Syesha Mercado
A Change Is Gonna Come
Fun history fact, courtesy of American Idol: the civil rights movement "was a pivotal time in history"! Not so much Syesha's rendition of this Sam Cooke classic, which ditches the plaintiveness of the original and turns it into a standard-issue diva number. (That said, her teary post-song interview probably sealed her path to the Final Three.) But at least now we know what it would have sounded like had Sam Cooke written the soundtrack to Dreamgirls.
— by James Poniewozik
| Mercado's first song: Proud Mary |