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The chorus sounds eerily similar to the verses of Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi" in syncopation as well as chord progression. Check it out, it's not quite as ridiculous as my ghetto mash-up of Paul Oakenfold + Harry Nilsson, but it's there. Cook sounds okay vocally, but I just don't really like the song and don't think he really innovated (ironic, because half the other contestants get slammed for playing around too much with the arrangement). Also, he appears to be wearing a blazer made of dragonskin or something. I think Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) wore one just like it to a Harry Potter premiere.

That's right, scrunch up your neck in shame.

Randy agrees with me and thinks it was an okay choice of song, solid but no hott madd vocals, dawg. It was okay, not amazing. Paula likes extended metaphors and says the song left her with a big appetite to see him grow and flourish. She goes off on a tangent as to why she tolerates being the only girl in the boys' club. I thought it was because of the ridiculous amount of money you get paid to play cheerleader, insult the English language with your lack of syntax, and promote your comeback single, Paula. Simon says it's good enough to get Cook through to next week but calls him out on not making the song his own.

Syesha is totally going to tackle a diva song. She's dressed as a sparkly Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls with a much shorter hem. She is excited about not being judged on tour (um, hello, ticket sales, audience reaction, pop music critics? They're judging you) and back-up dancers.

She's singing Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" and acknowledges that it's been covered over 100 times. Surely it won't be tired and overdone with the 101th cover. Syesha vowed that she told herself to get over her fear of the song and to just have fun with it. Well, any song that has built-in choreography and a character to get into should be up Syesha's alley. Will she don a Tina wig?

Syesha is the most coordinated out of the top 10 contestants. She starts out really slow, with some hip-rolling. Then she kicks it into high gear with twirls that Brooke could never hope to duplicate and some crazy dance moves and hair-tossing. I am impressed. She even coordinates some side to side grooving with the band. It's like in I'm in Vegas at one of those free impersonator shows that feature Tina, Elvis, Bruce Springsteen, and Dolly Parton! And maybe Barbara Streisand if you're lucky. And afterwards, we can go to the all-you-can eat pancake buffet and save Christmas!

Syesha learned from the best.

It's struggling pitch-wise (she also sings/shouts around the melody quite a bit) as she starts to yelp and get out of breath, but she reaches for some crowd-pleasing big and high notes and is overall definitely more engaging and entertaining than Fetus + Castro. Her voice sounds kinda thin, but hey, put enough glitter on everything and you're good to go. The energy level she brings to the show these days is pretty essential considering half our contestants are perma-stoned or old men in little boy bodies.

Randy is impressed that Syesha's stepped it up in the past three weeks, and proclaims she's in the zone. As always, Paula starts with the visuals. She loves Syesha's outfit because it basically matches her own dress. Magic happens! Oh, and here is an Abdul Analogy for you.

Pretty girl:big voice::beautiful woman:magnetic voice

Pretty is to beautiful as big is to magnetic....oh fuck it, this is Paula-speak we're trying to parse here. Simon cautiously says that Syesha got shrieky as the song escalated and that she sounded like a hacky Tina Turner impersonator. Simon and I would really get along in real life. Syesha says she's trying to have fun, and Simon retorts that he didn't have fun. Ouch. The Englishman hates fun!

Next, my favorite Texas sheepdog and Fetus. Seabreath smacks a mask of Castro (complete with yarn dreads!) in the palm of his hand and pretends that Carly looks like a former contestant. Carly pretends to be delighted by Seabreath's scripted humor.

Castro is choosing a song he's never sung in public (only in his den, sitting on the couch with his best friends and a bucket of chicken nuggets). "It's a song by Bob Marley...Go figure," and then he giggles/chortles/what have you. Start the video at 0:40, I promise it's worth it. At least for the 10 seconds in his confessional.

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Posted in American Idol by T.Vo at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Last Comment: Crowni84 on May 19, 2008 11:34 AM.