change that. She looked far more comfortable on stage and her confidence grew as the song progressed, but the judges still weren’t thrilled.

All three thought she was better than she was a week ago, but they all want something more. The fact that she closed the show will help her chances of coming back.

Michael Johns sang “A Day in the Life,” meaning he had to cut one of the longer and more involved Beatles songs into a 90-second arrangement.

“The long and short of it was it was a mess. It’s a long and complicated song, and it doesn’t work in a minute and a half,” Simon said.

Kristy Lee Cook talked in her intro about being close to elimination two weeks in a row and how stressful it was. She sang “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” which she said she picked because she liked the title. Her performance made her sound like a legitimate finalist for the first time in weeks.

The judges, however, weren’t thrilled. Randy and Paula called it safe and boring, and Simon likened her performance to “musical wallpaper. You notice it, but you can’t remember it.”

Cook is in danger every week, and the judges made it clear that if the decision was up to them, they wouldn’t keep her around.

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