American Idol: Top 3 Performances

It's the American Idol Top 3 performed tonight. The song choices are in, and there are yawners and there are surprises. Contestants perform in this order: David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado and David Cook.

David Archuleta: “So It Goes” By Billy Joel (Paula's Pick). I have to agree with Simon on this one. From beginning to end, it reeked of David Archuleta's mechanics for singing. But it was still a good performance for David, and a surprisingly wonderful choice from Paula.

Syesha Mercado: “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys (Randy's Pick). Yup, Syesha's in control of her voice in this song. Plus she looks radiant. Go Syesha!

David Cook: “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack (Simon's Pick). Brilliant. I don't understand Randy and why he had to diss Simon's selection. It wasn't predictable at all and this was a nice departure from the original. If there's anything predictable about it, it's the fact that David Cook rocked it.

David Archuleta: “With You” by Chris Brown. Hmm. This is an out of the box choice for David. I don’t know if it was trying too hard, but I find Simon Cowell’s description quite apt: “It’s like a chihuahua trying to be a tiger.”

Syesha Mercado: “Fever” by Peggy Lee. A safe song choice. When Syesha has been scoring big with highly charged emotional pieces, she chooses the theatrics of a sexual song. And it wasn’t exceptional. Sigh, I guess it’s going to be a David vs. David affair.

David Cook: “Dare You to Move” by Switchfoot. Welcome to the planet David! I hope when you make your first album, I dare you to choose songs like this and give a dirty finger to those producers with really lame song choices. Speaking of lame song choices…

David Archuleta: “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg, chosen by the producers. I don’t know why they stopped using Clive Davis’s name or any particular producer’s name to give credibility to this particular song choice. But they are too lame. If this is going to be any indication of the choices they will make for the winner and runner-up when they make their albums, then they shouldn’t be surprised why Bo, Reuben, Taylor, Katharine Mc Phee, Jordin, Blake Lewis and Fantasia came out with such forgettable debut albums. The judges shouldn’t criticize the contestants’ choices, they should call attention to the lame song choices by the now unnamed “producer”.

Syesha Mercado: “Hit Me Up” by Gia Farrell. Again, this song is of no use to Syesha’s cause. They should give up producer’s choice and make an online poll to make the audience decide from a list what song the contestants should sing. If this is the best that the producers can come up with, they should consider hiring a newbie with who will think of the contestant’s skills.

David Cook: “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, also chosen by the producers. While David Cook has been categorized as a rocker, he has a specific angst about him that isn’t expressed in a song like this. Whoever chose these songs should be hanged.

This is one of the most uneventful final three’s ever.