Threes Company, but Two is a Final

After thousand of auditions, only three Idols still have a chance to sing a really bad song on a lot of talk shows in the next few weeks. I mean, um, win American Idol! David Cook, the Chris Daughtry of this generation, survived the cut last week and has a chance to become only the second ‘rocker’ to make the Finals. Syesha, who has been counted out more than Hillary Clinton, could surprise world and sneak into the boys club. But, the odds on favorite to glide into next week is the little engine that could; unfortunately the man at the controls of the locomotive is an out of control over controlling obsessive stage father. Let’s face facts; David A.’s dad makes Ike Turner look like a passive observer. I wonder if there is anyway we can link Revered Wright to David A. to hurt his poll numbers. How about a sermon suggesting the United States government created David A. just to annoy African Americans? Tonight should be interesting; each Idol will sing three songs. As departed Idol Jason Castro lamented upon his elimination, doing two songs is significantly harder than one, and doing three songs is nearly impossible. Thankfully the Idols get to pick one song themselves. Unless they were incredibly stupid they all picked a known song that they extremely comfortable singing. I could see Jason picking a song he has never heard before and then in the interview, with a huge smile on his face, saying, “So I’ve never heard it before, but the title was like really…cool…so…ah…we’ll see,” but unfortunately he is slacking off and yawning somewhere. One thing to look for tonight – David A.’s lack of versatility. He sounds the same on almost every song. Will singing three songs in one night show how little performance ability he displays? Or, will the judges continue there incessant ‘pimping’ of him with no regard to the repetition.

Ryan walks by a high school student, an actress, and a bartender and says they are all on the verge of superstardom. Right, like all the other superstars that finished in third place on Idol. Ryan pushes the stage door out of his way like He-Man when he takes the stage. This might be the most masculine Ryan has looked in 7 seasons of Idol. Meri Lu Henner and former Idol Brandon are sitting in the audience. I am relatively sure there are NO males in the most pit tonight. Poor Syesha, there goes her primary demographic. The judges picked a song, the producers picked a song, and the contestants picked a song, which means at least one of them is going to be less than stellar.

David A. - And So It Goes

Tonight is hometown visit week and we start with David A. who gets his judges’ song choice from his mayor (the mayor looks like an inn keeper in a Steven King novel). Paula gave him a Billy Joel song and signed her letter “Forever Your Girl.” Oh Paula, you are so funny and creative. David cannot even speak when he hears the song choice; instead he just stands there with his patented stupid expression. David A. is wearing a sweater in his hometown visit and a jacket on the stage, just like always. I swear this kid is a reptile or something – he is always wearing a jacket or a sweater…always! Paula says she picked this song to showcase his amazing vocals. She believes the difficult melodies will allow him to demonstrate his brilliance and exploit the timbre of his voice. David says this really pretty song is exciting. He is singing it in a much higher key than Billy. After a brief opening by the string section, he goes into an accaplla section. He sounds good on the higher soaring notes, but when the song goes lower his voice isn’t nearly as strong. He adds one of his little runs in the first verse and then continues to incorporate this annoying habit throughout. At least it is not as annoying as his palm turned upward right hand – the hand of emotion. David A. uses this hand to let the audience know when to tear up and wave their hands and swoon. The hand of emotion only works on girls under the age of 16 and really creepy old men. He is really changing around the original melody. This sounds like a completely different sound than the original, and not in a good way. He turns every song into a ballad out of a Disney animated musical. He tries a big vocal run near the end of the song and half way through runs out of steam. He flubs it a little and the low notes at the end are less than molten hot lava. This song feels a little too big for his voice whenever he gets near the lower notes. Imagine if he tried to sing it in the original key! This is one of his most mediocre performances in weeks, but will the judges actually state the obvious? I am guessing they might because they will still have two songs to rehabilitate him, and they can point out a less than positive critique as proof the show is not fixed in his favor. Randy asks David to check it out and is happy because David can sing anything. Even though he wishes David sat at the piano and played his own music like Billy (umm dude, did you hear him play the piano on the show…he is more Billy Madison than Billy Joel) he thinks David is still in the zone. Paula says the performance was pure and he was a storyteller. Simon says it was very good but offered no surprises. Wow, he actually calls it predictable. He says it was only good, but not outstanding. The judges will not say anything bad about this kid, no matter how weak he performs. I hope instead of singing the next song he walks out and reads from the phonebook. I bet the judges will say he was in the zone, beautiful, and in it to win it. Sigh.

Syesha - If I Ain't Got You

Back from commercial Ryan is sitting in Randy’s seat saying Dawg as Simon, Paula, and Randy sell itunes. Paula of course cannot do it without an incident; she reads half of her script so far away from the microphone she is barely audible. Randy picked her song and of course it’s a song from her favorite artist. Randy says he picked this song for her because she is young, hot and talented and he thought she loves Alicia just like him. Considering she sang this exact song on the canceled after two episodes show “The One” on ABC a couple years ago, I’d say yeah, she likes this song. I wonder if the Davids have already performed their judges’ choice song on national television. She sounds good in her lower register to start the song. She is reserved and controlled. She can go lower with her voice than David A. I’m just saying. When the song gets bigger she still sounds good, avoiding the shrieking that sometimes plagues her songs. She is blending really nicely with the backup singers. She finishes off the song with an impressive vocal run that starts high and rolls all the way into a very low note. This is an excellent performance, far better than her predecessor. If the judges do not like this I might just give up on this show. Randy says he thought it work well with her and he is happy she is peaking at the right time of this competition. Paula is proud of her because she is the last female left and then says it’s really hard to do a song so identifiable with Alicia Keys. Huh? So, did she do good job or not? Paula never actually says. Simon says she sang it very well but he wishes Randy picked something for her where she wouldn’t try to sound like the original. Randy tries to correct Simon, stating that she did chance around some notes. Then, he turns into Paula and says she looks gorgeous. Ryan asks her if she has been holding back up until now, but Syesha says no way, it was just nerves.

David - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

David gets his song while he is live on the air at his local Fox affiliate. He is less than excited by Simon’s song choice. Simon says he picked the song because, unlike Randy, he wanted to be different. Simon says that even though the song is very tough, he thinks David will do well. David has a ‘why the **** are you making me sing this song’ look on his face. David starts the song before Ryan is even off the stage. He is singing the song straight in his upper register and he goes into his falsetto. I think his mother is standing in the audience directly in front of David. Oh no, LeBron James comes out of no where and screams at David’s mom to ‘sit her a** down.’ Halfway through the song he shifts from the original into a rock song as the drums enter. He might have missed a couple of pitches in the slow beginning of the song, but once he hits the ‘rocking’ part his vocals really take off. He repeats ‘your face’ a few times, building in volume and ascending the scale each time. Unlike the other David, he finishes very strong. This performance is not perfect (the first few verses of the song), but he made less mistakes than David A. Will the judges agree? Randy says he has been a David Cook fan since day one, but he wishes Simon picked something that wasn’t as predictable as this older song. Predictable? Huh? A rocker just sang half a boring ballad, how is that predictable? He wants David to rock. Way to hold Simon’s song choice against David Randy. Nice job dawg. David mouths ‘it’s ok’ as the audience boos Randy’s ridiculous comments. Paula says she David is her second favorite person to ever sing that song. I assume she lists the original artist as her favorite. Simon says it was one of David’s best performances so far. This is what makes David brilliant he says – round one goes to David and Cowell. It was David’s mom earlier and he wishes her a belated happy mothers day.

David A. - With You

He gets a sit down with Ryan and holy cow he is not wearing a jacket. He does in fact have arms. He picked his song because he hadn’t done anything youthful lately. This is his big attempt to try something that doesn’t sound like it belongs on an elevator. But, I bet we still get the hand of emotion in full effect. When Ryan sends David to the middle of the stage so he can sing, the young Idol is completely befuddled and almost trips over his own feet. I give him credit for trying a faster paced song, but the first verse is borderline train wreck. The Mormon teenager just said ‘boo.’ Does he even know what the word means and can he use it in a sentence. He is bouncing back and forth while he sings. This kid has no dancing ability at all. Dick Cheney would love more comfortable moving around a stage than David A. He misses a few notes during the early parts of the song. He improves a lot later in the song. I give him credit for trying something outside his wheelhouse, but come on judges, this is not a smooth performance. It just feels forced and awkward. Is that Gavin DeGraw in the audience? Randy applauds him for trying something new, but he didn’t really believe the performance. He also didn’t like David using the word boo. Paula thinks the song is perfect for him and showed another part of David A. She actually says something useful when she tells him stop extending the phrases. Simon also applauds him for not doing a ballad, however, he says it was like a Chihuahua trying to be a tiger because it wasn’t really him. He thinks the dancing was awkward.

Syesha - Fever

She also gets a sit down with Ryan to explain her choice. She picked her song because she likes the song’s vibe. She is going to use a chair in the song and work it a little bit. At least she didn’t ask for them to install a pole. She has a bassist next to the chair as she sits down and starts singing. If she reenacts the scene from Basic Instinct we’ll know she REALLY wants to win. Syesha is apparently aware she is the only girl remaining, because with this performance she is courting the male vote. She seductively rises from the chair and circles the bassist. Ricky Minor has never been so happy in his entire life. Her vocals are pretty good, but half the viewing audience is barely hearing her sing. Like her first song, this one has a lot of upper and lower register moments. She avoids the shrieks on the higher stuff but disappears a few times during the lower notes. Even if her vocals are not perfect, she is selling this performance so well she just entered the ‘zone.’ I wouldn’t be surprised if Randy and Simon like this more than Paula. If only they had replaced the all girl most pit with a bunch of sailors just off the boat. Randy says it was an interesting song choice sang amazingly well. Paula says she looks lovely, but she is surprised she selected this song. She isn’t sure the song shows off who Syesha is as an arists. Simon says she will probably regret this in the tomorrow because instead of showing off who she is as a performer, she imitated a rather lame cabaret performance. I like how they call out Syesha for doing a non contemporary performance, but apparently fail to remember Madonna redid this song a few years ago successfully. Also, EVERY SONG DAVID A. SINGS SOUNDS LIKE IT IS FROM AN ANIMATED MUSICAL. There is virtually nothing current that sounds like David A. but of course they never mention this fact.

David Cook - Dare You to Move

Ryan is sitting in Syesha’s chair while he interviews David C. David seems happy the audience has heard of the band whose song he chose. For him, the song’s lyrics wrapped up his experiences perfectly. He seems to resent that Ryan called him a bartender a little. David has his guitar again. The song begins in his lower register very softly. The song is a little boring until the midway point when the rest of the band enters and David goes into ‘rock’ mode. The problem sometimes with David’s songs is their brevity. He likes to start soft and slowly crescendo into the big power notes. In such a compacted song this can feel forced – like this song. He sounds good on the big notes, but he goes flat a few times, especially on the last note where he goes so flat I wonder if he did so intentionally. I’ve never heard this song, so I have no idea. I also have no idea what the judges thought of this one. Randy likes the song choice but doesn’t think David did his best – it was a little pitchy. Paula feels like David had a hard time getting the beginning, middle, and end of the song into such a short performance. Simon says it was about what he expected; he didn’t think the song had enough melody. Simon basically says all three tied in this round – they all were not that great.

David A. - Longer

He is singing the producer’s choice as he sits on a stool near the front of the stage. This song is really boring but he is hitting all the right notes. I’ve never heard the original, so it’s hard to tell how much Archie he is adding to the song. Unlike the first two songs, this one is perfect for his voice and comfortably in his range. He sounds really good near the end of the song and hits the last few notes pitch perfect. Although the song is really boring, he is hitting every single note. Randy says the song choice is interesting, but David can sing the phone book and calls this another hot one. Paula says it was very lovely. Simon says he will not criticize him because he sang the song well, but he does knock the song choice. He predicts David A. has done enough tonight to make it into the Finals.

Syesha - Hit Me Up

I wonder if she is planning to sing this song in a bikini to top the last number. Ryan walks around the audience as he sells the Idol tour. He stops next to Sideshow Bob, oh wait, that’s Justin from season one. She is in Beyonce mode for this song. This girl has more personalities than Cybil. She seems to be having a lot of fun with the song as she bounces around the stage, but this song is not really meant to show off vocals. She hits some nice sustained notes in the middle of the song. I really like the way she ends the song with an understated subtle note. I am not sure how I feel about this semi chaotic song. Following after David A.’s snooze fest it feels a little out of place. The judges should give her credit for singing something you can hear on the radio today. Randy says its was just ok, alright, for him. Paula says the song is not about penguins, but as much as she liked it she doesn’t think the song defines her as an artist. She isn’t sure if this was good enough to warrant a trip to the Finals. Simon says although this song was better than the second one, she had her best moment last week. He says the song was fun and young but not memorable and certainly not a ‘moment.’ Again…they do realize she didn’t actually pick this song right?

David Cook - Don't Want to Miss a Thing

Ryan is in the audience surrounded by people, including a very scared looking older lady and a creepy looking teenage male. This is another one of those slow building songs that are sometimes hard to fit into 2 minutes, but this has been done on Idol before, so I know he can do this well. The entire string section is behind him on the stage playing the song more staccato than the original. He has a really unique transition into the second part of the song, I haven’t it head it done like that before. When the song hits the ‘power’ part I must admit I miss the Steven Tyler scream, but David is doing a good job. However, the song is so abbreviated, like the previous one, it feels rushed. More than David A. or Syesha, he would really benefit from a longer song. He is doing more than just a cover version. He is elongating a few of the phrases. He creates a nice effect on the last note by hitting it a half step off, sustaining it, and then rolling into the proper pitch. This is a good performance, but it does not reach greatness. I think he could have in a 3 minute song, but not this uber brief package. That being said, this is the best performance of the night. Paula is standing up clapping for David. Randy says he loves the song, but it was only ok for him – very predictable. Paula says this song has a beginning, middle, and end and points out the songwriter is in the audience. A lot of people don’t realize Aerosmith didn’t actually write this song. She says, “See ya in the finals…that’s what I predict.” Simon says this is one of the best songs of all night and that David Cook wins the night.

Final Thoughts

David A. is still not Billy Joel, still can’t dance, and still sings ballads well. Syesha still wants this more than anyone, still has a fever, but not Mcfever, and still wants us to hit her up. David C. is still singing a weird song choice, is still singing a boring song choice with no melody, and is still not Steven Tyler, but is still best of the night. This was a good, if uneven night. A few of the song choices were weird, but no one had a horrible performance, which means the voting should come down to fan base size. Based on everything we know about Idol this season, Syesha, mayor of the bottom three, has a small fledgling fan base. Jason Casto had a strong and large fan base, but he was so mediocre last week they couldn’t bring themselves to vote and vote and vote. This week, both Davids did well enough to inspire repeated speed dialing and texting from their Cookies and Archies, meaning Syesha was right, a change is going to come. Unfortunately for her, the change is her leaving the show.

It's Still Rock & Roll To Me

Tonight’s theme is based on a list of 500 songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This might be the largest and most diverse group of songs ever available for the top 4. Even though there are a number of songs that are not exactly ‘rock’ or ‘roll,’ you would have to think David Cook is on the odds on favorite for the best performance of the night. I’m guessing Michael Johns is sitting at home swearing at the television that he isn’t able to sing tonight. They should do a spin off show from Idol that airs on Friday night called “Idol Rejects” where the people voted off Idol sing the songs they would have sang if they were still on the main show. This is ratings gold Jerry…gold. Syesha, David, and little David are normally pretty good at selecting their songs, but not Jason. If ever there was a contestant accused of ‘mailing it in,’ it’s Jason Castro. Last year, as the judges stinging comments piled up against Sanjaya he seemed to take the show less and less seriously. I fear after last week’s debacle (when Paula judges him on his not yet performed second song) Jason has lost the will to compete. He certainly looked disinterested and bored during his second number last week. There should be numerous songs on the list that he has heard or performed; tonight could be a great opportunity to recapture the judges’ good will.

Ryan says three of the remaining contestants have already been number one in the vote total. I wonder which three? I’m guessing NOT Syesha. Ryan walks out the stage door. It was cool the first few times he did this, but now I want something more. I think he should lower himself down from the rafters like NBA mascots do to liven up the show. 4 people left with just two weeks to go, anything can happen since nothing is guaranteed. Ryan introduces the David A. fan club, whoops, I mean the judges, and then the Idols. Former Idol Luke is sitting in the audience no doubt wishing he could be on the stage tonight. During the video sequence about Rock and Roll, Ryan says there is no stopping the rock and roll revolution – I think David A. is going to test that theory. Speaking of David A., if the order they are standing on stage is any indication, he will get the pimp spot yet again. Ryan wonders if any of this season’s Idols could end up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If David A. is ever inducted there I will officially lose all respect in mankind. Thankfully, the judges will get the chance to evaluate the Idols after each song, not all at the end. Simon rolls his eyes and says ‘thank you’ when he hears tonight’s plan. I was curious, so tonight I used my watch to time the first part of the show; turns out, Ryan wastes the first four minutes on the introductions. You would think with such a packed show they could shave a few minutes off the front.

David Cook – Hungry like the Wolf

He says even though the song didn’t jump out at him immediately, he felt he could make some changes that would make it work for him and stand the song on its head. His arrangement is much harder than the pop original. He sounds pretty good in his lower register. For some reason I thought he might slow down the chorus part and show off his rock god abilities. Paula loves this song and is dancing like crazy. Of course, she will dance for anything. In fact, I bet if she hears a cell phone ring tone go off she starts to dance uncontrollably. David is suffering a little tonight because of his past ‘moments.’ He has more expectations tonight than any other Idol, so even though this is a really good performance with no errors, it does not have a ‘wow’ factor. His family in the audience certainly liked David. Randy says he was interested in seeing which songs they picked tonight. He thinks the first song was only ok, not amazing. Paula says his Hungry like the Wolf left her with a big appetite. She thinks his growth has been remarkable. Simon felt the song was a little bit copycat, but good enough to get him into next week. If by copycat he means more rock than pop than yes he is correct, otherwise, I’m not sure if he was actually listening.

Syesha – Proud Mary

She gets a sit down with Ryan. He asks her about living in a bubble in L.A. and if she is excited about the upcoming tour. You have to love how Idol manages to promote stuff without seeming as though they are promoting it. Syesha even goes a step further and mentions Idol Gives Back, which I’m sure got her an extra cookie or something in her dressing room. She is taking on a classic that has been covered 100 times. She almost didn’t take on the challenge, but she followed the advice of Nike and just did it. She starts the song in the Tina style – real slow with lots of hip movement. She has obviously been watching some video of Tina, because she has the moves down pretty well. She might be a little shreiky on the higher notes, but this song is one where screaming a little is almost necessary. Her voice sounds great on the low slow part and controlled, if a little screechy, on the high parts. The judges are always telling the Idols to take a risk, don’t play it safe. Well, this is about as risky as you can get. Will the judges give her credit for taking on the challenge, or slam her for not being Tina? Randy says he is laughing because of the difference a couple weeks makes. He says she showed up in the zone and did a nice job showing the heat late in the competition. Paula says she looks like a star. She has evolved from a pretty girl with a big voice into a beautiful woman with a magnetic voice. She says when you feel the fear and do it anyway, magic happens. Simon apologizes for putting a damper on things. For him, it was a bad shrieky version; a bad impersonation of Tina. Syesha says that she had fun. Simon says sorry he did not. I can already hear Simon praising David A. before it happens. I wish last week instead of knocking Jason’s second performance, Paula had praised David A.’s not yet performed song – then we’d have a real controversy on our hands. Ryan asks Randy how him and Simon can be so opposite each other on the same song. Randy says it’s because he is from Lousiana. Syesha says she is trying to show people who she is and she just wants to have fun. Well, we already knew that, since girls just wanna have fun.

Jason Castro – I Shot the Sheriff

Ryan is walking around the audience holding a ‘face on a stick,’ complete with long locks of flowing hair, of Jason Castro (somewhere the PTI lawyers are preparing a lawsuit). As Ryan continues to walk around he stops by Carly and says she looks a lot like a former contestant. Jason says there were a few songs on the list he knew and although he has never performed this song, he thinks it is the perfect choice. He says it’s obvious for him, no doubt referring to the hair, but I’m thinking a lot of the voting public just thought about massive use of marijuana instead. He has a guitar slung around his back and the band starts off with a brass introduction. He begins playing the guitar after a few measures. His voice sounds like typical Jason Castro, and he is changing up the song to ‘make it his own.’ I actually like the brass heavy arrangement. Near the end of the song he tries a descending run of notes and cannot quite complete the phrase once he reaches the lower notes. This is easily the most energy Jason has ever displayed on the Idol state. He still isn’t moving around the stage, but he is bouncing, which is far different than his normal sit on the stool approach. This is a bad sign – the girls in the mosh pit that normally sway their hands to anything all look confused instead of overjoyed. Most of them have probably not heard this song before and are wondering how long they have to wait until they get to see their future husband David A. This is a song that is not defined by ‘great vocals’ and Jason is doing just enough vocally to qualify for ‘just ok’ status. When he finishes he has a smirk on his face. I don’t know if that’s because he didn’t do as well as he thought, or the fact he knows no matter what he does the judges will say bad things about his singing. Even though he didn’t finish the song playing the guitar he is holding it in front of him when the judges begin their critique, almost as if he is using it as a shield and hiding behind it for protection. Randy says ‘aw man dude.’ He thinks it was really karoke Bob Marley. At this point in the show he wants someone to demonstrate they really deserve to be in the finals; it wasn’t good enough for him. Paula likes the way he performed to the audience, but she wasn’t crazy about the performance or the song. Is that the guard from Prison Break in the audience they randomly show? Simon says it was utterly atrocious. He thinks you do not touch the song. He feels like it was a first round audition masacare. Simon says he doesn’t know what Jason was thinking, and Jason screams out, “I was thinking Bob Marley.” Ryan asks Randy and Simon if they are pissed off at Jason, which they do not deny. Ryan tries to get some positive feedback for Jason before his next song and Paula says she is good. Well, I’m sure that will be enough to inspire him into a great performance.

David A. - Stand By Me

He always sings this song in his room by himself or to his dog, but never in public. Please, someone find a youtube video of David singing this song on stage so we can prove the little guy to be a big liar. He is so ‘aw shucks’ during this video package he is nearly vomit inducing. He hs three back up singers on stage to compliment his ‘hand of emotion.’ It takes him 20 seconds to alter the song with one of this annoying over singing moments. He is over elongating the phrases like he always does; he is doing a great David A. impersonation. If I close my eyes and can no longer see the hand of emotion his vocals sound pure and on pitch. He throws in a few lines from the recent song “Beautiful Girls” near the end of the song. I wonder if the judges will be displeased with his alteration of a timeless classic, or not even mention his changes. However, when I look at him I cannot take him seriously. He finishes the song with a weak unpleasant falsetto. I think this is his first foray into the higher ground. I can see why he hasn’t done it up till now. David is doing exactly what he needs tonight; sing just well enough that the judge can call you the best singer of all time and not be CLEARLY biased. Randy cannot even begin speaking because the little girls are screaming so loudly. Finally, he says he is so happy that at least one guy hits the stage trying to win the whole thing every time. He says David brought “the hot mad vocals, it was hot.” Paula loves that David communicated with this eyes per Sir Andy’s suggestion. Simon says David could have whistled a song and it would have sounded better than the last song and was very well placed. David, who is always aww shucks, to his credit, responds to Simon’s massive insult of Jason by saying, “I liked Jason’s song.” Kudos to David for sticking up for his fellow contestant; if he adopted the ‘how dare you insult someone in my presence face’ created by Brooke White, I might even vote for David tonight. Simon thinks David struggled a bit near the end, but in the grand scheme of things, he considers David the best so far. David says the judges faces scare him and since he has no idea what they are going to say he gets nervous. Well David, considering they have basically never said anything negative about you, maybe you should be a little less nervous next time.

David Cook - Baba O'Reily

David gets the second sit down tonight. Ryan asks him if this is his element this week and David says as they got closer to performance night he realized how much people expect from him in this genre. He agrees with the judges he didn’t do enough on his first song. David picked this song because it’s an iconic rock song never performed on the show. The beginning of the song sounds a little weak on the little keyboard. David has rearranged the song. The beginning is very slow and soft and shows off him softer side. He is in his middle register playing the guitar when he reaches the Pete Townsend solo. The song explodes with drums halfway through. This is a hard song to shrink down into a 1 minute 30 second song; give him 3 minutes and I think he tears the house down. I could also use a little move movement form him on the song. I know he isn’t the Who, but come on, throw the microphone around a little, or jump up and down while playing your guitar. He sounds great when the song gets loud and finishes it up with a massive power note. I really wish they made David A. sing this song instead with this arrangement. Man that would be good TV. David looks almost embarrassed when he is finished. Randy says there is something different going on with David tonight, but this is more what he expects from the resident rocker dude, but says he was great. Paula wants more, more, more Dave Cook. She is humbled to get to watch his soul. Huh? Simon says, “Welcome back David Cook.” David really doesn’t look very happy tonight. Maybe he is a big Hillary fan following the election returns back stage?

Syesha - Change is Gonna Come

Rascal Flatts is in the house and Ryan is selling itunes again. She picked this song and researched its background. She compares the civil rights struggle with her struggle to win Idol – riiiiiiiiggggghhhhhhttttt. Gone is in her tight fitting dress from round one replaced with an elegant evening gown. She has balladized the song. This might be the biggest change in emotions from one song to the next in the history of Idol. I mean the first song she is running around the stage, and on this one she is almost crying while singing an emotional power ballad. Her vocals are excellent. She keeps her voice under control and subtle almost the entire time. The end of the song really demonstrates how big her voice can be when she controls her power. This is one of her best performances this season. Randy says he loved the first song, but not this one. He didn’t love the arrangement with the music or the vocals. He doesn’t think she needs to do anything different with the melody trying to make it something it wasn’t. Paula, perhaps sensing how unfair Randy was, says nothing, but stands up and claps for Syesha. For all the flak she gets for being an idiot, which usually she is, this is a touching moment. Carly is standing behind Paula also giving a standing ovation. Paula says this is a superstar moment and welcomes Syesha to her dream. Syesha starts tearing up when she hears those kind words. Simon says he has to be fair and agrees with Paula, which sends Syesha even more over the edge. Simon says Randy got it completely wrong. Syesha says this means a lot to her and retells us what the song is about and how it took on a new meaning when listening to it after the last results show. Ryan is asking someone off stage for a tissue and Syesha, covered in tears, says she probably looks like crap right now. Simon keeps telling Ryan that Randy made her cry. After letting things run on a little too long, Ryan reminds them Hell’s Kitchen is about to start and introduces Jason.

Jason - Umm I Forget What It's Called

He says you cannot go wrong sticking to the Bobs. He relates to the folk rock genre. He has his hair back sitting on a stool playing his guitar. He sounds pretty good, until he reaches the second line of the song. Uh oh, he just hummed an entire passage. I’m guessing this is not some creative statement, but instead forgotten lyrics. When he remembers the words, he actually sounds pretty good. Like David A., he sounds the same every time he opens his mouth, so people will either like him or hate him. He finishes the song with an extended falsetto note. This is again, not fantastic, but should be in the ‘just ok’ range. Carly is giving him a standing ovation. Randy asks Jason how he performed. Jason says he lost some lines. Randy says he is not in the zone tonight and doesn’t know what’s going on. He never says anything about Jason’s singing and is visibly perturbed Jason forgot some lines. The judges were not mad at David A. when he massively screwed up his lines, nor where they this frustrated with Brooke when she forgot her lyrics and restarted the song. Paula says that even though he didn’t blow them away, he still blows her away. Simon says Jason should pack his suitcase. Jason looks more perplexed than sad. I think if this whole singing thing doesn’t work out, he could be a life coach and help people manage their stress, since nothing seems to affect his demeanor.

David A. - Love me Tender

He picked an Elvis song and researched all the different versions of his song. He thinks it will be cool and fun because he hasn’t done a really romantic song on the big stage yet. Really? Dude every song you sing sounds like a romantic love song. He is sitting on the stool. He has his sincere face in full effect. It takes him only 20 seconds to add a big soaring note randomly into the song. This is so different from the original, I wonder if the judges will say he shouldn’t be changing around the classics. Mr. vanilla ice cream is doing his thing, like he always does, until the end when he butchers his falsetto notes. Two falsetto endings in one night? I wonder if the judges will mention that David couldn’t hit the falsetto notes, or just ignore his mistake like they usually do every week. Randy says this is another great performance. He likes how he caressed each word and calls him the hot vocalist of the night. Paula could feel his heart and calls his singing beautiful and fantastic. Simon says he didn’t just beat the compeition, he crushed them. I like how this week is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame week, but David A. gets off singing two ballads. Sigh. This kid has less range than an 700 pound shortstop. Ryan calls David ‘crusher’ as he rubs his shoulder before sending us to the video recap. This is just a little creepy Ryan.

Final Thoughts

Most people assume the Idol powers that be want an all David finale. Tonight did nothing to alter that progression. Conspiracy theorist would suggest the producers want Jason Castro off the show before the final three. Why – because his fan base is made up of a lot of young girls; the exact same group that supports young David A. Although extremely unlikely, it’s possible if the guys comprise the final three, Jason could somehow slip by David A. into the final two. Jason appears to want an Idol victory less than the other 3 and I think even his fan base will find it hard to vote and revote for their beloved dreaded dude. Therefore, if he isn’t the one, as Simon predicted, packing his suitcase tomorrow night the entire world will be shocked. Some crazy things have happened at this point in the show in past seasons, but with Jason’s lackluster performances, I am not expecting the unexpected.