American Idol producers have to fit 9 songs in a 1 hour-ish show. I’m totally appreciating the fact that this means there’s a minimal amount of filler in the show. Love that — keep things moving, Idol!
Ryan tells us that one of our contestants is on the brink of superstardom and gives an especially enthusiastic ‘This is American Idol!’ Even Ryan’s excited about tonight. He’s shoving the stage doors open. I don’t know if he’s trying to be funny or if it’s really broken. Marilu Henner is in the audience. Not quite sure if she’s promoting anything or just a fan. For some reason we have the contestants burp out of the center of the stage again, even though they were just on stage 1 minute ago.
We’re getting only a small amount of the hometown visits, which is a good thing. Paula’s choice for David is up first. Creepy dad is in the background when David gets the news.
David Archuleta — And So It Goes by Billy Joel
So Paula’s lobbing a soft pitch to David on this one. It’s so in his comfort zone. Big sweeping melody, not upbeat at all. He does some of it a cappella, which I think made his voice sound stronger. I hate to say it, but I think he’s stronger since they kicked Dad out of the backstage realm. His eyes were open more. Randy calls it dope, Paula gushes and gives her spastic clap. Simon finally gives him some criticism by saying it was good but predictable. About time they said that about little David. Although in this case, you’d have to fault Paula. Unless you’re David Cook, you’re not going to ‘rock up’ this song.
The Idol judges are getting punchy. For some reason they can’t spit out the iTunes commercial they need to read. And for some other reason Syesha only gets a text message of what Randy has selected for her to sing. A text? Are you serious? David gets the mayor of his town to tell him what he’s singing and she gets a text?
Syesha Mercado — If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys
So, does it matter what Syesha does with this song? Isn’t she the Kimberley Locke to the Davids’ Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard? Could she actually sing well enough to win votes away from those guys? Randy says Syesha is peaking at the right time in the competition. Paula says Syesha looks stunning. Simon thought she sang it very well but he wishes she didn’t sound so much like the original. We’ll see if any of this matters for her.
David Cook — The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack
David also gets a text message. He’s on TV at the time. It’s such a fake setup — David apologizes for having his phone on but — gasp — he’s got a text from Simon with his song choice. Basically Simon tells David he wanted to challenge him with a difficult song that’s not his style at all. The camera keeps going to a woman who’s standing in the audience. I assume that it’s his mom. It’s kinda creepy. David doesn’t actually do that much with the song, but uses the rocker tone. Randy rips on Simon’s song choice, but he liked what David did with it. Paula reminds the boys that it’s about David Cook right now. Simon thought it was one of his best performances in the competition.
David Archuleta — With You by Chris Brown
So this is David’s pick and he says it was hard to learn. Ryan has to tell David to go to the center of the stage. It’s upbeat at least. It’s easy to tell that he hasn’t been trained to sing this type of song. Daddy Archuleta probably likes him some ballads. It sounds like David screws up some lyrics early in the song, but I’m not familiar with it at all, so I can’t tell. He gets more confident as the song goes on. Randy doesn’t believe David was all that comfortable singing some of the lyrics. Paula thinks he did a great job. Simon applauds him for not doing a treacly ballad but he doesn’t believe it either. No one believes you want to be singing ‘my boo.’
Syesha Mercado — Fever by Peggy Lee
Syesha likes the vibe of this song and she wanted to sing with a chair. She’s using all sorts of funky accents tonight. The lighting is very dark. She’s slinking around the stage, around the chair, around the bass player. She’s a bit too focused on walking around the chair and not on the song. It’s just not that sexy. She’s got the legs out, but she’s just a little off. Randy thought she sang it amazingly well. Paula was surprised at her song choice because it doesn’t show who she is as an artist. Simon thinks she’ll regret her choice because she’s not showing herself as a contemporary artist. He calls the performance ‘lame cabaret.’ Yeah, I’d have to agree on that one.
David Cook — Dare You To Move by Switchfoot
David thinks this is the appropriate song for the appropriate moment. Ryan’s losing his marbles in this moment by sitting on Syesha’s chair from ‘Fever.’ David’s back to being the mumbly-mouth most folks seem to love about him. For some reason the producers are using a Matrix-like background behind him. It seems like it’s a 5-second song, and I’m wondering if folks have been told to shave some time. Randy calls it a little pitchy. Paula thinks it sounded like he just got to the beginning when the song was over. Simon thought it was predictable and that the contestants are lucky they all get another round.
David Archuleta — Longer by Dan Fogelberg
Without much fanfare, David A is up with his final song. Again, he’s in his ballad comfort zone. There’s not much to say here. It’s his usual consistent strong performance. The kid is a machine with the ballads. Randy calls it an interesting song choice, but David can sing the phone book. Paula thinks it’s another strong performance. Simon doesn’t criticize David’s performance, but hated the song choice. Simon calls the song ‘gooey’ and ‘something for a 90-year-old.’
Syesha Mercado — Hit Me Up by Gia Farrell (from ‘Happy Feet’)
Justin Guarini is in the house! Squeal! Does he have a job now? Do you think the producers are setting Syesha up for a career doing Disney theme songs? So now I’m thinking about the fact that only David A got a song choice announcement from a person & not a text message. Could they be any less subtle? Oh, yeah, Syesha’s singing right now. Randy’s not loving this. Paula feels the need to express that the song is from a movie about penguins. Simon says it was better than the second song, but not as good as her performance last week. All of the judges have written her off. Either that or they’re trying to goose the voting public into getting off their duff & voting for her.
David Cook — I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith
Ryan starts off in the audience with his arm around some girl. She looks happy to be on camera, but also kinda grossed out. This version of the overblown Aerosmith song is heavy on the string section. They’re on stage with David Cook. His version kinda makes Kathy miss Michael Johns. Paula’s standing & clapping and I see that she’s got kind of a leather bustier thing. Randy’s not impressed. Paula’s saying see you in the finals and calls out the songwriter Diane Warren. Thank you Paula, since I was wondering why the camera was on this woman. Simon thinks David Cook won the night. I think it was a weird arrangement and kinda boring.
I just added the videos from last night’s performance, and I realized I was totally inadequate with that post ending. Sorry about that, gentle readers. I’ll try not to leave you hanging with tonight’s results show post.