It's worth a buck!

Legend has it that before Motown founder Berry Gordy would release a record, he would pull people off the street, have them listen, and then ask them if they only had a dollar and were hungry, would they buy food or the record?
I bring up this story because the studio version of Adam’s Mad World is available on iTunes and, if you are hungry, it’s way better than anything on the value menu at Mickey D’s. 99 cents is all it costs to have a remarkable performance of music on your iPod or computer. This song definitively clears up the one doubt I had about him – does his obvious giftedness as a performer translate to the recording studio as a pop star?
This was the Taylor Hicks Curse. Taylor was a marginal singer who won a singing contest because he was a fun performer. He’d get the studio audience whipped up shaking their “Soul Patrol” signs, get you, me, and millions of other TV viewers at home all excited and then everybody would go vote for Taylor. Problem was - nobody bought the album. Aside from the fact the he wasn’t a pop singer in the first place (also Melinda Doolittle’s problem, Chris Daughtry’s problem, and perhaps, ultimately, Allison’s undoing), his stage charisma could not be captured on a CD.
Despite far-and-away being the best singer in the history of Idol, I worried about that with Adam. When you can’t see him and his outsized, yet captivating, stage presence, can you feel the same about him? Can he make the same magic on a studio mic as he does on a stage mic?
The full, final definitive “YES” answer is on the studio version of Mad World (which, by the way, is actually an obscure 2001 rendition of Gary Jule's version of the original by Tears for Fears). It is beautiful beyond words and announces him as a real talent to be reckoned with on Idol and eventually on the music charts.
He should, beyond a shadow of any doubt, win Idol this year. But, as we have seen with Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson, the public’s tastes are, using a pet Simon word – bizarre. And even Simon voted against Daughtry in his audition and disparaged Jennifer Hudson, proving that he, too, can get it wrong. So becoming a music star is a tricky business. And Melinda once held the title of Best Singer in the History of Idol and she went out fourth. Still, I am hoping Adam’s combination of incredible vocal ability and live performances make him unbeatable, and even if you like rocker chick Allison or hot Kris, go buy Mad World, anyway!