‘American Idol’ hopeful Sanjaya Malakar was all smiles yesterday following last night’s taping of the hit karaoke show.

The East Indian heartthrob sang ‘Besame Mucho,’ which was remarkable because it was partly in español, and quite unbelievably, it was pretty OK. Celeb du jour Jennifer Lopez was impressed by him, which threw me for a loop, but he seems to charm the judges (or he’s paying them off, jury’s still out). To have J.Lo sing to you, wow. He really wasn’t half bad. Even Simon Cowell had something unmean to say. I didn’t say it wasn’t a backhanded compliment, but from Simon, that’s as good as gold. He said he didn’t understand a word, and that Sanjaya sung like a 14-year-old, “and I hate myself for saying it, it wasn’t horrible.” Score!