American Idol top 2—dreaming big and imagining the moment
(aired 5/20/08)
Bunny: It’s finally down to the top two, and what a season it has been! Which David will bring it tonight, or will they both blow us away?
The producers are going with a totally trite, out-of-place boxing theme complete with satin robes and gloves. Toddler David is doing laps around the pool in his. Grown-up David looks only slightly less ridiculous, and they’re both probably going to look back on this moment with chagrin for the rest of their sadly now-tainted careers.
Clive “I am 117 years old and still kicking” Davis is here, of course, and he has chosen the songs for the contestants in this first round. Andrew Lloyd Webber is also seen giving his final advice to the two contendahs.
Unfortunately, guest commenters Dew Bew, ALBERT, and Wia couldn’t make it for this final week, but K is back in the house! Glad to have you, K.
ROUND 1
(Clive Davis’ choice)
David Cook
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
Bunny: He moved out into the audience for the first time that I can remember—but maybe I’m wrong. Wow, he has huge feet. He nailed the song, and I loved the last note. Way to start the show!
Burke: Good job on a familiar song. Nothing fantastic or earth-shattering for me.
K: I personally think he’s meant for the stage. He’s awesome.
David Archuleta
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me”
Bunny: Probably my favorite Elton John song. However, it doesn’t suit Archie, and the bounce move was definitely not working. There were a couple of shaky notes. I don’t know what Randy’s been imbibing, but that performance was by no means flawless. Apparently he passed his bottle of over-the-top-happy juice to the other two crackpots at the judge’s table. It was merely good, in my opinion.
Burke: Definitely the most animated he’s been all season. He even had the Fantasia “bobo” going at the end.
K: He actually got into it, which was nice. Very enthusiastic. Great.
ROUND 2
(Songwriting competition songs)
Bunny: For this round, the Davids got to choose from among ten of the entries in the songwriting competition. Hopefully they can find one without rainbows and unicorns. (The boxing commentary is extraneous and getting rather annoying, by the way.)
David Cook
“Dream Big”
Bunny: Now this is not David’s fault, but I hated the verses, liked the chorus. As for the singing, his voice sounded strained to me, but he gave a mediocre song his best effort.
Burke: Took a sappy song and made it rock. I liked it. The Cook turned up the heat.
K: I liked the song. He did okay.
David Archuleta
“In This Moment”
Bunny: It’s a true Idol-moment kind of song. Again with the phone book comment, Randy? We heard you the first 40 times! The performance was too predictable to be amazing, but he did well.
Burke: The Mickey Mouse Club balladeer strikes again. Was his daddy up all night sewing his suit? My suggestion: Drop the anchor.
K: The song was too sappy for me. Maybe he had hopes of being anchored to the stage.
Round 3
(Contestants’ Choice)
David Cook
“The World I Know”
Bunny: My first thought was that this wasn’t an important enough song to sing at this point in the American Idol competition, but as Cookie is wont to do, he made it into something special. Afterwards, he can’t hold back the tears, but he’s so genuine, it’s moving and doesn’t come across as false modesty or manufactured emotion.
Burke: Not impressed by the song choice, but I’m glad he didn’t just redo a previous song.
K: He did a different song, but he did great. He pulled it off.
David Archuleta
“Imagine”
Bunny: Will it be as good as the first time he did it? In spite of the fact that he has been widely criticized for singing every song the same way (including by yours truly), I feel more genuine emotion from him in this version. It’s impossible for him not to have grown and changed in many ways throughout this crazy Idol journey. I think he deserves kudos.
Burke: Didn’t like the song. Been there, done that. The sequel is never as good as the original. Show me something new.
K: Didn’t like it. He should have taken a step out of the box and done something better. No way.
PREDICTIONS
Bunny: Bunny’s Bomb is really hard to choose, because I awarded 9 paws in total to each of them. But overall, I feel David Archuleta is the inferior performer, even though he’s clearly got loads of talent. It’s a tough, tough call trying to guess what America’s going to do, but I’ll go with my gut and say David Cook is the one going home tomorrow.
Burke: Burke’s Turkey is David Archuleta. The Utah Jazz was just not made for the stage. I think he will lose this contest.
Prognosticats: David Archuleta had the Hairball Performance tonight, and he will go home.
K: I think David Archuleta was the worst of the night, and he will be leaving.
Bunny: Needless to say, everyone’s Top Dawg tonight was David Cook. However, we won’t know the Season 7 winner until tomorrow night. One thing is obvious: There’s no way the Prognosticats or I can match Burke’s prediction record at this point, but we’ll have the final totals tomorrow after the results show. See you then!