The first thing I noticed about this week's American Idol performance show was the horrible sound production. The music was buried and the vocals were pushed right to the front of the mix. Could what I thought at first was a mistake be a concerted effort by the producers of the show to change it back from being a popularity contest? The vocals were certainly front and center. It actually changed my opinion on the singing ability of the performers, as puppy dog David Archuleta actually was shown to be the best pure vocalist, even if he chooses sappy songs, looks like he belongs on the cover of Teen Beat, and is so syrupy that you just can't stand to hear him speak, let alone sing. I don't care for his voice, but I think last night, with the aforementioned sound production, he did show himself to be the best singer. The best singer left in the competition, that is.

I still would have preferred Carly Smithson. Her version of Jesus Christ Superstar was incredible. I think the producers were as shocked as the rest of us, and that really suggested that it was actually a popularity contest at that point. A less deserving, but more popular (for reasons probably other than his singing) contestant is still left, that being the dread-locked (or should we say dreadful?) Jason Castro. popslant  believes that he should be cut tonight, although he may still have some life in him because of his popularity. Syesha Mercado and David Cook both sounded pretty awful with the vocals featured so prominently in the mix. It could be anyone's game, but I say that whether he gets cut tonight or not, Jason Castro is the least talented of the four remaining contestants.