Thrice As Nice for 'American Idol' Top Three | American Idol

Thrice As Nice for 'American Idol' Top Three

Did David Cook and David Archuleta set themselves up for the expected finale or did Syesha Mercado spoil their party?

Daniel Fienberg, Zap2It.com

May 13, 2008

After a day that started at 5 a.m. with ABC's upfront presentation, this writer is ready to settle in for a soothing trio of songs from the American Idol Top Three, a group described, in Breakfast Club-esque fashion as The High School Student, The Actress and The Bartender. Would Tuesday's (May 13) performances clarify the race to the finale or just muddy the waters?

Singer: DAVID ARCHULETA
Song: "And So It Goes"
My Take: Via the truly awesome Mayor Snard, Paula has chosen this William Joel favorite (of some people's, I guess) for Li'l' Archie. For a second, it looks like David is pulling a Bo Bice and going a capella, which would have been the gutsiest move he could have made. The slightly sad thing is that he sounds spectacular without any backing, but the minute he's joined by light accompaniment on the chorus and the music steadily becomes louder, it just becomes a standard Archuleta performance. I really wished he'd gone whole-hog, just the spotlight, the stage and David, but the guy really just doesn't take risks.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy requests that David check it out. He says that David can sing anything. Even the phone book? Yes, Randy. Even the phone book. Does anybody want to see just how many times Randy has given David this exact critique? He needs to be replaced. Randy, not David. Paula calls it "pure and stunning," but Simon criticizes the lack of surprises. He ventures that it wasn't outstanding, but the girls in the mosh pit disagree.

Singer: SYESHA MERCADO
Song: "If I Ain't Got You"
My Take: This is Randy's pick for Syesha, delivered directly to her blackberry, rather than through some mayoral intermediary with wicked awesome facial hair. Syesha doesn't have the light and nimble touch that Alicia Keys has with phrasing. The verses are drained into pleasant mumbling. She picks it up on the chorus, but she can't resist adding a few extra shouty power notes and runs that Keys knew the song didn't need (or maybe just handled in a less distracting manner). The performance is confident and personable and Syesha looks beautiful. Her greatest attribute in the competition at the point may be that she's video and magazine cover ready.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy could see her heart beaming and smiling and that she's peaking at the right time. Paula applauds Syesha for doing the song, as if she had a choice. Simon acknowledges that Syesha sang the song well, but that she didn't change the song up enough.

Singer: DAVID COOK
Song: "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
My Take: While countless men have covered this song, Simon's pick for David is mighty devious, a track made famous by Roberta Flack. Will he do the Johnny Cash version? Or the George Michael version? Accompanied only by the most minimal guitar, it's a straight forward rendition, less soulful than the Flack, less poppy than the Michael, less gruff than the Cash. Until the very end, it hasn't been turned emo or goth or rock at all and, as such, it's a pure showcase for David's voice. There are a few flat notes meshing with the guitar at first, but I think it's quite affecting and effective by the end. I could have done with fewer cut-aways to David's mom in the audience.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy has loved David since Day One, but he wishes Simon hadn't picked such a predictable song. Yes. Randy says that it was predictable that Simon picked a Robert Flack song for David. Moron. Paula says this was her second favorite rendition of the song. And Simon calls it one of his favorite David Cook performances of the season.

Singer: DAVID ARCHULETA
Song: "With You"
My Take: Whoa. I take back what I said about Li'l' Archie always playing it safe. This is a contemporary song that requires Archuleta to make repeated references to his "boo." Nice. And absurd. That's the complimentary part. David looks absolutely lost on the up-tempo song. He can't handle the rhythm at all. Even with all of the R&B touches from the original removed, Archuleta still has to hit words and notes on a beat and he's never had to do that before this season. He treats it as a pseudo-ballad, mumbles some of the lyrics and his normally spot-on pitch fails him repeatedly. He varies his performance slightly by going to the edge of the stage and half-heartedly cooing to the girls in the mosh pit, but he can't dance -- so much of Chris Brown's personal is based on his mobility -- and all he can do is gesture to the crowd in the same way he's been doing all season. But again, good for David taking a risk.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy isn't sure that this was the right song, though he likes the choice. For Paula, though, this was perfect. Simon expected a treacle-y ballad, but he compares it to "a Chihuahua trying to be a tiger." Nice.

Singer: SYESHA MERCADO
Song: "Fever"
My Take: Syesha is and always has been and actress, so it isn't a stretch to imagine her whipping out this vintage torch song, complete with a lone chair as a prop. I don't usually notice this thing, but the lighting is tremendous, accentuating the sultry persona Syesha's adopting for this song. I like the little notes of choreography. She sits. She walks. She twirls around the man on the standing bass. Vocally, though, Syesha's "Fever" couldn't be duller. She hits every note without a problem, but "Fever" is a song that you shouldn't bother singing at this point if you can't point to it and say, "I know the song, but I have an interpretation of it." A case in point would be Paris Bennett's marvelously jazzy version from several seasons back, a cover that was all about improvisational flair. Syesha's just stuck on "smoky and sexy and generic."
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy wants to highlight that Syesha sang amazingly well. Paula, though, isn't so convinced by the song choice and what it says about Syesha as an artist. Simon warns that Syesha will regret this choice in the morning.

Singer: DAVID COOK
Song: "Dare You to Move"
My Take: I know this song, vaguely, but I sure couldn't have told you who sang it [Switchfoot, they tell me]. Maybe the judges should just pick the songs every week, eh? The judges made three interesting choices that produced three decent performances. Whether taking ill-conceived risks (Archuleta), making wrong choices (Syesha) or doing the most predictable track possible (Cook), the middle group of performances haven't been so good. David slurs his way through the too-low-for-his-register verse. He sounds good when he gets to the chorus, but only for about 30 seconds. This was David's choice, so he should have chosen something that did his skills more justice.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: The song was produced by a friend of Randy's, so he likes it, but he thinks David was pitchy and not at his best. Paula wished she hadn't had so much of the beginning and wanted more of the end. Simon says it's pretty much what he would have expected.

Singer: DAVID ARCHULETA
Song: "Longer"
My Take: The producers think they know who David Archuleta is. Strangely, they think he's his generation's Dan Fogelberg. All of those lessons about keeping his eyes open suddenly go out the window as David's feeling this one so deeply that he can't bear to look at either the camera or the audience. Look, I've criticized David for doing the same thing week-after-week, but as his songs tonight have proven, what David does he does very well and he's incapable of doing anything else. Why would he change? What would be the American Idol advantage to David showing range he doesn't have? It's up to the producers of his album to decide if he can really sell a CD with 12 socially aware power ballads. Archuleta's job is to win a reality show and he isn't going to do it by singing Chris Brown.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Once again, Randy says that David could sing anything. The phone book? Oh my yes. The phone book. Randy, you're dead weight. Paula calls it lovely. Simon's not a fan of the song, but he doesn't blame Archuleta. Simon predicts that David has done enough to get into the Finals next week. Since the whole thing has been predetermined for weeks, I guess he's right. All Archuleta had to do was show up.

Singer: SYESHA MERCADO
Song: "Hit Me Up"
My Take: If memory serves, this song was originally written for a penguin. While the producers were smart to push Syesha into something more contemporary, Syesha's no penguin. The twist is that "Hit Me Up" isn't a diva song and the Gia Farrell original isn't characterized by a big voice. It's about spunk and Syesha sells that about as well as she possibly could, getting breathless whenever she dances for more than two or three seconds at a stretch. Not to get all conspiracy theory about this, but the producers have wanted David vs. David as their final for a long time now and this is exactly the song you'd give to the person you hope will be forgotten come voting time. Now if Mumbles (or Savion Glover) had come out to dance with her...
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: It was just aight for Randy. An awkward debate ensues about whether or not the song is about penguins or for penguins. Paula doesn't think this is the type of song that defines her as an artist and she tells Syesha it may not be enough to get her into the Finals. Simon explains that Syesha's best week was last week.

Singer: DAVID COOK
Song: "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"
My Take: I detest this as a song choice, but I like the non-Aerosmith arrangement of the song, where David's joined by a string ensemble. Michael Johns got eliminated after failing to really nail his Steve Tyler impression and David won't face those comparisons. The song has been switched up on every level and, since I sorta sick of the original, I'm feeling much better about this cover. Steve Tyler's version is about wailing, which David probably could have done to a lesser extent, but this version is fancy. There are key changes, abrupt shifts in speed and the musical direction goes back and forth like in a mash-up. To my mind, this is the best single performance of the night.
Nick, Nora and Simon Say: Randy wants something closer to the original. Paula predicts David will be in the finals. Simon gives David Cook the win for the night. But he also calls "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" one of the greatest songs of all-time, which he may be saying because Diane Warren is clapping enthusiastically behind him.

TONIGHT'S BEST: Look, you're getting a David vs. David finale. Are you happy? Good.

IN DANGER: Syesha has fans. She deserves to have fans. She deserves praise for making the Top Three and whether it's in music or on stage, I wish her only the best. But I can't see her not being eliminated tomorrow.

Agree? Disagree? Who do you figure's going home?

As always, check out Zap2it's Guide to American Idol.