Mariah Carey turned ''American Idol'' into a release party for her new CD, and most performers did her songbook proud, related US reports.

In addition to the obvious fact that they've all been booted from American Idol's season 7 finals, what else do David Hernandez, Amanda Overmyer, Chikezie, Ramiele Malubay, and Michael Johns have in common?

Well, aside from their alleged enthusiasm for Ford vehicles, Coca Cola, and iTunes, none of them played instruments during any of their live performances this season. (Yes, yes, I know that's not 100 percent technically correct...but I refuse to acknowledge Chikezie's pitiful maiden attempt at harmonica during ''I've Just Seen a Face.'')

What I'm really getting at here is that when it comes to the latest incarnation of Idol, ''artists'' are in and ''vocalists'' are out. And that's bad news for Syesha Mercado, Carly Smithson, and Kristy Lee Cook — unless, that is, these ladies have been concealing respective skills on the harp, violin, and drums for the past nine weeks.

Of course, there's not a snowball's chance Syesha or Carly could win this thing, not even if one of 'em turned herself into a complete one-woman orchestra. And never was that more clear than during last night's foray into the Mariah Carey songbook.