It's Official: American Idol Is Now an Endurance Test -- For the Singers AND the Viewers

It's awfully hard to write about a singing competition that isn't a singing competition any more.

But you only had to look at the worn faces of Jason Castro and David Cook to see the toll life at the center of American Idol's white-hot pop culture flame has taken on contestants this year.

And just like classic disaster movies always showed heroes rising to deal with danger (or not), the unique pressure cooker inside the Idol showbiz juggernaut has brought surprising reactions from all involved. In the final weeks, Syesha Mercado has emerged as the Hillary Clinton of the bunch -- refusing to take the long walk despite landing in the bottom three more than any contestant left and taking a load of crap from Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell no contestant with her voice should endure.

Indeed, it doesn't matter how many unfair criticisms Jackson and Cowell lob her way -- bravo to Syesha for breaking into tears just after Jackson's inexplicably harsh assessment of her second song, literally forcing Cowell to paste on a smile and compliment her (the Bratty Brit seems very wary of kicking contestants when they are already down). Syesha has found her groove and seems to be loving her success, like a condemned man who keeps snagging last-minute stays of execution.

David Archuleta, who still looks like he might hyperventilate himself into a coma after every performance, clocked the best vocals of the night, managing to wrap his white-boy soul around two of the most-covered tunes in rock music -- Stand By Me and Love Me Tender -- in a way that surely had Simon Cowell scurrying offstage to check on the rights for the youngster's post-Idol debut album.

David Cook seemed to sleepwalk through his songs, Hungry Like the Wolf and Teenage Wasteland, too drained to even bother ripping off new arrangements from iTunes. As Cowell noted and he seemed to realize, he did well enough to get past this week -- so why bust a gut actually, you know, performing?

And there's Jason. Castro seemed to be begging the audience to send him home, lurching through a wedding band version of I Shot the Sheriff and committing a cardinal Idol sin during Mr. Tambourine Man: forgetting his words. If Entertainment Weekly's piece last week on the show is to be believed, Castro has one foot out the door, already.

I'm begging America to help him the rest of the way. He wants it. Really.

EXTRA NOTE: A buddy who does PR for Luna Guitars, a Tampa company which makes guitars designed by a local artist who switched from work in stained glass, says the company provided all the Idols with custom-made guitars for tonight's show. Yes, that cool-looking guitar Jason used to scratch out his awful version of the Bob Marley classic was made by a company based right here in the Tampa Bay area.

I hear they're whipping up a left-handed one for rocker boy David Cook as you read this. Check out a recent feature on Luna Guitars in the Times here, and keep your eye out for Cook's model next week.   

Comments

I love american idols, especially this seson.I really like the contestants and iam voting for david artchuleta.Idols gives back was great and thank you for supporting my country.
From keisha in uganda kampala.

[Kelvin Childs]

I started watching "American Idol" only last season, but I'm really struck by how maddeningly inconsistent the judges' advice is. They often tell the performers to make the song their own, and are just as likely in the next breath to criticize them for doing it differently.

Just look at Syesha. She does a straightforward rendition of "Proud Mary," and Simon snipes that it's a bad imitation of Tina Turner, and then she does "A Change Is Gonna Come" from the heart, and Randy tells her the Sam Cooke original is so pure that it doesn't need any changes. No wonder she broke down and cried! In their lights, she's wrong no matter what she does!

[Eric Deggans]

I hear you, Kelvin. i did blog posts earier this season about Idol's anti R&B bias and the judges inconsistency. both have been maddening...

[Frank]

Eric, Idol has had quite a few R&B singers that have won the competition. Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, "Soul patrol" Taylor Hicks(although white WAS an R&B singer) even last years winner Jordin Sparks has a soulfull vibe but could be considered more pop. In fact out of the six previous winners only two, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson do NOT have a soulfull edge to them. Coincidently those two are the most successfull record selling past winners to go along with non-winner and rocker Chris Daughtry. That is not to say that Tamyra Grey's Broadway and acting success should be overlooked nor Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, they just haven't had successfull careers selling records as of yet.
I don't see the anti-R&B bias considering four out of the six PAST winners were more soulfull and leaned towards R&B. Also when you consider one of the most talented singers from this year competition, ROCKER Micheal Johns got the early boot and probably the most talented overall singer ROCKER Carley Smithson got an early heave ho, your assesment of anti-R&B bias comes up short. In my opinion both Carly and Micheal were MUCH better singer/performers than Syesha and both have been critisized by Simon just as much as Syesha. Carly especially has been lambasted by Simon thoughout this competition, so much so that Carly printed a t-shirt that said "Simon likes me" when he finally did say something positive.
The judges may be inconsistant but there is no anti-R&b bias.

[Eric Deggans]

I have a story running next week which will explain my thinking further.

But you can't confuse the voting results withthe judges feedback.

The only way to gauge how the idol machine may regard these contestants is to pay attention to Simon Cowell, who will put out the idol winner's record. This year, he has consistently criticized the R&B-influenced singers, except for Archuleta, who is clearly a teen idol in the making.

Indeed, Idol's biggest problem is that R&B singers often do well on the show because they are better singers. But when their albums come out, Idol's viewers aren't as interested in their work. So the producers may be interested in encouraging a different kind of artist to win....

[Frank]

Eric, I look foward to your article explaing your reasoning further. My thinking is that this year the judges have been extra crabby to EVERYONE except Archuleta. You can't deny the harsh treatment that Carly recieved while she was on the show and in my opinion she was the best PURE singer. I think you might be overly sensitive towards the R&B singers. However, your assesment of the producers wanting a different kind of singer to win might be on target considering the success selling records the rockers and country singers have had. Looking at it without bias and from an overall veiw, the judges have been JERKS to EVERYONE this year except DA and even he has had a few zingers thrown his way by Simon.

[Eric Deggans]

Cowell loved michael johns and when he got kicked off, Cowell fell in love with David cook. He wants a rocker to win it...or at least make the final two....

[Frank]

Eric, They all loved Michael Johns early, but he was the victim of some harsh critcism in the weeks preceding his eventual departure, especially by Simon. Are we watching the same show? David Cook has taken the most risks and although many of his "changed" renditions are indeed copies of other bands covers, he has stood out because he has been willing to take a risk and has delivered when he has. IMO Cook does deserve praise because he is listening to the judges and backing it up with solid performances. Sayesha is a solid vocalist and recieved high praise during Andrew Lloyd Webber week because she deserved it. Other weeks she had little personality and screamed the lyrics instead of singing them. She has also tried to cover Divas which is an Idol no-no and she has been warned about it repeatedly, so last night she does a Tina Turner song. Carly was a much better vocalist but recieved just as harsh criticsm as Syesha and Carly was a rocker. Like Syesha, she just didn't have the personality. I should add that Syesha has figured out since Webber week that personality is important and has been poring on the charm since. However, I think America does turn this into a popularity competition and votes for their favorites regardless of what Simon says. How else do you explain Jason Castro who has only been praised by Simon only once for a performance many weeks ago and no-talent Sanjaya who never got a kind word from Simon when he competed.