Michael Johns Performs “Don’t You Forget About Me” on American Idol

Doesn't it seem like the American Idol guys just performed? I guess a whole week has gone by already. Let's see how they do tonight -- and whether they'll reference the David Hernandez as stripper situation.

Luke Menard is first, and his moment is that his sister dressed him up as a girl when he was 8. Then, BOOM, time to sing. He sings "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," and he is so-so bad.So bad that one of my cats goes crazy during his last high note. Randy Jackson asks him if he was having a good time. He says yes. Randy says it was all right, a little corny. Paula Abdul says she is surprised he picked that song, but that he has a "great instrument" and she loved his interpretation.

David Archuleta is next. His embarrassing moment was when he was singing at a concert and his voice gave out, so his mom came up on stage to finish for him. Hopefully that won't happen ever during this show! On stage, he takes on Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise," and he's playing the piano at the start. His voice is clear and lovely as usual, although this song isn't really as touching as last week's "Imagine."

Danny Noriega says his moment was when a friend tripped him going up the stairs at the movies, and he fell in front of his crush. He sings "Tainted Love," and I don't really even know what to say. Perhaps cue up the chorus of OK Go's "Good Idea at the Time"? Randy says there is good stuff and bad stuff. He says it started rough, but his arrangement was great, and then he was greatly confident at the end.

David Hernandez says he did a whole photo shoot with a giant booger hanging out of his nose and had to reshoot the whole thing. His worst moment wasn't the AP story today? I guess the show isn't talking about it. Anyway, back to the show. He sings "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Many of his big notes are pretty good, but some of the lesser ones are a little rough. Simon says something off-mike but almost audible that sounds either like, "I like the way you stripped that back," or, "I like the way you scripted that." Not sure. Randy says it was a nice song choice, though a little sharp here and there. Paula says he is getting into his groove and becoming a really good performer.

David Cook shows Ryan that his guitar is now working. Whew. His moment was realizing in the middle of a talent show performance that he didn't know the second verse of the song and turning into a statue in response. On stage, he sings a rock version of Lionel Richie's "Hello." That's an unexpected choice, but it works better than I would have thought. Randy says he made an emo version of a very pop song, and he thinks it could be a hit.

Jason Castro says his worst moment was in the middle of a date, he was trying to tie his dreads back when their food showed up, when one of the dreads broke off. Yikes. He takes on "Hallelujah," Leonard Cohen's song that is also widely known for Jeff Buckley's cover. It's a pleasant-enough rendition, but I guess for me it lacks some of the heft that the song can deliver. That song has had me in tears at other times, but not this time.

Chikezie is last tonight. His moment was starting high school and going to the same bathroom all time and finally realizing it was the women's bathroom. He sings Whitney Houston's "All the Man That I Need," but changed to "Woman." (Apparently, Luther Vandross did a version of this song with the lyrics similarly changed, but for most people, this is all Whitney.) There's Simon off-mike again, saying something like, "It was good." This happened last week, too. Seems like a technical issue they might want to think about fixing. Randy says it was an interesting song choice, but Chikezie did a good job with it. Paula says his "vocals sound really good tonight."