American Idol: Lee Dewyze Hallelujah Video

Lee DeWyze performed “Hallelujah” tonight on the American Idol 2010 Semi-final. Lee Dwyze pulled all the tricks out of his sleeve tonight, with a little help from judge Simon Cowell of course. On tonight’s show, May 18th 2010, Dwyze not only looked like a star, but sounded like the next American Idol winner. Check out the Hallelujah and Simple Man performance videos here.

DeWyze started out his version of Hallelujah, the now-classic Leonard Cohen song softly, slowly building (complete with string accompaniment and a small choir of backup singers) to the night’s undisputable highlight. At the end of the performance, the cameras panned to Simon, who gave a knowing nod.

Randy Jackson said he’d been “waiting all season to see who’s going to throw down the real gauntlet to win the whole thing.” He gave credit to Simon’s song selection, then declared DeWyze’s performance as his “biggest moment on this show. That was unbelievable.” Ellen De Generes was glad Lee listened to Simon: “There’s really nothing more to be said. That was stunning. Just stunning.”

Perhaps feeling the need to leave behind a legacy for his last season on “Idol,” Simon chose the gospel tune “Hallelujah” for DeWyze’s final song of the night. The most covered of Leonard Cohen’s tracks, DeWyze had his work cut out for him. But somehow the former painter managed to turn the soulful folk song into an epic piece of orchestral beauty. Standing front and center in pure white with a black-clad choir and a team of string instruments behind him, DeWyze appeared to be singing to a stadium rather than an “Idol” audience.

At the end of the performance, the crowd stood up and Simon bestowed an “I told you so” look upon his fellow judges. Randy praised Simon for his song choice, while DeWyze appeared to tear up and admit he waffled on the song at first. Ellen called his performance “stunning” and Kara said, quite simply, that he “owned the entire night.”

Video of Lee Dewyze’s Hallelujah on American Idol.