Pam's American Idol Analysis for May 13

Final Three night on Idol and the night where the contestants perform three songs. Luckily, Jason went home last week (as he wished) so we had people who really wanted to be there tonight ... The songs tonight were selected as follows: One judge selecting for one contestant; one song the selected by the contestant; and one chosen by the producers for each contestant.

Starting off was David A., who was given the song "And So It Goes" (Billy Joel) and selected by Paula. His eyes were closed too much and he had not much spark. Beautifully sang ballad and technically good. But as the hoobie says, "not very entertaining." We wouldn't pay money to see it. David A seemed very wooden in performance on this song.

His second song was "With You" by Chris Brown was definitely younger sounding and his best of the night. We weren't sold on it but it was better than his first song. He is still soooo very nervous during interviews and he should be over that by now. We agree with Simon -- he was a "chihuahua trying to be a tiger." He should be cool as a cucumber by now.

DavidA's third song was "Longer" (Dan Fogelberg), which was another sappy ballad but sang very well. All technique and no emotion. It was too old of a song for him. Not DavidA's night, I'm afraid.

Syesha's first song was chosen by Randy and was "If I Ain't Got You" (Alicia Keys). She is still very Broadway and looked fantastic, but she still had no real spark in the song either. Her personality is showing up more each week though. We didn't know the song, but John liked it.

Her next performance (and another great dress) was "Fever" a la Peggy Lee. It was a bit strange for me (to quote Randy). The lighting didn't do her any favors -- it was dark around her face and that threw me off listening to her sing. Still Broadway. Sultry. Beautifully done. Risky move and we think it paid off. It may not have been a contemporary song choice, but she did it well. Why isn't Syesha doing some Anita Baker songs and doing R&B instead of going Broadway?

Syesha's last song was "Hit Me Up" and we thought it was her best of the night. Good range and showed lots of style. BUT... we think that the judges are trying to boot her and were extremely critical. We liked this song a lot and thought it was much more of an AI song choice.

HOWEVER, the night belonged to my long-time fave, David Cook. His first song, as chosen by Simon, was "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," which is an all-time fave of mine anyway and to hear it sung by DC was magic. Wow. A hit. Incredible. Did you notice that the crowd started applauding about 3/4 the way through? John's opinion -- "phenomenal". He is, for me, the most talented person of the three. Confidence. Poise. And we'd download and pay money for that song.

DC's second song (his selection) was Switchfoot's "Dare You to Move" -- another song I didn't know. But another Wow. We thought it rocked even though the judges were a bit harsh. Again, poise and confidence, grace and star-quality.

His third song was "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," which sometimes grates on me as performed by Aerosmith, but most people love it. I thought that might be a hard band to take on. And what was up with the violins? That didn't help him out at all. I thought they were awful and inappropriate. However, his voice is fantastic, his presence is magnetic, and we thought he did another great job.

We agreed with Simon, the night belonged to DC, hands down. DavidA needs to bake a little longer to mature as an artist. Syesha is headed for NYC. The judges have set up a DavidC and DavidA final and I'm hoping the right David wins.