After this week’s emotional round on American Idol, it’s official, Syesha is in the AI Season 7 Top 3!!  Congratulations, Syesha!!

We’ve already posted our support for this hometown Sarasota girl, but the exciting news this week is that local residents will have a chance to see Syesha tomorrow (Friday, May 9th) when she blazes through on a whirlwind visit to the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Evidently, she’ll be making some stops in the morning on Tampa TV & Radio, but she visits Bradenton (where she’ll receive a key to the city) and then comes to Sarasota for a concert on the gorgeous grounds of the John & Mable Ringling Museum!

According to the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau, the concert is FREE and open to the public!  Park nearby on the New College Campus.  I’d get there early (parking is available at 1pm) for the 3:30PM concert.  It’ll most likely be brief, as she’s got to get back to Hollywood!

If previous seasons are any indication, we should see footage of Syesha’s Homecoming Visit on next week’s American Idol!

Sarasota-born Syesha Mercado heads for the next round in American Idol Season 7.

This week, she seems to have picked up some supporters, since she avoided landing in the bottom 3. The AI theme this week was focused on the music of Dolly Parton, and Syesha admittedly took on an ambitious song with I Will Always Love You. The judges noted the difficulty of doing the song, which was launched to mainstream popularity by Whitney Houston.

Syesha’s vocal arrangement ran right down the middle between Whitney and Dolly — not overly flamboyant like Whitney, but certainly not country like Dolly (although the band lent a bit of a “Nashville” flavor to the overall arrangement). Comparisons to Whitney were inevitable, however, which may have hurt Syesha a bit.

Even so, she did just fine in the end, amidst a strong field of candidates. Fellow Floridian Ramiele Malubay was the candidate who drew the fewest votes this week, which leaves us with only 8 candidates for next week.

As we previously noted, Syesha Mercado is a Sarasota native and hometown girl. Sarasota is behind you!

American Idol Season 7 is already proving to have its ups and downs. Tonight, many of the AI 7 girls seemed to be struggling with an illness and their performances reflected it.

But Syesha is definitely one of the UPs of this season. And, even though this is a business website, I must say we’re cheering the Sarasota girl on (as we mentioned in our earlier post on Syesha). We won’t even hold it against her that she moved to Miami!

Tonight’s big performance featured Syesha’s high-gear vocal over Paul Jackson Jr.’s sizzling guitar work. And, since it’s our first chance to vote, Syesha gets ours! Even the judges agreed that she’s one of the most talented young ladies in the competition.

Keep it up, Syesha!

Congratulations to Syesha Mercado on her progress in Season 7 of American Idol!

Syesha is a hometown girl who graduated in 2005 from the Booker High School Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPA).  Evidently, she was a great student who served on the Student Council and managed a 3.4 GPA while participating in a variety of productions through her high school career.

Since her departure from Booker, Syesha has been no stranger to reality television, appearing on the ABC series, “The One.”

Syesha: thanks for doing such a great job and representing!  We’re rooting for you here in Sarasota… and voting — as soon as we get the chance!