The Top 2 Perform - Grand Finale!

After over four months of television, over 100,000 contestants, and eleven issues of the Dai-gest, this season of American Idol has come down to these final performances. America has been salivating in anticipation for weeks awaiting this dream matchup. This is the Thrilla in Manila, paper vs. plastic, Yankees vs. Red Sox, dogs vs. cats, Montagues vs. Capulets, apples vs. oranges, Backstreet Boys vs. N’Sync, beauty vs. beast, Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, half-full vs. half-empty, Mac vs. PC, boxers vs. briefs, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, pen vs. pencil, Visa vs. MasterCard, chicken vs. egg. Okay, I’m going to stop right there, but FYI, originally I had another two hundred or so more. It's the battle of the two Goliaths named David. It’s David Archuleta vs. David Cook. This is the final sing-off of American Idol, Season 7!

This is easily the most evenly matched final between two Idol contestants since Ruben vs. Clay. The contest pits two fan favorites with contrasting singing styles and different fan bases. In one corner, you have the "Anointed One", the "Golden Child", or the "Youth Prodigy" in David Archuleta. Already a reality singing show winner a couple of years ago on Star Search, Mr. Archuleta has sizzled in most of his Idol performances with his boyish charm, cute looks, and great pop voice. His big fans are undoubtedly giggly teenage girls with crushes, but do not underestimate the number of soccer moms and grandmas who will think he is just so adorable. There is just something so genuine about him, as every time we see him eagerly await the comments from the judges with an uneasy nervousness and then drop his shoulders in unexpected relief. Mr. Archuleta has held his own, despite the pressure of being the presumptive favorite and the emotional strain inflicted by an abusive stage father. He would be a worthy winner, demonstrating amazing consistency during the last three months of competition.

In the other corner, you have a mature, brooding rocker in David Cook. While Archuleta brings wholesomeness, Cook brings edge. He came out of the shadows of previous Idol rockers gradually through the competition. In fact, your humble correspondent blew him off in the beginning of March in his Top 12 preview issue, stating that "I think he's okay, but once he loses that guitar, he's done." Yours truly had him at 60 to 1 to win, with only Kristy Lee Cook, Chikezie, and Amanda Overmyer as longer shots to win. On the other hand, I had David Archuleta as the easy favorite at 7 to 2. David Cook emerged as one of the most original and innovative contestants with his version of Lionel Richie’s “Hello”, the Beatles “Eleanor Rigby”, and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Although there was some controversy that Cook stole these rock renditions from other artists, undoubtedly these performances were also show-stoppers. Unlike Archuleta, David Cook definitely possessed an inner self-confidence, and at times showed it too much as he often appeared glib and full of himself. There were definitely weeks where he was rather dull and self-indulgent in his performances, but when he is on, he is on. Viewers will naturally make the comparison to Chris Daughtry, but while Chris was a one-dimensional rocker, this season we’ve definitely seen David Cook showing a diverse musical range with strong vocal versatility. Besides their namesakes, Archuleta and Cook are vastly different on their personalities, vocal ranges, and musical styles, which will make for a very exciting final!

Fox definitely kicked things up a notch with the finale this week, with a rousing introduction from boxing announcer Michael Buffer. The boxing theme continued a little too much, as both Archuleta and Cook came out wearing in fighting robes. David Cook can pass as someone who would be okay in a street brawl, but the sight of little Archuleta bouncing around like a pee wee football player was rather comical. Last night featured three songs again: a Clive Davis pick, a selection from the songwriting competition, and lastly a contestant’s pick. So, let’s get it on!

David Cook started off the night with the U2 classic, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” It’s one of my favorite songs of all-time, and I thought David was fabulous. Vocally he was solid, but most of all he showed great stage presence channeling his inner Bono. Cook received rave reviews from all of the judges, getting the night started in electric fashion.

David Archuleta was up next with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John. It was another smoldering performance. Afterwards, Paula mentioned that the song sent “chills up and down my arms”, which I agreed with. Archuleta was fantastic, showing much more passion, emotion, and energy that usual. He really put his heart and soul into the song which really resonated with the audience. After calling Cook’s performance phenomenal, Simon said the same about Archuleta’s and handed Round 1 to the Utah boy in his review. For me, I would have to say it was a draw, as both Davids delivered. Clive Davis seems to always pick rather predictable songs for the contestants, but the producer with the golden touch always gets the best performance out of the kids.

The second song was chosen by the contestants out of a list of ten original songs composed in the songwriting competition. David Cook chose “Dream Big”, and his rendition made this sound like one of those generic, sappy, inspirational rock songs by a band like Good Charlotte or Simple Plan. That’s not a compliment, by the way. I can’t see this as a single on the radio, as this was definitely a miss when looking for original music to create your album. After mixed reviews from the judges and Simon’s comment that it was a 6 ½ out of 10, David Cook looked pissed.

David Archuleta chose “I Want to Stay in This Moment”, which seemed to work well for him. It was a typical cheesy power ballad, but as we’ve seen, it is definitely his niche. This type of song is similar to other singles released by Idol winners sung during finales, such as Kelly’s “A Moment Like This”, Carrie’s “Inside Your Heaven”, and Jordin’s “This is My Now.” While I thought it was a good, but not great performance, David received solid reviews from the judges.

While the general fashions of the Davids remained similar to whatever they wore on previous shows, it was their outfits for their second songs that were a little unusual. David Cook wore a dark leather jacket with a white T-shirt covered in ship anchors, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it until I saw David Archuleta wearing an olive colored suit jacket with a massive ship-anchor logo on the front left and on the back. Now, why did they have to dress them up as if they were in a Nautica ad? It was just weird for me that they both sported maritime-themed clothing for their second songs which had no relation to their songs. Also, the Davids are from Missouri and Utah, so not really hotbeds for open-sea sailing. Idol’s fashion people should have just dressed them in tan suit jackets, a popped collar pink polo, and checkerboard patchwork trousers if they were going for the pompous New England prep-school sailor kid outfit.

Lastly, the third song was the contestant’s own choice, so David Cook selected “The World I Know” by Collective Soul, a great 90’s Southern alt-rock band. Cook’s version was mellower than the original. He didn’t look very comfortable up there, but I thought he did okay. This was perhaps not a great song choice, similar to previous weeks when he sang more non-mainstream rock songs by Our Lady Peace and Switchfoot. Randy and Paula thought it was great, but Simon believed it was completely and utterly the wrong song for him. Simon’s been very tough on David Cook last night, which was undeservedly so. Cook commented that he’d rather sing a new song than one from previous shows, stating that “this is about progression. Why do something that I’ve already done?” While he was defending himself, it was also a veiled shot at Archuleta, who chose to re-sing “Imagine” by John Lennon.

David Archuleta’s performance of “Imagine” was good, but I also thought he was very nervous and stumbled over some of the lyrics in the beginning of the song. I didn’t think it was as good as when he sang it weeks ago, and I didn’t feel that he created the triumphant moment to close out the show as he intended. However, the judges disagreed, all lavishing praise onto Mr. Archuleta, with Simon granting him victory by knockout. Simon was pointedly for the younger David tonight, and again, unfairly so. Personally, I’d prefer the judges to refrain from declaring a winner and let America decide instead of placing some biased thoughts in the minds of voters.

Both Davids were great this year on Idol, keeping to the theme that people named David are just simply awesome. My prediction is that David Archuleta will be anointed the new American Idol tonight, as while both were outstanding with their opening songs, Archuleta just edged David Cook with his next two performances. However, as for success in the music industry, I think David Cook will do much better on the charts, following the success of Chris Daughtry with a rock-themed album.

That’s it for Season 7 of American Idol! I’d like to thank everyone for reading and participating in the Dai-gest this year. This has been an absolute pleasure to write, so I hope everyone had the equal pleasure of reading it as well. Until next year! xoxo

Your American Idol Superdelegate,
David

PS – The perfect way to cap off a season of Idol is to attend the American Idols Live concert tour over the summer! They are playing in our area on July 30th-31st at the Prudential Center in Newark and August 4th-5th at Nassau Coliseum. Please let me know if you’d like to attend as we are organizing a group to go!

The Top 3 Perform - Quick Thoughts

I was out on vacation this week, so I apologize for not having the usual, complete Dai-gest. However, I've included a few brief thoughts I have about the Top 3 week that I missed after reviewing it on DV-R.

The biggest news last week was how Jeff Archuleta, David’s father, was banned backstage and from all rehearsals. According to newspaper reports, the ultimate stage parent has “badgered producers, the band, vocal coaches, and even other contestants.” Jeff has even brought poor David to tears after yelling at him after performances and recording sessions. This news wasn’t a surprise to me, because I already suspected something about Jeff was a little off. What person would in their right mind, wear that ugly wool cap all the time? Even worse, he wears it indoors! That’s the one thing I’ll never get, people who wear hats or sunglasses inside. At least now I know the reason for some of David’s questionable song selections such as “With You” by Chris Brown. I could not really imagine a 17 year-old white kid from Utah singing lyrics such as “I need you boo. I gotta see you boo.” Now there’s a good excuse, his oppressive father made all of these decisions!

Syesha getting the boot was easily the most predictable results show of the season. I thought she did okay with “Fever” and the Alicia Keys song, but then the producers completely threw her under the bus when they chose the song “Hit Me Up” by Gia Farrell from the Happy Feet soundtrack. For those who don’t know who Gia is, she’s a D-rate Hilary Duff, C-rate JoJo, and B-rate Ashley Tisdale. They made her sing a song from an animated movie about dancing penguins, while David Cook can sing “I Don’t Want a Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. Syesha tried her best with the song, but there’s only so much you can do when you get screwed by the judges that wanted a David-David finale. I even checked to see if Happy Feet was a movie made by Fox, which would at least provide some reason for them picking the song. Alas, Happy Feet was made by Warner Brothers, so it was obvious that the producers wanted Syesha out!

Of course, Syesha had been in the bottom three numerous times, and never established the rabid fan bases that David Archuleta and David Cook had established. But to add insult to injury, even Paula was dismissive of Syesha in her comments. Paula is always positive and usually very supportive, but she mentioned that Syesha did not do enough to make the finals. Meanwhile, in her critique of the Davids, she emphatically said that they’d be heading to the finals next week. Now, as most readers know, I’m not much of a Syesha fan myself, but I must acknowledge that she definitely got the short end of the stick last week.

Lastly, I never had the opportunity to comment on Jason Castro’s farewell from the show. I’m glad he was here this season, because he provided almost as much unintentional comedy as Sanjaya last year. About Jason, I was the first to make the connection that he looked like the Jimmy Fallon character from the SNL dorm room skit where they regularly smoke marijuana. However, I never followed through in the later weeks that he was definitely puffing the magic dragon before his performances and trying to channel his inner Bob Marley. His lackadaisical performances and whimsical attitude was definitely from enjoying too much cannabis, rolling into some joints, gardening weed in the yard, reaping reefer, using blunt instruments, feeling dope, eating McDonald’s hash browns, planting flower pots, or chasing Mary Jane. Jason was actually excited and relieved he was given the boot in the Top 4. His reasoning? “I would have to sing three songs next week if I made it that far, and there’s no way I can memorize three songs.” Can’t wait to see him on tour this summer! I’m guessing that his dressing room before the show will smell similar to ones of Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, and the Dave Matthews Band.

Your American Idol Superdelegate,
David

The Top 4 Perform - Rock 'n' Roll

Last week, in a tear-filled and emotional goodbye, America waved farewell to Brooke White. As a fresh face to the competition, she offered new originality to the show with her passionate performances on the piano. For all of my weekly readers, it was well-established that I have been infatuated with Brooke’s infectious personality and her innovative style from the beginning. So of course, as Brooke was bawling uncontrollably last week, I did the same from 3,000 miles away on my couch. However, most others didn’t feel the same way. Here’s an e-mail from one of my readers:

“You should have voted more for her - you could have made the difference in saving me from hearing her painfully get through that song last night. Thankfully, the show ran a little late so my DVR cut her off midway. I was actually pulling for the Shrek song once again. I hear that she is going to be trying out for the upcoming So You Think You Can Dance (which I also watch) based on her smooth dance moves. Go David Cook!”

Unfortunately, after what happened last week, my hundreds of votes each week as an American Idol superdelegate have to be reallocated for the remainder of the season. Now I know what a superdelegate for Dennis Kucinich feels like!

The big Idol controversy for the past week has been Paula Abdul’s gaffe last week after she reviewed two songs for Jason Castro although he had only sung once. Rumors began to float around that the judges’s comments were predetermined and the show was scripted. As a fan of every season so far of American Idol, I find this hard to believe. First off, we all know that Paula’s a little crazy. If she has been reading from a script all this time, she definitely would have screwed up much earlier considering the countless number of shows that have aired the last seven years. That’s why I shrugged off what happened last week as more of Paula’s incomprehensible ramblings. One of my readers gave me this tidbit from an inside informant in Hollywood: the reason for Paula’s zaniness is that she’s addicted to painkillers and wears a morphine patch!

Onto this week’s show. The final four featured songs from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, which for the first time in a couple of weeks offered a broad selection of songs for the contestants to choose from. The variety of songs and the relaxed pace this week made it a much better show than the rushed, and ultimately weird Neil Diamond show last week. Even Paula Abdul is looking normal this week, looking radiant in a sunny yellow dress. So here we go!

David Cook started off the night with “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran. He was looking sharp with a leather jacket, a black vintage T-shirt, and dark pants. However, his first performance was not as sharp. David didn’t show any of his originality here, and seemed to just recite the lyrics for two minutes. His second song choice was “Baba O’Riley” by The Who, which is an iconic rock song. Here, David did mix it up by really slowing down the opening of the song from its normal crescendoing guitar riffs. His subdued beginning was then contrasted by the jamming chorus later on. David’s second song was fabulous, unlike the first which was more of him just going through all of the motions. The judges gave similar reviews of mixed thoughts on Duran Duran but adored his rendition of The Who.

Syesha Mercado was up next with “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner. It was another predictable Syesha performance; a big song from a classic diva. This was a good showcase of her stage presence, as with her theater background she definitely looked comfortable dancing and moving around the entire stage. This makes me optimistic for her concert performances for the Idols tour. Her first song was energetic, fun, and upbeat, and generally I enjoyed it. Randy and Paula gave Syesha positive reviews, while Simon panned it as a “bad, shrieking impersonation of Tina Turner.” Simon was pretty harsh with his critique, and I would say, undeservedly so.

Syesha’s second song was “A Change Is Going to Come” by Sam Cooke. Let me just point out that both of Syesha’s outfits were fashion hits this week, first with a sparkly silver dress and next with a bright gold dress. The stylists were on their game tonight, as the shoes, earrings, and makeup all matched well (normally, something is usually off with their styling for all of the contestants). The second song was another power ballad, which I thought was rather mediocre. After Randy gave unfavorably reviews, surprisingly, Simon agreed with Paula and commented that she was vocally superb. Syesha broke down in tears at that moment, which I thought was another one of her ploys to get sympathy votes.

I’d like to point out that I thought Simon was very coy here with his support for Syesha. Going into the show, I was going to predict that Syesha was going to go this week based on the numerous times that she’s been close to elimination and the ridiculous fan base that Jason Castro somehow has. So, after panning Syesha’s first song and then hearing Jason’s disaster afterwards, Simon decided to influence the voting and make it up to Syesha the second time around. Frankly, I believe Simon thought Syesha’s second song wasn’t good, but decided to say it was great because he couldn’t stand another week of Jason Castro.

Speaking of the dreadlocks guy, Jason Castro chose “I Shot the Sheriff” by Bob Marley as his first tune. He certainly acts like he doesn’t really give a crap about the show with his unenthusiastic, carefree attitude. Jason wore his typical jeans outfit this time, when he could have gone with the tropical shirt, board shorts, and sandals for the true Jamaican spirit. The judges destroyed Jason with their critiques, with Randy calling it very karaoke and Simon calling it “an atrocious, first round audition massacre.” Randy and Simon legitimately looked pissed off after Jason sang, as Jason gave the appearance of not caring and making a mockery of the show. His next song was “Mr. Tambourine Man” by Bob Dylan, which the judges similarly agreed was another mess. For me, honestly, I cannot tell the difference between Jason’s good performances and his bad ones. He sounds exactly the same to me each week, which is rather boring and drab. I don’t know what to make of Jason, but all I can say is that last night would have been way better with Brooke here instead of Jason.

Closing out the show was the boy wonder, David Archuleta. For both songs, he was dressed in mostly black. David’s attire showed him as dark and edgy, which isn’t exactly the personality that he exudes. It also didn’t match the tone of the songs he selected, so next time, have more vibrant colors! His first song was “Stand By Me”, a well-known classic which he delivered with his usual passion and bravado. He received solid reviews from the judges after another good performance.

David’s second pick was the timeless Elvis Presley song, “Love Me Tender”. David mentioned that he chose it as he hadn’t sang a romantic love song yet in the competition. Before he sang, I thought this was pandering to his fan base demographic of 15 year-old girls who would absolutely just eat this up. Well, I guess I’d rather have David Archuleta trying to make a romantic connection with 15 year-old girls than a former Yankees pitcher who used steroids. Let’s just hope that the Rocket hasn’t seen the Vanity Fair pictures of Miley Cyrus, because with his fetish for underage singers, we might have to have hide Hannah away in Montana. Sorry, going back to Mr. Archuleta, I actually really liked his Elvis rendition. The vocals were great, and I enjoyed the acoustic version with just the piano. It was surprisingly, not painfully cheesy as I thought it was going to be.

After a night of entertaining performances, the status of the contestants hasn’t changed much. It looks inevitable that the finals will be a match of two Goliaths named David. Therefore, my “fearless predictions” aren’t really fearless at all, as Jason will go this week and Syesha the next week (or, vice versa). But, surprises can happen, so we’ll have to find out what happens tonight!

Your American Idol Superdelegate,
David

PS – Rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame songs I would have sung if I was on the show:
“You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC
“More Than a Feeling” by Boston

The Top 5 Perform - Neil Diamond

Last week, America’s favorite Irish singer who previously had a multi-million dollar recording contract which flopped was given the boot. In a slight surprise, Carly Smithson was dismissed despite her rousing performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar” the night before. More shocking was that Jason Castro and Brooke White, who were atrocious on Andrew Lloyd Webber night, were not even in the bottom two. It was clear that fans were voting on past performance or popularity, and not one musical-themed night. But perhaps, fans didn’t enjoy Carly’s uncomfortable bantering with Simon, were tired of her over-singing the songs, or were simply frightened by her tattoo covered husband, which one reader alluded to as Hellraiser.

This week’s show featured songs from the legendary Neil Diamond. Sorry to disappoint, but I actually don’t know many of his songs since they were way before my time. Probably the first time I realized hearing a song by Neil Diamond was when I was watching the Drew Barrymore – Jimmy Fallon movie Fever Pitch and “Sweet Caroline” played. I apologize for not preparing for the show by watching Saving Silverman over the weekend.

Last night was the first week in which contestants had to sing two songs. This made for a rushed hour in which producers vainly tried to squeeze too much in. Seacrest was busy scrambling everyone about and spewing the phone numbers faster than an auctioneer at Sotheby’s. Everything from the performances, the light repartees with contestants, and the judges’s comments happened at warp speed, which made for a show of disjointed chaos last night. You knew that this would confuse Paula, who was completely lost when she had to review a series of performances in a row. I would have actually preferred a slower-paced show where each contestant sang one song and they added some filler about their personal lives instead.

Jason Castro kicked off the show with “Forever in Blue Jeans” and then sang “Saturday Morn.” The snippet of him rehearsing with Neil foreshadowed that it would be a rough night. I would have thought that he would be in his element with the theme tonight, but the judges gave him rather harsh reviews. Simon said it was very forgettable with none of his originality, and even Paula called it disappointing. For me, it wasn’t as bad as they mentioned. Although it was more of the same, I think the girls that love him will still eat up his mellow performances this week.

David Cook was next with “I’m Alive.” David was sporting a black jacket with a blood red T-shirt which gave him this edgy, tough rocker look. His first song was rather blah, lacking any excitement and featuring too much screaming. However, I enjoyed his second performance when he did “All I Really Need Is You.” This was definitely more controlled and on-key. Overall, it was a good week for David, but wasn’t spectacular. But as usual, the judges gave him rave reviews so we’ll see him again next week.

Brooke White was next with “I’m A Believer.” She was looking cute with a puffy powder blue top, but should have definitely gone with blue jeans or white khakis instead of those weird silvery pants from Ann Taylor. I thought it was a good song choice, as the song is cheery, fun, and cute which showcased a different side of her. However, Brooke looked rather awkward swaying back and forth while singing with the guitar. This song was reintroduced by Smash Mouth in the movie Shrek, and unfortunately, Brooke’s clumsy movements reflected that of the graceless green ogre and his sidekick donkey.

Brooke’s next song was “I Am,” which she played on the piano. It was another typical performance, but it was passionate and well-delivered. However, the one thing that bothered me was that Neil told her to change the lyrics to Arizona from New York to reflect where she’s from. But, when this song’s about being lost in two homes on two coasts, the song didn’t make sense from a geographical sense. Anyways, the judges enjoyed the piano ballad, but panned “I’m A Believer.” For me though, I liked both songs and her attempt to try something upbeat.

David Archuleta picked Neil Diamond’s two most famous songs, “Sweet Caroline” and “America.” I was bitterly disappointed though when I found out that the song “America” was from another movie and not the 80’s classic “Coming to America.” I swear, I did not purposely decide to reference two Eddie Murphy movies when I sat down to write the dai-gest! Back to Mr. Archuleta, he was sporting his usual blazer over T-shirt, but his black and white striped shirt which made him look a referee or an escaped convict. Both performances were pretty good, but a little karaoke at times. From a vocal perspective, it was solid, but David didn’t really add anything else to the songs.

As always though, “the Anointed One” received glowing reviews from the judges. Even Neil Diamond called him a prodigy and a child genius. David Archuleta has captured America’s hearts with his energetic exuberance, natural charm, and youthful innocence. Let’s just hope he doesn’t lose that squeaky clean image he has developed by posing in a provocative Vanity Fair cover shoot as other child stars recently have done. On another note, Miley Cyrus, if this is the beginning of your Britney-like descent, I’d like to be your Kevin Federline.

Lastly, Syesha Mercado closed out the show with “Hello Again” and “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime.” She did look absolutely lovely in his lavender dress tonight. Her first song was another slow ballad, which I thought was rather boring and sleep-inducing. Her next performance though was energetic, fun, and sassy. For me, I think she does better on the upbeat pop songs than the power ballads. Randy and Paula agreed that she was Broadway and theatrical, but in a good way. However, Simon commented that she was pretty average and forgettable, which caused Syesha’s jaw to drop and gave her a dour look for the remainder of the show. Syesha’s a fine singer with a great voice and stage presence, but there’s just something missing which makes me less than enthusiastic about her.

Fearless Bottom 2 Predictions:
2. Jason Castro
1. Syesha Mercado

After a jam-packed night where each contestant sang twice, the Davids still look like the two favorites to head into the finals. The other three all received mixed reviews for their performances, and are the ones most likely in danger tomorrow night. With only five people left, anything can happen in the voting as we saw last week!

Your American Idol Superdelegate,
David

PS – Neil Diamond song I would have sung if I was on the show: “Red Red Wine”