American Idol: Top 4
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Can the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame sue for defamation of character? If it can, it should. Because what the “American Idol” final four did to some of rock’s best-loved classics was criminal. And what David Cook did to “Hungry Like The Wolf” wasn’t very nice, either.
From Cook’s hideous lounge-lizard version of that Duran Duran throwaway (What’s wrong, David? Wasn’t “The Reflex” available?) and Jason Castro’s unforgivable destruction of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” to Syesha Mercado’s empty-calorie “Proud Mary” workout and David Archuleta’s sweet, but bland “Stand By Me,” it was the kind of soul-challenged night that made you wonder if all your “Idol”-hating friends have been right all along.
Maybe “American Idol” is the worst thing to happen to music since illegal downloading. It certainly felt that way last night.
Here is how the SS Idol went down:
David Cook (”Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Baba O’Reilly”): Duran Duran? Seriously? After weeks of savvy performances, to see the reliably creative Cook slouch through a song that had no redeemable qualities to begin with was to question an entire season’s worth of performances. David Cook, what happened to you? All I can figure is that this year’s designated rocker was so determined to own Rock Night that he choked. His truncated version of “Baba O’Reilly” wasn’t much better. His voice was sort of in the David Zone, but his heart wasn’t in it. A teenage wasteland, indeed.
Syesha Mercado (”Proud Mary” and “A Change is Gonna Come“): Mercado’s turbo-charged performance of “Proud Mary” was probably the entertainment highlight of the evening. It felt like a copy of every other “Proud Mary” performance to come down the “Idol” pike, but at least it was fun. And as weird as it was to hear Syesha somehow connect the Civil Rights struggle with her Elimination Night traumas, it brought a level of raw emotion to her version of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” that made it easy to forgive the soupy arrangement and some severely pinched high notes. Syesha seems to work harder than anybody, and her post-performance meltdown felt very real and very moving.
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Jason Castro (”I Shot the Sheriff” and “Mr. Tambourine Man”): Oh my God, what WAS that? In what will now be known as the Terrible Twofer, the laziest contestant in “Idol” history followed a version of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” that was so insulting, it qualified as grave-robbing, with a stab at Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” that would have been simply forgettable if Castro hadn’t also forgotten the words. But since he did, it now qualifies as unforgivable. Really. I defy all you Jason Castro fans to defend either of those time-sucking performances. And to think we lost Carly Smithson and Michael Johns, and this bum is still here.
David Archuleta (”Stand By Me” and “Love Me Tender”): His voice remains one of the Great Idol Wonders, so even though I found his version of “Stand By Me” to be predictable and poppy, there is no denying that Little David gave the evening’s most consistently strong performances. And while his lack of life experience made his version of “Love Me Tender” a little on the warm-and-fuzzy side (as opposed to the hot-and-passionate side), it was a meltingly lovely performance.
BEST IN SHOW: David Archuleta and Syesha
WORST IN SHOW: Jason Castro
NOT DOING HIMSELF ANY FAVORS: David Cook
NOT LONG FOR THIS SHOW: It better be Jason Castro. But if Simon’s “pack your bags” comment mobilizes the fans, it could be Syesha. In which case, I will have to hurt somebody.
EPISODE GRADE: D
~thank you weblog.signonsandiego.com for the article