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José 'Sway' Penala (born January 23, 1978) was a contestant on Season 5 of American Idol.

Audition[]

Sway auditioned in San Francisco. He sang "Superstar" by Delaney & Bonnie. All three judges voted "yes", sending him to the next round.

Hollywood Round[]

Sway was shown in a group with called "The Idol-Phonics" Terrell Brittenum, Elliott Yamin and Anthony Hansen singing "It's In Her Kiss" by Betty Everett. Everyone advanced except Anthony. Later, he made the judges' final forty-four and at the final deliberation, they told him he did enough to make the Top 24.

Top 24[]

Sway sang "Reasons" by Earth, Wind & Fire. He received enough votes to be considered "safe" for that week.

Top 20[]

Sway sang "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder. He received the second lowest number of votes among the boys, eliminating him from the competition.

Season 5
Finalists
 ·Taylor Hicks ·Katharine McPhee ·Elliott Yamin ·Chris Daughtry ·Paris Bennett ·Kellie Pickler ·Ace Young ·Bucky Covington ·Mandisa ·Lisa Tucker ·Kevin Covais ·Melissa McGhee
Semifinalists
 ·Ayla Brown ·Will Makar ·Gedeon McKinney ·Kinnik Sky ·Heather Cox ·Brenna Gethers ·José 'Sway' Peñala ·David Radford ·Bobby Bennett ·Patrick Hall ·Becky O'Donohue ·Stevie Scott
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