Bottom Of The Barrel

What song selection reveals

In this weeks Entertainment Weekly, there is a very interesting article on Why Song Selection Matters, including the fact that AI uses a pull-from-the-hat model when 2 or more contestants want to sing a song. The article is the by-product of two days spent on-site at rehearsals and here is what I have learned about our top 4 contestants:

David Archuleta

David is a well trained puppy who has been heavily ruled by his stage father. The article points out how Jeff Archuleta gave "suggestions" to the music directors of the show for his son's performances last week. It went even further to say Jeff "occasionally compliments his son, who stands silently by the mic". Sounds like David will need some therapy some where down the road. Maybe AI should raise the age limit to at least 18 years old and keep the parents out of it.

Jason Castro

Jason has gotten a lot further than he ever thought he would. He notes his voice is weaker than everyone else left and seem like he is ready to be done. He even went into his weekend meeting with Neil Diamond without learning the lyrics to his song choices and skipped the rest of his weekend rehearsals to visit with his brother and friend, who came to visit. Regarding his own performances, he even went as far to say that "if people like it, they like it. And if they don't. they don't. I'm kind of ready to go home". He just might get his wish on Wednesday.

Syesha Mercado

Syesha has trouble picking songs yet remains in the game. She has struggled through some of the weeks but her good voice, obvious beauty and warm personality has kept her alive and into the top 5 - something most people would have not predicted 8 weeks ago. I would expect Syesha to give it her all even though she has been in the bottom 2 or 3 in 6 of the past 8 weeks. Even though she won't win AI, I think she has a big future in theater in her future.

David Cook

David is confident in himself and can work with a wide range of songs. When he heard Syesha wanted to Hello Again, he let her [he had previously selected the song]. Some might call this confidence as arrogance but I see this as just being nice [to fellow contestants] and confidence in his own ability. The other thing I found interesting as his comment that "there are some vocal similarities between Neil Diamond and Axl" [as in Axl Rose of Gun's N Roses]. This kind of comment/insight would only be made my a real music guy - a person who really loves music!

Tonight we see if what we have learned this week plays out for or against each contestant. Rock-And-Roll!

Labels: American Idol

posted by TheWino @ 2:07 PM