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American Idol Top 3 Performances - Season 7, May 13 2008
By PopSavant | May 13, 2008 | Email This Post
Hello everyone… we’re down to three remaining contestants for American Idol Season 7. Tonight, May 13, is the traditional trip home night, where we’ll hear from people who knew them when and we get to see where each Idol went to Jr. High or whatever. It’s also the night where each judge picks a couple of songs for the Idols to perform. It’s fun, actually, one of my favorite annual episodes.
The big news this week, of course, is David Archuleta’s father Jeff, who has been officially uninvited from hanging out backstage. The official reason is that Jeff insisted that David replace a verse in Stand By Me with a bit from Beautiful Girls, which David dutifully did… and apparently the trick worked, since David’s still around. But the producers complaint is that by including another song, they were forced to pay royalties to two artists rather than one, increasing the costs of the show.
Believe that explanation if you want, but I don’t. Idol is a money machine, and while no business wants to spend a dime more than they have to, the real issue is that Jeff Archuleta made himself unwelcome by constant nitpicking about David’s performances every week. The producers allow exactly one entity to control their show - themselves; just ask any of the previous Idols who forced a smile while recording the dreck on their first album - and they used this event as a convenient excuse to give Jeff the ol’ heave-ho. For his part, Jeff Archuleta is explaining to the media how he’s not an overbearing stage dad at all. You’re also free to believe as much of that side of the story as you want. For my part, I’ll chalk it up to a clash of control freaks (although, at least Jeff can make the case that he’s trying to do his best for his son) and predictably, the freaks with their own TV show carried the day.
The real question here is whether or not Jeff Archuleta’s absence will rattle David, who has shown signs of being in over his head from time to time this season. It’s a terrible moment to yank the rug out from under the kid.
Read along with me here tonight as I liveblog the top three show tonight at 8pm. In the mean time, just to tide you over, here’s a picture of David Archuleta and a puppy.
All right, it’s 8pm. Here we go.Ryan kicks off the show, telling us that the three Idols are “at [our] mercy.” (Bonus MST3K quote from the past: “And what do you want, Crow?” “I wanna decide who lives and who dies!”) Tonight the Idols will be singing one song picked by the judges, one picked by the producers, and one they selected themselves.
First up is a clip with one Mayor Snarr (sp?) announcing that Paula has picked Billy Joel’s And So It Goes for David Archuleta. I like the song a lot, but the lyrics project a bit of wisdom that may be too old for David. He starts out and his voice resonates rather nicely, and I almost think he’ll pull it off. He wisely plays it straight all the way through, never cracking, but then he’s not really trying to stretch himself with this one… he doesn’t do anything particularly interesting with it, but all in all it’s pretty good. Randy says “You’re in it to win it, baby!” Paula calls it “a pure and stunning performance.” Simon says “it was very good… a bit predictable.” The all black, thin tie, squinty eyed look maked him look like the love child Billie Joe Armstrong and Charles Bronson never had.
Syesha is next up… no mayor for her, but she gets a ride in a limo and a text message from Randy telling her she’ll be doing If I Ain’t Got You, by Alicia Keys, who Syesha announces is her favorite artist, and she says that she immediately knows what she wants to do with the song. Syesha looks great as always, but the vocals and music are completely muddled throughout the verses… blame it on the mix? The chorus is okay, but there’s way too much backing vocal support, not allowing Syesha to really show what she’s capable of. This one was competent, but bland. Randy says Syesha is “peaking at the right time.” Paula is “very proud that you’re the last lady standing.” Simon says “you sang that very well… I just wish Randy had chosen something where you weren’t going to sound so much like the original.” Randy points out that Syesha changed quite a few notes… Randy’s right, he did. IMHO, Simon is generally more correct in his opinions than Randy as far as good and bad are concerned, but moments like this show that Randy is much more technically accurate that Simon.
David Cook gets a text message from Simon while he’s making an appearance on a news show, telling David that the song will be Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Nothing like a challenge. David abandons the emo-rock thing for once and goes for tenderness and emotion in a way he hasn’t really before… it’s a brilliant move, allowing him to show a bit of range as an artist. He doesn’t stay small all the way through, though, turning it into a big, anthem ending. Easily the best of the night so far… he probably just put himself in the final two with the performance. Randy says “Love the high note at the end… but he wishes Simon would have picked a song that was less predictable” and that he “needed more rock.” Paula gives him a backhanded compliment, calling him her “second favorite person” to sing the song… thanks a pantload, Paula. Simon thinks “this is what makes you brilliant… round one goes to Cook and Cowell.”
David Archuleta comes back after the break with his personal choice, Chris Brown’s With You. Smart choice on David’s part; the radio version is current and has a great sound, and the lyrics matches the positive outlook Archuleta has projected over the course of the show. I rather like Brown’s version of the song, apart from cringing during blithering-idiot terms of endearment (”boo,” “shorty”, etc.) … girls, do the world a favor and if a guy ever addresses you as one of those things, laugh at him until he slinks off and comes up with something better. Technically, David’s performance is unfortunately a miss… the original song has a LOT of studio production in it, giving it a real speaker-filling sound, and David’s live version just can’t help but sound anemic by comparison. Randy says “Seeing you singing “my boo” … I just couldn’t believe it.” David chooses that moment to make himself look even more awkward by playing the race card, saying something like “weird for a white guy.” Paula says “I think you should be singing songs like this… I think you did a great job.” Simon says “I applaud that you didn’t try to do a very treacly ballad,” sending most of America Googling for the dictionary, but “it was like a chihuahua trying to be a tiger… it was all a bit awkward.”
Syesha has picked Fever, by Peggy Lee, because she “likes the vibe of the song… and I wanted to use a chair.” Okay, I think we all see what she’s aiming for… and it won’t do a damn thing to get her past the should-be-on-Broadway-rather-than-the-radio image she has and needs to shed. Even for Broadway, though, she’s grinning far too much to accomplish the sultry image this presentation demands. Syesha, who’s usually right on the money musically, doesn’t quite hit the high notes, putting too much air under them… the ending has nice tone, but isn’t particularly special. This Randy calls it “interesting… you sang it amazingly well.” Paula thought “I’m not sure [that song] shows me who Syesha is as an artist.” Simon thinks “you probably will regret that decision tomorrow… you had a chance to prove you’re a contemporary recording artist, instead you did quite a lame cabaret performance.” Fantastic legs on Syesha, though.
David Cook announces his choice is Switchfoot’s Dare You To Move. From the first note, he’s back into modern rock… which is okay, that’s clearly his forte, but it’s a bit disappointing because we all already know he can do that. It’s a solid performance start to finish, but entirely, completely predictable. I love David, but found this disappointing for him. Randy calls it “not your best tonight… a little pitchy baby.” Paula thinks “you just got to the beginning when it hit the end of the song.” Paula’s right, none of these performances are long enough to adequately judge how these folks can do over the course of a song, but that’s been a the curse of the show for seven seasons. Simon says “it was pretty much as I expected… all three of you had an okay middle round.”
David Archuleta comes up for his final turn… the producers have thrown him a complete softball, Dan Fogleberg’s Longer. The choice is just insanely tailor-made for Archuleta’s vocal style and overall image, and he does just want you expect he would with it. Nothing to report at all. It’s not bad… but so what. Randy says “It was another hot one from you!” Paula calls it “a lovely performance.” Simon says “I’m not going to criticize you, because I think you sang the song very well… however, I thought the song and the lyrics… were gooey. Something you choose for a 90 year old.”
Yikes! We have a Jusin Guarini sighting! I expect Ryan to hand him a mop and a bucket for after the audience leaves.
Syesha’s third song, as chosen by the producers, will be Hit Me Up, by Gia Farell. It’s high energy… generally quite nice, I like seeing Syesha do a dance number like this rather than the stuff she usually does. There are some runs in the middle that are superfluous, adding nothing to the song and yet also failing to allow her to really show off vocally. I’d give it a B minus. Randy says “Yeah, I can see you doing a song like that.” Paula says “you did the song very well… but I don’t know if it’s the kind that defines Syesha as an artist,” to which Syesha agrees. Paula goes on to say that she doesn’t know that the song will be good enough to get her into the finals… Paula taking a note from the Democratic super delegates, announcing her decision on a candidate long after the issue has been decided. Simon says that it was fun and young, but didn’t afford Syesha the opportunity for the big memorable ending she needed for her last performance of the night.
David Cook will close the show with I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing… he should knock this out of the park, although bad on the producers for such a brain-dead choice. The arrangement bizarrely is violin-centric; awful choice. David growls through the verses… that’s okay, he knows the payoff is in the chorus, like with most Diane Warren songs. Oddly enough, though, even the chorus doesn’t work this time (although the audience clearly thinks differently.) Randy says “I love the song… it was okay for me, very predictable.” Paula says “See ya in the finals!” and does kind of the two-snaps-up-in-a-circle thing that they used to do on In Living Color back in the First Paula Era. Simon calls it “one of the greatest songs of all time… David Cook wins the night.”
Summary / Conclusions
If I had to rank all the performances tonight:
- David Cook: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face… the only song of the night that was a real standout.
- David Archuleta: And So It Goes.
- Syesha: If I Ain’t Got You
- Syesha: Hit Me Up
- David Archuleta: Longer
- David Cook: Don’t Want to Miss A Thing
- David Cook: Dare You To Move
- Syesha: Fever
- David Arculeta: With You
When it comes to votes, I’m predicting David Archuleta and David Cook in the finals, with David Cook coming out as the eventual winner.
We’ll find out tomorrow night. See you then!
Topics: American Idol, TV |
May 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
He has the same hair style as his dog…..
August 12th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I love David Archuleta!
August 21st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
i love him so much!! he has such a talented voice!