This Year, “American Idol” Will Be Won By A Dude Named David (But You Knew That Already)

So last night’s completely anticlimactic episode of American Idol ended with the Battle Of The Davids officially beginning, a development that I was hoping would be derailed at the last minute for the purposes of filling out Fox’s DVR-killing one hour and two minute runtime. (Thanks for ruining my recording of Top Chef, guys!) But alas, it was not to be, and the producers are probably still drunk on celebratory “our plan worked!!” champagne. In an effort to make things interesting, there are apparently conspiracy theories floating around about David Archuleta (or his people) wanting to sing a “hip-hop ballad” version of Dan Fogelberg’s “Longer” but being denied by the producers; Archie’s crazed fanbase is seeing it as more evidence that the powers that be want David Cook to win, but honestly, they probably made the right decision on that front. (Guys, go back and listen to your golden boy say “boo,” and count your blessings.) And speaking of hip-hop, how about Fantasia’s performance?

I kind of like this song–it sounds like a vintage Paula Abdul jam that’s been tweaked into a bed for Fantasia’s crazy vocals. But note Simon’s reaction shot around the 2:40 mark. Dude looks absolutely flummoxed–in a somewhat familiar way:

Oh, come on, Simon– I can understand making that face at Kady Malloy’s Britney impersonation, but this at least brought a little bit of fun into the deadly long results show.

Fantasia performs [RedLasso] [50 Cent image via Fluxblog]