American Idol 2 - Remembering Clay's Performances - Top 7

With all the excitement last week over Clay's UNICEF trip and the $100,000/10 Days Appeal, I did not put my weekly American Idol 2 article in CDD. That was Week 8, and Clay sang "At This Moment" and was the first to sing. Of course, he did a great job. I love Lionel Richie's comment, "I'm still in awe that all of that is coming out of that body!...Who is that guy, I don't know, who are you?" And he thought Clay pulled it off with power and conviction and did a great job. While Randy and Paula weren't crazy about the song choice, Simon shocked us all and thought it was perfect and on the money. Who would have thought!! And Clay was safe for another week.

This week on AI6, the Top 7 sang country songs. Country is not my personal favorite genre, but I actually enjoyed the country singing of Jordin and Melinda, and Phil shocked us with a really good rendition of his song.

But now, let's get to the good stuff. Top 7, April 15, 2003. Clay comes on stage looking long and lean in a blue t-shirt and suit and knocks the stuffing out of "Tell Her About It". I remember when I first heard him start singing this back in '03, I thought to myself, "No Clay, not another slow ballad. Do something with a little more jive!" So I was thrilled when he broke into the chorus at a faster pace. Of course, slow ballad or a song with a quicker pace, that voice is still golden.

As for the judges, Randy said Clay did his thing...Smokey Robinson said that he proved that he could sing anything...Paula said she loved his great voice but wanted him to let loose and dance a little bit more...and then there's Simon with his back handed compliment. "Clay don't take this the wrong way, but I prefer you when I shut my eyes." He wants Clay to calm down "that weird thing you do with your face" and said it was a compliment because he sounds great. Well, I "forced" myself to watch the video of Clay singing this song several times (tough job, but someone has to do it!), and I didn't myself see any "weird things". All I saw were those gorgeous dreamy eyes and that face which is always full of emotion when Clay sings. And, of course, we found out the next night that America loves Clay with their eyes open, and he once again was safe. Safer than any of us realized at the time. Clay got the majority of the votes every week of Idol.

If you want to download Clay singing any of the AI2 songs, head over to Clack Unlimited's American Idol 2 Solo Performances. You can also download the judges comments, group songs, and the results shows there.

Next week, we'll look at The Top 6 from 2003.