Let’s get ready to “Idol”!

For the final round the country’s biggest television show, the producers chose to frame the evening with a boxing theme worthy of a high schooler’s graduation video.

The theme came complete with Jim Lampley, the voice of HBO Boxing, providing lame analogies relating to the squared circle and famed ring announcer Michael Buffer doing the introductions. The combatants trotted out in complete ring garb, looking like they were ready for some fun gloves boxing at a kid’s 7^th birthday party.

Luckily, the performances routinely rose above the amateurish productions values.

David Cook – Sang: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” & “Dream Big” & “The World I Know”

• Randy: 1^st – Great Way to Start Off the Duel of 2007 (flip your calendar, Randy); 2^nd – Nice, Nice. A Little Pitchy; 3^rd – Very Nice Job.
• Paula: 1^st – You May Not Have Found What You’re Looking For, But We Just Did; 2^nd – Made Us Fall In Love With a Song We Don’t Know; 3^rd – I Truly Applaud You.
• Simon: 1^st – Phenomenal; 2^nd – Bit of a Lightweight, Didn’t Feel Like a Winning Moment; 3^rd – Completely and Utterly the Wrong Song Choice.

It seems David was going for the Rufio look with his haircut, hopefully his singing is Bangarang. He starts with a good performance. It sounded a lot like the gospel version of the song off of “Rattle & Hum” just without the background singers. A solid way to lead off the evening.

Grade: B-

The first contest-winning song sounds like an awful combination of Cheap Trick and Journey, but it’s not David Cook’s fault. His performance was quite good, he sounds like a post-grunge FM rocker from the mid-90s. Maybe his poppiest performance to date and very, very good.

Grade: A-

This sounded a lot like the original just with much much much better vocals. It’s kind of a marvel that Cook was able to inject more emotion into this song than the original artists considering they actually wrote it.

Grade: A-

David Archuleta – Sang: “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” & “In This Moment” & “Imagine”

• Randy Said: 1^st Song – Flawless and Unbelievably Molten Hot; 2^nd Song – Another Hot Performance; 3^rd Song – Exactly What This Show is About.
• Paula Said: 1^st Song – My Heart’s Still Pounding, Chills Up and Down My Arms; 2^nd Song – You’re on Fire Tonight; 3^rd Song – You’ve Left Me Speechless.
• Simon Said: 1^st Song – Arguably Your Best So Far; 2^nd Song – Round 2 to Archuleta; 3^rd Song – A Knockout.

As with everything else Archuleta, he sounded great but looked incredibly awkward onstage. Still, a very nice rendition that really saw him flash his full vocal compliment.

Grade: B

Archuleta’s contest winner sounded like Christopher Cross recorded a song written by David Gray in a rainstorm. The performance was a little dull, but Archuleta did let his voice really soar at times. It’s hard to begrudge him completely for such an awful song.

Grade: B

We already knew he could absolutely kill this song, so his performance didn’t show off anything new. It’s hard to get excited about a performance that wasn’t as good as the first time he sang “Imagine”.

Grade: B-

Bold Prediction: Nobody landed a knockout blow last night, but after the overwhelming support from the judges and a fanbase that never wavered throughout, Archuleta wins on points.

(No Ratings Yet)

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