In one of the last few rounds of IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series for 2010, one 3rd-place finalist edged out her peers in a fairly close battle.
Melinda Doolittle's 12 votes were enough to earn her 29% of all 41 votes cast, which was the largest take of all nine participants included in this round. The sixth season's second-runner-up saw her closest competition come from Elliott Yamin, who garnered nine votes (21%), followed by Danny Gokey's seven votes (17%).
There were only two finalists who failed to grab any votes during the course of the week, as Nikki McKibbin (Season 1) and Vonzell Solomon (Season 4) went scoreless in their attempts.
In the next round (the third-to-last, by the way), readers will be asked which runner-up is their favorite of all nine seasons. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Nikki McKibbin 0 (0%)
Kimberley Locke 2 (4%)
Jasmine Trias 2 (4%)
Vonzell Solomon 0 (0%)
Elliott Yamin 9 (21%)
Melinda Doolittle 12 (29%)
Syesha Mercado 4 (9%)
Danny Gokey 7 (17%)
Casey James 5 (12%)
Total votes: 41
Showing posts with label syesha mercado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label syesha mercado. Show all posts
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Poll of the week: Melinda does a little to earn recognition among fans
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
IDOL LIVE Blog - Top 9 Results [Pt. 2] (4/14/10)
Following last night's showing of interesting song choices from Elvis Presley's songbook, two finalists will bite the dust after one of them was spared elimination last week. If all goes according to plan, tonight's eliminees will be deserving of their ouster.
Besides the expected performance of "Whataya Want From" from Adam Lambert, we can look forward to exhibitions by Brooke White and Miley Cyrus' ex Justin Gaston, who is currently part of the "If I Can Dream" house along with former Season 9 contestant Alex Lambert. There will probably be someone else but I didn't bother to look.
To see who I predict will be leaving tonight, see here. Please feel free to add your two cents throughout the one-hour blogcast, with coverage starting just prior to 9 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast features the music of Danny Gokey, Diana DeGarmo, Jorge Nunez, Kris Allen and Syesha Mercado.
Friday, March 26, 2010
'Idol' odds 'n ends: Syesha Mercado promotes 'Dreamgirls' on 'Good Day LA'
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Syesha Mercado appeared on Good Day LA this morning to promote the LA run of the national tour of Dreamgirls, in which she's currently starring. Watch the segment below:
Syesha said she got to work with Diane Warren between Idol and Dreamgirls and that she wants people to see her as "Syesha the artist." She also said she tries to do yoga and work out to keep her stamina fresh, which is necessary for the show. Dreamgirls is at the Ahmanson Theatre now through April 4.
>Kimberley Locke premiered a snippet of her new single "Strobe Light" in a chat with fans on Monday night. A clip of the single can be listened to below:
"Strobe Light," which was produced by Cutfather and Paparazzi and is courtesy of Randy Jackson's record label Dream Merchant 21 Records, will be available to purchase on iTunes on Tues., April 6.
>Entertainment Weekly reported Tuesday that Tamyra Gray and her husband Sam Watters are expecting their first child. Tamyra was expectantly excited, as she told EW:
”I’m just trying to take care of myself and enjoy it,” she said. ”This is way harder than Idol.”Tamyra said the baby is due in July and they will be surprised with its sex.
>Anoop Desai's new single "My Name" was released on iTunes Tuesday. He took to Philadelphia's The 10! Show on Tuesday to perform an acoustic version of the song, which can be watched below:
The studio version can be listened to here. Anoop went on to promote his new single elsewhere throughout the week including ABC News NOW.
>Lacey Brown continued her post-Idol farewell tour this week, as she stopped by CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday to chat about her short time on the show. Watch her segment below:
Lacey did fairly well on "What a Wonderful World" and had a nice back-and-forth with Letterman. If only she had sounded that good last week.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
IDOL LIVE Blog - Top 8 Girls Perform (3/9/10)
Tonight we blog during the Top 8 female semifinalists' performance episode, which is the final step before six girls become finalists and join the Top 12. The theme is once again songs that have charted on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. If all goes according to plan, there will be less drama compared to there was one week ago.
Please feel free to add your input throughout the one-hour blogcast, with coverage starting just prior to 8 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast features the music of Haley Scarnato, Jasmine Murray, Kelly Clarkson, Paris Bennett and Syesha Mercado.
Friday, November 6, 2009
'Idol' odds 'n ends: Syesha Mercado performs on 'Wendy Williams'
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Syesha Mercado performed with her co-stars of the national tour of the musical Dreamgirls on Wednesday on The Wendy Williams Show. Watch a clip of the appearance below:
The tour kicks off at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y., tomorrow night, where it will run until Sun., Dec. 6. It will close 13 cities later in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 27, 2010.
>Kris Allen's music video for his single "Live Like We're Dying" premiered this morning on AOL's PopEater blog. Watch the video below:
About the video, Kris told PopEater at first it was "frustrating" that people "weren't getting it" during the production process about the vision for the video, but they were finally able to come up with a product everyone was satisfied with.
>Carrie Underwood stopped by Live with Regis and Kelly yesterday to perform for and chat with the show's co-hosts about her "brute" (aka Regis-speak for Carrie's boyfriend Mike Fisher) among other things. Watch her perform "Cowboy Casanova" below:
One of the funniest parts of the interview came when Carrie was asked if she knew how to skate. When she responded "no," she was asked if she was going to attempt to learn how to skate, which she followed up with another frank "no."
>Jason Castro's album might have been delayed until early next year, but he was in a cheerful mood last weekend when he proposed to his girlfriend. According to an article on ACESHowbiz:
Jason and Mandy are said to have been dating since 2008, but have known each other since high school. The twosome dressed as Beauty and the Beast on Halloween. He got down on his knees when he proposed to her and presented her with a ring. Besides, the singer also carved "Marry Me?" into a pumpkin.Jason's single "Let's Just Fall In Love Again" is now available to purchase on iTunes.
>Danny Gokey premiered his new single "It's Only" on Milwaukee's country radio station 106.1 FM. Listen to the single below:
According to MJs, the song was written by Dave and Charles from Lady Antebellum and will be available to download on Tues., Dec. 14.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Flashback: Syesha Mercado's "I Will Always Love You"
Syesha Mercado was many times written off as a non-factor on Idol's seventh season, but performances like her take on Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" during Top 9 week's Dolly Parton theme night
Even though the song has been performed countless times on Idol over the years in the style of Whitney Houston, Syesha was able to find a way to make the song work for her by a technical standpoint. It might have come off a little bit like a copycat performance, but there is no denying Syesha's vocals were first class here.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Poll of the week: David Archuleta defeats all competitors in champion series finale
After fourteen weeks of competition, IDOL LIVE's annual poll of the week champion series edition has come to a close, with David Archuleta taking the top spot following a two-week voting period finale that consisted of a whopping 10 alums from the series' seventh season.
As expected, Arch took the cake with 11,595 votes, reeling in 64% of the total votes cast. Arch's only real competition was David Cook, who netted 6,257 votes, or 34% of all votes. These results are flipped in comparison to last year's results, when Cook took in 82% and Arch was able to amass only 17% of the votes.
Not surprisingly, none of the other Idol alums that were up for voting from the semifinal rounds were able to take in a single percentage of the votes cast, with Kellie Pickler finishing an extremely distant third with 90 votes.
After all these months of voting, it should be recognized that all the contributions from readers that have participated in these polls are truly appreciated and it is hoped that this participation will continue to shine through as we carry on with regularly scheduled polls of the week. In this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked which celebrity guest judge would they prefer take Paula Abdul's spot if the spot is to be filled. You have exactly one week to vote.
David Cook 6,257 (34%)
David Archuleta 11,595 (64%)
Syesha Mercado 10 (0%)
Chris Daughtry 9 (0%)
Brooke White 10 (0%)
Kellie Pickler 90 (0%)
Kristy Lee Cook 1 (0%)
Michael Johns 2 (0%)
Ramiele Malubay 1 (0%)
Chikezie 30 (0%)
Amanda Overmyer 1 (0%)
David Hernandez 6 (0%)
Total votes: 18,012
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Poll of the week: Arch winning at halfway point
It's the halfway point for IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series, and it has predictably come down to a battle of the Davids for the second straight year. The difference between now and the same poll last year is the Archies seem to be taking the poll more seriously than their Word Nerd counterparts.
David Archuleta is currently in the lead with nearly 9,000 votes, compared to David Cook's total thus far of just over 6,000 votes. Although things started with a bang in the first few days of voting, it seems that the fans' fingers have slowed down in recent days. Maybe everyone is soaking up their last few weeks (or in some cases, days) of summer vacation?
One point that should be reiterated is that each visitor of IDOL LIVE should only be able to vote once per day. However, this does not mean there aren't ways around this restriction. This Idol poll veteran is very well aware of the whole cookie-deleting process that is often used in these polls, and if that works to your advantage, then great. If not, that is out of my control.
So with just one week left to vote before the poll closes, here's to hoping the fan bases of finalists other than the Davids find this poll and continue to make things interesting.
David Cook 6,108 (40%)
David Archuleta 8,743 (58%)
Syesha Mercado 6 (0%)
Chris Daughtry 8 (0%)
Brooke White 3 (0%)
Kellie Pickler 87 (0%)
Kristy Lee Cook 1 (0%)
Michael Johns 1 (0%)
Ramiele Malubay 1 (0%)
Chikezie 26 (0%)
Amanda Overmyer 1 (0%)
David Hernandez 5 (0%)
Votes so far: 14,990
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Poll of the week: Syesha's fans put the "yes" in her name
In what can only be considered a last-minute "Hail Mary" of a play in IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series, Syesha Mercado was crowned the victor in the Top 3 edition of the poll.
The seventh season's third-place finisher was able to reel in 52 votes (41%), enough to shut down Jasmine Trias' 31 votes (24%), who had been leading for the majority of the week.
The three other finalists that were able to nab similar amounts of votes include Elliott Yamin (15 votes, 11%)m Melinda Doolittle (12 votes, 9%) and Danny Gokey (12 votes, 9%). Season 7 has seen its candidates win each round of the champion series poll with the exception of Top 6 and Top 4.
With just two weeks before the final round of the champion series poll begins, the next installment asks readers which runner-up is their favorite of all eight seasons. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Nikki McKibbin 0 (0%)
Kimberley Locke 4 (3%)
Jasmine Trias 31 (24%)
Vonzell Solomon 0 (0%)
Elliott Yamin 15 (11%)
Melinda Doolittle 12 (9%)
Syesha Mercado 52 (41%)
Danny Gokey 12 (9%)
Total votes: 126
Sunday, July 5, 2009
'Idol' alums celebrate the Fourth
While Americans everywhere spent yesterday held cook outs and watched fireworks in honor of our nation's birthday like any self-respecting U.S. citizen would, Idol alums were out in full force doing the same.
There was no shortage of messages exclaiming their patriotic festivities on Twitter, as many used the micro-blogging service to prove they were busy celebrating. Exhibit A:
David Archuleta
Have a good 4th of July weekend everyone!!! 12:32 PM Jul 4th from txt
Diana DeGarmo
i only got one morning glory sparkler done b4 it started raining......boooooo 9:14 PM Jul 4th from mobile web
Josh Gracin
Happy 4th of July Weekend.Me and the family have just got back from our lake trip.No firework emergencies to report at this time...Maybe one about 10 hours ago from web
Leah Labelle
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!! i'm in canada lol. so we will jus make our own 4th here. gettin up for the day is young... 2:50 PM Jul 4th from web
Blake Lewis
To all the fans, Thanks for your love and support. I hope your having an amazing 4th! Send your love to our troops and there families. about 24 hours ago from Tweetie
Scott MacIntyre
Had some great bbq food today in honor of the 4th:) Dress rehearsal is going on now with full hair and makeup for the first time. about 23 hours ago from txt
Syesha Mercado
It's times like these where I really miss being home with the family. Really missing those yearly 4th of July cookouts. 9:29 PM Jul 4th from web
Carly Smithson
Yesterday was so good . Fireworks were so magic . Sat on the water with todd and watched all three beaches go off at the same time about 7 hours ago from web
Jordin Sparks
"Im proud to be an American where at least I know Im free. And I wont forget the men who died and gave that right to me..." 10:00 PM Jul 4th from web
Lisa Tucker
reggae music, tamales, fantas...yesterday was the perfect way to celebrate the 4th of july. about 7 hours ago from web
Brooke White
God bless America, My Home sweet HOME!!! Happy 4th everyone!! 2:46 PM Jul 4th from web
Other alums took to the stage to perform patriotic songs in honor of the holiday. For example, Felicia Barton sang "God Bless America" with the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra:
And of course, we cannot forget Ryan Seacrest's famed contributions nor can we overlook Paula's nonsensical words of wisdom when discussing Twitter:
Ryan Seacrest
Happy b-day America! And happy 11th b-day Malia Obama! She started celebrating on thur w/ 20 girls at camp david. Now thats a slumber party. about 21 hours ago from TweetGenius
Paula Abdul
Hope everyone is enjoying their pool parties and bbq's! Have a safe holiday and remember to keep your pets inside so they don't get scared! 5:42 PM Jul 4th from web
Words to live by, Paula. Words to live by.
Friday, June 26, 2009
'Idol' odds 'n ends: FOX to rebroadcast Top 13 Michael Jackson episode Monday
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Cat Deely announced during last night's episode of So You Think You Can Dance that FOX will be rebroadcasting the Top 13 episode of Season 8, during which the theme was the songs of Michael Jackson. The two-hour episode will air in its entirety at 8 p.m. ET on Mon., June 29.
>Syesha Mercado is following in Jennifer Hudson's footsteps (sort of), as she has landed the role of Deena Jones for the upcoming national tour of the musical Dreamgirls (Jennifer played the role of Effie White in the film adaptation of the musical). The tour will kick off at the Apollo Theatre before embarking on its tour. Per Playbill:Performances will begin at the Apollo Nov. 7 with an opening scheduled for Nov. 22. The limited run will play the Harlem venue through Dec. 6
The tour will visit the following cities: Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Costa Mesa, Cincinnati, Philadelphia.
>Speaking of Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar and Grammy winner was featured in a six-page spread in the July 2009 issue of Elle magazine. Excerpts of her interview with the magazine can be found below:On being the youngest of three:
The issue is currently available to purchase on newsstands everywhere.
“I was the biggest baby. Even now, I find people younger than me babying me.”
On her faith:
“It only gets stronger. Otherwise, I would lose my mind. I always look at things two ways: through my human eye and then through a spiritual perspective. Everything happens for a reason, and God is in control of everything. My favorite hymn is ‘How Great Is Thy Faith in Him?’ And ‘Precious Lord’—who doesn’t love ‘Precious Lord’?”
On her mother’s encouragement:
“Anything she said I could do, I ended up doing. She’d say, ‘You know, I think you could be an actress, Jenny—you can act!’ And I was like, ‘Mama, whatever.’ And then I turn around and win an Oscar!”
>Daughtry will perform today at Donauinselfest in Vienna, Austria. The annual free music concert will also feature the bands Core, Zweitfrau and My Excellence among others.
The photo to the right is of Chris and the boys doing a sound check prior to the concert and is courtesy of Katrinsgoodiebag.se.
>The current OK! magazine features a 17-page spread dedicated to the hottest country singers out there at the moment, and naturally both Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler are included. Two facts about the artists are: 1. Carrie Underwood has been playing softball for nine years.
The issue is now available on newsstands nationwide.
5. Kellie Pickler attributes her good calves to wearing stilettos, especially ones from Christian Louboutin.
6. Pickler also hates sleeping on other people’s mattresses.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
'Idol' odds 'n ends: J-Hud is the new EW cover girl
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
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Jennifer Hudson is the latest Idol alum to grace the cover of Entertainment Weekly, as she will be featured in the magazine's issue next week. A snippet of the story from the issue can be read below:
Jennifer Hudson sits inside an L.A. recording studio, her eyes hidden behind large sunglasses, her braided pigtails peeking from under a pageboy cap. Eight days from now she will kick off a national concert tour, and today is her first rehearsal with a new band. But while the musicians warm up, she doesn’t say much, keeps her head down, fidgets. She’s so unassuming that her backup vocalists, two glitzy gals with easy laughs, seem like the only divas in the room. And then Jennifer Hudson begins to sing, and all doubt is erased. It’s not just her voice. The music seems to transform her, elevate her. ”In church we call that the Anointing, that’s what you’re feeling,” she says. ”Music is my home. When I’m trying to find my inner peace, when it seems like everything is overwhelming, I put music in my ears.”
>David Cook was part of an April Fool's Day prank on DJs Jojo, Reagan and Sarah of Baltimore's Mix 106.5. The three unsuspecting DJs had a little fun with lip-synching "Light On" when unbeknownst to them, Cook himself appeared behind them. Watch the video below and judge for yourself whether or not they were genuinely shocked:
Photos of Cook with the gang are up on Mix1065.com.
>LaKisha Jones is having a good week. First, it was revealed that the fourth-place finalist from the sixth season was pregnant with her second child, the first one with husband Larry Davis. Then, LaKisha's latest single, "Let's Go Celebrate," was released on iTunes and Amazon MP3. It will appear on her forthcoming debut album, So Glad I'm Me, which will drop Tues., May 19, and can be listened to on her official music MySpace page.>Syesha Mercado has been in the studio working on her debut album with producers Joshua Bass, Tyler Sherrit and others. They all recorded a (very dark) vlog two weeks back in which a short instrumental clip of a song Syesha is recorded is played near the end. Watch the vlog below:
No word yet on when the album will be out, but Syesha has been keeping fans updated via her Twitter account.
>Season 7 Top 50 contestant Colton Swon apparently has a country album out with his brother. The duo, billed as The Swon Brothers (new JoBros?) released Another Day on CDBaby. It includes songs titled "Home," "Leavin' Love" and title track "Another Day." It has not been put on iTunes as of now.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
IDOL LIVE Blog: Top 11 Results (3/18/09)
After last night's interesting performance selection, we see which finalist just couldn't tackle what the Grand Ole Opry had to offer. Fortunately, we have Carrie Underwood's performance with Randy Travis to look forward to, as well as Brad Paisley's solo performance of his new single "Then." The blogcast will begin at 9 p.m. ET and will last one hour.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Carrie Underwood, Elliott Yamin, Jasmine Murray, Jorge Nunez and Syesha Mercado.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
IDOL LIVE Blog: Top 13 Perform (3/10/09)
Join us tonight as we blog during the first ever Top 13 performance episode of Idol. Even though we'll be losing two finalists tomorrow night, it will still be interesting to see how they fit all 13 performances into two hours while trying to skirt around the #13 phone sex line controversey. As usual, the blogcast will begin at 8 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Chikezie, Chris Sligh, David Cook, Gina Glocksen, Jordin Sparks, Kristy Lee Cook, Leona Lewis, Paris Bennett and Syesha Mercado.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
IDOL LIVE Blog - Auditions, Pt. 7 (1/29/09)
Join us tonight as we blog during the seventh and final auditions round of the season, as we hear from the people of New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico (all 300 that showed up to the latter). It will be interesting to see what kind of camera shots are used in San Juan to mimic the packed houses seen in all the other audition stops. The blogcast will run an hour despite the fact that two cities will be covered.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Elliott Yamin, Kelly Clarkson, Melinda Doolittle, Phil Stacey and Syesha Mercado.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
IDOL LIVE Blog: Auditions, Pt. 5 (1/27/09)
Join us tonight as we blog during the Jacksonville auditions (almost there!). Blogcast begins at 8 p.m. ET. As always, feel free to send in your thoughts.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Chikezie, Diana DeGarmo, Katharine McPhee, Ruben Studdard and Syesha Mercado.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
'Idol' alums and the election
Many are wondering where the former Idol finalists stand when it comes to the presidential election, which finally ends today. A few members over on IDF compiled an unconfirmed and informal list of which candidates the alums are backing. Make of them what you will.
Season 1
Jim Verraros - Obama/Biden
Season 2
Frenchie Davis - Obama/Biden
Season 3
Fantasia - Obama/Biden
Diana DeGarmo - McCain/Palin
LaToya London - Obama/Biden
Jennifer Hudson - Obama/Biden
Season 4
Vonzell Solomon - Obama/Biden
Anthony Federov - Obama/Biden
Nadia Turner - Obama/Biden
Aloha Mischeaux - Obama/Biden
Season 5
Elliott Yamin - Obama/Biden
Paris Bennett - Obama/Biden
Lisa Tucker - Obama/Biden
Gedeon McKinney - Obama/Biden
Kinnik Sky - Obama/Biden
Brenna Gethers - Obama/Biden
Bobby Bennett - Obama/Biden
Season 6
Jordin Sparks - McCain/Palin
Blake Lewis - Obama/Biden
LaKisha Jones - Obama/Biden
Phil Stacey - McCain/Palin
Jared Cotter - Obama/Biden
Sabrina Sloan - Obama/Biden
Season 7
David Cook - Obama/Biden
Syesha Mercado - Obama/Biden
Kady Malloy - Obama/Biden
Carrie Underwood told Us magazine that she "loses all respect" for celebs when they back a candidate because "Music is where you go to get away from all the BS." Chris Daughtry, although rumored to be supporting John McCain, said he did not want to publicly state who he was voting for.
No matter how each former contestant votes, all that matters is how you vote. So get out there and vote if you haven't done so already.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
IDOL LIVE poll of the week - Elliott favorite 3rd-place finalist
In last week's IDOL LIVE poll of the week, we asked which second runner-up was preferred by Idol fans. Not surprisingly, Season 5's Elliott Yamin finished on top with 45% of the vote, while Season 6's Melinda Doolittle (26%) and Season 7's Syesha Mercado (16%) were right behind. In this week's poll of the week, we ask who your favorite fourth-place finalist is of all seven seasons. You have exactly one week to vote.
Nikki McKibbin 0 (0%)
Kimberley Locke 3 (7%)
Jasmine Trias 1 (2%)
Vonzell Solomon 1 (2%)
Elliott Yamin 19 (45%)
Melinda Doolittle 11 (26%)
Syesha Mercado 7 (16%)
Total votes: 42
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Full finale week download figures for Top 10
The full (rounded) Idol download figures for the finale week were finally released and reported on Todd Martens' Extended Play blog for The Los Angeles Times. In total there were 1.5 million combined tracks sold. Below are the the sales figures for approximately three days for all but the Davids, who had a full week for their numbers to accumulate:
David Cook: 942,000 downloads
David Archuleta: 323,000 downloads
Jason Castro: 64,000 downloads
Brooke White: 47,000 downloads
Michael Johns: 40,000 downloads
Carly Smithson: 33,000 downloads
Syesha Mercado: 18,000 downloads
Kristy Lee Cook: 10,000 downloads
Chikezie: 5,000 downloads
Ramiele Malubay: 3,000 downloads
Thursday, May 22, 2008
No surprises: finale recap and analysis
Although it seems the entire press was shocked upon hearing the revelation that David Cook had defeated David Archuleta at last night's Season 7 finale, I try not to sound cocky when I say I had it right all along. What needs to be acknowledged here is that this competition is a marathon, not a sprint.
First, let's analyze the results.
Although the online fanbases do not always reflect the general public's demographics, the online polls at various outlets all seemed to be going in Cook's favor throughout the duration of the Top 12, and an even better indicator was how he was able to sell his downloads. Remember back to "Billie Jean"? Despite the fact that none of the Idol studio versions were allowed to show up on the official iTunes charts, the popularity bars in comparison to the then-#1 song, Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body," were astoundingly higher when viewed through the loophole iTunes had.
For a song to be selling that much, you know the people buying it are invested fans, and voting is free, while buying the song on iTunes is not. So you do the math.
And then, of course, Simon and his infamous "subtle wink" at Cook after giving him a rather harsh criticism of his third performance sealed the deal. At the finale last night, Simon apologized to Cook for "verging on being disrespectful" with his comments, and on the red carpet minutes before the broadcast began last night, Simon had taken back his declaration that Arch delivered "a knockout."
Regardless of what he'll admit to, Simon was more likely than not using his signature reverse psychology with Cook to rile up his fans and give him the surefire victory. But by 12 million out of 97.5 million votes? A 56-44% split? That seems a bit of a landslide, which no one would have expected. One good thing to know is that DialIdol.com was more accurate than ever at this finale, as the two Davids were separated by 12 points in their results, too.
As for his reaction to hearing the good news, Cook was overwhelmed with emotion and had to walk it off, but he recovered very nicely and was spot on in his performance of "The Time of My Life." I'll admit, it was hard to keep a straight face hearing him sing about "magic rainbows," but he gets all the slack cut in the world because Idol fans know the coronation songs are about nothing but sugar and cheese. It was great to see everyone surrounding him and supporting him at the end, and even Arch seemed all smiles.
As for the show itself, it was better than last year's, but not as good as some of the finales from seasons past. The performances that stood out for me were the duet of "The Letter" by Michael Johns and Carly Smithson, Arch's duet on "Apologize" with OneRepublic and Carrie Underwood's performance of "Last Name."
With Michael and Carly, the two of them had so much chemistry during the performance, and the way they acted it out, it made it even more special. I had picked them to be the Top 2 at the beginning of the season and they sure looked like a Top 2 last night. With Arch and OneRepublic, I thought Arch outsang lead singer Ryan Tedder by a mile and a half, and I kind of wish he had performed it on Top 3 night rather than "With You." And then Carrie's performance was (in the words of one Randy Jackson) blazin', molten hot! She looked beautiful in her short white dress and sounded better than she ever has on that song.
Some other good performances were Cook's duet of "Sharp Dressed Man" with ZZ Top, during which he showed his true rocker cred, and Brooke White's duet with Graham Nash on "Teach Your Children," which was touching to say the least. Jason Castro's reprise of "Hallelujah" was another treat, though it lacked the magic that his first performance had. And George Michael's performance of "Praying For Time," although a little too long, was very moving considering the atmosphere of the ominous, dimly-lit Nokia Theatre.
Some letdowns were the Jonas Brothers (big surprise), the hologram performance of Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" with Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Iron Man himself - Robert Downey, Jr. and (as much as I love her) even Jordin Sparks' performance of her new single, "One Step At a Time." I also thought Syesha Mercado would have been better off singing "Waiting For You" without Seal, but that would have taken away the cool factor, so it is what it is. And then the Top 6/12 numbers with Bryan Adams and Donna Summer were kind of nice, but nothing special. It was great to see all 12 of them on stage together again, though.
And like all finales, it would not have been the same without a visit down memory lane to look at the trash that were bad auditions, taken out long ago and forgotten about until now. The "let my peebul gohhhhh" guy and the "frosty mountain" guy were classic, but of course it was Renaldo Lapuz who finally got a golden ticket to Hollywood, albeit not the one he was expecting, and landed a prime performing spot at the finale. He belted out "We're Brothers Forever" accompanied by a marching band and cheerleading squad (I knew we would be seeing more of him for the finale as soon as his audition aired). And surprisingly, there was no sign of Josiah Lemming, the famous British-sounding, car-inhabiting 18-year-old who just missed out on a spot in the Top 24.
So all in all, this was a pretty good finale to end an above average season, but there are still many problems that need to be worked out. This season will be remembered for many things, among them the issue of having "plants" as contestants, the legitimacy of the judges' comments thanks to Paulagate, and a continuing slide in the ratings. Yes, there were many great moments that came out of this season, including memorable performances from many of the contestants ("Billie Jean," "Angels," "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right," "Here You Come Again," "Hallelujah," "Imagine," "Always be My Baby," the list goes on...), Simon's "WTF face" during Fantasia's performance and the many great Idol alums' performances.
So no matter what, this season will be remembered infinitely more than Season 6. Now the question is, will this season's batch of finalists be able to hold onto solid careers, or will they suffer "flash in the pan"-itis? It's way too early to tell, but it looks like David Cook will for sure be a bona fide star. Thanks America, for getting it right.
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