Tuesday Night, May 8, 2007
American Idol Thoughts
Hello everyone! American Idol just finished, and I thought I would post my thoughts right away. It was a night in which the final four contestants each sang two songs. It was a night that featured the songs of singer/songwriter/producer Barry Gibb. It was a tough night for the contestants. In some cases, they simply had poor song choices. In some cases, they tried to do too much with wonderful songs. And, in another case, I thought that not enough was done. So, here are my rankings of the eight performances, followed by my overall rankings for the evening.
#8 - Lakisha Jones - Staying Alive - Throughout the lead-in, they talked about the song being falsetto and how she needed to sing higher. Well, although she was solid with the verses, she sang the chorus flat, and it made the song boring, and really not good in general.
#7 - Lakisha Jones - Run to Me - Again, just a boring song choice. Vocally she was solid, as would be expected, but even at the end, she just completely messed up the ending.
#6 - Blake Lewis - This is Where I Come in - Just a poor song choice because at this point, the song either needs to be a little known, or you have to put together an incredible vocal with a lesser known song. This was an unknown song. I thought the vocals were very good, but nothing special.
#5 - Jordin Sparks - Woman in Love - She was good, but the song was definitely all over the place vocally. She has a great voice, but I just didn't think that the she was necessarily singing the right notes. Was she off key, or just picked bad notes?
#4 - Melinda Doolittle - Love You Inside and Out - Melinda proved human here. I do wonder if my expectations of her are too high. She was very good, but since this was the first song of the night, I guess maybe I was expecting too much. Maybe if I had heard other songs first, this would have ranked higher?
#3- Melinda Doolittle - How Can You Mend this Broken Heart - OK, when I heard that Melinda was singing this song, it was very exciting to me. I love this song. I expected chills and to be wowed. This is a case where I just think she did too much. That song on its own would have been incredible. The best version I have heard of this song was Rueben Studdard's, on his first CD. She was good, but just not as good as I was thinking it could be.
#2 - Blake Lewis - You Should be Dancing - I don't think that the judges really appreciate a falsetto. It is not easy to alter your voice that much and remain on tune. This was not an easy song and Blake made it look easy. Incorporated the beat box without it being too much, or out of the flow.
#1 - Jordin Sparks - To Love Somebody - Good song. Good song choice. Still wasn't wowed, but she has such a nice voice.
COMBINED RANKING
#4 - Lakisha Jones
#3 - Blake Lewis
#2 - Melinda Doolittle
#1 - Jordin Sparks
SUMMARY
Well, this certainly wasn't Bon Jovi week, that's for sure. These singers are good, so many times it is little things that end up winning it. I don't think that any of them won it tonight. Even Lakisha, whose two songs I ranked at the bottom sang pretty well. To me though, there are the three women with big voices and the guy that is fun to watch. You can almost make the assumption (and we'll see if it is true) that Blake will get a large chunk of the Chris Richardson votes. That means the three girls are going against each other. To me, there is one that is clearly below the other two. And that is Lakisha. So, my prediction would be that Lakisha will be the one eliminated tomorrow. But doesn't it always seem like there is a big surprise with four left? So, we shall find out tomorrow night.
|