Before tonight's episode, I predicted that Syesha and Jason would be the next Idol contestants to go, in that order. However, tonight we saw the final four perform, ostensibly the time when the singers pull out all the stops and do their proverbial thing. Each had a chance to prove that he or she deserved to be in the top three or not (although as Ryan Seacrest pointed out, Chris Daughtry got eliminated at this point, so "deserve" does not really play into it.)
The only requirement tonight was that each song had to be from the list of the top 500 greatest rock songs as decreed by the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (rock n' roll, incidentally, was invented by Ike Turner. Did you know that? I didn't.) Each contestant had the opportunity to come out better, worse or the same (which is perhaps the equivalent to worse at this level) as before. So how did each of them do?
David Cook: David's first choice was "Hungry Like the Wolf," which he pledged to change up in various ways. I was not looking forward to this, because I love me some Duran Duran. Fortunately, I guess, he didn't really change the song at all, except using his emo-rock whiny inflection from time to time. David has a pretty strong voice but Duran Duran songs aren't really written to show off vocal skills. Randy deemed it "just OK for you" which was pretty spot-on. Paula said that it left her "with a big appetite," which I know she meant as a compliment but since I'm a jerk I'll point out that technically that meant he left her wanting more.
Then David sang the Who's "Baba O'Reilly." I really wish that on primary night he had gone with "Won't Get Fooled Again": Idol could stand a Daltry-esque scream. Personally, David doesn't move me—I feel like as opposed to being a real rocker, he's like the winner of the color wars at rock n' roll fantasy camp—but I can't deny it when he does a good job and he came back strong with his second performance.
How did he come out?: I think fairly even. Had he picked a better song for his first performance, Cook would have established himself better but it wasn't his most commanding night.
Syesha: I feel like tonight, Syesha would have won America's Next Top Model. She performed well, she looked AMAZING (from what I could tell—I had to watch tonight's episode with, get this, an antenna), and most importantly, she brought lots of personality! The kind that Tyra Banks would approve of! The kind that's really real and visible! The kind that prevents you from getting kicked off because you faded into the background.
First, Syesha gave us a rendition of "Proud Mary." There was some singing involved but there was mostly a lot of hotness. She didn't really sing a whole ton in this rendition, which was probably a good move—the backup singers were clearly more proficient at this song than she was, but at least she didn't try to overreach. While Simon thought she was "shrieking" I think she underplayed it and let her dance moves do the talking. This is not, of course, a dance show, but I thought it was a clever move on her part.
Syesha's second performance was of Sam Cook's "A Change is Gonna Come." Singing-wise, I think it's the best she's ever done on the show—I don't know what Randy was talking about when he said he didn't like it as much as "Proud Mary" but both Simon and Paula loved it. However, it seems like Brooke passed some horrible torch to Syesha. Syesha explained to us all the importance of the song, and vaguely compared the pivotal moments of the civil rights movement to the pivotal moment of being in the top four of American Idol. OK, fine, whatever, I was ready to let that slide. But then came the waterworks after the song. The song has a totally different meaning to her now, she's changed so much, there's such an important message to the song. "Shut up," I wrote in my notes, as she made no attempt to keep her shit together. It just felt fake and desperate, and I was irritated that she trotted that out after such a strong performance.
How does she stand now? I think Syesha did very well for herself for Idol tonight—definitely her strongest night yet. Do I personally think she's a very memorable singer, or even the next Idol? No, but I can see her having a great career on Broadway.