Imagine all the people sharing DArchuleta

It has come to my notice that David Archuleta is not only a Simon Cowell favorite, but an American Idol favorite. This worries me, as I would like to consider myself out of the show’s target audience (not in age, but in spirit). Does this mean that I am as average as the next person? This is not what I (or my parents, who have tirelessly seen me through a number of elite – or elitist – institutions) want to hear!

However, it does make me feel better that the fourteen-year-old platinum blonde with braces in the audience cheered for one of the many (older) Jasons and not for little DArchuleta.

My loyalties are contemplating a shift a little amongst the men of the Top 20, as Jason Castro gave a weak rendition of Andy Gibb’s “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” and another David -- Hernandez put himself on the map with The Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”. Danny Noriega was reliably first-rate with The Carpenters’ “Superstar”, and DArchuleta gave a solid performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” that brought the soft Paula Abdul to tears, claiming that it was “one of the most moving performances I have ever heard”, with Randy Jackson labeling it one of the best performances in Idol history.

Really?


[Courtesy of RadioKalin at YouTube]

I am Team Archuleta all the way (or as far as this road leads before it reaches trainwreck territory), but I didn’t feel his performance was as heartfelt and moving as McDrunky Abdul (what is up with her inability to enunciate?!) did. He could have sung it more tenderly in parts, though he was pitch-perfect last night. His “one to beat” performance seemed to have boosted his self-confidence considerably, though his laugh is still as endearingly donkey-like as ever.

Fortunately for him, America is far more prepared for a Mormon Idol than they are for a Mormon president.