Review: Brooke White's "Unplugged" Version of Mariah Carey's Hero

It has been a long road for Brooke White and she has really been trying. She mentioned that her sister got married on Saturday and she was not able to be there for it and I am sure that was weighing heavily on her mind throughout the week and during this performance as well.

Mariah Carey was taken with Brooke's "genuineness" and encouraged her to sing in the moment and to be real. Kind of what I was saying in my last article from her previous performance. I really had some high hopes for the home girl from Arizona. Brooke decided to sing an "unplugged" version of Hero which had a country type twist to it with her voice. She was able to share a great range of her voice and I have to agree with Simon, her voice is not strong enough to pull that song off on her own.

The judging went OK until Simon came along. Randy said "I was digging it until the bridge" and that he liked the "...singer/songwriter way". Paula said her performance was "every ounce authentic to who you are", that she was "identifiable" and it was very brave for her to do the unplugged version. Simon stated it "...was kind of like ordering the hamburger but only getting the bun...there was nothing in the middle." In the background you could hear someone say "Where's the Beef?"

In my opinion, a bit on the "tinny" side and kind of boring I am sad to say. It was definitely not her best performance and I have my doubts that it was good enough to keep her in the rest of the competition. There are some strong contenders out there who are really showing their stuff and have the overall confidence and talent to pull it off. If Brooke remains in the competition she really needs to step it up. Hang in there!