There you have it...the final four voted off American Idol last night as a group.  Asia'h Epperson, Kady Malloy, Luke Menard and Danny Noriega.  I fully expected to see Kady and Luke go, so I wasn't surpised by their exit at all.  On the other hand, I was totally shocked to see Asia'h and Danny go!  I felt that instead of Asia'h, Kristy Lee Cook should have been the one voted off.  I don't think she has a place on Idol because she just hasn't connected with me.  But obviously, she's connected with someone cuz she wasn't voted off!  And although Danny pretty my irked me and I wanted him to leave the 1st week...

I was still sad to see him go.  I was actually starting to like him more.  I think the thing that irked me the most about him was that he tried too hard.  Ya know?  By that I mean, he didn't seem natural and his performance didn't come across as real and organic to me.  I felt he was talented and didn't need to try so much with the attitude and glaring into the camera like he did.  But when people have the kind of attitude that he does, it's normally something they develop to hide the fact that they're sensitive...so it's a defense mechanism.  But it was so moving to see Chikezie hugging him like he did because being so sensitive, Danny needed that comforting touch.  And poor Ramiele...that girl is a mess at the end of every show crying like she does!  Speaking of sensitive, lol!  That's sweet though.  I had actually thought that Chikezie would be the one voted off last night for two reasons.  Firstly, although I really like him, I wasn't sure he'd made enough of a connection with the audience to stay.  Secondly, I had heard rumblings that the Vote For The Worst people were putting their votes behind Danny Noriega, so I thought he'd stay.  But I was wrong!  So here's your Season 7 Top 12...

Front row: Syesha Mercado, David Hernandez, Ramiele Malubay, Brooke White and David Archuleta.  Back row: Amanda Overmyer, Jason Castro, David Cook, Chikezie Eze, Michael Johns, Carly Smithson and Kristy Lee Cook.  I'm a little disappointed because I was supposed to be in Hollywood this week to attend the American Idol Top 12 Party, but my bosses decided that I shouldn't go for reasons I can't go into.  But let's hope I get to go to the Idol finale in May! 

Just in case you missed it...

David Hernandez with no shirt...and obviously hardly wearing underwear since the big, yellow dot had to be placed over the photo!  Since news broke earlier this week that he was a nude stripper who gave lap dances to a mostly male clientele, these kinds of pictures have been leaking to the media.  He looks pretty good though!  That's all I have to say about that!  On to the girls!

 80s Week continues!  Here are the notes I jotted down while watching the Top 8 Girls!

ASIA'H EPPERSON: Exactly, Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" is a perfect song for Asia'h!  It fits both her unique voice and her personality.  I enjoyed her performance and she looks great.  Let's see if the other chicks bring more!

KADY MALLOY: I consider myself a child of the 80s, but I have no idea what this song is, lol!  She sounded good singing the song...until she got to that horrible note in the middle.  I can hear Randy now, ‘Dawg, a little pitchy!'  Lol!  Oh, Randy said it's a song by Queen.  Hmm.  I disagree with  Paula that this was her best performance in the competition so far.  Wow, Simon just said she has a massive lack of personality!

AMANDA OVERMYER: I have to say that I agree with Simon from weeks past...Amanda's whole act could get pretty boring cuz she sounds the same singing everything and she performs everything the same.  At the start of the season, she was at the top of my list of favs, but now she's just not standing out.  "Hate Myself For Loving You" was definitely a good song for her, but I just don't know if she's standing out for me anymore.  Oh, but look at here, Simon thought her performance was perfect this time! 

CARLY SMITHSON: Wow, Carly looks gorgeous tonight...very "done up" and all girly with her hairdo and outfit!  "I Drove All Night" is a great song and Carly, as usual, sounds gorgeous singing it!  Omg, Simon screaming ‘What Is Your Problem" to the audience had me screaming out loud laughing!

KRISTY LEE COOK: "Faithfully" is one of my fav Journey songs, so let's hope she does it justice!  She doesn't sound bad, but she hit some bad notes.  Sounds like she's putting a little country twist to it.  But Journey's version sounds so much more moving and emotional with Steve Perry singing it.  She didn't do it justice to me.  Oh wow, Randy just said it sounds country too!  And Paula just said it too!  I agree with Simon that Kristy is kinda forgettable.

RAMIELE MALUBAY: This Phil Collins song was so HUGE in the 80s.  Ramiele has a great voice and sounds good singing it.  She seems like her forte is ballads.  Okay, Paula's goin' waaay overboard with her mutt speech!  I agree with Simon and Randy that Ramiele could have been more daring with her confidence in singing the song, but she sounded great.

BROOKE WHITE: Hmm.  I like that Brooke chose to take a risk and perform "Love Is A Battlefield" as a sort of ballad.  But one of the things I loved about the way Pat Benatar performed it was the fire and passion of the song.  So while Brooke sounded really pretty singing it, it didn't jump out at me the way David Cook's re-arraingment of "Hello" did.

SYESHA MERCADO: She sounds great singing Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You".  The contestants are really taking bigs risks by performing Whitney this week...Chikezie, Asia'h and now Syesha.  Whitney sang those songs so well, that's it's hard for others to stand out as special when you perform them. 

So to wrap things up, I totally disagree that the boys were much better than the girls.  In my honest opinion, both the boys and girls were kinda boring this week.  And I just don't get that because the 80s was a great decade of music and the Idol contestants did not do it justice!  It's funny that I normally like Amanda, but Simon's normally not impressed.  But tonight, it was the other way around!  That said, my fav performances of the night were by Syesha Mercado and Asia'h Epperson.  Honorable mention for Carly Smithson.  And if votes were up to me, Kady Malloy and Kristy Lee Cook would go home this week.  Neither of them stand out.  And what are your thoughts about the Top 8 Girls?  COMMENT ME!

I'm a child of the 80s, so I'm quite excited that it's 80s Week on American Idol!  Here are the notes I jotted down as I watched the Top 8 Boys perform last night.

LUKE MENARD: "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" is a good song for his high voice.  Still, I can't help but to feel that Luke just doesn't stand out...especially at this point in the competition when everyone's fighting to make it into the Top 12.

~Sidebar~  Hilarious how Simon just can't put up with Paula's ramblings, "Did you like it or not?!"  Funny!

I wouldn't have been as harsh as Simon, but I have to agree with him...I don't think Luke will make it into the Top 12.  This is prob is last week in the competition.

DAVID ARCHULETA: Wow, Archuleta broke out the piano on us tonight!  I would have never chosen this Phil Collins "Another Day In Paradise" song for him.  Or is this a Genesis song?  In either case, he doesn't sound bad singing it.  In fact, he sounds great...but it wasn't as moving or as stand out as his performance of "Imagine" last week.  I doubt it'll end up being the best performance of the night.

DANNY NORIEGA: Ugh, here's Danny Noriega.  I actually kinda like how sassy his performance is tonight.  "Tainted Love" was a good song for him.  However, he still irritates me with how he stares into the camera.  For some reason, this kid urks me.  Hmm.

DAVID HERNANDEZ: Wow, this guy's got such a gorgeous voice!  Again, I would never have chosen this Celine Dion song for this dude, but he sounds awesome singing it!  A couple of off notes, but nothing big.  He was a little t.m.i. with the booger story earlier, but the performance was pretty nice.  But I was really hoping that Ryan or somebody would have asked David about him being a stripper!  Oh well.  TMZ is saying that backstage, Simon was telling Randy and Paula, 'Say that you liked the way it was "stripped" down."  Lol!  Simon is terrible!

MICHAEL JOHNS: His Australian accent is awfully sexy.  "Don't You Forget About Me" is one of my mom's fav songs ever!  I believe Simple Minds was the group.  I think this song suits Michael's image well.  I agree with Simon, he hasn't entirely made that true connection to the audience like, for example, Aruchuleta has.  Michael's good, but not one of the best in my opinion.

DAVID COOK:  Wow, I think he really took a huge risk by performing Lionel Richie's "Hello" as a rock song.  But you know what, I liked it!  He took the song and made it his.  This was the first time that I really thought David stood out so far in this competition. 

~OMG~ Simon's Lionel Richie story was funny!  They were in Whole Foods together, Simon bought carrots, Lionel bought cereal..lol!

JASON CASTRO:  Jason's story about his fake dreadlock coming out at the dinner table was funny, lol!  I'm trying to figure which song this is Jason's singing.  What is this?  He's hitting several off notes.  The song was touching, but I'm not sure if he should have chosen to sing it because he couldn't hit some of the notes.  It was good that he came out without the guitar to show a different side to himself.  I can't agree with Simon though that Jason's performance was brilliant.  Didn't dislike the performance, but didn't love it either. 

 CHIKEZIE EZE: Wow, these guys are all choosing songs that I wouldn't imagine them singing!  I love that Chikezie's performing Whitney Houston's "All The Man I Need", but renamed it "All The Woman I Need".  He not only sounded great, but it was probably my fav performance of the night aside from David Cook!  I wish that he would have been able to sing it a little longer because I think he was just getting into it.  Don't agree with Simon at all that the performance wasn't good.  I loved it!

All in all, I thought it was a pretty weak night for the boys.  The only highlights for me?  David Cook kinda blew me away with his rockin' rendition of "Hello". Chikezie was other my fav performer.  Not sure if he's connected with the audience though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's voted off this week.  I'll also expect to see Luke Menard voted off this week.  DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT ME YOUR THOUGHTS & OPINIONS ABOUT THE TOP 8 BOYS!