The Davids Continue to Rule on “American Idol”

David Archuleta started off the evening on “American Idol” on May 13^th with “And So It Goes,” a Billy Joel song that Paula Abdul had selected for him to sing. It was the perfect choice and my favorite song of the evening.

Syesha Mercado went next, with an Alicia Keys song that Randy Jackson picked for her. She looked gorgeous (Simon’s exact adjective) in a gold and silver beaded dress and sang like an angel. Paul agreed that Syesha looked “absolutely stunning,” but Simon was the wet blanket who said that Syesha’s singing was “not enough, in my opinion” to put her through to the Final Two.

David Cook was handed “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Simon Cowell. Odd. (It was just ok for me, dog.)

David Archuleta tried to change it up by singing a more contemporary piece, “With You” by Chris Brown. It drew faint praise from Simon, but he did comment that he thought the younger David had done enough to go through to the Finals.

Syesha tried an old Peggy Lee favorite, “Fever,” and used a chair as a prop during her performance. Randy commented, “Again, a great performance.” Paula didn’t really seem to like it and Simon said, “I think you will probably regret that performance tomorrow,” dubbing it “a lame cabaret performance.” In this, her second song, Syesha was clad in a short silver-y dress and looked beautiful.

David Cook sang something entitled “Switchfoot.” Enough said.

Back came David Archuleta with the Dan Fogelberg song “Longer Than With You,” which is right up his balladeer alley. Simon said, “The song and the lyrics are absolutely gooey.”

That left the night’s closer to David Cook with the Aerosmith theme from “Armageddon,” penned by Dianne Warren, as he crooned, “I don’t want to miss a thing.”

For me, David Archuleta and Syesha were the best of the evening. I did not enjoy “Switchfoot” and the end of the final (best) piece was screechy, as Cook went up for a high note.

That said, I expect Syesha to be voted off. She was in the bottom three too many times to escape now.

I’ve said from the beginning that the Davids were the ones to beat. It’s just a matter of whether “A” comes before “C” only alphabetically or across the board.