American Idol Live Top 3 Recap
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008Ryan Seacreast opens tonight show by putting his arm on David A. and Syesha, but not David C. He called David A. a high school student, Syesha an actress and DC a bartender (before AI). Ryan says the judges’ choices are first. Archie’s song choice by Paula is shown in a video read by his mayor at his hometown welcoming. Paula says she wanted to showcase his vocals and the melody is difficult and it will showcase his timbre. Archie begins “And So it Goes” standing centerstage wearing a black leather jacket and tie. It is all a capella at the beginning, then the violins come in, then the piano. David’s dad shown in the audience. Paula & Randy Like it Simon says its ok not outstanding.
Randy says he chose “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys for Syesha because he had a feeling she would like it cause she’s young and hot and he could see her singing this kind of record. She begins centerstage holding a mic, all dressed up in a silver and gold glittered dress with huge gold earings. Piano on stage too. Judges liked it overall. Simon wished she did more with it but that she looked nice
Simon says he chose the song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face“, for David C because so many girlfriends love it and he wanted to challenge David, unlike Randy. Cookie opens standing at micstand centerstage. Only piano accompanying. He sounds very strong. Starts picking up halfway through the song. Starts to rock it up.Hits a few high notes. Ends on a very high note and holds it. Lots of applause.
Archie says he chose “With You” by Chris Brown [lots of applause] because it’s something he hasn’t done yet. Says it wasn’t easy to learn. Ryan confuses him about starting the performance. And he begins centerstage holding the mic. Archie includes “boo” in the lyrics. Wearing a brown t-shirt and brown pants. He’s very into the performance. Lots of audience interaction. Judges didn’t like it much. But Simon compliments David on not selecting a ballad
Syesha, wearing a short silvery dress, sits with Ryan at stools, she says she chose “Fever” by Peggy Lee. She says there’s a chair involved and she wants to walk around it and work it a bit. Her strong performance was very sultry as she flirted with various band members. The judges were way too hard on Syesha(like last week with Jason Castro). Randy thought she sang amazingly well. Paula said she didn’t understand the song choice as is wasn’t Syesha. Simon Said she would regret the perfomance tommarrow as it was “quite a lame cabaret performance”
Cookie says he went with “Dare You to Move” by Switchfoot, said coming from a bartender it seemed like the appropriate song for the appropriate moment. David begins centerstage playing guitar. Other instruments come in during the second verse. Randy thought is was the perfect song choice but performance wise it wasn’t Cook’s best. A little pitchy. Paula thought it didn’t last long enough. Simon said it was ok but expected & not a very melodic song. Hmmm… I love this song… and I loved Cookie singing it to me too!
David A comes out to perform “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg. Wearing a blue dress shirt, his vocals are strong but eyes are closed. All three judges thought he sang it well Simon thought the song lyrics were gooey. More for a 70 year than a 17 year old.
Syesha performs “Hit Me Up” by Gia Farrell. She begins stage left, wearing a silver top and black pants, moves around the stage, dancing around. Three back up singers. She sounds pretty good considering the song isn’t great. All three judges were let down by her performance. Paula is worried it will not be enough to keep her in the competition…. is there really anything she can do at this point to stay in? LOL
Cookie will end the night by performing “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. Strings are accompanying him, nothing else. He’s smiling at the camera, skips the first chorus, goes into the bridge. His raspyness is coming out, Sounds good, he goes up into the chorus and hits a high note. Rock elements kick in, still standing at micstand, but electric guitars sound good. Ends on high note. Awesome! Randy: “For me, I love the song, it was ok for me [massive boos] very predictable.” Paula: “This is an amazing song. David…see ya in the finals!” Simon: “One of the great songs of all time. And I have to tell you, David Cook wins the night.“
