A top three in which, for once, no one got screwed

[jlh]

Paula was remarkably lucid tonight, wasn't she? I love how Randy and Simon made the first performances all about them, which is typical for Simon but not as much for Randy. Nice to see the comeback of Simon putting his hand over Ryan's mouth, and the lingering handholding moment was for the win, seriously, as was Ryan calling Simon "my boo." Funny, after Ryan called out Simon on his big fat mancrush on DCook—the first year I recall Simon having a mancrush on anyone other than Ryan.

• small David
  1. "And So It Goes." Who did that string arrangement? Clunk city. I agree with Randy that it might have been better with a piano, and with Simon that it was merely competent.
     
  2. "With You." On the one hand, it was a good choice because he was trying to be all down with the kids and modern and stuff, except for the part where he couldn't pull it off.
     
  3. "Longer." Seriously? I'm with Simon, and I really like crappy 70's soft rock, but talk about treacle. Well, at least he made an attempt to eyefuck the camera, if not a particularly good one.
  
  
• Syesha
  1. "If I Ain't Got You." That sat really well in her range, and she sounded great, even if she sounded, well, pretty much like Alicia Keys, as Simon said.
     
  2. "Fever." She did sound great, though the singing behind the beat in the first verse was a bad choice. I totally agreed with Paula and Simon,
     
  3. "Hit Me Up." This song was on the Happy Feet soundtrack. Syesha sounded like Beyonce. It was fun but you know, not that interesting.
  
  
• D.Cook
  1. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." Oh Simon, you're such a schmoopy thing. <3 I really liked it, actually—the start was a little rocky, but I felt like that was okay, because
     
  2. "Dare You to Move." Well, I'm with Randy, it was a little rough in a few parts, and as Paula said, it was just getting started when it ended, just like "Baba O'Riley" last week. But wanting more can't be bad.
     
  3. "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." Full disclosure: I fucking hate this song. So that he avoided being totally OTT and bombastic and ridiculous by stripping it down was pretty fantastic, because I could actually listen to the song.

[Poll #1187475]

I voted for DCook a billion times.

Comments

[ladyjaida.livejournal.com]

So much voting for David Cook. He grew on me all of a sudden and now whenever he sings I get those all-over tingles.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It's been a weirdly loyal season for me this year. I started out in the semis liking DCook, Jason, Carly and Amanda, and I've pretty much voted for each of them all the way through, except for Jason's last week and a week in the middle for Carly. But I think as the others fell DCook's reliable performance became that much more remarkable—even when he isn't on, he's good, just not great. I really hope that next week he'll be great.

[dreamerren.livejournal.com]

"With You." On the one hand, it was a good choice because he was trying to be all down with the kids and modern and stuff, except for the part where he couldn't pull it off.
ilu! Because that was pretty much the problem with that whole mess.

And honestly my biggest issue with Syesha is like we talked about, we have no idea who she really as an artist, other than a really good imitator...and it's not Broadway Idol...so while I think she'd be superb on stage, she needs to not do that on the Idol stage. kthanx.

And yeah...DCook ♥ Man was the best and most solid of the night and definitely deserves a spot in the finals. And O_O (because you know what that refers too...lol.)

Ryan and Simon were also in rare form this evening...I'd like to think it was just for you.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I loved Simon's "DCook wins the night" even if it was hard to separate from his obvious crush, because when Simon likes something and is happy he's really willing to say it.

What's sad now is, while I have no doubt that DCook wants it and wants it bad, he'll be more okay (inside) with a #2 finish than small David will. And now we're right back down to it being all about (1) who the mysterious Syesha people will vote for and (2) the coronation songs.

[dreamerren.livejournal.com]

Simon rarely says stuff...just because he has a crush. Lol. One of the things about Simon is he's able to separate his personal feelings from his critique, unlike others *cough*RandyJackson*cough*

(1) who the mysterious Syesha people will vote for
It's like a great mystery...who are these people?

(2) the coronation songs.
I'm perhaps less worried about this than I should be. There was an interview (I think on ew.com) where Simon was asked if the contestants would be allowed to mess with the arrangements of the coronation songs. He didn't say yes, but he said we would "be surprised". So I am hopeful...(and cursing tptb right along with Blake Lewis...*sigh* At least they hopefully learned a lesson.)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I think they learned a lot of lessons from Blake, but I'm not sure Blake would have been any better off as the winner, given the amount of press he got after. I don't know if being a higher priority would have helped solve his radio issue, or helped them figure out any better how to market his music.

I didn't meant to say that Simon can't separate his personal feelings from his critique; clearly he can, and he was very clear that David had come up to and surpassed his expectations. I only meant that his emotion, his glee was part crush, part just general happiness when someone does well. So many critics think that saying when you like something is a sign of weakness, but I think because Simon has such high standards and doesn't expect to like much of anything, but is still hopeful, he is SO HAPPY when he likes something, and he's willing to say it.

Also, his liking DCook is a little different because as he said on Larry King some weeks ago, his music is the sort that Simon would be most likely to listen to personally. So it's like, personal preference + mancrush + marketability/competence/the usual + artist exceeding high expectations = happy happy Simon, who didn't even mind Ryan teasing him about his mancrush.

He said he would be surprised if they did, or if they didn't?

[dreamerren.livejournal.com]

I don't think giving Blake permission to mess with the coronation song would have changed a heck of a lot, but it did seem kind of unfair that he got tagged with a song that was basically geared for Jordin to succeed. (I mean I know the people voted for it or whatever and I get that, but up to that point they'd been allowed to rearrange songs with in the confines of the theme, why not extend that to the coronation song?) That's all that I was saying. The radio issues that Blake is having now, is unrelated, and has more to do with a poor first single selection and people being unsure how to market him.

Everything you say about Simon is exceptionally true. And usually I agree with parts of what Simon says but not everything, but last night I thought he was spot on about everything. I'd be thinking something and out of his mouth it would come. His enthusiasm for DCook (and others like Leona Lewis) is genuine and that's really nice to see.

When digging around the EW.com archives and found the article. Simon says:
When asked if the final two will get to change up the arrangement to better suit their vocal styles, Cowell hinted at a glimmer of hope: "I won't give it away, but there's a slight change to last year which is going to be an improvement."

I mis-remembered exactly what he said...lol. You can read the full piece here (http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/05/simon-cowell-de.html)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I really think that if Blake had been allowed to rearrange the coronation song he might have won. His other songs were stronger than hers, but she really won with that song, I felt at the time. And he sort of lost his push to win, when he couldn't show who he really was through that song. But then (as usual with me) I went on to say, well, even if he had won, it wouldn't have made a difference in terms of his actual career. We'd just be able to see him on the show next week and in the opening montage.

My pal Boni says that the songs that people are even voting on are better than last year, so there's that. My memory of last year's songs is that they were all some variation on a Diane Warren/Jim Steinman Celine-esque power ballads and you know how I feel about that. So I still have hope!

And small David, I'm not sure if it would even end up being so close that the coronation song would matter that much. I mean, it's iconic, and I don't think there's been a winner who blew that song, and Bo certainly found a way to deal with it, but still. DCook has many other strengths.

In other words, I'm not handicapping this one—and if you'd asked me even three weeks ago, I would have said that there was no way small David could lose.

[dana-kujan.livejournal.com]

ASIG: Baby Elmo didn't understand that song at all.

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" Nice Rymon vibe around Ryan's intro. Dare I suggest beg for a ficlet to go with?

D. Cook: A billion+ votes!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Say what you will about Billy Joel, his lyrics are those of a grown up, and even though as Paula said the melody was great for his voice, he really can't sing a song full of regret. And it isn't just his age—Jordin could do that.

You mean, around Simon's mancrush and how funny Ryan finds it? Or around Simon's big crazy love for that song? Because omg the old skool hand-over-mouth and lingering handholding, Dana. Lingering handholding.

I have Cingular so I can text, which I did about 40 times.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

DCook FTMFW, baby. I think I've got carpal tunnel in my left thumb from hit redial so many times on the landline - could not get through on the cell:(

I have not actually seen Archie and Syesha; I've only seen DCook on the YouTube, as we forgot to tape the frickin' show *headdesk* Archie's song selections sort of made my eyebrows go up; the Chris Brown in a WTF way and the Dan Fogelberg in a so predictable way, though I'd actually like to hear DCook sing that. Actually I WOULD like to hear DCook sing the phone book. *beats Randy around his "it was only okay" ears with a phonebook*

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Poor small David didn't saddle himself with "Longer"; that was the producers' choice, which I should have made clearer, and one that Simon criticized the producers for. The final song each of them sang was chosen by the producers; the singers chose their second songs, and none of them particularly well.

Whatever, Randy is boring and gets in these weird moods. I of course was more pleased about how open Simon was with his DCook mancrush love.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Well, I have to be pleased that the producers (that would be Nigel Lythgoe?) gave DCook a song he was able to kill with. AND THE PIMP SPOT. *iz happy*

So now we wait.

[zorb]

DCook! <333333333 Haha, that Switchblade song is exactly what kind of recording artist he will be.

I think Ryan had a Red Bull or something before tonight's show, because he was...hoppy. But what was with the judges criticizing song choice on the last round? It's not the contestants' fault!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It isn't, but I think they wanted to make that clear, sort of: if you're a small David fan and you found that really boring, that isn't his fault.

Daughtry's songwriting was a pleasant surprise so I'm interested to see what songs we'll get from DCook.

[eilujspark.livejournal.com]

Did you read Jacob's recap yet? You'll love it.