I thought Jordin was excellent, but again, that song was terrible. She was out of breath in parts and the song was light on actual vocals, I thought. The only ones I thought were downright bad were Sanjaya and the Chris's.

I've always like "Hey Baby", but even before she went on stage I felt it was the wrong sort of song for this kind of competition...

I just want to reiterate what everyone else has said. The diva bit is getting old, particularly that the judges do not call them out. Gina rocked the house and even got the Melinda lovers to see her as better this week. However, Gina is back into my not-so-hot list for looks after this week. ;)

I think one of the Chris's go this week.

I'd never heard the song before and hope never to again.

It's much better in its original format...

I think Chris S. is gone, he was really out of sync tonight.

dola- My fiance has serius radio and she said when she has the Howard Stern show on "vote for Sanjaya" scrolls across the display :)

I don't get what you all like about Melinda. So, she's got a good voice. This is a performance competition and she has half a package. No personality on stage frankly. With the repetition of songs added to that, I have one word that sums up her performance when she steps on stage --- BOOOOORRRRRING.

Gina won tonight. Chris S. sucked. So did Haley, but I'm hoping she can hang in longer for obvious reasons.

If this keeps up.. honestly at some point they are gonna have to step up and just eliminate sanjaya.. Clearly he's the worst of the bunch, shouldn't have made the final 12.. much less the show to begin with

By "you all" do you mean "the judges"?

More and more folks here are joining this club - is this also true elsewhere in america?

PERFECT summary of this performance for me.


Good summary by Jim. I'm glad he mentioned the Gwen thing. I was REALLY thrown off. If they hadn't told me that it was Gwen Stefani and just shown this woman up there talking, you could have bet me $1000 that it was Gwen Stefani and I'd take you up on that bet. COMPLETELY different look (read: better) and she seemed like she was as young as the contestants.

What I took from this episode was that Gwen looked freaking amazing. I have not been a fan of hers because I hate that over made up look she always has. She looked damn hot last night!!!

Really hope Chris Sligh doesn't go tonight. Have to say I enjoy his vocals more than any other of the contestants. He's just made some poor decisions with song choices/arrangements. He may be better suited for a band though rather than solo-I keep thinking he'd be good with Barenaked Ladies for some reason.

I have been outspoken on this board about my hatred of this Madonna wannabe, but I agree with what you said. Stripped of the makeup and faux-punk attitude, she came off as stunningly beautiful and nice. The funny thing is, I was convinced from seeing her last night that she was in her early 30s, but was shocked to see that she's older than me (37). I think she was the real winner last night.

Oh, and am I the only one who thinks they gave Chris R. the last performance of the night as a way of trying to prop up his chances of staying on the show given that he was in the bottom 2 last week? That's supposed to be the "show stopper" performance, but he certainly didn't earn that spot. I think that was the show's attempt to buy him some votes to keep him around. Just a theory.

Have you heard his band's stuff? I linked to it several pages back. It's radio-friendly, but pretty good. I think the BNL connection is his weight.

yes yes.

Interesting bit of info...


The New York Times (registration required) notes that out of the Top 11 American Idol contestants, 7 are from the South. Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred further points out that in the Top 24, the South was underrepresented–only 7 were from the South–including Florida, Texas and Virginia. In other words, Stephanie Edwards was the first Southerner to be eliminated since the public started voting.

Last year, according to Pursuent Research, 39% of Idol viewers came from the South, while 21% each came from the North and North Central regions and 19% from the West. This year, according to the Times article, ”…the two-hour season premiere had a 34.7 share in Atlanta, compared with 22.3 in New York and 18.2 in Los Angeles [from Nielsen Media Research].”

On the issue of Lakisha and Melinda's song choices, since both were from Donna Summer, I wonder if Gwen Stefani was coaxed into adding Donna Summer to her list of artists that inspired her. I guess anything's possible and certainly there are likely to be artists you wouldn't expect on many artists' "inspired by" lists, but that just stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

Police, Pretenders, Cure, Cyndi Lauper...and Donna Summer.

One of these things is not like the other ones, one of these things just doesn't belong.

I had the same thought.

And this is now two weeks in a row of "questionable" song choices to the theme were Melinda and LaKisha both picked the same artist.

It all just stinks to me.

I was thinking the same thing.

In addition, I have always been a fan of Gwen Stefani in the looks department, but I'm odd. :)

His physical appearance probably does have something to do with the connection, but I just thought ever since I first heard him that he would do a great job with a BNL song.

I keep meaning to check out that link, but I'm lazy. :)

America...your next American Idol!

I have to admit, Stefani looked pretty darned good last night (the brief glimpse I saw), and I have been less than enamored with her in the past. I was really taken aback. :)

I have always thought Gwen Stefani was hot, but I can see how folks find her unattractive when she has her stage-look going. She always looks pretty good when she is a guest on a talkshow or in regular interviews, though.

I don't get the Melinda backlash. You can quibble about the song choices, but she is heads above everyone else in the competition talent-wise. I think when the inevitable diva showdown occurs in the next few weeks that Lakisha will be the one who is gone.

Jordin is growing on me every week. She is just the epitome of the cute sassy high school girl and would be a fantastic idol for marketing reasons.

I think the problem with Melinda is that she's not really "competing" - in addition to being a pro, she's not being forced to choose, or willingly choosing, songs that fit the spirit of the themes in the competition. I don't care what Simon says, this is NOT a singing competition. Peter Noone was right - it's a voting competition. And I would much rather see someone like Blake win than Melinda because he "gets it" - he's 100 times more likely to be a successful AI winner in 2007 than the "technically proficient but sings songs from your mother's 8-track collection" stylings of Melinda, no matter how great a voice she has. Or heck, if I'm forced to choose between the remaining divas, Jordin wins hands down because she is much closer to what AI is supposed to be about than "Melisha" (for short).

Agreed. In addition there's an entertainment factor. I want an AI contestant to entertain me, not just wow me with a technically proficient voice. Melisha (I like that) does not entertain me. Part of that entertaining is to see what they do with the themes. Since what Melisha does is stretch as far away from the theme to pick another song just like the previous songs they've done, that does not entertain me.

And before people try to make the Blake/Daughtry comparison again - like it has been said, Blake takes a song from the theme and makes it his. Melisha takes a song that either really (imo) doesn't fit the theme or is on the outskirts of the theme that fits their comfort zone.

Would anyone here really pay to see Melisha (agreed on liking this, and I think this should be board mandate from now on) in concert?

There are two rules, as stated on air over and over:

1) Vote for who you like, vote early and often.

2) It is a singing competition.

It's up to us to determine how we interpret that. For me, Melinda is the best singer. Her performances have the subtlety of a polished performer.

You can see that reflected in the judging - especially with Paula, who has problems expressing herself and has taken on the public role of a cheerleader, but seems to have an unusual understanding of performance when she isn't making a fool out of herself. The judges know that Melinda is a pro, and the others aren't.

For others, the criteria might be who motivates them to want to buy albums - there was only one in the top 24, Leslie Hunt, who might want to put out albums that I'd consider buying. And I don't like jazz, so I'm not even sure of that. So that criteria doesn't work for me, but it might work for others.

Or is it star quality? Melinda doesn't have a lot of that, she just sings extraordinarily well. There are several others, including LaKisha, who probably deserve more votes.

It's hard to say what's fair and what isn't. I've come up with my own guidelines, and I feel free to bend them at times when I'm inspired.

I think Idol has only had one candidate who had everything, and that was Kelly Clarkson. I missed the first season, but it's being shown in syndication weekly right now on Idol Rewind. I'm amazed with how good she is, compared to everyone (including Melinda) in every season since.

Kelly gave Idol credibility. I'm not sure it would still be on the air today if not for her. Simon says he will quit if Sanjaya wins this season. I agree. That credibility would be permanently lost if someone who really can't perform consistently is promoted as a winner. I think Taylor winning last season was bad enough - at least he has a consistent stage presence, even though none of us will remember his name five years from now.

I would pay to see Melinda. I would not pay to see Lakisha.

As for Jim's post, I agree with pretty much everything he said. I will also add that I often have trouble remembering Taylor's name when talking to others about him/Idol last season.

I had this thought recently and meant to post it.

Simon Cowell, American Idol, Fox, Sony/BMG, everyone involved owe so much to Kelly Clarkson. If Justin G. is the winner of the first American Idol and Kelly isn't even a contestant, is it the machine that it is today? My gut tells me know.


As for the other points you make - it's definitely subjective to each person. I can see where an individual would view it as a singing competition for themselves (as you have), but I think to try and sell that the show as a whole is a singing competition I think is naive. Even Simon, etc. saying it is stupid to me - as they ALL comment on looks, stage presence, etc, etc as much, if not more, as actual singing ability. As others have said, there are contestants that make the top 24 that have no business being there on simply singing. This just is so much more than a singing competition and the idea that it's not is just silly.

Again, not to take away from an individual forming their opinion as it being about the singing quality - that's fair - but the machine that is American Idol is so much more.

I'll believe it's a singing competition when the top 24 singers are chosen to compete. Until then, I'll believe that they want a competent singer to win, but that personality, looks, backstory, demographic appeal, overall contribution to an entertaining TV show, and an apparent ability to sell albums are all part of what goes into selecting the group of people from whom we must choose. Saying it's a singing competition and putting Sanjaya and Antonella Barba into the top 24 are just not compatible.

The reason Kelly Clarkson was/is so good is because she is the entire package; Melinda has just a fraction of that. Just looking at the difference in the two of them demonstrates that this is not purely a singing competition.

yes yes.

The AI producers carefully control what we see on the show. I think there's a reason why we didn't see (or at least I don't recall seeing) Sanjaya perform before the top 24 show, outside of his audition. I think they put him through to be the lightning rod that he is. I find it hard to believe he wasn't exposed during Hollywood Week. I think they saw that he could sing, but they also saw that he had a Volatility Rating of 99 and figured that he would be useful as either a legit contestant if he got his act together, or as the buffoon he's currently portraying. Choosing him wasn't about being a great singer, but the way the show documented it, we are lead to believe that the judges/show was as mislead about him as we were. I call BS.

Basically, they're looking for a way to capitalize on a variation of the William Hung Factor, and each season I think you can point to someone who was in way over their head. Sanjaya's just elevated it to an art form.

According to one of the spoiler sites:

"Next week’s guest coach is Tony Bennett. Not sure if the theme is Love Songs or Standards.”


Greeeeaaaaaat. :rolleyes:

I will say this about Sanjaya.

If he had started the progress we have seen over the last couple of weeks in the initial 24 stage, he might actually be ok right now. In my mind, he has improved pretty substantially (relatively speaking) in the last two shows in some of his major flaws. However, he's just so far behind the curve now and was stagnant for so long.

I don't see improvement at all. If anything, I think he's given up trying to come close to singing in-tune at the expense of coming off as "outrageous." Early on, I thought his vocals wee pretty good, but the delivery and overall performance were terrible. As I said earlier, I think he's wrong in trying to compensate for that by acting/looking like an ass - that doesn't make up for the lack of aggressiveness in his vocals.

He's certainly more entertaining now, though, in a train-wreck sense.

I guess my thought is that his singing has gone down, but his performance is going up. If he did this at 24, 22, whatever.. then he could theoretically put the two together and by say 12 be a respectable performer.

The way I see it is I wanna see someone win who is going to put out a solid product after the show ( like Kelly, Daughtrey). I don't think anyone can argue Melinda is the best singer in the competition, but she has no originality. Watching her the last few weeks has been a snooze fest.

The flipside is I can't wait to see Blake come out or even Gina. I would love to see what original music they put out after the competition, I just can't see Melinda doing anything interesting/ unique after the show is over. I see her either on broadway or performing in Vegas, etc...

"


"


Absolutely not.

This is a competition to see who is the "American Idol" not who is the "technically best singer." If that were the case, we'd have a bunch of opera and classically styled singers.

I'm still bummed they cut the opera chick who sang Jeff Buckley at her audition.

The only thing I learned last night is that even if you lie down on the floor and stare straight up the TV screen, you couldn't get a peek of Haley's naughty bits. Pity.

Chris S. is done.

no surprise here.


To me the biggest surprise is that Sanjaya wasn't at least in the bottom 3, seems we will see alot more of him.

Crap. And Double Crap for Sanjaya not being in the Bottom 3 after that performance.

DialIdol had him 4th...he's safe another couple weeks...

This whole Sanjaya thing is turning the competition int a mockery

I disagree, because the people who are leaving aren't capable of winning either.

There is no way Idol allows him to win. If suckjaya wins, American Idol pretty much signed their death warrant. People that watch it wanting the best performer or singer to win will pretty much view the show as a joke.

they don't already?

Hopefully this means the "hunger strike" girl will die.