Bogus Gold

First up tonight was Sayesha Mercado. A tough spot for the singer who seemed the consensus pick as bottom-runner among the remaining contestants. She made an interesting choice with "One Rock and Roll Too Many," from Starlight Express. Not only is this one of the lesser known of the BIG Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals, it's not one of the dozens of crooning ballads she might have chosen which - I have been saying for weeks - are the wrong choice for her to win. I've been saying she needs something different to distinguish herself. I've been saying I wish she'd let that personality that came through so strongly in the Hollywood rounds out again. Thank you to whomever forwarded my comments to her this week, because... check, check, check. Anyway, Sayesha came out leaving nothing in reserve going full-out in performance mode and it was a great thing to see. Did I mention she was my favorite female performer last week? This makes two weeks in a row. Was it "too Broadway"? She seemed to be concerned it might be. I dunno... It was well done and flat-out entertaining. She's not replacing the Davids as a front runner by it. But she might just have bought herself another week. In fact, by rights, she should have.

Jason Castro got the number two spot and chose "Memories," from Cats. This is where someone's unfamiliarity with the ALW songbook really stung him. I have few doubts he chose this because he knew it, and didn't know many others. But there are SO many better songs he might have taken. The songs by Che from Evita are a natural fit for him. I'm thinking he could have done something very sweet with "High Flying Adored." Or perhaps something simpler and sweeter from Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. But that's what might have been. What we got instead was Jason desperately trying to sell a song written for a freaking "glamour-puss" and bored into our memories by one diva-queen after another. Umm... it didn't work out so well. It was just a performance that made one uncomfortable to watch. You didn't want to hear his voice doing those things to that song, or that song doing those things to his voice. He had some moments where he tried to make a game of it. But in the end the song beat him soundly.

Brooke White came out next and, one performer too late, we got our Evita song. Only it was the one written special for the movie version - the one sung by Madonna - "You Must Love Me." Weirdness in the intro as Sir Andrew had to explain to Brooke the need to find the meaning in the lyrics. Isn't that what Brooke has always been best at? Was she faking it to make him feel like he helped? Anyway, that part of her delivery was fine. It's a song about a dying woman who had it all, but in the end is desperate to know she's leaving the world loved. Emotion flows over the top of a song like that. Brooke can handle that with one tear duct tied behind her back. What she couldn't handle was the lyrics, having to stop the band and start over in the beginning. Which seemed to throw her off and make her tight (Simon's comment, but very evident). And she didn't really flub it, but never quite hit her stride here either. Much like Jason, this probably isn't really Brooke's niche and it showed too much.

David Archuleta went next with "Think of Me," from The Phantom of the Opera. Andrew himself found the concept somewhat silly at first, as the song is rather explicitly written for a woman and he's never conceived of it any other way. But apparently he dug the different arrangement in rehearsal, so we were curious to see what Archie did with it. Well what he did was make a fairly catchy pop-version of the song that was as pleasantly asexual as some might call Archie himself (I'm just saying SOME might say it... simmer down). Anyway there was nothing especially "female" about it in this performance anyway, so Lord Andrew could rest easy there. I dunno... I thought vocally he did this one extremely well. But visions of elevators came to mind listening to the arrangement. Which left me mostly positive about it, but not very excited. Then again, I'm sure his core fans were thrilled.

Carly Smithson got the next spot and went, surprisingly, with "Jesus Christ Superstar," from Jesus Christ Superstar after much coaxing from Andrew Lloyd Weber himself. She was going to go with another saccharine ballad from Phantom of the Opera. But - and lord why wasn't he around to tell her this sooner - he told her she was picking a song that did nothing to show off her big voice. So why not try the one that did instead? So we were spared yet another Carly performance showing us how well she could hold herself back. And instead we got this ballsy, throw it out there, and yet kind of throwback to the 70's, quasi Tina Turner-esque performance. All in all, it was really good. Okay you Simon lovers, you get to throw a "shouty" snark a this in places. Mind you... she was pretty much intending to do it and it's not always wrong. But you got a few here. This was still a pretty good Carly performance for a week with this kind of theme.

David Cook got the coveted closing spot tonight, oddly enough. Of course, we all knew he would re-arrange something into a total rocker so it didn't make mush sense to guess what he'd choose. Wow were we in for a surprise. David C. chose, "Music of the Night," from The Phantom of the Opera. And... he chose to sing it pretty much straight up. As if he was cast on broadway, minus a few flourishes. And you know what? The judges always tell contestants every year that they need to branch out and show more facets to themselves. And almost always they're lying and the suckers who take them up on it go down in flames. But this time... it worked. I agree with Simon that this is not the side of David Cook I want to see. But it's really quite compelling that he's got that in him on top of all the rocker stuff. He sang it well. It was one of the night's best even. And I'm kind of amazed by that.

So... the summation. My tops of the night goes to... Sayesha Mercado. Seriously. And hands down.

Both of the Davids can share the next spot for very different reasons. David Archuleta did what he needed to do vocally. David Cook surprised in an unexpected way, and made it work.

Carly Smithson came next in my book. That was a great performance, bringing out a lot of the best of what Carly can do.

The bottom two were clearly Jason and Brooke.

And I have to think one of those two will be leaving also. We're too close and have too much talent left for those clunker performances to ride it out. So who goes?

I'm guessing Brooke. And I freely admit I'm sorry to see her go. More than any other contestant save the Cookerator, she's won me over as the season went on.

UPDATE: THE RESULTS

See kids? This is the reason we harp on the contestants to show their personality and individuality early and often. Those, coupled with talent, help build a thing called a "fan base." And toward the end, you can deliver a hell of a great performance and still get booted because others who did worse have one of those, and you don't.

So we lose Carly Smithson tonight (can I be really too surprised, after picking her to go last week?). Carly waited too long to break out of her shell. She has a great voice. She just never really put it all together tonight and defined herself for us as anything more personal than a Irish brogue, tattoos and a big voice. She seemed to be just starting to try to go there this week. Too late.

Brooke White looked surprised and relieved to survive, and she should. She didn't even hit the bottom two tonight, and she definitely should have. Jason Castro's charm is starting to really build now, so is it possible we'll have an all-male top three, after having a 50/50 mix in the top six?

Anyway next week is Neil Diamond week and I can't wait. Another amazing song book. Another legendary mentor. Another chance for some amazing singers to go darn near any direction.