Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Final 4 Perform



Well, it's the Final 4. This is mostly the week of the HUGE upset. At the 4 slot, we have lost Tamayra Gray, LaToya London, and Chris Daughtry. Those were pretty big upsets. In the other 3 seasons, the right person has gone home - Joshua Gracin, Anthony Federov, and LaKisha Jones. So, what happens this week? Do we have a huge upset and lose one of the Davids or does Jason or Syesha finally get booted. Here's how it went down for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night:

David Cook started things off with Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" which I thought was an interesting choice. In 7 seasons of American Idol, I don't recall anyone ever doing a Duran Duran song. I thought he did a good job as usual. He didn't change it up as much as he normally does but taking a cheesy pop song from the 80's and putting a rock edge to it was very risky and I thought he pulled it off.

Syesha was next and chose "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner. Before singing, she says this song has been covered over 100 times. So, why did she add to that total by making another cover of it? This girl is not bright when it comes to song choices. I didn't like the performance at all. She was trying to do a Tina impression. First of all, she can't dance well. Hopefully Tina wasn't watching and Ike must have been puking in his grave. The singing was average but you can see people every day singing "Proud Mary" at Open Mic Night at college campuses all over the states. Syesha definitely had fun on the stage but with only 4 people remaining, fun is not good enough.

Next to the stage was Jason Castro. When he said he was going to sing "I Shot The Sherrif", I cringed on my couch. Again, a white kid with dread locks who gets WET for Bob Marley should NOT be singing songs by Bob Marley. Yeah, it's great for him to idolize Bob (I'm sure he has posters all over his bedroom) but dude....not the right song choice. And enough smoking weed. You sound more brain dead each week when you talk before the songs. I loved when Simon asked what Jason was thinking and he responds in his stoner voice, "I was thinking Bob Marley !" This performance was terrible. Three bong hits, a yummy snack, surround sound, a comfortable couch, and a 56" TV wouldn't make this performance sound or look good. Again, he could be one of the worst in the top 10 since Jim Verraros or John Stevens. And this dude got further than both of those guys. All of America must be high for voting for this guy.

David Archuleta was up next and chose "Stand By Me." Right when I heard the song choice, I thought it's wasn't the best choice of song as it's just so inspirational. Sing a song about nonsense or love or hate. Every song is about inspiration or Jesus. I'd like him to change it up a bit. Anyway, it was sung nicely. I still don't think his voice is nearly as good as Clay Aiken's was and I actually think Elliot Yamin's voice is a bit stronger than David's. Still, this kid has a huge fan base and the song was sung well. I just hope he doesn't become the next big upset.

David Cook was up next to start the second round of songs. He chose the Who's "Baba O'Riley" which I thought was a great song choice. I love how he started off really slow like a power ballad and then took the song to a new level when he rocked it. I'd love to hear him sing the full version of the song instead of just the minute and forty seconds that we got to hear. He changed this up and I thought this was the best performance of the night. I have nothing negative to say about what he did.

Syesha was next singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" which was a good song choice for her. It was a song that wasn't so popular by some pop diva. This was a song that she was able to make her own. I actually didn't love the first part of her song but the second part, she really nailed it. I still don't care about her as much as I liked Tamayra, LaToya,and Vonzell in the past but the second part of her song last night could have saved her ass. And what is with the crying? I thought the tears was a brilliant move to get the sympathy vote.

Jason "Puff Puff" Castro was up next singing another Bob song. This time it was Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." I thought this was a good song choice for someone that can't sing. Bob Dylan, a great write, has NO singing voice so it was perfectly appropriate that Jason, who can't sing either, chose a Bob Dylan song. However, the performance is beyond awful. Plus, he forgot an entire line of lyrics and just hummed it and then started to remember the lyrics again. Pot affects your short term memory so it probably wasn't bright for Jason to take a few hits before taking the stage causing him to forget the lyrics. Or, maybe he just isn't a bright person. How can you forget the lyrics with 4 people to go? Dude...that was bad and your time has expired. And did you realize that he had a guitar and barely strummed a note on it? What the guitar just for show or did he forget that he was holding it.

Finally, David Archuleta chose Elvis' "Love Me Tender." First of all, I can't stand Elvis. But, I'd have to say that David did a really good cover of this song. It was sung nice, it was changed up a bit, and he was in tune. The knocks on the performance were that ridiculous black shirt with these stupid white birds on it. Who picked out that outfit? The judges said he "crushed the competition" but I thought both Davids were far better than Jason and Syesha.

So, who goes home. The obvious choice is Jason Castro. But, this is the Final 4 and strange things happen this week. Let's hope it doesn't happen tonight.

Birdman Out.

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