Posted by Mattie in I didn’t know what else to call this post…so forgive the lack of a cool title. I was going to call it the “American Idol - Just How Much Can We Fit Into One Hour” or “American Idol - It’s The Week Where The Contestants Go Home But You Won’t Be Able To Tell Because We Only Show You About 10 Seconds Of Footage” but those are just much too long…and too obvious.
In all honesty, I would’ve liked to have seen more footage of the contestants at home and less songs. Let them sing 2 songs each, with the songs perhaps being a bit longer than 90 seconds, and give us more of the footage of their hometown visits. Now I know that tonight’s results show will probably be full of the hometown visit stuff, but still…
Onto the review!
David Archuleta
I think this week was an interesting one for David A. He showed a bit of his pop side with singing “With You” and his somewhat awkward dancing as well. I thought his first song, “And So It Goes” was perhaps the best song choice of the night, be it the judges, contestants, or producers. Speaking of the producers…what the heck were they thinking? Could it have been more of a gap between songs with “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg and the other songs? I think the producers need some of the same meds Paula was on tonight…which, btw, allowed her to be the surprising “voice of reason” a bit tonight. Overall, I think David acquitted himself pretty well tonight…again, he’s got the support of the teeny-boppers, and well, they can carry you.
“And So It Goes” - 9.0 out of 10.0 Matties
“With You” - 8.0 out of 10.0 Matties
“Longer” - 8.5 out of 10.0 Matties
Total Rating - 25.5 out 30.0 Matties
Syesha Mercado
Let’s face facts…Syesha is a very beautiful girl. She has a million dollar smile, and she does seem genuinely happy on stage. That being said…Alicia Keys she is not. I’m in direct opposition to the judges on one thing with regards to Syesha…I think it was a smart thing to sing “Fever” for her second choice. Look, I truly do believe that Syesha could be a fantastic Broadway performer. It’s a natural fit for her charisma. She’s an actress as well, so she could pull that side of it off as well. Right before she sang her second song, I said “If she’s smart, she won’t try and be too much like a diva with this second one and maybe do something show-tune like.” And I’ll be dang if she did…and I liked it. The third song was a bit of a mish-mash, but she did okay with it as well.
“If I Ain’t Got You” - 8.0 out of 10.0 Matties
“Fever” - 8.5 out of 10.0 Matties
“Hit Me Up” - 8.0 out of 10.0 Matties
Total Rating - 24.5 out of 30.0 Matties
David Cook
Of all three contestants left in this year’s competition, I think David sings with the most authenticity and emotion. No one can dispute that I think. He is really one of the truest performers in this competition. For all the talent that David A. has, he still lacks some stage presence. I think David did well all night long, and even though the arrangement of “Dare You To Move” was a bit odd, I think he did well enough. His song choice by the producers, a great song, was sort of screwed up by the arrangement. Christy said it well when she said it was like they couldn’t decide if he should do the John Michael Montgomery version or the Aerosmith version, so they sort of mixed them both and it didn’t come out that well. Let’s face it folks, I’m a big David Cook fan…and I think he did win the night.
“First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” - 9.5 out of 10.0 Matties
“Dare You To Move” - 8.5 out of 10.0 Matties
“I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” - 9.0 out of 10.0 Matties
Total Rating - 27.0 out of 30.0 Matties
So there’s the review…are you happy, Jill?? Oh wait…I’ve still got the rankings…well according to the scores above, you can sort of tell how it shakes out…but here goes anyway…
3 - Syesha Mercado (Broadway’s calling honey…just answer it and move on)
2 - David Archuleta (It should be one helluva final…the kid versus…)
1 - David Cook (…the seasoned bartender performer…the Two Davids!)
So look for the reaction post tonight, and then later this week, I’ll post which songs I wish the finalists would sing…you don’t want to miss that!
So America…what did YOU think of last night’s show?? Who are your finalists?!?!
Thanks for the timely response. I am about to head out of the office and well, I could not carry on this day without putting my two cents in. I LOVED when David Archuletta sang ‘With You’. I thought it was absolutely adorable. I also liked Syesha more last night than any other night. I’m a little nervous about tonight. I feel like something crazy is going to happen like David Cook getting voted off and I think if that’s the case I just won’t be able to watch the rest of the season. Maybe not, though. Maybe Syesha will head on home. I guesss I’ll be on pins and needles until we find out. . .
David Cook definitely won the night – by a landslide. The Producer’s song choice for David Archuleta was just brutal. That song was so boring and sounded like a choir concert performance to me. I agree with you about “Fever”. The judges even said a few weeks ago that Syesha is a good performer and needs to be on Broadway. That song showed who she was, despite Paula’s comment (I think it was Paula who said it didn’t show her who Syesha really was). I loved all of David Cook’s performances, although “Dare You To Move” needed more of a beginning, middle, and end – I agree. But, during the recap at the very end of the show, David’s montage just reminded me of how good he really is compared to the other two. I think the 2 David’s should battle it out next week with David Cook winning the whole thing – I agree with Jill that if David Cook goes tonight, I won’t really have any desire to watch the finale.
On a side note, did anyone see Michael Johns and Carly Smithson on Ellen last week? Michael and Carly sang 2 duets together. I thought Carly was good, but Michael Johns was absolutely amazing. I literally got goose-bumps and thought he sounded better than any contestant left, even David Cook. I think that the true American Idol was voted off a few weeks back.
By the way Matt – they’ll do the whole hometown recap tonight on the results show. Got to remember that they only have 3 contestants to go through and an entire hour to fill for the results show.
Matt, kudos on the review this week. Yeah, I agree that Syesha’s “Fever” was much hotter than the judge’s gave her credit. But the producers SO screwed Syesha and Archuletta with their third songs. Both were dreadful. As for Cook, you know, I’m no longer as interested in his performance on this show as I am with the show being over so this guy can just get out there, record, and absolutely blow up. IMHO, he’s the most promising talent this show has ever seen. Now, I agree that his “Dare You To Move” was not as strong as his other two songs. There’s a reason for that. Switchfoot’s verson of that song was co-produced by the quietly legendary writer/singer/songwriter/author/producer Charlie Peacock. Of course it sounds good. And having to perform it live will not sound as good as Charlie made it sound. But, Cook’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” MORE than made up for that. Really hope they make a studio single out of that one. I’ll download that in a heartbeat, especially after seeing what that performance did to the faces of my wife and mother-in-law.