3 Performers, 3 Songs - 5/13/08

Good evening all. Well it is coming down to the wire for the finale of this season's American Idol. Ryan starts out our show by saying 3 people took a chance last summer: one a high school student, one an actress and one a bartender. One of them is on the verge of superstardom. This is of course American Idol and frankly speaking after viewing tonight's show the song choices left a lot to be desired in my book. Before we get to the performances have to say that Ryan and the judges looked once again color-coordinated with all the black and some of the sparkles (Paula, of course).

Our contestants came out shortly after the judge introductions to a rousing audience. Not much time to chit-chat tonight as each person will be singing 3 songs and that is alot to cram into an hour. Let me just add that each will be shown in their hometown visits tomorrow for the results of who makes the finale. Now for the performances which I will be brief with tonight.


David Archuleta is a real cutie from Murray, Utah. Tonight he seemed almost awkward in his chat with Ryan and even in some of his performances which I will try to give as brief rundowns as possible so bear with me. Thanks!

1st song - Judges pick (Paula) - "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel (1989)

If anyone had ever heard this song they would know that David did a fine job with this vocally. I actually had never heard it so had to go listen to the original. It is of course a ballad and David delivers it very sweetly although it almost bordered on boredom. Randy calls the song dope and feels David is in the zone (Randy's new phrase), Paula thinks it was pure and stunning, Simon says very good but predictable. So true. My grade: B+

2nd song - Contestant pick - "With You" by Chris Brown (2007)

This was definitely the wrong song to pick even though young David wanted to try something new. I will give him an A for effort and he seemed to be having fun but overall it was very awkwardly done with just okay vocals. Randy and Simon also agreed it was not right for him while Paula thought the tone was good and he should use shorter phrases. My grade: B-

3rd song - Producer's pick - "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg (1980)

Here we are back to David the balladeer we adore and he does well with this number. Very controlled with his pitch and vocally nicely done. Randy likes it, Paula calls it lovely and Simon thinks he sang it well but does not like the song. My grade: B+


No one can say that Syesha Mercado is not a beautiful young woman who is from Sarasota, Florida. She looked wonderful in her outfits of choice tonight. She is a good singer I think but tonight I felt more like we were watching an actress than a person who is trying to win a singing contest.

1st song - Judges pick (Randy) - "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys (2003)

I felt she was giving a fair imitation of the original singer however I did notice several pitch notes which the judges did not mention. Part of the song sounded kind of monotone to me and I was losing interest fast. Randy called it an amazing job, Paula said it was a hard song to do but loves her look, Simon wishes Randy had picked a different song but feels she sang it very well. My grade: B-

2nd song - Contestant pick - "Fever" by Peggy Lee (1958)

Syesha looks quite sexy as she starts the song off sitting on a chair. Her version is a different arrangement than the original and I really, really did not like it. Some of her high-pitch notes sounded off. I really felt the actress rush during this performance and was greatly disappointed with the whole thing. Paris Bennett did this song so much better I think in Season 5. Randy thought she sang it well, Paula did not care for the choice and Simon added it was a lame cabaret performance. I agree. My grade: B-

3rd song - Producer's pick - "Hit Me Up" by Gia Farrell (Happy Feet Soundtrack, 2006)

Why on earth would they pick a song like this for her to sing. It was all wrong and frankly I thought the back-up singers sounded better than Syesha. Randy was just okay with it, Paula thought she did it well, Simon and I were in full agreement with this one: forgettable. My grade: C


David Cook who is from Blue Springs, Missouri is our resident rocker however we only see this side of him during one song. Simon says during his last number that he wins the night of performances. I sort of agree although I really only thought one of his numbers was outstanding.

1st song - Judges pick (Simon) - "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack (1972)

This is one song I thought would be a flop but David gave it a very tender rendition and frankly I really liked it alot. On pitch with a strong vocal that not only sounded good, it almost brought tears to my eyes. Randy loved it but wanted to hear a more rock song, Paula thought he was the second best singer after the original to have done this song and Simon calls it his best performance. My grade: A

2nd song - Contestant pick - "Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot (2003)

Here David was back to his rock roots but I really did not like this song at all. He sounded off-pitch in the beginning and vocally it was just okay in my book. Randy did not think it was his best, Paula wanted more and Simon thought it was okay. My grade: B-

3rd song - Producer's pick - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith (1998)

I thought this was a good choice for David and he starts off the song softly with several violin players in a circle behind him. Once he hit the bigger notes his vocals sounded drowned out to me when the guitar player came into the act. This ruined it for me. Randy called it okay, Paula gives him a standing ovation and of course this is where Simon says he won the night. If I could have heard David instead of that damn guitar I think this would have been great. My grade: B

While I truly liked David Cook's first song the rest of the evening held none of the excitement I have felt with other seasons especially season 4 and 5. I think the song choices kind of lost that feeling for me. As you may have guessed I am rooting for a David/David finale but in reality it is still anyone's game.

I will now say good night and am curious to know how you felt so until tomorrow night have a great day ahead.

Boy I'm getting later all the time aren't I?? oh well better late than never right?

Last night was a good show, one of the best of the season I think.

David A- Thought he did well with all three of his songs but as you say CC very predictable. I don't know what I expected but at least he did move a little during the middle song. Now I didn't catch it but some are saying he missed the words to one of his songs, (don't remember which one though) I think it was the song he picked but not sure, But it was so smooth that it was hardly noticable.

Syesha- I am not a big fan of Syesha but WOW she brought it tonight and she came out fighting. I thought all her songs were very good and she brought something to the show that has very much been missing and that's the entertainment value, I really did like her last night and even voted for her, and just when I thought I was done voting ha..

David C- I like David ok but don't see what others see I guess, he was good last night but seemed to be a little less agressive in his vocals but that's just me, I thought he did a very good job with his first song thought but really hated the Simon remark about the" First round goes to Cook and Cowell" Oh that guy ha..

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight, I think everyone is expecting a David vs David final and it more than likely will be just that, But it would be interesting to see what would happen if Syesha made it through, I think both Davids would be happy then larks if that happen being that she's the weaker of the 3 and would more than likely be the easiers to win against. JMO..

From memory lets talk a walk down season 5
As you all know the final 3 consisted of Taylor Kat and Elliott




The songs that Taylor sang 2 years ago were,

Clive Davis's pick of "Dancing In The Dark" (my personal favorite)






Randy's pick for Taylor was " You Are So Beautiful"



Taylors choice was " Try A Little Tenderness"





It was a great night for Taylor and cemented his place in the Final 2, the only sad part of this final three was the fact that Elliott was voted off on Results night,



Results night also had the "Homecoming show's for all three of the Top 3 which was amazing to say the least, unfortunatly I have no pictures of Taylors homecoming, If anyone does please post for me..

I watched the results show last night and was impressed by the clips of the contestants trips back to their home towns. To see how the fans just loved them really was awesome.

Now it's down to the Davids. My guess is David C will take the crown and be the next American Idol but what I think and what really happens are two different things.

I was somewhat disappointed the the performances on Tuesday night. David A's last song was the best of the bunch. I liked David C's take on First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. However, he is a rocker and it's what got him to this point. I do like the idea that he can do anything if he sets his mind to it. Syesha just didn't do anything for me. Especially when she performed Fever.

Syesha would be great on Broadway. Now that she is no longer in the competition she should head to New York and follow fellow Idols like Fantasia, Clay and others who have had good success on the stage. JMO.

Hey sorry haven't been around lately, I posted my review of the performances here if you'd like to read.

http://idol-unofficial.com/tuesday-night-talk-f10/wed-may-13th-08-a-solid-night-for-the-davids-but-will-it-save-them-t1238.htm#2672

I will say that America got it wrong. Syesha should not have gone. Mainly for the fact that she should never have been there. I can't see how she even made it to the top 12 when better singers like Alaina and Asia'h couldn't. So how she made the top 3 is beyond me. She is the only one of the top 8 this year that even if she won she couldn't have a successful cd. The other ones can if they do the right things. Syesha will make it to broadway though whether she will do any good there remains to be seen. The best possible finale ever would've been Brooke and D.Cook. That would've been the best show ever!!!! It may have hurt Brooke's career though as now she's free to find a record deal that allows her to be who she is and not what somebody wants her to be.

:waveing: Hi gang, thanks for posting your comments. A special thank you goes to Sandi for posting all those great pictures of Taylor and Elliott. Gee that was such a special season and I agree with Sandi that Elliott should have made it to the top 2.

If you have noticed I posted my results night re-cap just today as I have been rather busy. Sorry for the delay.

Toodles for now!

Hi CC, Just got home so haven't read your results recap yet.. Going there soon.

I don't think I'll be voting come Tuesday, I can not see Idol letting David C win this thing though mae, it might hurt CD and I don't think they'd want that, But can someone tell me PLEASE what kind of music David A will put on a Cd?? He's a Ballad singer and that's what he has done most of the season, but I really can not see a Cd doing real well for him. But than that's me, I think who ever wins will have a rough road ahead of them as Cd sales are down and by no fault of their own they'll have to sell like crazy to make it worth while, again just my opinion..

geewindu== I do kind of agree with you about Syesha, But I think the last couple of weeks she's stepped up her game and showed personality and spirt and that is so missing this season along with the entertainment.. But then what do I know, I'd still like to see David Hernandez in the final

wietzema wrote:

geewindu== I do kind of agree with you about Syesha, But I think the last couple of weeks she's stepped up her game and showed personality and spirt and that is so missing this season along with the entertainment.. But then what do I know, I'd still like to see David Hernandez in the final

I think she has stepped up her game but the point I was making is that she should've never gotten there so she could step up her game. Until these past few weeks she was nothing more than a very boring oversinger IMO. ;)

mae wrote:

gee - not to be rude or anything - however you sound like a frickin' rasist.

I and i'm sure it is safe to say that most people do not base their votes on gender or\and race. WTH does that have to do with talent?? Not a damn thing. Nothing what so ever.

Do you like Brook cause she is white and female?? Is that why you vote for her??

now mae calm down and take a breath, I don't think anyone here is rasist, we all have our own opinion on these idols and not everyone will agree with that, I loved David H, even though I know a lot of people thought he was all wrong for this show because of his back ground, IT doesn't matter who we liked or didn't like because in the long run there can only be one winner and the other 11 that have fans are going to be hurt. I have my feelings about this season and who will win but they are mine and I'd hate to think that if I told them that I'd be called not fair or something like that. Each to their own, it make the world go around and around.

I voted for Syesha based on her talent too. And at the same time, I voted for others who I thought were talented enough to make it into, at least, the top 12. The more I voted, the more I noticed a popularity contest going on. What was up with that? I've stopped voting because the ones I felt should have been voted through never were. Oh well! I'll vote for one of the David's however because I think they are both very talented. We'll see how it goes.

mae, I think she was stating her opinon just all of us do, I guess for me I didn't see anything wrong with her post, Don't take it so serious, maybe she just posted the wrong words to describe her feelings, not nice ok but we all do that from time to time, Just let it go. Syesha has talent but I do believe she'd be a better actor than a singer, she's already proven she can do that right??

Not to say that she can't sing because she can but Syesha is a better actor definately.

mae wrote:

gee - not to be rude or anything - however you sound like a frickin' rasist.

I and i'm sure it is safe to say that most people do not base their votes on gender or\and race. WTH does that have to do with talent?? Not a damn thing. Nothing what so ever.

Do you like Brook cause she is white and female?? Is that why you vote for her??

I'm not at all being racist. Thanks wietzema for standing up for me.

I'm saying there are people out there who will vote because she is the only female. And yes some will because she's black. It doesn't matter to me at all whether anybody is black, female, male, asian, hispanic, etc. But the truth is there's a lot of people out there that will vote for the only female left in the competition. There are lots who do it. Some because they want to see somebody "hot" in the finale some who will vote for her because they don't want it to be all males as they think that it is racist not to have a female in the finale. There are people out there who think this and that is why I stated it. Look at everything considered, I mean how on earth did Kat get in the finale with Taylor? It wasn't because she was better than Elliot, or Chris? She had a decent voice sure but didn't bring it like the other three did. This Season Syesha yes has a good voice, (much better than Kat's I might add) but guess what so do the rest. Before just a few weeks ago she showed us no reason of why she should've stayed. She was absolutely boring unoriginal and couldn't sing the songs as good as the originals. And her vocals aren't even close to Archuleta's so how on earth did she stay in the competition? Nothing of hers compared to what others have. Archie's voice was better, Cook put on better performances, Brooke felt the music more than anybody previously on Idol while being the most original. I could go on and on. IMO (that's IN MY OPINON) She should not have made it to the top 6. Afterwards she did step up her game but before that she showed nothing as to why she should've stayed. She oversang songs and almost never sang with the emotion the song needed to be pulled off. So that's what baffels me.
Nothing to get riled up about.

Oh and for future reference I am not a she.

Quote :

Each to their own, it make the world go around and around.

That it does.

Wow -
I'm with Gee on this. He's got a point, sadly, that a lot of people will side with what is familiar to them, if they are of color, they will side with a person of color. If they are female, they will side with another woman. Now, I don't mean that's how it is all the time, but lots of times...*nods* Yeah, it happens. It's human nature.
Hey Gee, we missed you, hun. *squish* How you be?
~tyg

Oh I've been pretty busy that's why I haven't been around. I thought it'd get easier after Brooke left the show. But I'm still really busy. I've been making some graphics and stuff. Hopefully it'll get easier after Idol ends. Not to mention I have more regular things going on now. I think once I'm able to get more members at BWF it'll be easier as they will post things instead of basically just me and Angie posting.
Oh and I got good news at the doctor's office. I had a spot on my back that's been there since last August or September and finally was able to have it checked out. Thank God it was just a "fatty spot".

So that's a lot of why I haven't been around recently. I keep trying for at the very least to make it here once a week but it doesn't always work out that way.

Well, we're just glad to see you however we can, love. I'm glad to hear the doc gave you a good report - that's always wonderful to hear.
Just don't forget us, honey.
~tyg

Wow Great post geewind, and I'm surprised and a little shocked that you are not a she....Yeah for me I learned something new today. Well Jodi is this our first and only guy at this site.. If so I'm thrilled...

I do have to agree with almost everything you said, Syesha was not the best vocal talent this season but than again I'm still wishing Asia'h had made it to the 12, I also agree that she really did a good job on Tuesday and really liked her carefree atitude on Wed, it was different than what we've seen before and I also agree that she got many votes due to the fact that she was the only female left standing, Heck that is one of the reasons I voted for her Tuesday, that and the fact that I'd love to have seen either one of the Davids go just to piss of the judges, Ok so that's not nice to say but it's time they were taken down a notch or two. JMO

mae wrote:

If i were to vote base on race i wouldn't vote - because that is a stupid reason to vote.
If i were to vote base on gender i wouldn't vote - because that is a stupid reason to vote.
If i were to vote base on looks i would vote for Chikezie - because he was the cutest one in the top 24.
If i were to vote base on personality i would vote for Jason - i really like his goofy personality;
and for Danny - no explanation needed there.
If i was to vote base on the talent display - i would vote for Syesha.
And the only one of the twenty-four i voted for is Syesha.

I agree mae BUT there are people that do vote for the same reasons you said you wouldn't vote, I've heard some say they'll vote for H Clinton BECAUSE she's a woman and others say they'll vote for Obama because he's black, Of course that's not a reason to vote for either but some do, it's a fact of life and It's a hell of a way to elect a president but there it is, It's what ever they think is best and the heck with what anyone else thinks, I know a singing challange is a bit different than leading our country but same difference.

Showing my shallowness at the time, but do you guys want to know what made up my mind to vote for Bill Clinton when I was younger? After doing reserch and deciding this and/or that about all the candidates, what did it for me was he plays the sax and I am a complete sucker for a good sax man.
~tyg

:eyepop: Wow, I guess that's enough said G. Glad to hear the doc gave you a clean bill of health. I got one this week too. (thank goodness)

:waveing: Hi gang. Glad to hear both Gee and Denib got clean bills of health.

As for this question about voting I also think people should be voting on the actual performance not whether they like them the best or not whatever their color or gender. All of my votes have been based on that solely not because I liked others better.

In my opinion they did have a lot of talent this season with many of the performers including the ones who did not make it into the top 24. Hopefully many of those people will try out again. I also believe that many of the people who did make the top 12 will record albums so it is really something to look forward to I think.

Next week all 12 will be back for the finale so it will be good to see them all again. Until next time have a great weekend everyone!

;)