I'm sure you're all thinking, this list will be all David Cook, all the time. But no! I enjoyed some others, too...
Paulbo's Top 10 American Idol Performances 2008
10. David Cook - "Little Sparrow" (Dolly Parton Week)
How is it that my beloved Cookie can do such wonderous things with "chick" music? Dolly Parton's tale of heartbreak at the hands of a fickle man is not meant for a man to sing, lyrically or vocally. But DC rocks the house and stuns a nation. Or maybe just me...
9. Alexandria Lushington - "Spinning Wheel" ('60s Week)
While the quirky Ms. Lushington didn't make it into the top 12, this delighfully funky slice of AI history will live on. In crazy clothes and fine vocal form, Alexandria rocked the house and heralded a much more mucially diverse year for Idol.
8. Syesha Mercado - "One Rock And Roll Too Many" (Sir Andrew Llyod Webber Week)
This was the week Syesha told us who she was: a Broadway diva and gay icon in the making. With feirce hair, and a sexy attitude she took a song I never heard of and made me love it.
7. Carly Smithson - "Blackbird" (The Beatles Week)
One of the very few highlights of the second week of Beatles tunes, Carly's emotional reading of this song, and her explaination of why it meant so much, worked in her favor. She always seemed to be almost there, her songs never quite getting to the right place. But for one shining moment she was the star I always thought she could be.
6. Chikeke - "She's A Woman" (Lennon/McCartney Week)
Taking a Beatles song and making it a bluegrass/rock hybrid is just one of the many surprises this season brought us. This was one of the biggest, from a contestant didn't surprise us that often.
5. David Cook - "Eleanor Rigby" (Lennon/McCartney Week)
Another of the surprising arrangments, David Cook continued his hot streak with a symphonic rock take on this Beatles classic. His tracks always sound as good or better in the studio versions on iTunes, and this one is a prime example. When his hits the 1:57 mark, and it goes quiet and the background vocals flare up? Genius!
4. Jason Castro - "Hallelujah" ('80s Week)
Jason always just did his own thing, right? Just a stoner singing away with a guitar in one hand and his dreads and everything. Never again would he capture the brilliance of his emotion-drench take on the Leonard Cohen modern standard, but that was enough.
3. David Cook - "Hello" ('80s Week)
This was the week we were introduced to the brilliant arrangments that David Cook would become known for. So he stole the arrangment from Doxology? Who cares, I never heard it before so it's new to me... and hot. So very, very hot.
2. Brooke White - "Love Is A Battlefield" ('80s Week)
Putting her all behind every lyric of this Pat Benatar classic, Brooke White made me fall in love with her and her acoustic guitar ways. Her vocal power may not have matched Carly or Syesha, but she had heart and ALWAYS connected to the lyrics.
1. David Cook - "Always Be My Baby" (Mariah Carey Week)
Even Mariah was taken aback by this brilliant take on her song. He turned a diva classic into a modern rock ballad, and the world was made a better place for it. Also, he looked fuckin' hot doing it!
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