There’s not much to say about Idol this week except that Syesha Mercado, though she’s too graceful about it, was practically set up by the judges in hard criticism over songs that were chosen for her, with the exception of her decision to do “Fever” (complete with chair). Every week I’ve pointed out that David Archuleta is never held to the same high standards as anyone else on the show, and as such, Simon had determined that Syesha’s performance this week wasn’t going to be enough to get her through to the finals.

Regardless, Syesha was graceful and poised, as I expected her to be, and I never would have thought that she would turn up her personality, relax and have fun over these last few weeks. I had been thinking she should have gone home, but after seeing her transformation, she has really won me over as a fan. I definitely believe she has a successful Broadway career ahead of her (Chicago and/or RENT, perhaps?) and would absolutely shine on a classic jazz album. This will not be the last time you hear from Miss Syesha.

Next week we’ll be having the battle of the teenage girls with David Versus David. On a side note, I don’t know why I thought this, but for some reason I thought that David Cook was from Wisconsin. All well, instead he’s actually from Kansas City, while Archuleta is from Somewhere, Utah. In any event, it looks this is Cook’s competition to lose, and hopefully the finals will be fun to watch, but Archuleta is so 1.5-dimensional that unless he’s singing a ballad or an old song, he’s generally unbelievable as a contemporary artist right now. Cook has to be careful not to be pigeonholed with his rock styling, but generally, he can sing anything, and is poised to be one of the most successful Idols in the history of the show.

YouTube Video of the Week
Lady GaGa’s “Just Dance” - love this sexy lady and her beats!!!

Thank you for reading; make your moment your breakthrough.